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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/75892-0.txt b/75892-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1775896 --- /dev/null +++ b/75892-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14482 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75892 *** + + +A MANUAL OF THE BOOK OF PSALMS + +OR, + +THE SUBJECT-CONTENTS OF ALL THE PSALMS + + +BY + +MARTIN LUTHER + + + + +NOW FIRST TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY THE REV. HENRY COLE, +LATE OF CLARE-HALL, CAMBRIDGE; +TRANSLATOR OF “SELECT WORKS” OF LUTHER, &C. + + + + +PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE +AND SOLD BY L. AND G. SEELEY, +FLEET STREET, LONDON. +MDCCCXXXVII. + + + + +TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. + + +The assurance that the following production of the immortal and +beloved reformer, Luther, would be acceptable and beneficial to every +lover of divine and experimental truth, was the motive that led the +Translator to present it, in an English version, to the British church +of Christ. + +No commendatory remarks are needed: the work itself will at once speak +its own worth. The translator would only observe, that in the +following MANUAL COMMENTARY on the Book of Psalms, Luther has most +divinely, experimentally, and beautifully opened up—the vanity and +delusion of all forms (even a gospel “form”) of godliness, without the +known and possessed “power” thereof;—the opposition and malicious +persecution which the real disciples of Christ ever meet with from the +wicked, and, above all, from hypocrites in religion;—the true and only +grounds of a Christian man’s hope, peace, and salvation; which are, a +trust and rest alone in the grace, righteousness, and atonement of our +Lord Jesus Christ;—the blessedness of a nation where the pure word and +worship of God guide, and are upheld by, its throne and government; +and the sure destruction of a kingdom when its magistrates act against +that word and worship;—and finally, the glory of all the creatures of +God, the abounding goodness of God in them, and the infinite +blessedness of their lawful use. + +Luther takes occasion also, from numberless passages in the Psalms, to +describe, point out, and distinguish the true church of God in the +midst of the earth, and the signs by which she may be known from all +other churches;—that she is that company of poor and afflicted people, +who are burdened with sins, filled with fears, covered with +infirmities, and despised by the world, and considered both by the +wicked, and by formal professors of religion, to be the last people +likely to be the church of God. He repeatedly shews, however, that +such, notwithstanding their rejection by all, are the true people and +church of God; and that it is unto such, and such only, that all the +promises of grace and mercy in Christ, and of help, provision, and +defence in this world, are made; ‘For (saith Luther) if you will look +through the whole Bible, you will find, that God is not the God of the +rich, the proud, the secure, &c. but of the poor, the fearful, the +afflicted, and the helpless; who cannot do without his daily mercy and +help, either in the things of this world, or of that which is to +come.’ + +That the great and heavenly things thus opened by the admired Luther +may be understood and enjoyed by every reader of the following manual, +is the desire and prayer of, + +THE TRANSLATOR. + +_Highbury Place, Islington, +June 8, 1837._ + + + + +_Other invaluable productions of Luther, which have never before been +translated into ENGLISH, are in hand, and will duly appear: which, +added to the four vols. of “Select Works,” the “Bondage of the Will,” +and the work “on Popery,” just published by Messrs. Nisbet, will put +the ENGLISH Church of Christ in possession of all the holy Reformer’s +works which are the most calculated to be of divine benefit to her._ + + + + +MARTIN LUTHER TO HIS FRIEND. + + +I am unwilling to acknowledge that you are right in being so +industrious to publish abroad my poor productions: I fear you are +actuated too much by favour towards me. As to myself, I am wholly +dissatisfied with my works on the Psalms: not so much on account of +the sense which I have given, which I believe to be true and genuine, +as on account of the verbosity, confusion, and undigested chaos of my +commentaries altogether. The Book of Psalms is a book, my Commentaries +on which, from want of time and leisure, I am obliged to conceive, +digest, arrange, and prepare all at once. For I am overwhelmed with +occupation. I have two sermons to preach in a day: I have to meditate +on the Psalms: I have to consider over the letters which I receive by +the posts (as they are called) and to reply to my enemies: I have to +attack the Pope’s Bulls in both languages: and I have to defend +myself. (To say nothing about the letters of my friends which I have +to answer, and various domestic and casual engagements to which I am +obliged to attend!) + +You do well, therefore, to pray for me; for I am oppressed with many +afflictions, and much hindered from the performance of my sacred +duties;—my whole life is a cross to me! I have now in hand the xxii. +Psalm, “My God, my God, &c.;” and I had hopes of completing a +Commentary on the whole Book of Psalms, if Christ should give us a +sufficient interval of peace, so that I could devote my whole time and +attention to it: but now, I cannot devote a fourth part of my time to +such a purpose: nay, the time that I do devote to it, is but a few +stolen moments. + +You do right in admonishing me of my want of moderation: I feel my +deficiency myself; but I find that I have not command over my own +mind: I am carried away from myself, as it were, by a certain vehement +zeal of spirit, while I am conscious that I wish evil to no one, +though all my adversaries press in upon me with such maddened fury: so +that, in fact, I have not time to consider who my enemies are, nor +what various treatment they require. Pray, therefore, the Lord for me, +that I may have wisdom to speak and write that which shall please him +and become me, and not what may appear becoming to them. And now, +farewell in Christ. + +_Wittemberg_, A.D. 1521. + + + + +MARTIN LUTHER’S PREFACE TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS. + + +Many of the old and godly fathers have highly extolled the Book of +Psalms, above all the other books of the Scripture, and have testified +their exceeding fondness and partiality for them. And indeed this +book, though small, deserves to be recommended above all others, (if a +difference may be made): though the Psalms of David do not want the +aid of borrowed encomiums, for they carry with them an abundance of +self-recommendation; and in them is the old proverb verified, which +says ‘The work proves the workman.’ Therefore, I have not put my hand +to this book for the purpose of parading before the world an encomium +upon it, since it so amply commends itself; but that I might, +according to the best of my ability, present those that fear God with +my judgment upon its all-excelling contents. + +In the years that are past we have seen an infinity of books handed +about in the world, but all most insipid and worthless; which, behind +an apparently honest and plausible title, (for they were prefaced with +the sentiments and examples of the saints) contained the most nugatory +fables, and the most barefaced lies. The world, therefore, was +everywhere so filled with writings of this kind, the most foolish, and +at the same time the most impious, that the Psalms themselves were +disregarded and thrust into darkness, and we had not one Psalm rightly +interpreted or understood. And yet, as this sweet book of David +continued to be sung in all our churches, and to be chanted over so +many thousand times in these incessant rounds and forms of +prayer,—even by this frigid use of the Psalms, bad as it was, some +small savor of life was diffused abroad among many that were of an +honest and good heart; and from these words themselves only, though +not understood, those that feared God drank in some little sweetness +of the breath of life, and some small taste of consolation, like the +faint fragrance which is found in the air that is not far from a bed +of roses. Their experience was like also unto a simple man passing +through a flowery and sweet-smelling meadow, who, though he knew not +the peculiar nature and properties of the flowers and herbs, yet found +his senses regaled with the general fragrance. + +I would say what I think of the Psalms in a few words thus:—I believe, +for my part, that there is no book under heaven, either of histories +or examples, to be compared to the Book of Psalms. Wherefore, if it +were right to ask of God, and, if such were our soul’s desire, that +all the greatest excellences and most choice experiences of all the +true saints should be gathered and collected from the whole church +since it has existed, and should be most briefly and appropriately +condensed into the focus of one book; if God, I say, should permit any +most spiritual and most gifted man to form and concentrate such a book +from all the excellences of the saints, and from the flower of the +facts recorded in the whole scripture (which might be done);—such a +book would be what the Book of Psalms is, or like unto it. For in the +Book of Psalms we have not the life of one of the saints only, but we +have the experience of Christ himself, the head of all the saints, for +he is set forth in those Psalms: we have, moreover, the feelings and +experiences of all the faithful, both under their sorrows and under +their joys, both in their adversity and their prosperity: how they +conducted themselves towards God, towards their friends, and towards +their enemies: how they acted in various perils and afflictions, in +the midst of temptations, and under the greatest necessities. + +And moreover, in addition to the great and blessed doctrines and +instructions in godliness which it embraces, the Book of Psalms ought +to be most dearly and highly prized by us on this account;—because it +contains such clear prophecies concerning the death and resurrection +of Christ, and holds forth such great and gracious promises concerning +the kingdom of Christ, the spread of the Gospel, and the state of the +whole church. So that you may truly call the Book of Psalms, a little +Bible; for in it all things that are contained in the whole Bible are +given to us in the most wonderfully brief and sweet manner, and +condensed into a most beautiful manual. + +If God should himself hand down a book out of heaven and commend it to +us with a divine voice, how highly would you prize and value it, how +greedily would you seize it? Be assured then that the Holy Spirit +himself has written and handed down to us this Book of Psalms, as a +form of prayer, in the same way as a father would give a book to his +children. He himself has drawn up this manual for his disciples; +having collected together, as it were, the lives, groans, and +experiences of many thousands, whose hearts he alone sees and knows. +If, therefore, thou canst not read the whole Bible, behold! thou +mayest, by reading the Book of Psalms only, have not only a summary of +all godliness, but all godly excellences, and the most spiritual +experiences. + +And again, another great excellency of the Book of Psalms is this. In +other scriptures and histories, for the most part the works and bodily +exercises only of the saints are described: you have very few +histories which give you the words, expressions, and sighs of the +saints, which are the indexes of the state of their minds. But it is +in these things that the Book of Psalms may be a feast of delight for +the meditations of the godly. In these respects, therefore, the +reading of a Psalm is peculiarly sweet; because you have therein, not +only the works and acts of the saints, but their very words and +expressions, nay, their sighs and groans to God, and the utterance in +which they conversed with him during their temptations; and all these +are recorded in such a lively and descriptive manner, that those +saints, though now dead, seem still to live and speak in the Psalms. + +Thus all other histories and lives of the saints, which describe their +acts and works only, when compared to the Book of Psalms, set forth to +us nothing more than dumb saints; and every thing that is recorded of +them is dull and lifeless. But in the Psalms, where the very +expressions of those that prayed in faith are recorded, all things +live, all things breathe, and living characters are set before us in +the most lively colours: the saints are represented to us as standing +supported by their faith, even in the midst of afflictions and +tribulations. A dumb man, indeed, is rather a lifeless post than a +man; for man is distinguished from the brute creation by nothing more +than by the power of speech. A stone even, under the hand of the +artificer, may represent the figure of a man. And, as to eating and +drinking, all dumb animals can do those things as well as he: they can +use the organs of sense as well as he: and indeed, as to strength of +body, they have greatly the advantage of him. Hence, it is the power +of speech that so distinguishes man from, and raises him above, the +brute creation: and that speech is the index of, and the mirror that +reflects, the mind. + +As, therefore, the Psalms describe the words and expressions of the +saints, they give us an exact picture of their minds. For the Psalms +record not those common and everywhere-heard expressions of the +saints, but those ardent and pathetic utterances, by which, in real +earnest, and under the very pressure of temptations, and in the very +wrestlings of their souls, they poured out their hearts like Jacob, +not before man, but before God! The Psalms give us, therefore, not +only the works and words of the saints, but the very hidden treasure +of their hearts’ feelings—the very inmost sensations and motions of +their soul. + +Wouldst thou see, then, the face and countenance of David, which he +carried under all those perils and sorrows with which the Lord +exercised him?—then read the Psalms; and they will give thee not only +the outward David, but, more expressively still, the inner David; and +that more descriptively than he could do it himself, if he were to +talk with you face to face. What then are all other histories, which +band about the singular works, and I know not what miracles of the +saints? I can see all the works and the miracles of the saints in +these everywhere-to-be-had records, but I can see nothing of the +feelings and sensations of their hearts. + +As, therefore, I had much rather hear David or any such eminent saint +speak, than merely see the works or exercises of his body; so, much +rather would I know the inmost thoughts of David’s heart, and the +inward conflicts and struggles of his faith. With this knowledge the +Psalms furnish us most satisfactorily; so that from them we can know +what he felt and what all the saints felt, under their temptations, +from the ardent expressions and effusions which are uttered. For the +human heart is like a ship in the midst of the sea, which is exposed +to the perils of the winds and the waves on every side, and made as it +were their sport. For as the ship is suddenly assaulted, so trouble, +and the fear of future evil, like a sudden tempest, assaults and +disarms our minds: and then flow in cowardice of spirit, and sorrow of +heart, which, like the waves, run over us and threaten to overwhelm us +every moment. By and by, again, the confidence inspired by prosperity +carries us up to heaven in full sail; and then, security under our +present prospects dashes unexpectedly our ship against a rock. These, +I say, and the numberless other evils and perils of this life, tend to +arouse and stir up the saints, and teach and bring them to sigh and +groan from the recesses within, to pour out their whole hearts, and to +cry with their whole souls unto heaven. The complaints of those who +thus grieve and groan in truth, are far more ardent than theirs’ who +only feign sorrows and straits of mind: just as the man, who feels +joyful and glad in reality, discovers a far greater gladness, +hilarity, and exultation in his countenance, expressions, and whole +appearance, than he who only smoothes his brows with a feigned +rejoicing. + +The expressions contained in the Psalms, then, as I have said, are +uttered under the true and real feelings of the heart; and the greater +part of them contain the pathetic and ardent utterances of the heart +under every kind of affliction and temptation. But wherever the +feelings of joy are described, you will never find the sensations of a +heart, filled with gladness and exultation, more significantly and +expressively described, than in the Psalms of thanksgiving, or the +Psalms of praise. There you may look into the hearts of the saints, as +into paradise, or into the opened heaven; and may see, in the greatest +variety, all the beautiful and flourishing flowers, or the most +brilliant stars, as it were, of their upspringing affections towards +God for his benefits and blessings. + +On the other hand, you will never find the straits, the sorrows, and +the pains of a distressed mind any where described in a more +expressive manner than in the Psalms of temptations, or of complaints; +as in Psalm vi. and the like; where you see all dark and gloomy, all +full of anguish and distress, under a sight and sense of divine wrath, +and the working of despair. + +And so again, where the Psalms are speaking of hope or fear, they so +describe those feelings in their true and native colours, that no +Demosthenes or Cicero could ever equal them in liveliness, or +descriptiveness of expression. For, as I have before observed, the +Psalms have this peculiarity of excellence above all other books of +description,—that the saints, whose feelings and sensations are +therein set forth, did not speak to the wind, under those their +exercises and conflicts, nor to an earthly friend, but unto, and +before, God himself, and in the sight of God. And it is this that +above all things gives a seriousness, and reality to the feelings,—it +is this that affects, as it were, the very bones and the marrow,—when +a creature feels itself speaking in the very sight and presence of its +God! But when we are speaking otherwise, and complaining to a friend, +or to a man only, our necessities are not so keenly and really felt; +our feelings are not so ardent, real, and poignant. + +The Book of Psalms, therefore, as it contains these real feelings of +the saints, is a book so universally adapted and useful to all +Christians, that whatever one that truly fears God may be suffering, +or under what temptation soever he may be, he may find, in the Psalms, +feelings and expressions exactly suited to his case; just as much so +as if the Psalms had been indited and composed from his own personal +afflictions. + +It ought, therefore, godly soul, to be a great consolation to thee +when the Psalms truly suit and delight thee. There is a saying of +Quinctilian left on record, who says, ‘He that is truly delighted with +Cicero may be assured that he has made a good progress:’ which I may +not unappropriately turn thus,—‘He that is really delighted with, and +receives consolation from, the Psalms of David, may be assured that he +has arrived at some knowledge and experience in divine things.’ For +when thou findest thyself under the same feelings that David was; when +the chords and strings of his harp are really re-echoed by the +feelings and sensations of thy heart; thou mayest assure thyself that +thou art in the congregation of the elect of God; seeing that thou art +afflicted in the same manner as they were afflicted, and that thou +prayest with the same faith, sensations, and affections as they +prayed. Whereas, to a cold and frigid reader, destitute of faith, all +these Psalms are insipid and unengaging. + +Again, the Psalms are those parts of the lives of the saints, which +you may most safely copy and imitate. Other lives and histories, which +do not set forth the words and expressions, but certain works of the +saints, contain many things of the saints which we cannot imitate, +such as certain signs and wonders, and demonstrations of divine power. +And indeed some of the recorded works of those who are considered to +have been saints, are such that you cannot imitate them without +eminent peril; being such works as cause sects and heresies, and draw +us away from the unity of the Spirit; of which we have abundant proof +in monkery. But the Psalms call us away from all sects and divisions, +to the unity of the Spirit. They teach us to maintain fear in +prosperity, and not to cast away our hope in adversity; and thus to be +of the same mind, to have the same desires, and to have the same +feelings and sensations with all the saints. + +In a word, if you desire to see the Christian church painted forth, as +it were, in a most beautiful picture, and in the most lively and +descriptive colours, then take the Psalms into thy hands; this will be +as an all-clear mirror, which will represent to thee the whole church +in its true features; and if thou be one that fears God it will +present to thee a true picture of thyself: so that, according to the +maxim of the philosopher of old, γνωθι σεαυτον, thou wilt, by this +book, come to a true knowledge of thyself, nay, and also of God and +all creatures. + +Let us therefore watch over our hearts, and see that we be thankful in +this our day for this revelation of the word, for this unspeakable +gift of God. Let us use these precious gifts to the glory of God, and +the good of our neighbour, lest we be made to suffer the deserved +punishment of our ingratitude. For not many years ago, during that +barbarous blindness and ignorance, what a treasure should we have had, +if we had possessed one Psalm only, really and truly understood and +set forth; but we had not so much as one! And now we are blessed with +such an abundance of revelation—“Blessed therefore are the eyes which +see the things that we see, and the ears which hear the things that we +hear.” But how do I fear lest, like the Israelites in the desert, we +should at length nauseate this manna and say, “Our souls loathe this +light food.” But however, the despisers of the word shall bear their +judgment, whoever they are, even as the Israelites bore the awful +judgments wherewith God punished them. But may the Father of all +mercies and the God of all consolation, keep and increase in us the +knowledge of his word, for Jesus Christ our Lord’s sake: to whom, for +this Book of Psalms, and for all the excellent gifts which he has +richly bestowed upon us, be praise and glory, for ever and ever! Amen! + + + + +MARTIN LUTHER’S INTRODUCTORY ADMONITION. + + +Before I commence my SUMMARIES, or SUBJECT-CONTENTS of the Psalms, I +would desire the reader to bear in mind that the Psalms contained in +this Book of David are of five different kinds. + +1. Some Psalms are Prophecies concerning Christ, the church, the +different states of the church, and the various afflictions of the +saints, &c. To this class belong all those Psalms which contain +promises and threatenings,—promises concerning the deliverances and +salvation of the godly; and threatenings concerning the destruction of +the wicked. + +2. There are some Psalms which teach us what we ought to do, and what +we ought not to do, according to the law of God. To this kind belong +all those Psalms which condemn human doctrines, and extol the majesty +and authority of the word of God. + +3. There are Psalms of consolation; which comfort and lift up the +hearts of those who are distressed, tempted, and afflicted by Satan +and the world: and which, on the other hand, rebuke and terrify +tyrants. To this class belong all those Psalms which minister +consolation to the godly, and threaten the oppressors with the +judgments of God. + +4. There are supplicatory Psalms, wherein the prophet and others in +their afflictions call upon God in prayer and implore his help. To +this class belong all those Psalms which complain of persecutions from +the wicked. + +5. There are also Psalms of thanksgiving; wherein thanks are rendered +to God for all his mercies and benefits, and for his deliverance in +various times of need. To this class belong all those Psalms which +celebrate the praises of God and laud him for his works. These are the +principal Psalms in the whole Book; and these peculiarly come under +the denomination of Psalms: for the whole Book was expressly written +to praise God and to worship him according to the First Commandment. +Hence, in the Hebrew, the Book is called SEPHER IL CHILLIM: that is, +the Book of Praises and Thanksgivings. + +The reader, however, is to bear in mind also, that the Psalms are not +to be understood in a superstitious manner. He is not to suppose that +every Psalm must be divided into these five particulars in certain +verses; for some Psalms contain two of these particulars, some three, +and some all five of them: for, very often, the same Psalm contains +prophecy, doctrine, consolation, supplication and thanksgiving. But I +have just made these remarks, that the reader may know that the Psalms +contain these five particulars; for knowing that, is of great help, +not only to the understanding of them, but to the perceiving of their +order, to the bearing of them in memory, and to the perfect knowledge +of them. + + + + +THE BOOK OF PSALMS. + + + + +PSALM I. + +_The happiness of the godly.—The unhappiness of the ungodly._ + + +Blessed _is_ the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, +nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the +scornful. + +But his delight _is_ in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he +meditate day and night. + +And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that +bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not +wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. + +The ungodly _are_ not so: but _are_ like the chaff which the wind +driveth away. + +Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in +the congregation of the righteous. + +For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the +ungodly shall perish. + + +This first is a Psalm of consolation; by which the hearts of the godly +are encouraged and stirred up to magnify above all things the word of +God, in which the whole of true life and salvation stands; and to +hear, read, weigh, and meditate on it with a willingness of mind. For +this Psalm shows, that those only are truly blessed, prosperous in all +things, and enjoy a firm, sure, and eternal consolation both in +prosperity and adversity, who are enabled to learn and know, from his +word, the will and the works of God. + +Thus, as a tall palm-tree by the water-side continually grows upwards +higher and higher against all the violence of storms, retains its +strength against all the weights that man can put upon it, and, by a +secret growth, becomes daily more and more flourishing, and brings +forth its fruits in its season; so, saith this Psalm, do the saints +increase and grow continually by the Spirit and word; so are they +rendered more and more firm and constant, and invincible against every +evil; so do they daily become more fortified against all the +calamities of life. + +This Psalm denies, on the other hand, that any knowledge of God or any +true consolation can be derived from human doctrines, how fair a show +soever they may make. The wicked, (saith it,) and hypocrites, are like +the chaff that is scattered by the wind: that is, the wicked are +utterly destroyed by afflictions, at least in death; they endure not +in temptation, but by and by separate themselves from the assembly of +the righteous, and at length come to nought. + +God looks upon those alone who worship him by hearing, learning, and +declaring his word; and these are they whom this Psalm pronounces +“blessed.” He disregards all the rest, who are hypocrites and +pharisaical worshippers; he despises all their good works and +worshippings, and leaves them to perish in their blindness. + +This Psalm flows from the Third Commandment, and has respect unto that +which is there written: “Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath +day;” that is, that thou hear, read, meditate on, and ponder the word +of God. And the sum of this Psalm is comprehended in the Lord’s +Prayer, in the second and third petitions, where we pray, that the +kingdom of God may increase and be edified by his word, and at length +be revealed in its perfection, and that his will may be done: and both +of these petitions are answered, when the word of God, which abideth +for ever, is purely taught and learnt, and seriously and diligently +used and pondered. + + + + +PSALM II. + +_The kingdom of Christ.—Kings are exhorted to accept it._ + + +Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? + +The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel +together, against the LORD, and against his Anointed, _saying_, + +Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. + +He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them +in derision. + +Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore +displeasure. + +Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. + +I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou _art_ my +Son; this day have I begotten thee. + +Ask of me, and I shall give _thee_ the heathen _for_ thine +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth _for_ thy +possession. + +Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in +pieces like a potter’s vessel. + +Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the +earth. + +Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. + +Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish _from_ the way, when his +wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed _are_ all they that put their +trust in him. + + +This Psalm is a remarkable prophecy concerning Christ: it is cited by +the apostles in the Acts, chapter iv.: it predicted that Christ should +suffer, be crucified, and glorified, and that he should be King and +Lord of all creatures; that to him should be given all power both in +heaven and in earth, and that his name should be above every name that +is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. + +This Psalm contains also a description of the kingdom of Christ and +the terrible threatenings of God against the kings, the princes, the +wise, and the powerful of the world; that they shall all perish, who, +being carried away with the pride of human reason and carnal wisdom, +do not acknowledge this King, Christ, nor obey his gospel; but who +oppose his kingdom, and endeavour to blot out his name. + +On the other hand, this Psalm contains most consoling promises, +namely, that he that sitteth in the heavens, (in comparison of whom +all the kings of the earth are mere worms,) holds in derision, and in +a moment defeats, all their counsels and all their crafty devices +against his word and this kingdom of Christ; and that he ever +powerfully and miraculously saves, preserves, delivers, and prospers +believers, and the whole church throughout the world, in the midst of +the kingdom of the devil, and against all the powers and the gates of +hell. + +This Psalm flows from the First Commandment; where God declares that +he alone will be our God, to save us and deliver us from all +afflictions. Thus, it was he alone that delivered us, through Christ, +from sin, from death, from the power of the devil, and from hell, and +gave unto us eternal life. This pertains to the second petition of the +Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come.” + + + + +PSALM III. + +_The security of God’s protection._ + +A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. + + +LORD, how are they increased that trouble me? many _are_ they that +rise up against me. + +Many _there be_ which say of my soul, _There is_ no help for him in +God. Selah. + +But thou O LORD, _art_ a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of +mine head. + +I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy +hill. Selah. + +I laid me down and slept; I awaked: for the LORD sustained me. + +I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set +_themselves_ against me round about. + +Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine +enemies _upon_ the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the +ungodly. + +Salvation _belongeth_ unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. +Selah. + + +This Psalm is a prayer of David in the time of his greatest +affliction, and under the severest trial he ever experienced. And here +we have set before us a signal example of this greatest and most +spiritual of men—David; how he, in the time of Absalom, when all +Israel revolted from him and went over to Absalom; how this eminent +saint, I say, who was now an exile, forsaken by all, betrayed by those +of his own household, and in the midst of the most appalling peril of +his own life and salvation; how, when sinking under this heavy +calamity, and struggling in this agony, he prayed unto God in faith; +and what a fervency of heart there was in these his cries unto him. + +In a word,—in this Psalm, David, with a wonderful feeling of mind, and +a signal experience of faith, extols, in the highest strains, the +greatness of the long-suffering and goodness of God, when he says, +“Salvation is of the Lord!” As if he had said, The Lord is he alone +who has all salvation in his hand, and all the issues of life and +death. He sets up and changes kingdoms in a moment, just as he wills. +No peril is so great, no death so instant, from which he cannot +deliver his own, if they but call upon him in true faith, and flee +unto him alone. + +This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment, wherein it is said, +“I am the Lord thy God;” and it is comprehended in the seventh +petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray, “Deliver us from evil.” + + + + +PSALM IV. + +_David prayeth for audience.—He reproveth and exhorteth his +enemies.—Man’s happiness is in God’s favour._ + +To the chief Musician on Neginoth. A Psalm of David. + + +Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me +_when I was_ in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. + +O ye sons of men, how long _will ye turn_ my glory into shame? _how +long_ will ye love vanity, _and_ seek after leasing? Selah. + +But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: +the Lord will hear when I call unto him. + +Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, +and be still. Selah. + +Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. + +_There be_ many that say, Who will shew us _any_ good? LORD, lift thou +up the light of thy countenance upon us. + +Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time _that_ their +corn and their wine increased. + +I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only +makest me dwell in safety. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation: yet it at the same time teaches us to +bear afflictions patiently, to expect the help of God, and to trust in +him in all adversities. For that greatest of all wisdom, true and real +Christian wisdom, is unknown to the world: which wisdom is, to learn +and to know, by daily temptations and by various trials of faith, that +God exercises his people in all these afflictions, to the end that +they may understand his will; and that his design in exposing them to +the all-bitter hatred of the world and the devil, is, that he might +save, deliver, comfort, strengthen, and glorify them in a wonderful +manner, in the midst of perils, and even in death itself; and that he +might make known his conflicting church as being invincible, through +faith and the word, in the midst of the kingdom of the devil, against +all the storms of the world, and under all the clouds, darkness, and +tempests of temptations of every kind. + +This Psalm also most severely strikes at all hypocrites and wicked men +of every description, who, before the eyes of the world, would have us +believe that they are the only true saints and the people of God; who +even say that they worship God, while they know nothing of him; for in +the time of affliction, they tremble with cowardly fear, and +impatiently mutter in their hearts against God and his holy will; they +soon forget his words and his works, and, wickedly forsaking him who +alone is able to comfort them, cease from expecting his aid, hate the +cross, and seek for human consolation: whereas, there is no sure +consolation to be obtained either from friends or from all the +resources of human help; for in God alone is sure consolation; and +that is all-sure, and eternal; which no creature can take away, either +in this world or in that which is to come. + +This peace and consolation of God, however, is not like the peace of +the world. For, “Know ye, (saith David) that the Lord dealeth +wonderfully with his saints:” he casts them down, that he may raise +them up; he afflicts them that he may minister consolation unto them; +he humbles them that he may exalt them; he makes them sorrowful that +he may make them glad: in a word, he kills them that he may make them +alive. + +The agonizing struggles of the godly, therefore, in this life against +sin, and the devil who unceasingly assaults them, and desires to sift +them as wheat, are their exercises of faith and patience: from which +exercises those that fear God learn more satisfactorily to know his +presence;—that he is ever present with them; and that he will never +leave nor forsake those that believe in him, but will ever +marvellously deliver, save and rescue them from all their deaths and +destructions. + +But the wicked and hypocrites, how much soever they may talk about God +with their lips, yet hate God, and hate this his will in the +afflictions of his saints; as it is written in the first +commandment—“Unto them that hate me.” And again, as Paul saith—“Whose +God is their belly.” These characters wish first, and above all +things, that all theirs,—their fortunes, their property, their +friends, should be safe; and they trust in their riches and +possessions. All such, therefore, deride this doctrine of faith: and +if any one should preach to such this patience, and this word of the +cross, they would laugh at it, and would boast of their holiness and +religion in opposition to those who truly fear God. They would say, +‘What! are we to be taught what is right by such a fool as you? Are +you to teach us what is good, and what the true worship of God is?’ + +This Psalm also pertains to the First Commandment. It teaches us to +trust in God both in prosperity and adversity, and patiently to wait +for his help, calling upon him with earnestness and constancy. The +subject matter of this Psalm is contained in the third and seventh +petition of the Lord’s Prayer—“Thy will be done,” and “Deliver us from +evil:” and also in the fourth, where we pray, “that there may be given +us our daily bread:” that is, peace, and all those things that are +required unto the sustaining of this life, against all the various +evils of poverty, hunger, and want; with which things the devil, in an +especial manner, exercises the church of God in this world. + + + + +PSALM V. + +_David prayeth, and professeth his study in prayer.—God favoureth not +the wicked.—David, professing his faith, prayeth unto God to guide +him—and to preserve the godly._ + +To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth. A Psalm of David. + + +Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my meditation. + +Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee +will I pray. + +My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I +direct _my prayer_ unto thee, and will look up. + +For thou _art_ not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither +shall evil dwell with thee. + +The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of +iniquity. + +Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the +bloody and deceitful man. + +But as for me, I will come _into_ thy house in the multitude of thy +mercy; _and_ in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. + +Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies; make +thy way straight before my face. + +For _there is_ no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part _is_ +very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with +their tongue. + +Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels: cast +them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have +rebelled against thee. + +But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever +shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love +thy name be joyful in thee. + +For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou +compass him as _with_ a shield. + + +This Psalm is an earnest prayer against that most destructive +pestilence in the church—false teachers: and all ages, from Cain, the +first man that was born, the first hypocrite after the creation of +Adam, and the first “man of blood,” have had their Cainish saints, +their false prophets, their false apostles, and their fanatic spirits; +who have taught their own human dreams, and their own traditions for +the word of God, and resolutely contended for their own Cainish +holiness, ever burning with an insatiable thirst to drink the blood of +the Abels, the true saints: and these Christ has called, in his +gospel, “vipers.” + +It is at the blasphemies of these against God, and their cruelty +towards men, that this Psalm strikes; and openly exposes the persons +themselves as most virulent hypocrites, in whose doctrine and works +there is nothing but outside daubing, nothing but doubting and +disquietude, and a whole slaughter-house of consciences. These +characters suppress the true word, the doctrine of faith, and the true +worship of God; namely, the worship required by the First Commandment: +and there is no end to their rage against those that fear God: they +cause horrid devastations in the church, and load her with an infinity +of injuries. + +Against the destructive influence of these, therefore, David prays in +this Psalm;—that it would please God to prevent the persecuting and +Cain-like counsels of such hypocrites, and all crafty and +blood-thirsty characters of the kind, and, amid all this bitter and +furious hatred of the world and the devil, and such an infinity of +cruelty in all their adversaries, to defend, comfort, prop up, and +protect the godly; to confound the hypocrisy of the wicked, to root +out all false worship; to cause the true word and the true worship of +God to spread and flourish, and to glorify the true church in the face +of the false one, under all the outward daubing and show of the +latter. + +In the last verse, David appends a most glorious promise;—that, +although those who truly fear God are cruelly treated by those +hypocrites, it shall yet come to pass that the godly shall at length +rejoice that their prayers are heard, and shall see the judgments of +God openly fall upon the hypocrites and fanatics, and the true church +defended and preserved. + +This Psalm has reference to the Second and Third Commandments of the +Decalogue, and to the first and second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer; +where we pray “that the name of the Lord may be sanctified and +glorified,” against the pride and gloryings of such hypocrites. + + + + +PSALM VI. + +_David’s complaint in his sickness.—By faith he triumpheth over his +enemies._ + +To the chief Musician, on Neginoth upon Sheminith. A Psalm of David. + + +O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot +displeasure. + +Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I _am_ weak: O LORD, heal me; for my +bones are vexed. + +My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long? + +Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake. + +For in death _there is_ no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall +give thee thanks? + +I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I +water my couch with my tears. + +Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all +mine enemies. + +Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard +the voice of my weeping. + +The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer. + +Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return _and_ +be ashamed suddenly. + + +This Psalm is a prayer full of those mental exercises that are felt +under the deepest and most secret temptations which can only be known +by experience, because no words can describe them; for they are those +feelings under which the saints agonize in those bitter and +unutterable conflicts which are wholly unknown to the world: they are +those feelings, I say, under which they agonize when struggling with +sin, the law, and the wrath and judgment of God: all which are +experienced in the hours of darkness, while the devil is horribly +tempting and pressing in upon them. + +These internal fears and terrors, under which all the godly agonize +and sweat, will, of necessity, one day wholly swallow up the +hypocrites who are destitute of the word. Here it is, that in the +godly, there is an unspeakable conflict of justice with sin; the law, +and wrath of God, with a confidence in his mercy; and faith and hope, +with desperation and despair; though the godly are at length delivered +and saved. These terrors the scripture calls in other places, and +especially in the Psalms, “the pains of hell,” and, “the snares of +death.” + +But this Psalm expressly shews in the end, that the sighs and groans +of the godly under these agonizing conflicts, these pains, and these +straits of soul, shall surely be heard. This Psalm, therefore, and +others like it, open to us a view of the heart of David, and afford +the greatest consolation to the godly. For they shew, that, although +the saints thus deeply agonize under these straits, and under these +terrible and open views of the wrath of God, yet, that these +temptations which appear to be infinite and endless, shall surely have +an end, and that God will never forsake those who fear him, in their +terrors and conflicts with death and hell. + +On the other hand, the prophet, in this Psalm, with a wonderful zeal +of spirit, and with the most cutting sharpness and severity, strikes +at all the wicked of the world: and, above all, he condemns all secure +hypocrites and pharisaical ministers; calling them, notwithstanding +their outward appearance of being saints,—“workers of iniquity;” who +persecute all afflicted and true Christians with the bitterness of +Cain, and cease not to hate them with all the virulence of Satan; +adding grief to their grief, and affliction to their affliction. + +‘Away with ye,’ saith he, ‘ye hypocrites. I have learnt that I have a +God to go to; but ye are ignorant both of God and of his works. Ye +know not what an awful weight the wrath of God is, and how great and +soul-refreshing a thing the remission of sins, the knowledge of +eternal life, and the experience of grace, are. Ye worship God with +your mouths and with your lips; ye trust in your own righteousnesses +and works, not knowing what God and what sin are; and therefore ye are +most cruel and most bitter enemies to the word and true worship of +God; in which worship, the greatest and most acceptable sacrifice is a +spirit thus pressed into straits and afflicted.’ + +This Psalm has reference to the First and Second Commandment; it +contains the agonizing conflict of faith, and calls upon God against +the force of sin and death. And it refers also to the first petition +of the Lord’s Prayer; as do also the other supplicatory Psalms. For, +to supplicate and pray, is to sanctify and call upon the name of the +Lord. + + + + +PSALM VII. + +_David prayeth against the malice of his enemies, professing his +innocency.—By faith he seeth his defence, and the destruction of his +enemies._ + +Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the LORD, concerning the words +of Cush the Benjamite. + + +O LORD my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that +persecute me, and deliver me; + +Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending _it_ in pieces, while _there +is_ none to deliver. + +O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; + +If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I +have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy;) + +Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take _it_; yea, let him tread +down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah. + +Arise, O LORD, in thine anger; lift up thyself, because of the rage of +mine enemies; and awake for me _to_ the judgment _that_ thou hast +commanded. + +So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their +sakes, therefore, return thou on high. + +The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my +righteousness, and according to mine integrity _that is_ in me. + +Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the +just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. + +My defence _is_ of God, which saveth the upright in heart. + +God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry _with the wicked_ every +day. + +If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow and made +it ready. + +He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth +his arrows against the persecutors. + +Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and +brought forth falsehood. + +He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch _which_ he +made. + +His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing +shall come down upon his own pate. + +I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing +praise to the name of the LORD Most High. + + +This is a prayer against that common and usual blasphemy with which +the world accuses the prophets, apostles, and all others who fear God, +as being seditious persons, who destroy the peace and general +tranquility of the state: as Shimei bitterly upbraided David, when +under that heavy affliction in the time of Absalom, calling him a +bloody man, and saying that he had invaded the kingdom of Saul, &c. In +the same way the Jews accused Christ before Pilate. And in the same +way also now do certain hypocrites,—bishops and other enemies, against +all conscience, brand the professors of the gospel with the +appellation of ‘seditious persons.’ + +Against all trials of this kind, which are indeed most bitter to bear, +the prophet fights by prayer unto God, calling upon God to bear +witness to his innocency. And then, to encourage and comfort all that +fear God, he shews, that all who thus pray are heard; and he sets +forth himself as an example. + +Lastly, he threatens a horrid, sudden, and momentary judgment to those +hypocrites and tyrants, who thus rage against the godly with the most +bitter hatred: and he signifies that all such shall in the end perish +like Absalom, who was cut off and died in a new, sudden, and dreadful +way, in the midst of his furious career, before he could accomplish +that which he had planned. + +This Psalm refers to the second precept in the Decalogue, and to the +first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM VIII. + +_God’s glory is magnified by his works, and by his love to man._ + +To the chief Musician upon Gittith. A Psalm of David. + + +O LORD our Lord, how excellent _is_ thy name in all the earth! who +hast set thy glory above the heavens. + +Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, +because of thine enemies; that thou mightest still the enemy and the +avenger. + +When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the +stars, which thou hast ordained; + +What _is_ man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that +thou visitest him? + +For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast +crowned him with glory and honour. + +Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou +hast put all _things_ under his feet: + +All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; + +The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, _and whatsoever_ passeth +through the paths of the seas. + +O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! + + +This is a prophecy concerning Christ,—concerning his passion, his +resurrection, and his dominion over all creatures; and it is thus that +the apostle cites it, Ephes. i. with reference to the kingdom of +Christ: where he foretels, that the power and might of his kingdom +will be invincible against all enemies, how violent soever they may be +in their determination to wreak their vengeance:—that is, that he will +be victoriously mighty against all the wise and the powerful of the +world, and against all hypocrites and pharisaical saints:—that he will +be invincible and victorious, I say, not by arms, nor by mighty forces +of horse and foot, but by the word of his gospel; which shall be +preached by “babes and sucklings,” (that is, by humble men, men who +are weak and contemptible in the sight of the world,) and believed in +by his church of poor, afflicted, crying, and complaining +creatures:—that this word of the gospel, I repeat, preached and +believed in by such poor creatures, shall nevertheless confound all +the wisdom of the world, and break and crush under it all the strength +of the world, and that no creature power whatever shall impede it in +its work and course, but that it shall stand firmer than the heaven, +or the sun, or the moon, and shall endure for evermore! + +This Psalm pertains to the First Commandment, where God declares that +he will be our God: and also to the second petition of the Lord’s +Prayer, as I have before observed under Psalm II. + + + + +PSALM IX. + +_David praiseth God for executing of judgment.—He inciteth others to +praise him.—He prayeth that he may have cause to praise him._ + +To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben. A Psalm of David. + + +I will praise _thee_, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth +all thy marvellous works. + +I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O +thou Most High. + +When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy +presence. + +For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the +throne judging right. + +Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou +hast put out their name for ever and ever. + +O thou enemy! destructions are come to a perpetual end; and thou hast +destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them. + +But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for +judgment; + +And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister +judgment to the people in uprightness. + +The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of +trouble. + +And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, +LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee. + +Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the +people his doings. + +When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he +forgetteth not the cry of the humble. + +Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble _which I suffer_ of +them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: + +That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of +Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. + +The heathen are sunk down in the pit _that_ they made: in the net +which they hid is their own foot taken. + +The LORD is known _by_ the judgment _which_ he executeth: the wicked +is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. + +The wicked shall be turned into hell, _and_ all the nations that +forget God. + +For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the +poor shall _not_ perish for ever. + +Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy +sight. + +Put them in fear, O LORD; _that_ the nations may know themselves _to +be but_ men. Selah. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy: its title is “concerning the beautiful +youth:” that is, concerning the children that are born anew in Christ, +the people of God and the church of God. For the people and sons of +God, and his new-born children by faith in Christ, must be conformed +to the image of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ. + +Christians and the true sons of God are variously afflicted in the +world; and the blood of the innocents is daily shed by the fury and +cruelty of Satan, raging against the word and the works of God. These +are the flourishing and undefiled youth, the sons and children of God, +of whom the title of the Psalm speaks; who are blameless, without +rebuke, and babes in the midst of wolves, and among a perverse +generation. + +This Psalm has its striking descriptions of persons: and the prophecy +which it contains is written in the manner of a thanksgiving: and +therefore it may be numbered among the consolatory Psalms. For, (as is +generally the case with these spiritual canticles and songs,) the +Prophet here speaks in his own person, and in that of all the saints +also who are afflicted for the word of God’s sake: all of whom give +thanks with wonderful sensations of heart, that God does not forsake +his own. But God requires, at times, the tears and the blood of the +saints: though he preserves and saves his Church, and renders her +invincible against sword or fire, and against all the power of enemies +temporal or spiritual, nay, in the midst of blood and death; and he +raises her up, as it were, from the blood, slaughter, and ashes of the +saints, and makes her flourish again and increase the more, in a +wonderful manner, in this and that part of the world: so that many, +even of the most bitter enemies, have been converted to the faith, and +even a Saul has been made a Paul; and sometimes also the judgments of +God have fallen on the wicked, and they have perished before the eyes +of the godly. + +This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment of the Decalogue, +and to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, as we have observed +concerning the preceding Psalm. + + + + +PSALM X. + +_David complaineth to God of the outrage of the wicked.—He prayeth for +remedy.—He professeth his confidence._ + + +Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? _Why_ hidest thou _thyself_ in +times of trouble? + +The wicked in _his_ pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken +in the devices that they have imagined. + +For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the +covetous, _whom_ the Lord abhorreth. + +The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek _after +God_: God _is_ not in all his thoughts. + +His ways are always grievous; thy judgments _are_ far above out of his +sight: _as for_ all his enemies, he puffeth at them. + +He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for _I shall_ never +_be_ in adversity. + +His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud: under his tongue +_is_ mischief and vanity. + +He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places +doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily laid against the +poor. + +He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to +catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his +net. + +He croucheth, _and_ humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his +strong ones. + +He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he +will never see _it_. + +Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. + +Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou +wilt not require _it_. + +Thou hast seen _it_; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite +_it_ with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art +the helper of the fatherless. + +Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil _man_: seek out his +wickedness _till_ thou find none. + +The LORD _is_ King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of +his land. + +LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare +their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear: + +To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth +may no more oppress. + + +This Psalm is a fervent prayer, and contains complaints of the deepest +concern against Antichrist, that most atrocious enemy of God and the +gospel, who will ever assail and lay waste the church, not by force +and tyranny only, but with all the πανᴕργίᾳ of Satan, all his frauds +and impostures, and with an infinite variety of outside deception and +hypocrisy. + +This “Man of Sin” is descriptively pourtrayed in the present +Psalm;—that he really rages against the body with the sword, ruins and +destroys souls by his all-crafty and infinite hypocrisy, and with his +sweet poison of false doctrines, and imposing forms of worship; but +that he has no concern whatever about teaching any one kindly and with +gentleness, nor instructing them seriously unto godliness or true +comfort, but has his mouth ever full of cursing and deceit. + +This we have manifested in the kingdom of the Pope, and in the tyranny +of the Romish-church. All those fulminating and thundering +excommunications are mere execrations and _cursing_, by which he has +wished to make himself, and has succeeded in making himself, +formidable even to kings, under the false pretence of the apostolic +name, and divine authority. And his ‘_craft_’ and lies are all that +infinite and inexplicable variety of hypocrisy and traditions of men; +together with all that outward whitewash of holiness, and those +deceptive forms of worship, by means of which, and his delusions of +masses at one time, and of indulgences at another, this Antichrist +ceases not to turn to wicked lucre all things human and divine, under +the blasphemous cover and pretext of the name of God. + +In the end of the Psalm we have a consolation; which declares that +such an abomination shall, in the end of the world, be revealed, and, +having been made openly manifest by the sudden judgment of God, shall +be rooted out. + +This Psalm has reference to the Second Commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer; as have all the Psalms of supplication. + + + + +PSALM XI. + +_David encourageth himself in God against his enemies.—The providence +and justice of God._ + +To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. + + +In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, flee _as_ a bird to +your mountain? + +For, lo, the wicked bend _their_ bow, they make ready their arrow upon +the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. + +If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? + +The LORD _is_ in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne _is_ in heaven: +his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. + +The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth +violence his soul hateth. + +Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an +horrible tempest: _this shall be_ the portion of their cup. + +For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth +behold the upright. + + +This Psalm is a complaint against erroneous and fanatical spirits: of +which kind are all those who in the present day draw men astray from +the pure and true doctrine of faith, and from the true worship of God, +(which stands in true faith and the fear of God in the heart,) to +hypocrisy, which has always an outward show of something great and +wonderful:—these, I say, are the erroneous and fanatics, who thus draw +away men like so many birds, and make them fly over to their +mountains: that is, make them turn easily over to hypocrisy, and +white-wash holiness, which, in outward show, appears to be something +great and wonderful, and a firm rock, whereas it is all a thing of +nought. + +David ascribes to these characters that which is the peculiar +characteristic of hypocrites,—that they arrogantly, proudly, and with +high looks, despise and deride the truly godly. What, say they, can +that righteous one, that fine fellow of a Christian, that poor +miserable creature, do? + +In the end we have a consolation that God will certainly hear, and +regard the afflicted; that he will be present with them, and show them +by manifest tokens of his hand that he will not forsake them, and that +he will, by horrible judgment, take vengeance on scoffers of this +kind; on these pharisees and other enemies of David. + +This Psalm has reference to the Second precept of the Decalogue, and +to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XII. + +_David, destitute of human comfort, craveth help of God.—He comforteth +himself with God’s judgments on the wicked, and confidence in God’s +tried promises._ + +To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, a Psalm of David. + + +Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from +among the children of men. + +They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: _with_ flattering lips +_and_ with a double heart do they speak. + +The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, _and_ the tongue that +speaketh proud things; + +Who have said, with our tongue will we prevail; our lips _are_ our +own: who _is_ lord over us? + +For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will +I arise, saith the LORD; I will set _him_ in safety _from him that_ +puffeth at him. + +The words of the LORD _are_ pure words: _as_ silver tried in a furnace +of earth, purified seven times. + +Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this +generation for ever. + +The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted. + + +This is a prayer containing a heavy complaint against them, who, +introduce human doctrines instead of the word of God, and who, +afterwards, by various new traditions and forms of worship disturb the +church, and fill all things with a white-wash show of religion, and +with the outward daubing of pharisaism and hypocrisy, so that wicked +men and hypocrites reign on every side, as the last verse complains. +For when human doctrines have once invaded the church, they go on to +rage far and wide, and spread in all directions like a cancer; there +is no end to their corruption and destructive influence; they take +possession of all things and wonderfully vex and torment consciences: +so that the number of the true saints and of those that truly fear God +is few and small indeed: of this the infinite variety of papistical +hypocrisy affords a manifest example. + +But we are consoled and comforted under all these afflictions by the +consideration that God always raises up in his church, sometimes in +this place and sometimes in that, his salvation; that is, his word and +gospel; which, while the prophets, apostles, and other ministers +throughout the world, boldly and plainly teach against all heresy, +they detect and bring to light false doctrines, and overturn all false +worship; for where the salvation of God is, (that is, the saving word +of Christ and his gospel) it burns up and consumes, like a +suddenly-kindled fire, all the chaff and straw of human traditions, +and delivers oppressed consciences. + +This, however, never takes place without afflictions, and the cross in +various forms. But as gold and silver are proved by the fire, so the +true knowledge and purity of the word is not preserved in the church +but by means of the truly spiritual and godly, who for the word’s sake +are exercised without and within by Satan, with various temptations: +for these, like gold, are proved in the fire, and thus grow daily and +flourish in the knowledge of the gospel, and the great things of God. + +This Psalm refers to the second and third precept of the Decalogue, +and to the first and second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XIII. + +_David complaineth of delay in help.—He prayeth for preventing +grace.—He boasteth of divine mercy._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. + + +How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou +hide thy face from me? + +How long shall I take counsel in my soul, _having_ sorrow in my heart +daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? + +Consider _and_ hear me, O LORD my God; lighten mine eyes lest I sleep +the _sleep_ of death; + +Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; _and_ those that +trouble me rejoice when I am moved. + +But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy +salvation. + +I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. + + +This is a prayer full of the sighings and groanings of an afflicted +heart in the hour of darkness, and almost overwhelmed, under that +darkness, with the extreme of grief and sorrow, and driven to the +greatest strait of mind. Of which sorrow the spirit of sadness +himself, the devil, is the author, who casts the unwary into these +temptations and perturbations in a moment, when he finds them unarmed +with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God; which unarmed state he +himself causes by turning away our eyes from the promises and the word +of God, to look at the incredible ingratitude and iniquity of the +world, at the perplexed variety of offences, and at the greatness of +the perils which must be undergone for the sake of God’s word and of +his holy name. For it cannot be but that even a man of a sound mind +must be thrown into tribulation when he considers with what infernal +arts, with what stratagems of deceit, and with what bitter and Cainish +hatred, Satan and wicked men oppose themselves to the word of God; and +then, what fallings away and what monstrous instances of ingratitude +there are among those who pretend to be with us; all which offences +Satan raises up through the instrumentality of those who are unwilling +to appear not to be followers of godliness. + +But the prayer of the church has great power; it breaks through and +victoriously overcomes all hatred, all perils, and all snares, how +craftily soever they may be laid; and faith is more powerful than any +violence or storm of temptation. “This (saith John) is the victory +that overcometh the world, even our faith.” And this Psalm gives us an +example of that faith which enables us to stand fast in the midst of +death, and not to doubt that God is able, and will deliver us from our +terrible straits, and comfort us after all our fears; and which +teaches to believe that we shall struggle through all our distress +victoriously, though it may appear to be endless, if we do but turn +ourselves away from all dark and dismal appearances of things, lay +hold of that which is true and real, and lift ourselves up against the +weight that lays upon us, by resting in the consolation of the word of +the Lord: as James saith, “Is any afflicted, let him pray.” + +This Psalm also refers to the second precept, and to the first and +last petition of the Lord’s Prayer; where we pray “Hallowed be thy +name,” and “Deliver us from evil.” + + + + +PSALM XIV. + +_David describeth the corruption of a natural man.—He convinceth the +wicked by the light of their conscience.—He glorieth in the salvation +of God._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. + + +The fool hath said in his heart, _There_ is no God. They are corrupt; +they have done abominable works; _there is_ none that doeth good. + +The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if +there were any that did understand, _and_ seek God. + +They are all gone aside, they are _all_ together become filthy: _there +is_ none that doeth good, no, not one. + +Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people +_as_ they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD. + +There were they in great fear: for God _is_ in the generation of the +righteous. + +Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his +refuge. + +Oh that the salvation of Israel _were come_ out of Zion! when the LORD +bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, _and_ +Israel shall be glad. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy; and it also teaches us, that all human +doctrines and works without faith are an abomination in the sight of +God; and that the God of all such hypocrites (of which kind are the +pope and his papists) is their belly; for they serve their belly, not +God or Christ, and devour widow’s houses. + +But such hypocrites, although they have always in their mouth the name +of God, and boast of the law and the works of the law, know not what +the true worship of God is, but always hate and persecute the name and +word of God, but the true doctrine, concerning faith and the fear of +God, they will not hear. + +Against such characters as these we must fight by prayer; which prayer +will certainly be heard, as is intimated in the last verse of this +Psalm, which promises the kingdom and dominion of Christ. For this +Psalm especially strikes at those seemingly holy pharisees, those +teachers of the law, who, before the coming of Christ, by enforcing +works and the righteousness of the law, were cruel torturers, and +tormented men’s consciences. And this Psalm promises that wished-for +day of Christ, and the redemption that should be wrought by his +coming. For the gospel was revealed from Zion, and the Spirit was +poured out upon the apostles at Jerusalem. + +This Psalm has reference to the First and Second Commandment: for it +gloriously exalts the word of God and promises the day of salvation, +that is, of Christ: but it rebukes hypocrites who despise the true +worship of God, and his faith and fear, and who serve not God but +their own belly. And it refers also to the first and second petition +of the Lord’s Prayer: where we pray, “Hallowed be thy name; Thy +kingdom come.” + + + + +PSALM XV. + +_David describeth a citizen of Zion._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy +hill? + +He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the +truth in his heart. + +_He that_ backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his +neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. + +In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that +fear the LORD. _He that_ sweareth to _his own_ hurt, and changeth not. + +_He that_ putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward +against the innocent. He that doeth these _things_ shall never be +moved. + + +This Psalm strikes at the hypocrites who say that holiness stands in +the pretended works of the law of God, or in the vain and foolish +works of human invention and tradition; and it teaches us how to +understand the law of God rightly, and to live godly and righteously. +It shows us that we are to walk in the spirit and to mortify the +desires of the flesh. For the sum of all godliness is this;—to love +and worship God with a pure heart by faith, and then, to direct our +lives for the good of our neighbour; and to avoid all those things +which militate against these two; that is, to shun all hypocrisy and +pretended holiness, which militates against both faith and love: for +such an one is ignorant of the true worship of God, and neglects all +truly good works, which should be done for the benefit of his +neighbour. + +It has reference to the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, concerning +keeping holy the sabbath day, which is done when we hear and learn the +word. And it refers also to the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XVI. + +_David, in distrust of merits, and hatred of idolatry, fleeth to God +for preservation.—He sheweth the hope of his calling, of the +resurrection, and life everlasting._ + +Michtam of David. + + +Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. + +_O my soul_, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou _art_ my Lord: my +goodness _extendeth_ not to thee; + +_But_ to the saints that _are_ in the earth, and _to_ the excellent, +in whom _is_ all my delight. + +Their sorrows shall be multiplied _that_ hasten _after_ another _god_; +their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their +names into my lips. + +The LORD _is_ the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou +maintainest my lot. + +The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant _places_; yea, I have a +goodly heritage. + +I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also +instruct me in the night-seasons. + +I have set the LORD always before me: because _he is_ at my right +hand, I shall not be moved. + +Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also +shall rest in hope. + +For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer +thine Holy One to see corruption. + +Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence _is_ fulness of +joy; at thy right hand _there are_ pleasures for evermore. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the passion and resurrection of Christ; +and the apostles quote it, Acts ii. and xiii. as having a striking +reference to Christ. + +This is a glorious Psalm and a precious jewel among all the Psalms on +this account,—because it shows forth in clear words that all that +splendid and magnificent worship of the law of Moses, its sacrifices, +its sabbath worship, its circumcision, in all which the Jews so +unceasingly boasted, is done away with by the gospel; for in the +fourth verse, David plainly says, that those who follow works and the +righteousness of the law, follow strange gods and idols: and he shows +that the Jews, although a sacred people, should be rejected, and +another people chosen, even a people who should believe in Christ, who +were the true elect, inheritance, and peculiar people of God. + +This Psalm also has reference to the First, Second, and Third +Commandments; for it foretels a new glory of God, a new work and word, +and that new kind of worship which was to be revealed to the world: +and it refers also to the first and second petitions of the Lord’s +Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XVII. + +_David, in confidence of his integrity, craveth defence of God against +his enemies.—He sheweth their pride, craft, and eagerness.—He prayeth +against them in confidence of his hope._ + +A Prayer of David. + + +Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, +_that goeth_ not out of feigned lips. + +Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold +the things that are equal. + +Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited _me_ in the night; thou +hast tried me, _and_ shalt find nothing; I am purposed _that_ my mouth +shall not transgress. + +Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept _me +from_ the paths of the destroyer. + +Hold up my goings in thy paths, _that_ my footsteps slip not. + +I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine +ear unto me, _and hear_ my speech. + +Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right +hand them which put their trust _in thee_, from those that rise up +_against them_. + +Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy +wings. + +From the wicked that oppress me, _from_ my deadly enemies, _who_ +compass me about. + +They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak +proudly. + +They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes +bowing down to the earth; + +Like as a lion _that_ is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young +lion lurking in secret places. + +Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down; deliver my soul from the +wicked, _which is_ thy sword: + +From men _which are_ thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, _which +have_ their portion in _this_ life, and whose belly thou fillest with +thy hid _treasure_ they are full of children, and leave the rest of +their substance to their babes. + +As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be +satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness. + + +This Psalm is a prayer against false teachers, and those very delicate +saints, that is, hypocrites, who by their human doctrines, call men +off from the word of God, and hate and persecute the truly godly +teachers. These are the characters whom Paul also calls “enemies of +the cross of Christ:” for they are not willing to suffer anything for +God’s sake, but shun the cross; but make a pretext of the name and +worship of God, and under all the artifices of their hypocrisy, seek +nothing else than earthly advantages, honors, wealth, the favour of +men, and the pleasures and gratifications of the world. Hence David +calls them, in the last verse but one, ‘men of this world,’ and ‘men +of this life.’ Of this kind also are all those animals of the belly in +monasteries, those cumberers of the earth, the monks, and lazy +priests. + +This Psalm also has reference to the Second and Third Commandments, +and to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray +“Hallowed be thy name.” + + + + +PSALM XVIII. + +_David praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous blessings._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who +spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD +delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of +Saul: And he said, + + +I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. + +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: and darkness _was_ under his +feet. + +And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings +of the wind. + +He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him _were_ +dark waters _and_ thick clouds of the skies. + +At the brightness _that was_ before him his thick clouds passed, hail +_stones_ and coals of fire. + +The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his +voice; hail _stones_ and coals of fire. + +Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out +lightnings and discomfited them. + +Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the +world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the +breath of thy nostrils. + +He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. + +He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: +for they were too strong for me. + +They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. + +He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because +he delighted in me. + +The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the +cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me. + +For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed +from my God. + +For all his judgments _were_ before me, and I did not put away his +statutes from me. + +I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. + +Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, +according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. + +With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man +thou wilt shew thyself upright. + +With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou +wilt shew thyself froward. + +For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high +looks. + +For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my +darkness. + +For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped +over a wall. + +_As for_ God, his way _is_ perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he +_is_ a buckler to all those that trust in him. + +For who _is_ God save the LORD? or who _is_ a rock save our God? + +_It is_ God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. + +He maketh my feet like hinds’ _feet_ and setteth me upon my high +places. + +He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine +arms. + +Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right +hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. + +Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. + +I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them; neither did I turn +again till they were consumed. + +I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen +under my feet. + +For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast +subdued under me those that rose up against me. + +Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might +destroy them that hate me. + +They cried, but _there was_ none to save _them_: _even_ +unto the LORD, but he answered them not. + +Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast +them out as the dirt in the streets. + +Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; _and_ thou +hast made me the head of the heathen: a people _whom_ I have not known +shall serve me. + +As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall +submit themselves unto me. + +The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close +places. + +The LORD liveth; and blessed _be_ my rock; and let the God of my +salvation be exalted. + +_It is_ God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people unto me. + +He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above +those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent +man. + +Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and +sing praises unto thy name. + +Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his +anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in which David gives thanks to God +(as the title of the Psalm shows) because of his deliverance from all +his enemies. And this Psalm I should divide into four parts, for David +had combatted with four kinds of enemies—King Saul, the neighbouring +nations, his son Absalom, and his seditious subjects. + +At the beginning of the Psalm, in the first six verses, David +describes the greatness of his perils, his distresses and his straits +in the midst of so many and great afflictions, out of which the Lord +delivered him, “The sorrows of hell (saith he) compassed me about, +&c.” + +Then in the seventh verse, after the manner of the prophets, he +alludes in his song of praise to the deliverance out of Egypt, and to +those mighty works at Mount Sinai and in the Red Sea; intimating, that +as God then powerfully delivered his people from the midst of death, +so, he also more than once had been delivered by the powerful arm and +the high hand of God, again, as it were from the hand of Pharaoh, and +from the midst of surrounding death. + +And then again, when he says verses 16, and 17, “He delivered me from +my strong enemies and from them that were mightier than I,” he alludes +to King Saul, who had persecuted him with hostile hatred and +bitterness for the word of God’s sake, because he was chosen from on +high to be King and to be his successor. + +At verse 28, he celebrates the goodness of God who stands by the +humble and those who are despised by the world and defends them +against the proud and the mighty: as he did in giving David the +victory over Goliah, the Philistines, the Amalekites, and other +nations. + +At verse 34, he intimates something respecting his third and domestic +adversary his son Absalom, who, on that account, was by far the more +dreadful and atrocious enemy. + +Then at verse 42, he gives thanks to God who so wonderfully stood by +him against the crafty counsels and snares of the seditious, of which +kind was Siba and, in the time of Absalom almost the whole of Israel. +For this most excellent and most godly king had many national and +domestic enemies, and seditious citizens; so much so, that, as he +himself here says, many gentile nations were far more kind and +obedient to him than his own people. + +Therefore any afflicted one, especially if in magisterial office, may +use this Psalm in giving thanks to God for his deliverance out of +various perils and distresses which fall upon those who govern the +state, or who are set over the Church. + +And if any one wishes to understand the Psalm allegorically, David +signifies here Christ; Saul signifies the Jews; the nations that +persecuted David, the tyrants of the world who set themselves against +the Gospel; Absalom, heretics who proceed out from us but are not of +us; the seditious subjects, outside-show-Christians who sound forth +Christ with their mouth, but in their heart are far from him: from all +which this afflicted David, that is, Christ and those who are +Christians, are at length delivered. + +This Psalm belongs to the second precept of the Decalogue, and to the +first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XIX. + +_The creatures show God’s glory.—The word his grace.—David prayeth for +grace._ + +To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. + + +The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his +handy-work. + +Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. + +_There is_ no speech nor language _where_ their voice is not heard. + +Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the +end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun; + +Which _is_ as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, _and_ rejoiceth +as a strong man to run a race. + +His going forth _is_ from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto +the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. + +The law of the LORD _is_ perfect, converting the soul: the testimony +of the LORD _is_ sure, making wise the simple: + +The statutes of the LORD _are_ right, rejoicing the heart: the +commandment of the LORD _is_ pure, enlightening the eyes: + +The fear of the LORD _is_ clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of +the LORD _are_ true _and_ righteous altogether. + +More to be desired _are they_ than gold; yea, than much fine gold; +sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb. + +Moreover, by them is thy servant warned: _and_ in keeping of them +_there is_ great reward. + +Who can understand _his_ errors! cleanse thou me from secret _faults_. + +Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous _sins_: let them not have +dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent +from the great transgression. + +Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be +acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the preaching of the Gospel to every +creature under the whole heaven wherever the wide earth extends. “Day +unto day, (saith David) uttereth the word;” that is, ‘from day to +day;’ or, day and night shall the Gospel be propagated by the voice of +the apostles and the ministers of the word, farther and farther; and +that, not only in Judea but every where in all the earth, and in all +languages throughout the world.—And says David, as by the life-giving +light of the Sun, all things in nature are illuminated, recreated, and +cherished: so this new light, this voice of the Gospel shall illumine +the world, and, by communicating the Spirit, shall revive and purify +the hearts of men, and shall lift up and comfort distressed +consciences. + +Here also David intimates, that the old law which was the ministration +of death was to be done away with; and that the Gospel was to succeed, +which should be the ministration of life and of the Spirit; and which +should be a word sweet and lovely, illumining the eyes and purifying +the heart. + +This Psalm belongs to the Third Commandment; for it shews us what is +the true Sabbath, namely, the day or time, in which the Gospel should +be preached throughout the whole world and received by those who +should believe it. + + + + +PSALM XX. + +_The Church blesseth the King in his exploits.—Her confidence in God’s +succour._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. + + +The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob +defend thee. + +Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion. + +Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. + +Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. + +We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will +set up _our_ banners: the LORD fulfil all thy petitions. + +Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed: he will hear him from +his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. + +Some _trust_ in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the +name of the LORD our God. + +They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen and stand upright. + +Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call. + + +This is a prayer for kings, rulers, magistrates, and all who sustain +that most heavy burthen of governing the state:—that God, in such +momentous concerns, to which all human diligence and wisdom are +unequal (as even heathen rulers have confessed from their own +experience), would stand by magistrates when exposed to the hatred of +all, to their secret councils and plans of deceit; and would keep all +subjects in their duty, and give his blessing in the preservation of a +good and happy constitution, and public peace; especially when Satan +with horrible hatred against God and the works of God, is endeavouring +to destroy the constitutions of kingdoms, and to confound all things +with slaughter and blood-shed. + +Those great and eminently spiritual men who produced this and the like +Psalms, plainly saw that such great and important matters could not be +managed and governed by any human wisdom or human counsels; and +therefore they wished to pen forms of prayer of this kind for the +safety of magistrates and transmit them to posterity. For such prayers +as these were especially necessary for the people of God at that time, +when David and other godly rulers after him, were continually +exercised with new enemies and new afflictions, and those the most +severely distressing.—Therefore all Kings and Rulers are fools who do +not seek for, and expect, the happy government and the success of +their affairs from heaven. + +This Psalm belongs to the second commandment, as do all the other +supplicatory Psalms; for it contains a calling upon the name of the +Lord. And it belongs also to the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, +where we pray that the will of God, not of the devil, may be done. + + + + +PSALM XXI. + +_A thanksgiving for victory.—Confidence of further success._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. + + +The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord: and in thy salvation how +greatly shall he rejoice! + +Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the +request of his lips. Selah. + +For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a +crown of pure gold on his head. + +He asked life of thee, _and_ thou gavest _it_ him, _even_ length of +days for ever and ever. + +His glory _is_ great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou +laid upon him. + +For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him +exceeding glad with thy countenance. + +For the king trusteth in the LORD; and, through the mercy of the Most +High, he shall not be moved. + +Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies; thy right hand shall find +out those that hate thee. + +Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the +LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour +them. + +Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from +among the children of men. + +For they intended evil against thee; they imagined a mischievous +device, _which_ they are not able _to perform_: + +Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, _when_ thou shalt make +ready _thine arrows_ upon thy strings against the face of them. + +Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: _so_ will we sing and +praise thy power. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ;—that his kingdom +shall be temporal and eternal. The beginning of the Psalm gloriously +predicts that it shall come to pass that this king and this people +shall rejoice in this kingdom, and that the glory of it shall be +great. But you must understand that all this will be, not before the +world or according to the flesh, but in God. For Christ entered into +glory through the flesh and by the cross. + +This Psalm foretels also that this kingdom, that is, the Church of +Christ, although afflicted before the world, shall be enriched with +spiritual blessings and glorified; and that this word of grace and the +remission of sins, this joyful and all-sweet Gospel shall be diffused +abroad among all nations, and that the godly and those that believe, +shall rejoice and be glad, and exult in it with a full and perfect +joy, which no creature shall be able to destroy or to take away. + +On the other hand, David shews that the Jews who opposed this counsel +of God, and the whole of their kingdom should be destroyed by the +awful judgment of God, “Thou shalt make them (says he) to turn their +back;” that is, because that people opposed themselves to the Gospel, +and crucified Christ, thou shalt afflict them with heavy calamities; +and, having rejected the people destroyed their kingdom, and having +done away with, and abrogated the whole of their law and worship for +which they so furiously fight, thou shalt reduce them to a miserable +slavery, so that they shall be oppressed under a foreign yoke and +laws, and shall thus suffer the punishment due to their sins. + +This Psalm belongs to the first commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer: for it foretells of a people that +should not be under the law of Moses, but in a kingdom of rejoicing +and thanksgiving, and it speaks of a new manner of worship. + + + + +PSALM XXII. + +_David complaineth in great discouragement.—He prayeth in great +distress.—He praiseth God._ + +To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. + + +My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? _why art thou so_ far from +helping me, _and from_ the words of my roaring? + +O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou hearest not; and in the +night-season, and am not silent. + +But thou _art_ holy, O _thou_ that inhabitest the praises of Israel. + +Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver +them. + +They cried unto thee, and were delivered; they trusted in thee, and +were not confounded. + +But I _am_ a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the +people. + +All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they +shake the head, _saying_, + +He trusted on the LORD _that_ he would deliver him; let him deliver +him, seeing he delighted in him. + +But thou _art_ he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me +hope _when I was_ upon my mother’s breasts. + +I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou _art_ my God from my mother’s +belly. + +Be not far from me, for trouble _is_ near; for _there_ is none to +help. + +Many bulls have compassed me: strong _bulls_ of Bashan have beset me +round. + +They gaped upon me _with_ their mouths, _as_ a ravening and a roaring +lion. + +I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my +heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. + +My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my +jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. + +For dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed +me: they pierced my hands and my feet. + +I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. + +They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. + +But be not thou far from me, O LORD; O my strength, haste thee to help +me. + +Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. + +Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns +of the unicorns. + +I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the +congregation will I praise thee. + +Ye that fear the LORD, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify +him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. + +For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, +neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he +heard. + +My praise _shall be_ of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my +vows before them that fear him. + +The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the LORD that +seek him: your heart shall live for ever. + +All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the LORD; and +all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. + +For the kingdom _is_ the LORD’S; and he _is_ the governor among the +nations. + +All _they that be_ fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that +go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his +own soul. + +A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the LORD for a +generation. + +They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people +that shall be born, that he hath done _this_. + + +This Psalm is a kind of gem among the Psalms that contain prophecies +concerning Christ and his kingdom, and it is peculiarly excellent and +remarkable. For here, if anywhere, it may be said that David does not +seem to be delivering a prophecy of the future, but a history of the +past; a history of circumstances that took place within his own sight +and knowledge; for his expressions concerning Christ are not at all +more obscure than those of Peter or Paul, or any other of the +Apostles: and he speaks of Christ being nailed to the tree, and of the +piercing of his hands and his feet, as if the whole had taken place +before his own natural sight. + +This Psalm contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of +Christ, when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine +wrath and death, which surpass all human thought and comprehension. +And I know not whether any Psalm throughout the whole Book contains +matter more weighty, or from which the hearts of the godly can so +truly perceive those sighs and groans, inexpressible by man, which +their Lord and head Jesus Christ uttered when conflicting for us in +the midst of death, and in the midst of the pains and terrors of hell. +Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have +any acquaintance with these temptations of faith, and these spiritual +conflicts. + +Let Epicureans despise these things: examples of this kind will be +more precious to the truly godly and spiritual, whether they be found +in Christ himself, or (as St. Peter saith,) in our brethren that are +in the world, than all the treasures and riches of which the world can +boast. + +David as I said, describes most clearly and expressively the +sufferings of Christ, so much so, that you seem to see the +circumstances to take place before your eyes. And as he so clearly +pourtrays the forerunning sufferings of Christ, so does he with equal +plainness set forth the glories which followed them; for in the end of +the Psalm he shows that Christ should be delivered from the mouth of +the lion and of the dog, and from the midst of death and sufferings, +and should, through his resurrection wrought by divine power, be +glorified; that his Gospel should be preached, not only among that +people and in that kingdom, such narrow limits, but throughout all the +nations and kingdoms of the world; that the fat ones of the earth, +that is the rich and powerful of this world, and the poor also, should +be converted unto Christ; that his Church should be eternal, and his +posterity infinite; and that as King he should be adored throughout +the whole world, that his name should be praised and celebrated +throughout all ages, and his kingdom endure for ever, and remain +invincible against all the kingdoms of the world, and against all +creatures. + +The Psalm belongs to the first commandment of the Decalogue, for it +foretels a new worship of God; and it has reference to the first +petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXIII. + +_David’s confidence in God’s grace._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +The LORD _is_ my shepherd; I shall not want. + +He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the +still waters. + +He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for +his name’s sake. + +Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will +fear no evil: for thou _art_ with me; thy rod and thy staff they +comfort me. + +Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou +anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. + +Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and +I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. + + +This Psalm is a remarkable offering of thanks to God for the gift and +reception of the word: and it contains the description of a godly +heart acknowledging how incomparable and unspeakable a blessing and +gift of God the knowledge of his word is. It also gloriously declares +and extols the greatness of the goodness and mercy of God in leading +us in the right way, and in lifting us up and consoling us under every +temptation, while hypocrites are left to walk in their own crooked +ways. + +Under a beautiful similitude he compares himself to a sheep, in +seeking, (if perchance it has strayed) saving, defending and feeding +which, the faithful shepherd spares no labour nor anxiety. And as, +under a good and watchful shepherd, the sheep have fattening pastures, +and wholesome brooks and fountains; so do the godly find all these +same pastures for their hearts in the word which God has provided for +them. + +David alludes in this Psalm to the table and shew bread, and to the +balsam and the oil of gladness. For God will feed and comfort the +Ministers of the word, and the hearers, and will gladden them with his +cup though they are made sorrowful by the world. + +He calls the word of God a shepherd’s staff, refreshing waters, green +pastures, that by all such similitudes he may show that true +salvation, settled peace, and sure and eternal consolation are +established in men’s consciences by the word of God only. + +This Psalm belongs to the Third Commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXIV. + +_God’s lordship in the world.—The citizens of his spiritual +kingdom.—An exhortation to receive him._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +The earth _is_ the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and +they that dwell therein. + +For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the +floods. + +Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his +holy place? + +He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his +soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. + +He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from +the God of his salvation. + +This _is_ the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O +Jacob. Selah. + +Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting +doors; and the King of glory shall come in. + +Who _is_ this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD +mighty in battle. + +Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift _them_ up, ye everlasting +doors: and the King of glory shall come in. + +Who _is_ this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he _is_ the King of +glory. Selah. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ to be spread +and extended throughout the whole world by the Gospel. + +By a striking apostrophe David turns himself to the kings, princes, +and wise ones of the earth, and the men of power and authority, whom +he calls after the genius of the Hebrew language, the ‘gates of the +world.’ Remember, (saith he to such,) that the earth is the Lord’s, he +is Lord of all. It was he that gave you your kingdoms. He has set up +his Christ as King over all, whom if ye adore and acknowledge not, ye +shall perish together with your kingdoms, and shall be dashed in +pieces like a potter’s vessel. + +He exhorts such to acknowledge themselves sinners: for these powerful +ones, these pharisees and these wise ones of the world, being blinded +with a conceited opinion of human wisdom and righteousness, are above +all others enfuriated against the Gospel: for when the kingdom of +grace and of the remission of sins is preached; when this Christ is +declared and proclaimed by the Gospel to be the only King of eternal +peace, the only victorious King over sin, death, and the devil; then +these tyrants and powerful ones of the world immediately burst out +with their cry of pride “Who is this King of Glory? Who?” As if they +should say, what! Shall those poor abject fishermen, those dross of +the earth teach us? Shall they, instead of the law of Moses, and +instead of the religion which we received from our forefathers, force +upon us this new worship of God, and this King of theirs who was +hanged upon the cross? Shall they persuade us to believe such dreams +as these? + +This Psalm, therefore, at the same time intimates that this kingdom of +Christ should not be corporeal or earthly, nor of such a kind as +should destroy political governments: but a kingdom in which the +preachers of it should bring into subjection unto Christ the world and +the kingdoms of the world by the word and the Gospel. + +To this kingdom (says David) kings and rulers shall oppose themselves +and shall crucify the King and Lord of Glory, and shall persecute the +Apostles and Ministers of the word: but he nevertheless shall break +through all kingdoms, and in defiance of every opposer shall enter +into the world and reign by the Gospel in the midst of his enemies: he +shall give to his Apostles a mouth and wisdom which none of their +adversaries shall be able to gainsay or resist: and while the +mightiest kingdoms of the earth, as Daniel saith, shall be moved and +destroyed, this eternal king shall endure for ever and be truly +manifested to be the Lord of victory and of glory. + +It has reference to the First Commandment of the Decalogue, and to the +first, second, and third petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXV. + +_David’s confidence in prayer.—He prayeth for remission of sins, and +for help in affliction._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. + +O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed; let not mine enemies +triumph over me. + +Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which +transgress without cause. + +Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, +and teach me: for thou _art_ the God of my salvation; on thee do I +wait all the day. + +Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindnesses; for +they _have been_ ever of old. + +Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to +thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD. + +Good and upright _is_ the LORD; therefore will he teach sinners in the +way. + +The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his +way. + +All the paths of the LORD _are_ mercy and truth unto such as keep his +covenant and his testimonies. + +For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it _is_ great. + +What man _is_ he that feareth the LORD? Him shall he teach in the way +_that_ he shall choose; + +His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. + +The secret of the LORD _is_ with them that fear him; and he will show +them his covenant. + +Mine eyes _are_ ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out +of the net. + +Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I _am_ desolate and +afflicted. + +The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my +distresses. + +Look upon mine affliction, and my pain: and forgive all my sins. + +Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel +hatred. + +O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my +trust in thee. + +Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee. + +Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. + + +This is a prayer in which the prophet prays, with wonderful fervency +of heart, to be strengthened in the faith and in the love of the Word, +although he should have on this account great and bitter enemies in +the world: that is, that he may not be broken down in mind by the +afflictions, nor by the greatness and multiplicity of his own +encompassing infirmities when he saw that Epicurean hypocrites +despised the true religion and the true word with so much confidence +and secure presumption, as if they were things in which it was a +disgrace for men of a sound mind and a liberal education to be in the +least engaged. + +Ah Lord (saith David) preserve and glorify thy name and thy word. Let +us (saith he) who are thus derided, spit upon, and, for thy sake, well +nigh overwhelmed in the midst of so many afflictions and so many +offences, not be confounded, but let us expect thy consolations. Let +those haughty hypocrites and despisers be confounded both before God +and men, who, on account of their carnal wisdom and powers, and +riches, and other things of this world which they admire and value, so +despise thy word and thy worship, that they deem it a disgrace to have +such things in their thoughts. Our eyes (saith he) are unto thee O +Lord? Do thou, if there be any infirmity in us, pardon it. Keep us in +the knowledge of thy holy word and of that mystery of thine which is +hidden from the world, and stand by us in our great straits and +perils. + +This Psalm belongs to the Second Commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXVI. + +_David resorteth unto God in confidence of his integrity._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted +also in the LORD; _therefore_ I shall not slide. + +Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. + +For thy loving-kindness _is_ before mine eyes; and I have walked in +thy truth. + +I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with +dissemblers. + +I have hated the congregation of evil-doers; and will not sit with the +wicked. + +I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O +LORD? + +That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy +wondrous works. + +LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where +thine honour dwelleth. + +Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men; + +In whose hands _is_ mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. + +But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be +merciful unto me. + +My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless +the LORD. + + +This is a prayer unto God, containing a complaint against hypocrites +who want to be justified by the works of the law, and who always +persecute the true doctrine of faith and condemn its supporters for +heretics. David calls these characters dissemblers, heretics, bloody +men, wicked persons. For although they boast of great sanctity, yet +their hearts are full of hatred and bitterness against God, and craft +and iniquity against their neighbour: as Christ says of all such +pharisees when he rebukes them by Luke, “Ye are they who justify +yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts.” For such worship +God with their lips, but their heart is far from him: they worship him +not in truth, but do all for gain. + +In a word they serve not God but Mammon and their own belly: as Paul +saith to the Philippians. And this Psalm saith, “And their right hand +is full of bribes.” Yet their hypocrisy has a wonderful outside +appearance. And indeed the false church who has power and dominion on +her side, has always a more wonderful and showy appearance than the +true, which lies hidden under the various forms of the cross. + +Therefore we have need to pray in no slothful manner that God would +preserve us in his true Church, and would not suffer us to be mingled +and carried away with these characters, lest we have our portion with +such hypocrites, whose end, though they may for a time make a show +before the world, shall be destruction, and whose glory shall be +turned into confusion: as we have seen it exemplified in the Pope and +his kingdom. + +This Psalm belongs to the Third Commandment, and to the first and +second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer: for it speaks of the true +worship and kingdom of God. + + + + +PSALM XXVII. + +_David sustaineth his faith by the power of God, by his love to the +service of God, by prayer._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +The LORD _is_ my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD +_is_ the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? + +When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up +my flesh, they stumbled and fell. + +Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; +though war should rise against me, in this _will_ I be confident. + +One _thing_ have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I +may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold +the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple. + +For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the +secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me: he shall set me upon a +rock. + +And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about +me: therefore will I offer in this tabernacle sacrifices of joy: I +will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. + +Hear, O LORD, _when_ I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and +answer me. + +_When thou saidst_, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy +face, Lord, will I seek. + +Hide not thy face _far_ from me; put not thy servant away in anger: +thou hast been my help: leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my +salvation. + +When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me +up. + +Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine +enemies. + +Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses +are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. + +_I had fainted_, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD +in the land of the living. + +Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine +heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. + + +This Psalm is a thanksgiving, containing also a prayer and consolation +against false teachers. + +David having been taught and exercised by such great afflictions, by +so many perils and sorrows, and by such fiery conflicts, for the +word’s sake, and having been supported therein against the devil, and +the world, now finds a greater truth and reliance on God, and is more +encouraged and fortified against all his enemies. + +The Lord (saith he) is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? +That is, the Lord hath so often and so wonderfully comforted me under, +and so powerfully delivered me from, various darknesses and storms of +temptations, that he will not leave nor forsake me in time to come. If +God, then, be for me, who can be against me? If God uphold me, what +power or violence of the enemy can cast me down, or who can destroy +me? + +I will not fear thousands of enemies (says he) though they should +raise up war against me. All that I am anxious about is this one +thing;—that I may remain and dwell in the house of the Lord; that is, +in the true church, and among those where the word of God is purely +and sincerely taught and learned. If I can hold fast this jewel I am +rich. For if I hold fast the word of God, no terrors, how great soever +they may be, nor even death itself, can destroy my light and my life; +that is, my sure and eternal consolation. But if I love not the word, +no human consolations, how great soever they may be, will be able to +afford me that light and life. + +David directs the whole of this Psalm against hypocrites and false +teachers, who are so soon carried away from the word, and who teach +human things and seduce men’s consciences. Here he calls these +characters false witnesses; that is, such as nothing can shame, and +who know not how to blush. The audacity of these inexperienced +characters is prodigious, who, without any calling, and without the +word, boastingly make use of the name of God and seduce men, and do +infinite damage both to the state and to the church. For we generally +find it to be the case, that the more inexperienced such characters +are, and the more devoid of spiritual things, the more easily they +rush forth to teach: and such as these are those fanatical spirits who +afterwards raise up divisions and sects against the truly godly. + +This Psalm belongs to the First and Second Commandments, and to the +first and second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXVIII. + +_David prayeth earnestly against his enemies.—He blesseth God.—He +prayeth for the people._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, _if_ +thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. + +Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift +up my hands toward thy holy oracle. + +Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, +which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief _is_ in their +hearts. + +Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of +their endeavours; give them after the work of their hands; render to +them their desert. + +Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of +his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my +supplications. + +The LORD _is_ my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and +I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song +will I praise him. + +The LORD _is_ their strength, and he _is_ the saving strength of his +anointed. + +Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift +them up for ever. + + +This is a prayer of David, which in his time he used against Saul, and +others like him; but especially against all those Cainish hypocrites +who in word pretended to desire peace, but burned with secret hatred +in their hearts. Such a viper as this was Absalom, his son, against +him; and such an one also was Joab against Amasa and Abner, 2 Kings +iii. David, therefore, fearing lest the same things should be laid to +his charge, prays, “Draw me not away with the wicked, nor with the +workers of iniquity.” + +We may use the Psalm against tyrants and fanatical spirits; for in +this way are tyrants and persecutors of the word wont to pretend peace +in word, and yet secretly plan counsels of slaughter and murder all +the while. And so also fanatical spirits and all false prophets boast +with ‘big swelling words’ of the word of God, and tumultuously cry out +that they seek the glory and the worship of God, and promise nothing +but divine and heavenly things, and yet seek all the while their own +advantage and their own glory, destroying souls, and walking about in +sheep’s clothing, while they are inwardly nothing but ravening wolves. + +This Psalm belongs to the second and third precept, and to the first +and second petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXIX. + +_David exhorteth princes to give glory to God, by reason of his power, +and protection of his people._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and +strength. + +Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in +the beauty of holiness. + +The voice of the LORD _is_ upon the waters: the God of glory +thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. + +The voice of the LORD _is_ powerful; the voice of the LORD _is_ full +of majesty. + +The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the +cedars of Lebanon. + +He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a +young unicorn. + +The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. + +The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the +wilderness of Kadesh. + +The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the +forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of _his_ glory. + +The LORD sitteth upon the flood: yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever. + +The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his +people with peace. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the spread of the gospel throughout the +whole world, and concerning the preaching of the name of Christ before +kings and nations, and the children of Israel. + +“Give unto the Lord, ye mighty;” that is, ye kings, ye rulers, and ye +wise and rich ones of the world, ye Pharisees and rabbi, acknowledge +your wisdom, righteousness, and all your excellent political virtues, +your works of the law, and all that is high and excellent before men, +to be abomination in the sight of God; repent ye and believe the +gospel, that ye may quit yourselves under that one King and Lord, +Christ, and his church and kingdom, and, by faith and the wisdom of +God, acknowledge Christ, this son of God, to be God; for God, by a +manifest work of his power, in the beginning sent a flood upon the +whole world, and destroyed all flesh; and the same God, by his gospel +and by baptism, will drown and mortify the flesh, that is, the old +fleshly Adam, by a new and spiritual baptism: that as many as are +baptized into Christ, being crucified according to the old Adam, may +be raised up together with the second Adam, and become new men and new +creatures. + +He calls, by a figure, the kingdoms, nations, and powerful cities of +this world, forests; the wilderness of Kadesh, confused places of many +waters, places for hinds to calve, &c. These confused places the Lord +has revealed and discovered, and brought to the light of the gospel. + +This Psalm refers to the third precept, and to the second petition of +the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXX. + +_David praiseth God for his deliverance.—He exhorteth others to praise +him by example of God’s dealing with him._ + +A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the House of David. + + +I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not +made my foes to rejoice over me. + +O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. + +O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me +alive, that I should not go down to the pit. + +Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the +remembrance of his holiness. + +For his anger _endureth but_ a moment; in his favour _is_ life: +weeping may endure for a night, but joy _cometh_ in the morning. + +And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. + +LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou +didst hide thy face, _and_ I was troubled. + +I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD I made supplication. + +What profit _is there_ in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall +the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? + +Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. + +Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my +sackcloth, and girded me with gladness: + +To the end that _my_ glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. +O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. + + +This is a remarkable Psalm, and truly Davidical. Here, with a +wonderful fervency of heart, he gives thanks unto God for having +delivered him from spiritual temptations and unspeakable conflicts +with Satan, and for having refreshed and comforted his heart when +brought down to such a state of weakness, when broken with such views +of misery, terror, and wrath, and when almost overwhelmed with the +greatness of his temptations. “Thou hast (saith he) brought my soul up +from hell:” that is, thou hast enabled me to overcome the violence and +fury of Satan, which never could be overcome by any human power. + +This Psalm contains, as you see, those sublime and heavenly feelings +of one rejoicing in the Holy Ghost, because God has turned such deep +distress, such overwhelming terrors and fears, so many tears and sighs +from the very belly of hell, into a joy that has refreshed and healed +the soul that was just before burning with the fiery darts of the +devil, and with the very flames of hell. + +The Psalm contains also a most sweet consolation: “His anger (says +David) endureth but for a moment: in his favour is life;” that is, +God, although he exercises the godly in these deep temptations, and +these intense agonizings of soul, yet he does not so try them with the +intent to slay them; nor does he afflict, in order to destroy his +people; nor is he the God of misery, of terror, and of death, but the +God of peace and of life, the God of joy and of consolation. + +This Psalm belongs to the third precept and to the first petition of +the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +PSALM XXXI. + +_David, shewing his confidence in God, craveth his help.—He rejoiceth +in his mercy.—He prayeth in his calamity.—He praiseth God for his +goodness._ + +To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. + + +In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver +me in thy righteousness. + +Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, +for an house of defence to save me. + +For thou _art_ my rock and my fortress: therefore, for thy name’s +sake, lead me and guide me. + +Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me; for thou +_art_ my strength. + +Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God +of truth. + +I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. + +I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my +trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities; + +And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my +foot in a large room. + +Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; mine eye is consumed +with grief, _yea_, my soul and my belly. + +For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my +strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. + +I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my +neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me +without fled from me. + +I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I am like a broken vessel. + +For I have heard the slander of many: fear _was_ on every side: while +they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my +life. + +But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou _art_ my God. + +My times _are_ in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, +and from them that persecute me. + +Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ +sake. + +Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the +wicked be ashamed, _and_ let them be silent in the grave. + +Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things +proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. + +_Oh_ how great _is_ thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them +that fear thee; _which_ thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee +before the sons of men! + +Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of +man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of +tongues. + +Blessed _be_ the Lord; for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness +in a strong city. + +For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: +nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications, when I cried +unto thee. + +O love the LORD, all ye his saints: _for_ the LORD preserveth the +faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. + +Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that +hope in the LORD. + + +This Psalm is a thanksgiving, and contains also prayers and +consolations. And the way to arrive at a right understanding of the +deep feelings and circumstances contained in this Psalm, is to know +that this Psalm is the general and continual cry of Christ and his +members, groaning and sighing under the cross and various afflictions. +For the Church is a congregation of afflicted, poor, and tried +persons. The wicked men of the world, the rich, the despisers of all +religion, and the atheistical Epicureans have, as Christ saith, their +consolation; while the godly, the spiritual, and those that believe, +being exposed to the horrible hatred and envy of the devil, are +exercised and distressed through all their life, inwardly with fears +and terrors in their hearts, and outwardly by persecutions, +blasphemies, and contempt for the word of God’s sake; and yet, from +all these they are delivered: for, as St. Paul saith, “Where +afflictions abound, there consolations abound also.” + +This Psalm belongs to the second and third precept, and to the first +and third petition of the Lord’s Prayer. + + + + +ADMONITORY OBSERVATIONS. + + +And here I will cease to show, like a schoolmaster, to which precept +of the Decalogue, and to which member of the Lord’s Prayer each Psalm +belongs; for from what I have already said upon these points, my +seriously-disposed readers will be enabled to observe and judge for +themselves. All the supplicatory Psalms belong to the second precept +and to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, for they honour and +sanctify the name of the Lord. And the Psalms which teach, console, +and give thanks for deliverance, belong to the second and third +precepts of the Decalogue, and also to the first and third petitions +of the Lord’s Prayer: for they teach us how, in truth, to keep holy +the Sabbath day, how to worship God with the true and highest worship, +and how to offer the most acceptable sacrifice; namely, the sacrifice +of praise. And most of the Psalms refer to all those three precepts of +the Decalogue, and to all those petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. + +My reason for giving these hints respecting the commandments, and +petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, to which the different Psalms belong, +in this my brief summary of the contents of the Psalms, is this: to +show that the whole Scripture flows from the Decalogue as from a +fountain; and that in the Ten Commandments and in the Lord’s Prayer +are contained the sum and substance of all theology or divinity; and +that nothing can be taught in the Church more sublime or more +excellent than these two parts of Divine revelation. For we see how +the greatest prophets and Moses himself, drew their great and divine +discourses from the first, the second, and the third Commandments; +and, in a word, from the whole of the Decalogue; how diligently they +weighed every thing and made it harmonize with this; and how they +continually delivered new things, yet all with reference to this great +general Decalogue. Hence indeed it was that Moses, that most eminent +man of God, gave this precept, “These words (says he,) thou shalt +meditate, when thou standest up and when thou liest down; and thou +shalt teach them diligently to thy children,” &c. + +In all their discourses and writings, therefore, the prophets and +apostles allude and refer to the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. From +these Ten Commandments flow all the doctrines, and all the godly +living of the saints: for there is no holiness or godliness of life or +true religion, apart from the Ten Commandments: because they are the +never-failing inexhaustible fountain of all wisdom, righteousness, and +of all perfection in the saints. Nor is there any of the complaints +uttered by the Prophets or Apostles, nor will you find any other in +all their discourses, but that against false prophets, hypocrites and +false teachers, who, disregarding, nay, totally despising and spitting +upon, the true and highest worship of God, (which is that of the first +Commandment, that requires faith and the fear of God,) teach their own +human dreams, which have nothing whatever to do with the Decalogue, +and do not at all belong to it. + +Against these characters it is, (as we see in Moses himself, in +Isaiah, in Jeremiah, and in the epistles of Paul and Peter,) that the +Prophets and Apostles complain bitterly, and that with tears; against +these it is that they cry aloud and wage war with all their powers; +that they might preserve this true and highest worship of God, and +might destroy from among men, hypocrisy and all human doctrines and +fanatical dreams. + + + + +PSALM XXXII. + +_Blessedness consisteth in remission of sins.—Confession of sins +giveth ease to the conscience.—God’s promises bring joy._ + +A Psalm of David, Maschil. + + +Blessed _is he whose_ transgression _is_ forgiven, _whose_ sin _is_ +covered. + +Blessed _is_ the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit _there is_ no guile. + +When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day +long. + +For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned +into the drought of summer. Selah. + +I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I +said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou +forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. + +For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when +thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall +not come nigh unto him. + +Thou _art_ my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou +shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. + +I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I +will guide thee with mine eye. + +Be ye not as the horse, _or_ as the mule, _which_ have no +understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest +they come near unto thee. + +Many sorrows _shall be_ to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the +LORD, mercy shall compass him about. + +Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all +_ye that are_ upright in heart. + + +This Psalm is a very remarkable and valuable one. St. Paul quotes it +in that profound discussion of his, Rom. iv. where he teaches us what +sin is, and how we obtain the remission of sins, and, in a word, how +we are justified before God: for it is in this matter that all +hypocrites so deeply err: because human reason cannot imagine that sin +is accompanied with such great and such infinite guilt before God, and +with a guilt that no human powers nor works can wash away. In a word, +it knows not what sin is, and thinks that it can be washed off, and +taken away by works. + +Whereas David here plainly says, “For this shall every one that is +godly pray:” and he says also, that no one can be justified or +sanctified before God, unless he acknowledge himself to be a sinner, +and know that he is to obtain the remission of sins without any works +and merits, by the mere mercy of God, and by a free and gratuitous +imputation. In a word, our righteousness is not placed in us, or in +our works; but is such, that the remission of our sins is truly and +rightly called the free REMISSION of our sins: and also that our sins +are truly said ‘_not to be imputed_,’ but ‘_to be covered_.’ ‘Blessed +(says David) are they (that is, such are accepted before God, and are +truly righteous and reconciled to God) whose transgressions are +forgiven and whose sins are covered.’ + +Here David says, in plain words, that all the saints are, and still +remain, sinners; and that they are justified and sanctified in no +other way than this;—God of his free mercy, for Christ’s sake, is +pleased not to impute their sins unto them, nor to judge them, but, in +mercy, to forgive them, and cover over their sins, and forget them. +And although in many other respects there is a great difference +between the saints and the wicked, yet, in this point there is no +difference,—they are all equally sinners, and all equally sin every +day. But the sins of the saints are not imputed unto them: they are +covered and forgiven on account of their faith in the promise of free +grace. Whereas the sins of the wicked are imputed unto them, and they +are exposed to the eye and to the awful judgment of God. The wounds of +the latter are not bound up: but the wounds of the former are bound +up, and are cured with healing plasters and oil: and yet they are both +truly wounded and truly sinners! But of this, more in its place; and I +have said much upon it in others of my writings. + + + + +PSALM XXXIII. + +_God is to be praised for his goodness, for his power, and for his +providence.—Confidence is to be placed in God._ + + +Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: _for_ praise is comely for the +upright. + +Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery, and an +instrument of ten strings. + +Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. + +For the word of the LORD _is_ right: and all his works _are done_ in +truth. + +He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the +goodness of the LORD. + +By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of +them by the breath of his mouth. + +He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up +the depth in storehouses. + +Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world +stand in awe of him. + +For he spake, and it was _done_; he commanded, and it stood fast. + +The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the +devices of the people of none effect. + +The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart +to all generations. + +Blessed _is_ the nation whose God _is_ the LORD; _and_ the people +_whom_ he hath chosen for his own inheritance. + +The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. + +From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants +of the earth. + +He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. + +There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is +not delivered by much strength. + +An horse _is_ a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver _any_ +by his great strength. + +Behold, the eye of the LORD _is_ upon them that fear him, upon them +that hope in his mercy: + +To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. + +Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he _is_ our help and our shield. + +For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his +holy name. + +Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. + + +This Psalm is a remarkable thanksgiving, where the prophet calls upon +all the saints, and those that fear God, to rejoice and give thanks +unto God for his preserving the church so wonderfully in the midst of +the world, in the midst of the kingdom of the devil, and exposed to so +many evils and perils on every side,—to give thanks unto God, I say, +who never forsakes the godly, and those that fear him, when tossed to +and fro on such waves of temptation, nor suffers them to be +overwhelmed, nor to perish, though conflicting in so perilous a +manner. + +God, says David, created the heaven and this whole universe of things +by his word. “He spake, and they were made:” therefore he is +omnipotent, and nothing is difficult to him: and hence he can deliver +his own from the midst of death, and from the midst of hell. And then, +again, his goodness and his truth are exceedingly great and infinite. +He regardeth and heareth the afflicted, he is ever present with them +in the hour of temptation: and, as David says in another Psalm, “The +Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” + +Therefore God is not only willing to help and succour the godly, but +to succour them even as a father would his children; even as that +gracious promise which is comprehended in the First Commandment, +declares “I am the Lord thy God:” that is, I will be the Lord thy God: +I will be thy life, thy salvation, thy shield, thy defence, thy +eternal strength, thy eternal salvation, and consolation; thy eternal +and infinite good, against all the evils that can come upon thee:—For +this is to be God! + +In the first place, therefore, David proclaims with great fulness of +expression this unequalled wisdom and power of God,—that God has in +his hand all the hearts and thoughts of all men, kings, rulers and +potentates throughout the whole world; that he turns them and orders +them just as he will; that he governs and overrules all their +deliberations and counsels, and directs them all according to his own +mind and pleasure. “The Lord (saith David) bringeth the counsel of the +heathen to nought:” that is, he wonderfully breaks off and disappoints +the counsels of the wise, of the kings, of the potentates of this +world: and suddenly defeats all the attacks of the enemies against his +people and his church, how sure soever of success they may appear, and +he turns all their destruction upon the heads of the enemies +themselves, so that they cannot perform their enterprises nor +accomplish the devices which they plot against the righteous, but they +fall themselves into the pits which they have digged, and there perish +and rot. + +This is no small consolation to those that fear God, amidst all that +bitterness and Satanic cruelty which the tyrants of this world execute +against the godly, when they fearfully threaten that they will fill +all things with blood if they do not deny Christ and his gospel. These +make no end of their threats, because they are as if they would +terrify God himself, and hurl Christ down from the throne of his +majesty. Whereas God, all the while, holds in his power the thoughts +and imaginations of every one of them, and also their life and the +breath that is in their nostrils: and therefore such are subverted and +destroyed in a moment before they have accomplished their designs. +Only meditate upon all the examples of this since the beginning of the +world. What became of all the counsels of the people of Sodom against +Lot? Where is that great monarch and terror of the world, Sennacherib? +What (to come to our own times) has become of Pope Leo X. and all the +other bitter enemies of the word? + + + + +PSALM XXXIV. + +_David praiseth God, and exhorteth others thereto by his +experience.—They are blessed that trust in God.—He exhorteth to the +fear of God.—The privileges of the righteous._ + +A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who +drove him away, and he departed. + + +I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise _shall_ continually +_be_ in my mouth. + +My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear +_thereof_, and be glad. + +O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. + +I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my +fears. + +They looked unto him, and were lightened; and their faces were not +ashamed. + +This poor man cried, and the LORD heard _him_, and saved him out of +all his troubles. + +The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and +delivereth them. + +O taste and see that the LORD _is_ good: blessed _is_ the man _that_ +trusteth in him. + +O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for _there is_ no want to them that +fear him. + +The young lions do lack and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD +shall not want any good _thing_. + +Come, ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the +LORD. + +What man _is he that_ desireth life, _and_ loveth _many_ days, that he +may see good? + +Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. + +Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it. + +The eyes of the LORD _are_ upon the righteous, and his ears _are open_ +unto their cry. + +The face of the LORD _is_ against them that do evil, to cut off the +remembrance of them from the earth. + +_The righteous_ cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of +all their troubles. + +The LORD _is_ nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth +such as be of a contrite spirit. + +Many _are_ the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth +him out of them all. + +He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. + +Evil shall slay the wicked; and they that hate the righteous shall be +desolate. + +The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them that +trust in him shall be desolate. + + +This Psalm is a remarkable thanksgiving, and is nearly of the same +import with the preceding, as the title of the Psalm, and the sixth +verse show: for David here sets forth himself as an example and proof +before all the godly, to show, that God always hears the prayers and +supplications of the godly, and them that believe, and does not +despise the sighings of the afflicted. + +David here, after a majestic opening of the Psalm, promises that he +will set forth the sum of all godliness. “What man is he (saith the +Psalmist) that desireth life, and loveth many days. Keep thy tongue +from evil, &c.” Here, he requires before all things, the fear of the +Lord, and the worship of the First Commandment: that, cleaving closely +to the word, we might avoid hypocrisy and lying doctrines, and that we +might truly trust in God, endure his will, and not rebel or murmur +against him. And then, that we should live in peace with our +neighbour, not rendering evil for evil, but blessing even our +adversaries and our enemies, and, as much as in us lies, living in +peace with all men, whether they be good or evil. + +For thus does the counsel of God stand, which cannot be changed or +altered,—that the saints should live in affliction in this life. +Wherefore, if thou wilt be a godly man, if thou wilt cleave unto God, +prepare thy soul (as David here saith) to temptations, to the cross, +and to afflictions: for thus it is immutably decreed of God, (as he +says again afterwards) “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” +And again, this firm and eternal counsel of God stands also immutably +fixed,—that it is God’s will to deliver the saints from all these +evils, and so wholly and faithfully so, that not even the least bone +of them shall perish: nay, in the resurrection, and in glorification, +every bone shall return to the body with greater perfection than ever; +as Christ says in his Gospel, “Even the very hairs of your head are +all numbered.” + +What then is this light and momentary tribulation, in comparison with +that eternal weight of glory, which shall be revealed in us? For +although the bones and members of the saints are, above all others, +cruelly scattered and broken, burnt in the fire, and left to rot in +graves; yet, even though they be thus sown in ignominy, they shall be +raised in glory: they shall be quickened again with all their limbs +and bodies; and all their bones shall be restored; and the just shall +shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. For that maddened +and insatiable fury of the devil, shall not be able to mangle the +bones of the saints, or so to extinguish the church as that it shall +be annihilated altogether. The death, and the cruel bruising of the +bones of the saints, shall be temporary only: but their glorification +in God, shall be for ever and ever. + +And observe, how remarkably this Psalm speaks of the resurrection, and +also concerning angels. For this is the first Psalm which we have yet +treated on, that speaks of angels. This Psalm shows that they are +ministers and helpers to the saints, being sent forth to minister unto +them who shall be heirs of salvation. David shows that they are not +only present with us, but that they most diligently and unceasingly +watch over us, and stand up for our defence; that they encamp round +about us, and fight for us perpetually, as if in open battle, that +they may defend us against the horrible violence, and infinite snares +of Satan and his members. All which things are the greatest +consolation to the godly, and them that believe. + +This is all confirmed by the example of the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings +vi. 16. when he said concerning the ministration of angels, “Fear not, +for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them.” The +prophet makes an allusion here, after the manner of the prophets, who +drew all their matter from Moses, as it were from a fountain. Moses +says of Jacob, Gen. xxxii. when he feared the cruelty and rage of his +brother Esau, “And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, +he said, this is God’s host.” So it is said, that angels came to +Elisha, and encamped round about him; as we have it in the present +Psalm. + + + + +PSALM XXXV. + +_David prayeth for his own safety, and his enemies’ confusion.—He +complaineth of their wrongful dealing.—Thereby he inciteth God against +them._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Plead _my cause_, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against +them that fight against me. + +Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. + +Draw out also the spear, and stop _the way_ against them that +persecute me: say unto my soul, I _am_ thy salvation. + +Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let +them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. + +Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD +chase _them_. + +Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD +persecute them. + +For without cause have they hid for me their net _in_ a pit, _which_ +without cause they have digged for my soul. + +Let destruction come upon him at unawares, and let his net that he +hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction, let him fall. + +And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his +salvation. + +All my bones shall say, LORD, who _is_ like unto thee, which +deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor +and the needy from him that spoileth him? + +False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge _things_ that I +knew not. + +They rewarded me evil for good _to_ the spoiling of my soul. + +But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing _was_ sackcloth: I +humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own +bosom. + +I behaved myself as though _he had been_ my friend _or_ brother: I +bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth _for his_ mother. + +But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: +_yea_, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew +_it_ not; they did tear _me_, and ceased not: + +With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their +teeth. + +LORD, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their +destructions, my darling from the lions. + +I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee +among much people. + +Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: +_neither_ let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. + +For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against +_them that are_ quiet in the land. + +Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, _and_ said, Aha, aha, +our eye hath seen _it_. + +_This_ thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far +from me. + +Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, _even_ unto my cause, my +God and my Lord. + +Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them +not rejoice over me. + +Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them +not say, We have swallowed him up. + +Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at +mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify +_themselves_ against me. + +Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: +yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath +pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. + +And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness _and_ of thy praise all +the day long. + + +This is a prayer wherein David complains bitterly against those worst +of all men who are found about palaces, and who flatter kings and +rulers, and, for their own gain and advantage, tickle their ears with +adulation in order to please them; and at the same time, speak evil of +the innocent, enflame the powerful against the preachers and +professors of the word of God, endeavour to suppress the truth, and +cause awful injuries both to churches and to states. Thus such +characters as these traduced David before king Saul, though they were +men to whom David had rendered the greatest services, for whom he had +often most fervently prayed, and in endeavouring to save and protect +whom he had brought upon himself much misery and distress. + +The matter of this Psalm may be a great consolation to us when we see +the doctrines of truth and the gospel of God to be hated and traduced +before kings and rulers, with the most impudent lies, and the most +virulent speeches of the enemies of true piety, nay of every thing +that is honest and becoming man. Thus, a certain man, remarkable for +the fear of God, once told me that, at the tenth year of the August +Assembly, by the impudent and malicious report of some present, +nothing was talked about in the pope’s palace concerning Luther, but, +‘that he denied the Lord Christ, that he despised the Virgin Mary, and +contemptuously set aside baptism, the sacraments, and all religion; +and that he winked at theft, adultery, and other open sins, and +permitted them to pass by with impunity.’ These forgers, however, of +this manifest lie were put to shame openly when Charles V. himself was +present and heard me when I made a confession of my doctrine; and then +also, the devil, the father and fountain of lies, was himself +confuted. Thus are these wretches wont to traduce the godly in this +malicious manner, and to defame them, while they themselves in the +mean time enjoy all the secular benefits of the gospel. Of this stamp +there are thousands before us in our day. + +Hypocritical (or halting) mockers (saith David), who halt between two +desires,—who want to serve both God and men,—conspire together against +me. For these when they have been raised at the expense and loss of +the godly, and have golden riches and honours, trample those very +godly ones under their feet. Such ungrateful wretches as these are all +hypocrites and fanatical spirits, who serve not the Lord or Christ but +their own belly. And just such now are all those who enjoy and +squander all our property, and persecute us into the bargain. + +In a word, as it happened to Christ our head, so it is now with the +church and all who fear God. He that eateth my bread, saith Christ, +trampleth me under foot, and that for the hire of thirty pieces of +silver. These are those hypocrites who consider their own belly above +every thing else, whose unbounded and insatiable cruelty is ever +raging against those that fear God; as David here complains. + + + + +PSALM XXXVI. + +_The grievous estate of the wicked.—The excellency of God’s +mercy.—David prayeth for favour to God’s children._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. + + +The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, _that there is_ +no fear of God before his eyes. + +For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found +to be hateful. + +The words of his mouth _are_ iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to +be wise, _and_ to do good. + +He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way _that +is_ not good; he abhorreth not evil. + +Thy mercy, O LORD, _is_ in the heavens; _and_ thy faithfulness +_reacheth_ unto the clouds. + +Thy righteousness _is_ like the great mountains; thy judgments _are_ a +great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. + +How excellent _is_ thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children +of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. + +They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and +thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. + +For with thee _is_ the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see +light. + +O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee; and thy +righteousness to the upright in heart. + +Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the +wicked remove me. + +There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and +shall not be able to rise. + + +This is a Psalm containing a very necessary doctrine, and marks +whereby heretics, false-teachers, and fanatical spirits may be +discovered. And in the end he begs of God with a wonderful fervency +that he may be guarded against all these pestilences. And after he had +at the beginning of the Psalm exactly described these characters in +their own colours, he takes courage, in the middle, himself, and +comforts all those that fear God; and tells them, that, although Satan +by his instruments roars and rages against the church, yet, that the +word of God shall remain and the kingdom of God stand unmoved, against +all the violence of Satan, and against the power of all the kingdoms +of the world. + +“Thy righteousness (says David) is like the great mountains: and thy +judgments are a great deep;” that is, as the rocks and mountains which +God has fixed, no power can overthrow;—and as the great deeps of the +sea are inexhaustible, so, thy word O Lord stands firm, and no human +power can overthrow or subvert the truth: and although all the gates +of hell and all the attempts of men and devils should set themselves +against thy word and will, yet with thee is the fountain of life; that +is, in thy house, where thou dwellest by the word in the midst of +enemies: that fountain and river of life will still remain; that is, +this word of thine, whereby afflicted consciences will be raised up +and revived. + +And here, if any where, the prophet expressively describes those false +teachers. He _first_ of all breaks out against such, with the most +fervent zeal at the beginning of the Psalm. ‘Certainly, (saith he) if +there be any set of men, evil men, these are of all the worst: for +they are men of an abandoned impudence, virulent, and destitute of the +fear of God, and of faith in him; they are secure despisers of God and +religion; they are proud, arrogant, precipitate, audacious, and +prepared for every thing that is bad.’ + +In the _next_ place, they approve and commend no one but themselves. +They hate all others most bitterly, and traduce and defame them: they +excel in this one thing only,—in adorning and setting off themselves, +in using boasted self-praising words, in contemptuously despising +others, and in arrogating to themselves only the spirit and worship of +God, and the appellation of the true church. + +In the _third_ place, their doctrines are most pernicious, and filled +with lies: for they fight against the doctrine of faith and of grace, +and deceive men by their outside daubing, and their hypocrisy. + +In the _fourth_ place, they are rashly precipitate, and will endure no +monitor; for they are harder than any iron or any adamant: and if you +do not applaud all they say and all they do, they immediately rage and +make a tumult with all the fury of Satan. + +In the _fifth_ place, they go out and diffuse their doctrines as +widely as possible; and their speech, as Paul saith, eateth like a +canker. For, for the most part, such men have an audacity above all +sincere and good men, and a determinate spirit to accomplish all their +own purposes; and they are restless, vehement, hot-headed, and so +furiously and wickedly aim at the accomplishment of their own +purposes, that you would think they would overturn everything else. + +And _lastly_, they hostilely persecute all those who do not subscribe +to their creed. And all these enormities they perpetrate with a +wonderfully unconcerned and insensible security; as if they were all +the time pleasing God and doing him service. + + + + +PSALM XXXVII. + +_David persuadeth to patience and confidence in God, by the different +estate of the godly and the wicked._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious +against the workers of iniquity. + +For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the +green herb. + +Trust in the LORD, and do good: _so_ shalt thou dwell in the land, and +verily thou shalt be fed. + +Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires +of thine heart. + +Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him, and he shall bring +_it_ to pass. + +And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy +judgment as the noon day. + +Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because +of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth +wicked devices to pass. + +Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to +do evil. + +For evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, +they shall inherit the earth. + +For yet a little while, and the wicked _shall_ not _be_; yea, thou +shalt diligently consider his place, and it _shall_ not _be_. + +But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in +the abundance of peace. + +The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his +teeth. + +The LORD shall laugh at him; for he seeth that his day is coming. + +The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast +down the poor and needy, _and_ to slay such as be of upright +conversation. + +Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be +broken. + +A little that a righteous man hath _is_ better than the riches of many +wicked. + +For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the +righteous. + +The LORD knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall +be for ever. + +They shall not be ashamed in the evil time; and in the days of famine +they shall be satisfied. + +But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD _shall be_ as +the fat of Lambs: they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume +away. + +The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth +mercy, and giveth. + +For _such as be_ blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and _they +that be_ cursed of him shall be cut off. + +The steps of a _good_ man are ordered by the LORD; and he delighteth +in his way. + +Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD +upholdeth _him with_ his hand. + +I have been young, and _now_ am old; yet have I not seen the righteous +forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. + +_He is_ ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed _is_ blessed. + +Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore. + +For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are +preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. + +The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever. + +The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of +judgment. + +The law of his God _is_ in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. + +The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. + +The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is +judged. + +Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit +the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see _it_. + +I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a +green bay-tree. + +Yet he passed away, and, lo, he _was_ not: yea, I sought him, but he +could not be found. + +Mark the perfect _man_, and behold the upright: for the end of _that_ +man _is_ peace. + +But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the +wicked shall be cut off. + +But the salvation of the righteous _is_ of the LORD; _he is_ their +strength in the time of trouble. + +And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them; he shall deliver them +from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation, which exhorts us to patience in the +world; and shews us that we should not be angry with, nor mutter +against God, when we see it to be well with evil men, and evilly with +the good. This indeed is often a cutting offence, and exceedingly +galls the weak ones; concerning which also Habakkuk complains, chap. +i. For when the saints think that all things turn out prosperously and +successfully to the wicked, and all things adversely and +unsuccessfully to those that fear God, they appear, as to human +judgment, to be dealt hardly with indeed. + +We see an infinity of malice and ingratitude in the world, and an +extreme contempt of religion; a contempt of all good learning, and of +all virtue and honesty. Of this we have examples sufficiently +manifest, in our time, among the powerful and noble of this world, and +also among citizens and peasants, who all wish to have the liberty of +doing what suits their pleasure. To these impious despisers of the +word of God all things turn out prosperously: they abound in riches, +and they are raised to honours: while those that fear God are +afflicted with hunger and nakedness, and are despised, derided, and +contemned. And moreover, they endure the most bitter hatred of the +devil and the world for the word’s sake; they can scarcely breathe +under their afflictions, and they are often bound with fetters and +imprisoned. Here, not to give way to anger and indignation; here, not +to turn epicureans and deny God, is a wisdom beyond all that is human: +is a wisdom that is altogether spiritual and divine. + +The sum therefore of this Psalm is,—suffer; that is, learn patience. +Every evil must be overcome by bearing it with patience. Cast thy +cares upon the Lord. Do not murmur; be not angry; wish no ill to the +wicked. Leave the management and government of all to God: he is a +righteous judge.—This is the all-necessary doctrine that is delivered +to us in this Psalm: a doctrine wholly unknown to the wise of this +world. And here the Holy Spirit comforts the godly in a various, and +at the same time, most fatherly and affectionate way; and that with +the most great and gracious promises. And then, as an example, David +himself says, “I have been young, and now am old, yet saw I never the +righteous forsaken.” And then he concludes with threatenings against +the wicked. But to show forth this patience in the midst of so much +malice and perverseness of the world, is the power and operation of +the Holy Spirit only, and is found only in spiritual men: for all +human reason, and all the wise ones of the world, cannot judge +otherwise, than that it is unworthy of God, and unjust, that it should +be well with the evil, and ill with the good. + + + + +PSALM XXXVIII. + +_David moveth God to take compassion of his pitiful case._ + +A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance. + + +O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot +displeasure. + +For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. + +_There is_ no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither +_is there any_ rest in my bones because of my sin. + +For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they +are too heavy for me. + +My wounds stink _and_ are corrupt because of my foolishness. + +I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day +long. + +For my loins are filled with a loathsome _disease_: and _there is_ no +soundness in my flesh. + +I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the +disquietness of my heart. + +LORD, all my desire _is_ before thee; and my groaning is not hid from +thee. + +My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine +eyes, it also is gone from me. + +My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen +stand afar off. + +They also that seek after my life lay snares _for me_: and they that +seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day +long. + +But I, as a deaf _man_, heard not; and _I was_ as a dumb man _that_ +openeth not his mouth. + +Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth _are_ no +reproofs. + +For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O LORD my God. + +For I said, _Hear me_; lest _otherwise_ they should rejoice over me: +when my foot slippeth, they magnify _themselves_ against me. + +For I _am_ ready to halt, and my sorrow _is_ continually before me. + +For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. + +But mine enemies _are_ lively, _and_ they are strong: and they that +hate me wrongfully are multiplied. + +They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I +follow _the thing that_ good _is_. + +Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. + +Make haste to help me, O LORD my salvation. + + +This is a fervent prayer to God, in which David complains with +wonderful groanings, that he is stricken and bruised with the sense of +his sin; that he is distressed and straitened in spirit under the +deepest sorrow; and that he can see nothing and feel nothing but wrath +from heaven, and the terrible lightnings, arrows, and threatenings of +God; and in a word, death, and hell itself; and that this great +distress exhausts not only all the moisture, all the strength, all the +blood, and all the marrow of his frame, but fills him with an +unspeakable alarm and perturbation, and makes him pant and sweat with +agony; so that the intenseness of his feelings, destroys the natural +colour and appearance of his face, and affects his whole body. For to +feel in reality the burthen of the conscience under a sense of sin, is +a distress and terror exceeding all other distresses and terrors. And +these deep temptations of the godly are greatly increased by those +wicked ones without, who cease not to call them heretics, seditious +persons, and murderers. For these hypocrites, while they boast in the +teeth of the godly that they are the true saints, and the true church, +and the real people of God, (and God in the meantime, which is often +the case, not bringing in help and consolation) the godly are deeply +grieved and afflicted, as if God was their enemy because of their +sins. + +But this Psalm teaches us constantly to hope for, and expect the help +and consolation of God, and still to fight against all such hypocrites +by prayer. And the prophet, in the midst of the agonizing conflict of +this temptation, sustains and lifts up himself by taking courage from +the divine promise. And here he maintains his cause, (which is not the +cause of men but of God,) as a strong fortress against Satan and his +cause, and here again flows in the consolation of faith, &c. And so +also we ought to pray always, and in no temptation yield to sorrow of +mind, even though we are sinners, and though Satan shakes us with the +horrible terrors of sin: for grace is stronger than sin! + + + + +PSALM XXXIX. + +_David’s care of his thoughts.—The consideration of the brevity and +vanity of life, the reverence of God’s judgments, and prayer, are his +bridles of impatience._ + +To the chief Musician, _even_ to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. + + +I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I +will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. + +I was dumb with silence: I held my peace, _even_ from good; and my +sorrow was stirred. + +My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: _then_ +spake I with my tongue, + +LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it +_is_; _that_ I may know how frail I _am_. + +Behold, thou hast made my days _as_ an handbreadth, and mine age _is_ +as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state _is_ +altogether vanity. Selah. + +Surely every man walketh in a vain shew; surely they are disquieted in +vain; he heapeth up _riches_, and knoweth not who shall gather them. + +And now, LORD, what wait I for? my hope _is_ in thee. + +Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the +foolish. + +I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst _it_. + +Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine +hand. + +When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his +beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man _is_ vanity. +Selah. + +Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace +at my tears: for I _am_ a stranger with thee, _and_ a sojourner, as +all my fathers _were_. + +O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no +more. + + +This is a consolatory Psalm, containing also a prayer of the prophet, +in which he prays that his mouth may be bridled, that he might not +break out into blasphemy and murmuring when he sees the wicked to +prosper in the world, and most proudly to despise God and his word, +and to think of nothing but amassing riches, &c.; and when he sees, on +the contrary, that the godly are afflicted with various temptations +without and within, and conflicting both with the world and with the +devil. + +Rather (says he) teach me, O Lord, to know mine end; that is, that +there will be an end to my life at length; that is, teach me to +magnify the future, which does not yet appear. Guard me from that +perilous security of the wicked in which they give themselves up +wholly to this world, and devote themselves to coveting the things +thereof, and to pride and ambition, as if they should live here for +ever. For it is often a great vexation to the godly, and indeed the +prophets themselves complain of it,—that the wicked and the evil +abound in every kind of luxury, wallow in all the pleasures of wine +and feasting, and live their whole lives in security, strangers to +trouble and affliction, while the godly are afflicted, and tempted, +and distressed both from without and from within. + +But the end shows that the godly are happy; and the wicked, with all +their perishable happiness, truly miserable. Hence the prophet saith, +“And now, Lord, what is my expectation, (or what wait I for?)” As if +he had said, shall I be always thus afflicted! Shall I be utterly +overwhelmed? Will these temptations continue to return upon us for +ever? No! (says he) the Lord is my expectation: that is, I shall find +in the end, after all these temptations and death, an eternal life, a +reconciled God, the pardon of all my sins, and even in this world, I +shall not be forsaken. But the wicked, after their short life, will +find nothing but death,—death eternal! + + + + +PSALM XL. + +_The benefit of confidence in God.—Obedience is the best +sacrifice.—The sense of David’s evils inflameth his prayer._ + +To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. + + +I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my +cry. + +He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, +and set my feet upon a rock, _and_ established my goings. + +And he hath put a new song in my mouth, _even_ praise unto our God: +many shall see _it_, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. + +Blessed _is_ that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth +not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. + +Many, O LORD my God, _are_ thy wonderful works _which_ thou hast done, +and thy thoughts _which are_ to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in +order unto thee: _if_ I would declare and speak _of them_, they are +more than can be numbered. + +Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou +opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. + +Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book _it is_ written of +me; + +I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law _is_ within my heart. + +I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have +not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest. + +I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy +faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy +loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation. + +Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy +loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. + +For innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have +taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more +than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me. + +Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me. + +Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to +destroy it; let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish +me evil. + +Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, +Aha, aha! + +Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as +love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. + +But I _am_ poor and needy: _yet_ the LORD thinketh upon me: thou _art_ +my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy, and the voice of Christ himself; where +Christ himself says, that he was heard in the midst of his sufferings, +when crying and groaning in the midst of the agony of death. And it is +also a beautiful example and consolation for the whole church, and for +all the members of Christ,—that God will never forsake any of those +that believe in him, when agonizing in the same manner, if they cry +unto him, and call upon him in the midst of the horrible pit and +terrors of death. + +The great prophet David, and others like him, published forth Psalms +of this kind, concerning the greatest and most important things of +Christ’s kingdom and people: for the expectation of the Messiah and of +Christ, was a very important matter among the people of God, and +therefore David makes the person of Christ himself speaking. + +Christ here plainly says, that he is the one and only person who +fulfils the law, and does the will of God. Here he excludes all others +and their works. “In the volume of the book (says he) it is written of +me.” That is, the promise of blessing and grace, that the seed of the +woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and that in the seed of +Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed, were +concerning me, &c. Thus he rejects and abrogates the whole law, with +all works, sacrifices, and forms of worship; because, by them, the +will of God is not fulfilled. + +All our works and sacrifices, therefore, are rejected. Christ here +saith, that he is the sole and only one who pleases God, and fulfils +his will. By these words, therefore, he promises the New Testament; +where there is no righteousness of the law, but the righteousness of +faith, preached in the great congregation: that is, in the whole +world, in all nations. There is no preaching of the righteousness of +the law, which only makes men proud pharisees and hypocrites, who have +not their hope fixed in God, or in the promise of grace, but in their +own righteousness, false holiness, and legal hypocrisy. + + + + +PSALM XLI. + +_God’s care of the poor.—David complaineth of his enemies’ +treachery.—He fleeth to God for succour._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. + + +Blessed _is_ he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him +in time of trouble. + +The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; _and_ he shall be +blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of +his enemies. + +The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt +make all his bed in his sickness. + +I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned +against thee. + +Mine enemies speak evil of me; when shall he die, and his name perish? + +And if he come to see _me_, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth +iniquity to itself; _when_ he goeth abroad, he telleth _it_. + +All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they +devise my hurt. + +An evil disease, _say they_, cleaveth fast unto him: and _now_ that he +lieth, he shall rise up no more. + +Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my +bread, hath lift up _his_ heel against me. + +But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may +requite them. + +By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not +triumph over me. + +And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me +before thy face for ever. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD God of Israel, from everlasting, and to +everlasting. Amen, and Amen. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy; where, after the manner of the Psalms, +Christ himself speaks, and with a wonderful feeling, complains of his +domestic traitor Judas, and of those cruel dogs which vented their +fury on the poor; by which dogs, he means those that crucified him. He +prays that God would judge his cause, and set him before his face: +that is, that God his father would comfort him in his suffering, and +raise him from the dead; that, being exalted, through the cross and +death, to the right hand of God, he might be glorified with eternal +life and victory. + +This is a great and unspeakable consolation to all the godly; where, +in the fourth verse, the Son saith, “heal my soul, for I have sinned +against thee.” He confesses himself to be a sinner before God his +Father, whereas he was without sin, and no guile was found in his +mouth. Here, therefore, he stands as our priest, as a victim and +sacrifice for sin, bearing and suffering for our sins, as if they were +his; and he bore the guilt of them. + +In the beginning of the Psalm he comprehends the sum of the whole +matter, in a very powerful expression. “Blessed (saith he) are they +who consider the poor and needy:” that is, blessed, yea, eternally +blessed are they, who are not offended at the once weak, crucified, +and condemned Christ, but who believe the Gospel. For the preaching of +the cross is to the Gentiles foolishness, and to the Jews a +stumbling-block. And it is the greatest of all offences to the world +to preach, teach, or confess, that the once poor, crucified, and +condemned Christ, now sits at the right hand of the divine Majesty, +and that he is on high, the Lord of all, both in this world, and that +which is to come. For with this Christ, that people of the Jews were +so offended, and they so ran upon and stumbled on this rock of +offence, that, to this day, they remain cast out and scattered, and +wander about over all the face of the earth, without a priesthood, and +without a kingdom! + + + + +PSALM XLII. + +_David’s zeal to serve God in the temple.—He encourageth his soul to +trust in God._ + +To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. + + +As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after +thee, O God. + +My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and +appear before God? + +My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say +unto me, Where _is_ thy God? + +When I remember these _things_, I pour out my soul in me: for I had +gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with +the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday. + +Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And _why_ art thou disquieted in +me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him _for_ the help of his +countenance. + +O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember +thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill +Mizar. + +Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves +and thy billows are gone over me. + +_Yet_ the LORD will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, and +in the night his song _shall be_ with me, _and_ my prayer unto the God +of my life. + +I will say unto God my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I +mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? + +_As_ with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they +say daily unto me, where _is_ thy God? + +Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within +me; hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, _who is_ the health +of my countenance and my God. + + +This is an ardent prayer to God; evincing an exceeding greatness of +spiritual feeling, and an unutterable groaning of the Spirit. Under +this similitude of a hart, at the beginning of the Psalm, the Psalmist +describes his feelings in the hour of temptation, when he was wholly +immersed in the extreme of distress, and absorbed in tears. For in +that hour of darkness, the God of life, and peace, and light, and +consolation, is not seen; but the sun of all comfort is hidden as it +were behind a cloud. Then the hearts of the thus tempted feel nothing +but an angry God, and a cruel avenger; and Satan increases these +dismal views of misery to a wonderful extent. To these things, +moreover, are often added the blasphemies of those who make derision +of the afflicted, and assail them with the taunt, “Where is now thy +God!”—For the world and the ungodly cannot contain themselves, when +they see the saints in calamities; they cannot refrain from taunting +and deriding them; from aggravating the distresses of these godly +ones, and from exclaiming, in their bitterly-cutting triumph, ‘They +hoped in God that he would deliver them. Where is now their delivering +God? Where is now their Christ they talk so much about? This is just +how such heretics ought to be served.’ For these wicked creatures +judge according to the flesh and blind reason; and imagine, that +affliction is a certain sign of divine anger against the saints. On +the other hand, they boast of their own afflictions, or any slight +adversities which they may meet with, as sufferings for the Lord’s +name sake, and as martyrdoms and sorrows endured for their apostolic +innocence. For those perverse and virulent wretches, those blind +leaders of the blind, though they know, yet will not know, that God +thus chastens his saints, that he may afterwards comfort them; but not +that he may forsake, destroy, or condemn them. + +The Psalmist desires, with the greatest fervency of heart, to come +unto the house of the Lord, and into the congregation of those that +sing and rejoice; to keep holy the sabbath, to celebrate the name of +the Lord, and to see the face of the Lord; that is, he has an ardent +desire to hear the word of the Lord, that he might thereby be lifted +up and refreshed; being well nigh consumed in such a fiery heat of +temptation and distress. The house of the Lord is where the word of +God, and the promise of grace are preached. And by “the face of God,” +he means the presence of God; where God, by his word, reveals himself, +and his will, and grace, and gives the knowledge of them unto men. +This he calls in another place ‘God’s turning, (not his back but) his +face towards us.’ + + + + +PSALM XLIII. + +_David praying to be restored to the temple, promiseth to serve God +joyfully.—He encourageth his soul to trust in God._ + + +Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O +deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. + +For thou _art_ the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why +go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? + +O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring +me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. + +Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, +upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God. + +Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within +me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, _who is_ the health of my +countenance, and my God. + + +This Psalm is of the same purport as the preceding; and David uses +almost the same expressions. He desires to go into the house of God in +the light and truth of God: that is, he desires to be comforted, under +his distress and temptation, by the word of God. + + + + +PSALM XLIV. + +_The church, in memory of former favours, complaineth of their present +evils.—Professing her integrity, she fervently prayeth for succour._ + +To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. + + +We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, _what_ +work thou didst in their days, in the times of old. + +_How_ thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst +them; _how_ thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out. + +For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither +did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and +the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. + +Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob. + +Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we +tread them under that rise up against us. + +For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. + +But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame +that hated us. + +In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah. + +But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with +our armies. + +Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy; and they which hate us +spoil for themselves. + +Thou hast given us like sheep _appointed_ for meat; and hast scattered +us among the heathen. + +Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase _thy wealth_ +by their price. + +Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to +them that are round about us. + +Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among +the people. + +My confusion _is_ continually before me, and the shame of my face hath +covered me, + +For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of +the enemy and avenger. + +All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have +we dealt falsely in thy covenant. + +Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy +way; + +Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered +us with the shadow of death. + +If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands, +to a strange God; + +Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the +heart. + +Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as +sheep for the slaughter. + +Awake, why sleepest thou, O LORD? arise, cast _us_ not off for ever. + +Wherefore hidest thou thy face, _and_ forgettest our affliction and +our oppression? + +For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the +earth. + +Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake. + + +This is a prayer of the whole people of God; and it is offered up in +the person of all the saints; especially of those under the New +Testament, whom you here find to be complaining that they are cruelly +slaughtered and slain by the wicked nations, by the ungodly men, and +by tyrants. For God delivers his saints into the hands of men, as if +he had rejected them, or utterly forgotten them. Whereas, he glorified +the patriarchs of old, and all those his people from the beginning, by +mighty works and miracles in the sight of the nations that opposed +them. And indeed all the saints maintain, not their own cause, but +God’s; and seek, not their own glory, but his: and yet for this very +just and holy cause, and for no other reason, nor any other crime, +they are thus torn and slaughtered by exile, by the spoiling of their +goods, and, in a word, by death; and are as cruelly treated in the +world, as if they were the most wicked of all men, and a mere set of +vagabonds and murderers. + +In a word, this Psalm is a sighing and groaning of spirit against the +weakness of the flesh; which flesh, even in the saints, murmurs +against God, because he governs the world with such an appearance of +injustice; and is in appearance, an unjust judge, permitting the +saints to be afflicted whom he ought to support and comfort, and +promoting and exalting the wicked whom he ought to overthrow. + + + + +PSALM XLV. + +_The majesty and grace of Christ’s kingdom.—The duty of the church, +and the benefits thereof._ + +To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil. +A Song of Loves. + + +My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have +made touching the king: my tongue _is_ the pen of a ready writer. + +Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy +lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. + +Gird thy sword upon _thy_ thigh, O _most_ mighty, with thy glory and +thy majesty. + +And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness +_and_ righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible +things. + +Thine arrows _are_ sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; _whereby_ +the people fall under thee. + +Thy throne, O God, _is_ for and ever and ever: the sceptre of thy +kingdom _is_ a right sceptre. + +Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy +God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. + +All thy garments _smell_ of myrrh, and aloes, _and_ cassia, out of the +ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. + +Kings’ daughters _were_ among thy honourable women: upon thy right +hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. + +Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also +thine own people, and thy father’s house; + +So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he _is_ thy Lord; and +worship thou him. + +And the daughter of Tyre _shall be there_ with a gift; _even_ the rich +among the people shall intreat thy favour. + +The king’s daughter _is_ all glorious within: her clothing _is_ of +wrought gold. + +She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the +virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. + +With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter +into the king’s palace. + +Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make +princes in all the earth. + +I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore +shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the gospel and kingdom of Christ; and it +describes, in many rich and sweet figures and expressions, the spouse +of Christ, the church. It describes also Christ, going forth in all +his regal pomp; having all royal gifts, a manly and regal form, +suavity and grace of speech, a warrior’s armour, the splendour of +regal dress, and success in war against his enemies, &c.; and also as +possessing all kingly virtues,—righteousness, clemency, &c. + +And moreover that he may set the kingdom of Christ before our eyes in +its sweetest appearance, the Psalmist describes him as having palaces +and houses of ivory; a queen, and her attendant virgins; and sons and +daughters. All these things are to be understood of the spiritual +kingdom of Christ and the church, where Christ is a King, powerful, +wise, just, gracious, and victorious; and moreover, a conqueror +triumphant; and also rejoicing, preserving, comforting and enriching +his own, against sin, the law, and death, &c. + +And David here clearly foretels that the law of the Old Testament +should be abrogated. “Hearken (says he) O daughter, and incline thine +ear, forget also thy father’s house: (here he seems to glance at the +synagogue): so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty, and thou +shalt worship him;” showing, that there is no true God out of Christ; +and ascribing unto Christ truly divine honour; namely, that of the +first and great precept,—that is, adoration. And in the sixth and +seventh verses, he plainly calls him God: thus making him an eternal +king, the foundation of whose throne is in righteousness: who +justifies all that believe in him, and takes away sin, and destroys +death and hell. And no one can be an eternal king that dies not, but +he that is truly and naturally God!—of which we have spoken at large +elsewhere, in our more full commentary on the 45th Psalm. + + + + +PSALM XLVI. + +_The confidence which the church hath in God.—An exhortation to behold +it._ + +To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah. A song upon Alamoth. + + +God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. + +Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though +the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; + +_Though_ the waters thereof roar, _and_ be troubled, _though_ the +mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. + +_There is_ a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of +God, the holy _place_ of the tabernacle of the most high. + +God _is_ in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help +her, _and that_ right early. + +The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the +earth melted. + +The LORD of hosts _is_ with us; the God of Jacob _is_ our refuge. +Selah. + +Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in +the earth. + +He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the +bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the +fire. + +Be still, and know that I _am_ God: I will be exalted among the +heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. + +The LORD of hosts _is_ with us; the God of Jacob _is_ our refuge. +Selah. + + +This is a thanksgiving which the people of Israel sang, at that time, +for their divine blessings, and miraculous deliverances, because God +had powerfully defended Jerusalem, situated in the midst of hostile +nations and enemies, and guarded it against all opposing kings, and +against all the snares and hostile attempts of the surrounding +nations; and had preserved it in peace against all the furious +counsels of war and bloodshed. Hence, after the manner of the +scriptures, David calls all that present flourishing state of his +kingdom’s affairs, the river of God, whose streams should never be +dry; which was but a small rivulet, in comparison of the great streams +and torrents of the sea by which he was surrounded, (that is, by those +immense kingdoms and islands of the nations, and Gentile kings,) which +although they were great, would yet, one day, dry up and disappear, +while the river of God should endure for ever. + +We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and +powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his church and his +word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, +against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the +assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin. So that our little river +remains a living fountain; whilst so many heresies, so many tyrants +and their doctrines, as so many stinking sewers and sinks, are +dispersed, like broken cisterns, and disappear, and are lost for ever. + + + + +PSALM XLVII. + +_The nations are exhorted cheerfully to entertain the kingdom of +Christ._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. + + +O clap your hands all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of +triumph. + +For the LORD most high _is_ terrible; _he is_ a great King over all +the earth. + +He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. + +He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom +he loved. Selah. + +God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet. + +Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King, sing +praises. + +For God _is_ the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with +understanding. + +God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his +holiness. + +The princes of the people are gathered together, _even_ the people of +the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth _belong_ unto God: he +is greatly exalted. + + +This is a prophecy concerning Christ; describing the manner of his +ascension on high, and showing that he should be King over all. “Sing +praises, sing praises unto our King,” (saith he); thereby shewing, +that this kingdom of Christ should not be one of that kind that stands +in the power of arms, but in the word of praise, and in the singing of +thanksgivings. As if he had said, This king, by the word of the gospel +only, which is the word of praise and thanksgiving, shall destroy all +the power of the adversaries,—the world, and Satan; as the walls of +Jericho fell down by the sound of trumpets only, without sword or +arms! + + + + +PSALM XLVIII. + +_The ornaments and privileges of the church._ + +A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. + + +Great _is_ the LORD and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, +_in_ the mountain of his holiness. + +Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, _is_ mount Zion; +_on_ the sides of the north the city of the great king. + +God is known in her palaces for a refuge. + +For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. + +They saw _it_, _and_ so they marvelled; they were troubled, _and_ +hasted away. + +Fear took hold upon them there, _and_ pain, as of a woman in travail. + +Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. + +As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in +the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah. + +We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy +temple. + +According to thy name, O God, so _is_ thy praise unto the ends of the +earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness. + +Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of +thy judgments. + +Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. + +Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell _it_ +to the generation following. + +For this God _is_ our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide +_even_ unto death. + + +This is a thanksgiving almost like Psalm xlvi. For the Psalmist +praises God, and magnifies and extols his works, because he had so +marvellously defended the city of Jerusalem against the neighbouring +nations, and against kings and tyrants; and because he had often +delivered it when besieged by the most bitter and the most powerful +enemies; while those enemies themselves were driven back in a +wonderful manner, and put to open shame; and because he had saved it +from infinite perils and destructions, in defiance of the very gates +of hell; and had preserved the city, the temple, the word, and the +worship of God. + +But, more especially, David is here celebrating the truth of God;—that +God faithfully fulfils his promise; ‘According to thy name, (saith he) +so is thy glory, and so are thy works unto the ends of the earth:’ +that is, according as thou hast promised us, “I will be your God,” and +accordingly as we have believed that word, so hast thou given us to +experience the fulfilment of it;—thou hast been with us, and delivered +and defended us; our city and our temple stand in the midst of +enemies, as if in the midst of flames, preserved and unhurt. + +_We_ sing this Psalm, because God is pleased to preserve his church +and gospel against the roaring and hatred of kings and princes; who +cease not from attacking them by violence and craft with all their +might: and yet, they shall perish and be confounded, and covered with +shame, while the gospel shall remain as it was before, unhurt and +unhindered. + + + + +PSALM XLIX. + +_An earnest persuasion to build the faith of resurrection, not on +worldly power, but on God.—Worldly prosperity is not to be admired._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of Korah. + + +Hear this, all _ye_ people; give ear, all _ye_ inhabitants of the +world. + +Both low and high, rich and poor together. + +My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart _shall +be_ of understanding. + +I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon +the harp. + +Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, _when_ the iniquity of my +heels shall compass me about? + +They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude +of their riches. + +None _of them_ can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a +ransom for him. + +(For the redemption of their soul _is_ precious, and it ceaseth for +ever.) + +That he should still live for ever, _and_ not see corruption. + +For he seeth _that_ wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish +person perish, and leave their wealth to others. + +Their inward thought _is_, _that_ their houses _shall continue_ for +ever, _and_ their dwelling-places to all generations: they call +_their_ lands after their own names. + +Nevertheless, man _being_ in honour, abideth not: he is like the +beasts _that_ perish. + +This their way _is_ their folly: yet their posterity approve their +sayings. Selah. + +Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and +the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning: and their +beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling. + +But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for he shall +receive me. Selah. + +Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house +is increased. + +For, when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not +descend after him. + +Though, while he lived, he blessed his soul: (and men will praise thee +when thou doest well to thyself.) + +He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see +light. + +Man _that is_ in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts +_that_ perish. + + +This is a Psalm that instructs us unto faith, and teaches us to trust +in God against that great god of this world, who is called Mammon. +David here gives a long and striking introduction to the Psalm, that +he may excite and wholly arrest our attention. He here sharply rebukes +all who trust in the riches and wealth of this world; concerning whom +Christ also severely says, “Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have +received your consolation.” Luke vi. 24. + +“The love of money, (saith Paul,) is the root of all evil;” and yet +the whole world leave the true God and worship this idol; and are +actuated more and more with the furious desire of getting wealth. All +men, from the least to the greatest, except those that fear God, are +in pursuit of money. Hence it is, that all the prophets exclaim, “For +from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, every one is +given to covetousness,” Jeremiah vi. 13. And hence also have arisen +all those proverbs and trite sayings of the poets among the Greeks and +Latins. ‘All things give way to money,’—‘money is the first thing to +be sought after; virtue is a secondary consideration.’ + +But all such admirers of, and slaves to riches are pointed at and +exposed in this Psalm; as are also all those who trust in their +wealth, nothing of which they can take with them when they die. And +here also true faith is highly extolled; by which we trust in God, who +can deliver us from death, and give us eternal life and salvation. And +death is the time when not only gold, but all creatures put together, +cannot save and deliver a man! + + + + +PSALM L. + +_The majesty of God in the church.—His order to gather saints.—The +pleasure of God is not in ceremonies, but in sincerity of obedience._ + +A Psalm of Asaph. + + +The mighty God, _even_ the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth +from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. + +Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. + +Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour +before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. + +He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may +judge his people. + +Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant +with me by sacrifice. + +And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God _is_ judge +himself. Selah. + +Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify +against thee: I _am_ God, _even_ thy God. + +I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, _to +have been_ continually before me. + +I will take no bullock out of thy house, _nor_ he-goats out of thy +folds. + +For every beast of the forest _is_ mine, _and_ the cattle upon a +thousand hills. + +I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the +field _are_ mine. + +If I were hungry I would not tell thee: for the world _is_ mine, and +the fulness thereof. + +Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? + +Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most high. + +And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou +shalt glorify me. + +But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my +statutes, or _that_ thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? + +Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. + +When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast +been partaker with adulterers. + +Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. + +Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother: thou slanderest thine +own mother’s son. + +These _things_ hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest +that I was altogether _such an one_ as thyself: _but_ I will reprove +thee, and set _them_ in order before thine eyes. + +Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear _you_ in pieces, +and _there be_ none to deliver. + +Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth _his_ +conversation _aright_ will I shew the salvation of God. + + +This Psalm teaches us, in the teeth of all hypocrites and all the +worship of hypocrites, what is true worship, and which are acceptable +sacrifices in the sight of God. For hypocrites consider their works, +and merits, and sacrifices as of such high value, that they think GOD +ought to acknowledge the benefit of their services; and they imagine +that he has need of them. Whereas, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit +declares with a loud voice by the prophets, what the true worship of +God is; namely, that of the First Commandment: which is, to worship +God, and adore him; and to acknowledge that we receive all things from +his hand, and that all glory is due to him! + +Observe, therefore,—there is here clearly expressed, in the plainest +words, what is the highest worship of God; and what sacrifice is the +most acceptable to him. And we are here briefly told, that the true +way and road to God is, to call upon him in the day of trouble, and +give him thanks for the infinite benefits which we receive from him; +(as the last verse here sings;) for this is truly to “pay our vows +unto God, and to offer unto him thanksgiving,” (as the 14th verse +saith.) These are not those foolish monastic vows, and the like; but +that highest of all vows, which the Decalogue and the First +Commandment require; where it saith, “To-day have ye vowed unto the +Lord your God: he will be your God:” that is, ye are made the people +of God, that ye may have him for your God; and that ye may truly +believe in him, call upon him, and cleave unto him alone. Of this +those foolish hypocrites and self-imagined saints know nothing +whatever. + + + + +PSALM LI. + +_David prayeth for remission of sins, whereof he maketh a deep +confession.—He prayeth for sanctification.—God delighteth not in +sacrifice but in sincerity.—He prayeth for the church._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came +unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba. + + +Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according +unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. + +Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. + +For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin _is_ ever before me. + +Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done _this_ evil in thy +sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, _and_ be +clear when thou judgest. + +Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive +me. + +Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden +_part_ thou shalt make me to know wisdom. + +Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be +whiter than snow. + +Make me to hear joy and gladness; _that_ the bones _which_ thou hast +broken may rejoice. + +Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. + +Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. + +Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from +me. + +Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me _with thy_ +free spirit. + +_Then_ will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be +converted unto thee. + +Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: +_and_ my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. + +O LORD, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. + +For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give _it_: thou +delightest not in burnt offering. + +The sacrifices of God _are_ a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite +heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. + +Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of +Jerusalem. + +Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with +burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer +bullocks upon thine altar. + + +This, among all the Psalms, is a signal and golden one. It contains +experiences and feelings truly Davidical; and teaches us what sin is, +what the origin of sin is, and how great and awful an evil the fall of +Adam was. And also, (which is an excellent part of it indeed,) it +shows us how we obtain the remission of sins. For in this Psalm, we +have it clearly expressed, that sin is a great and innate evil, and an +awful depravation and corruption of nature, in all the powers both of +soul and body. Unless, therefore, we are born again by faith in +Christ, and are renewed in spirit and made new creatures of God, the +sense of the loss of God and of eternal life and salvation is so heavy +a burthen, and the power of sin and the sting of death so great, that +the conscience is shaken with unspeakable distress and terror; and the +anguish that takes hold on it drinks up the very marrow, and bruises +and breaks the very inmost bones, until the word of grace and of the +Spirit again raises us up and refreshes us; as David here says, “That +the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” + +But in hearts that are purified and renewed by the Spirit, there is a +new light shining; there are new motions and spiritual affections; a +sure rest and peace of conscience; a true and full assurance of +salvation; a fervent and lively joy of spirit; a rejoicing in God and +a peace with him; a heart full of thanksgiving, and a patience under +afflictions. Hence those that fear God, those that are born again, if +they are at a point concerning the good will of God towards them, are +those who can rightly teach and instruct others unto godliness. “Then +(says David) will I teach transgressors thy ways;” then will I teach +them to call upon and praise the name of the Lord, and to give thanks +unto him; and in a word, to worship and adore God truly and aright, to +bear patiently the cross and afflictions, and to offer great and +glorious sacrifices; (for that is the way in which he here expresses +himself, calling “a broken and a contrite heart” the favourite +sacrifice of God;) for that is the highest and most excellent worship +of God: and he rejects, in plain words, all sacrifices which are +offered by hypocrites without _that_ sacrifice; which sacrifices of +theirs they consider to be the highest acts of worship. + +In concluding the Psalm, David begs of God that he would be pleased to +build and preserve the city of Jerusalem; that is, the place of the +word and the true worship of God. In the same manner, _we_ ought also +to pray. “Do good unto Zion, O Lord:” that is, ‘O Lord, thou seest the +virulent hatred of hypocrites: Do thou, O Lord, preserve the true +church, and the true worship of God in it;’ that is, the worship of +the First Commandment. Confound all those who boast of their good +works and sacrifices, and who neglect faith towards God, and trample +under foot the First Commandment. But preserve and comfort those who +adore thee in truth, serve thee, and sacrifice unto thee in the +spirit. + + + + +PSALM LII. + +_David, condemning the spitefulness of Doeg, prophesieth his +destruction.—The righteous shall rejoice at it.—David, upon his +confidence in God’s mercy, giveth thanks._ + +To the chief Musician, Maschil, _A Psalm_ of David, when Doeg the +Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to +the house of Ahimelech. + + +Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of +God _endureth_ continually. + +Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs, like a sharp razor, working +deceitfully. + +Thou lovest evil more than good, _and_ lying rather than to speak +righteousness. Selah. + +Thou lovest all devouring words, O _thou_ deceitful tongue. + +God shall likewise destroy thee for ever: he shall take thee away, and +pluck thee out of _thy_ dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land +of the living. Selah. + +The righteous also shall see, and fear and shall laugh at him: + +Lo, _this is_ the man _that_ made not God his strength; but trusted in +the abundance of his riches, _and_ strengthened himself in his +wickedness. + +But I _am_ like a green olive-tree in the house of God: I trust in the +mercy of God for ever and ever. + +I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done _it_: and I will +wait on thy name; for _it is_ good before thy saints. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation; and the title of it shows plainly what +are its contents. David is here complaining of Doeg who betrayed him, +and who was the cause of much hurt and bloodshed. 1 Sam. xxii. + +This Doeg furnishes a type of all those betrayers and blood-shedding +hypocrites who are in the halls of kings and princes; and who lyingly, +and with hatred, traduce the word of God and the doctrine of truth: of +which stamp there are now numbers rising up on every side, who +irritate and urge on kings and princes to slay the sincere ministers +of the word: such as those in our time, who kill many good men on +account of the sacraments and marriage, and make no end of shedding +the blood of God’s Abels. + +Against the furious cruelty of these men, therefore, this Psalm +comforts the godly; and promises them, that such shall not go +unpunished, but shall fall under those awful curses mentioned in Deut. +xxviii:—that they shall be rooted out of the earth; that their houses +shall be destroyed; and that they shall lose both their bodies and +their estates; but, that those who fear God shall be preserved; that +they shall remain in the house of the Lord; and that they shall +persevere in teaching and hearing the word of God, in defiance of the +devil and all the wicked. + + + + +PSALM LIII. + +_David describeth the corruption of a natural man.—He convinceth the +wicked by the light of their own conscience.—He glorieth in the +salvation of God._ + +To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil. _A Psalm_ of David. + + +The fool hath said in his heart, _There is_ no God. Corrupt are they, +and have done abominable iniquity: _there is_ none that doeth good. + +God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there +were _any_ that did understand, that did seek God. + +Every one of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy: +_there is_ none that doeth good, no, not one. + +Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people _as_ +they eat bread: they have not called upon God. + +There were they in great fear _where_ no fear was; for God hath +scattered the bones of him that encampeth _against_ thee: thou hast +put _them_ to shame, because God hath despised them. + +Oh that the salvation of Israel _were come_ out of Zion! When God +bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, _and_ +Israel shall be glad. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy like that of Psalm xiv; and it is a Psalm of +instruction. The two Psalms are of the same purport, and contain +almost the same words and expressions. In a word, they both cut at +hypocrites and self-justifiers, who persecute the sound doctrine and +its preachers; and at the close they give a prophetic declaration +concerning the gospel, and the kingdom of Christ which should proceed +out of Zion. + + + + +PSALM LIV. + +_David, complaining of the Ziphims, prayeth for salvation.—Upon his +confidence in God’s help he promiseth sacrifice._ + +To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, _A Psalm_ of David, when +the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with +us. + + +Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. + +Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. + +For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my +soul: they have not set God before them. Selah. + +Behold, God _is_ mine helper: the LORD _is_ with them that uphold my +soul. + +He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth. + +I will freely sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O LORD, for +_it is_ good. + +For he hath delivered me out of all trouble; and mine eye hath seen +_his desire_ upon mine enemies. + + +This is a fervent prayer against the persecutors of the word, who lay +plots against the lives of the good, and those that fear God, for the +word of God’s sake; just like king Saul and the people of Ziph, who +lay in wait for the life of David, on account of the name and word of +God, by which Saul was to be dethroned and David made king in his +stead. David, therefore, prays, that the vengeance of God might +overtake such cruelty and malice. + + + + +PSALM LV. + +_David in his prayer complaineth of his fearful case.—He prayeth +against his enemies, of whose wickedness and treachery he +complaineth.—He comforteth himself in God’s preservation of him, and +confusion of his enemies._ + +To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil. _A Psalm_ of David. + + +Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my +supplication. + +Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a +noise; + +Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the +wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. + +My heart is sore pained within me; and the terrors of death are fallen +upon me. + +Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath +overwhelmed me. + +And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! _for then_ would I fly +away and be at rest. + +Lo _then_ would I wander far off, _and_ remain in the wilderness. +Selah. + +I would hasten my escape from the windy storm _and_ tempest. + +Destroy, O LORD, _and_ divide their tongues: for I have seen violence +and strife in the city. + +Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; mischief also +and sorrow _are_ in the midst of it. + +Wickedness _is_ in the midst thereof; deceit and guile depart not from +her streets. + +For _it was_ not an enemy _that_ reproached me: then I could have +borne _it_: neither _was it_ he that hated me _that_ did magnify +_himself_ against me; then I would have hid myself from him; + +But _it was_ thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. + +We took sweet counsel together, _and_ walked unto the house of God in +company. + +Let death seize upon them, _and_ let them go down quick into hell: for +wickedness _is_ in their dwellings, _and_ among them. + +As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. + +Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud; and he +shall hear my voice. + +He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle _that was_ against +me: for there were many with me. + +God shall hear and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. +Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. + +He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him; he +hath broken his covenant. + +_The words_ of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war _was_ in +his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet _were_ they drawn +swords. + +Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall +never suffer the righteous to be moved. + +But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: +bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I +will trust in thee. + + +This Psalm is a prayer: and although it may in the 10th and 11th +verses, be understood of Christ himself, praying against his betrayer +Judas, when he says, “If it had been mine enemy that reproached me,” +&c. yet, it is manifest to me, that it is a general prayer of the +godly against all the craft of insidious and deceitful men, and +against the artful Italian flattery of some persons, who are friends +as far as their tongue goes, but who have one thing on their tongue +and another in their heart, and consider craft and dissimulation in +all things to be the highest wisdom; as if they could deceive God +also! + +They know how to promise, and do promise all things to your face: so +that David justly describes them thus, “Their words are smoother than +oil:” but when you have turned your back, they blacken your character; +and their mouth is more destructive than arrows and coals of fire; and +their tongue is a sharp sword, and a drawn dagger. And this is what +David complains of in verse 12;—that they deceive effectually with +their countenance, their look, and their eyes, and cover, under these +fox-like arts, Satanic bitterness and virulence. They eat and drink +with you, and pretend to be your friends and intimates, (as Judas did +with Christ;) they keep holy days and go to the house of God with you. + +This is the reason, therefore, that David so utterly execrates them, +and says, “Let them be taken out of the way suddenly, and let them +descend into hell alive.” For virulent, outside-show hypocrites, like +these, distress the hearts of those that fear God in a manner that is +beyond description. + +This very judgment which David threatens in this Psalm we see +executed, in our day, upon many tyrants and originators of sects; who +are taken off in a moment. For this execration is prophetic; +foretelling the end of all hypocrites, who will not listen to those +that admonish them in a godly manner, nor regard their advice; as it +is expressed in verse 19, “But they (says David) will not regard; they +are not changed; nor will they fear God; they go on in their course, +till they are taken out of the way suddenly.” + + + + +PSALM LVI. + +_David, praying to God in confidence of his word, complaineth of his +enemies.—He professeth his confidence in God’s word, and promiseth to +praise him._ + +To the chief Musician upon Jonathelem-rechokim, Michtam of David, when +the Philistines took him in Gath. + + +Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: he fighting +daily oppresseth me. + +Mine enemies would daily swallow _me_ up: for _they be_ many that +fight against me, O thou Most High. + +What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. + +In God I will praise his word; in God I have put my trust: I will not +fear what flesh can do unto me. + +Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts _are_ against me for +evil. + +They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my +steps, when they wait for my soul. + +Shall they escape by iniquity? in _thine_ anger cast down the people, +O God. + +Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: _are +they_ not in thy book? + +When I cry _unto thee_, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I +know; for God _is_ for me. + +In God I will praise _his_ word; in the LORD will I praise _his_ word. + +In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto +me. + +Thy vows _are_ upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee. + +For thou hast delivered my soul from death; _wilt_ not _thou deliver_ +my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the +living? + + +This is a fervent prayer; in which David complains of Saul and the men +of his party, because he was obliged to flee out of the land to the +Philistines. So bitterly and hostilely did Saul and the men of his +conspiracy persecute David, and plot against his life, that he could +be in safety no where. He encourages and supports himself, however, +with a constant and undaunted faith. ‘I will glory (says he) in the +word of God: for I have a command, a declaration, and a promise of God +in my favour: he has declared that Saul shall be dethroned, and that I +shall be king. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Let them +gainsay: let Saul and the Saulites oppose and fight against me. Let +them say, and say again, that I shall not be king. If God be for me +what can man do against me?’ + +_We_ ought also to pray, after the manner of this Psalm, against +tyrants; who unceasingly persecute the word of God and us, and will +never suffer us to be at rest. We, however, have that strong and +Davidical consolation,—that the word of God is for us, though they +unceasingly attack that in us, and corrupt, pervert, and reproach it; +crying out that we are heretics; and arrogating to themselves only, +the appellation of the church. + + + + +PSALM LVII. + +_David in prayer fleeing unto God, complaineth of his dangerous +case.—He encourageth himself to praise God._ + +To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled +from Saul in the cave. + + +Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusted +in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until +_these_ calamities be overpast. + +I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth _all things_ +for me. + +He shall send from heaven, and save me _from_ the reproach of him that +would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his +truth. + +My soul _is_ among lions: _and_ I lie _even among_ them that are set +on fire, _even_ the sons of men, whose teeth _are_ spears and arrows, +and their tongue a sharp sword. + +Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; _let_ thy glory _be_ above +all the earth. + +They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they +have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen +_themselves_. Selah. + +My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give +praise. + +Awake up, my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I _myself_ will awake +early. + +I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people; I will sing unto thee +among the nations: + +For thy mercy _is_ great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the +clouds. + +Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, _let_ thy glory _be_ above +all the earth. + + +This Psalm is a prayer; in which David again complains concerning +Saul, and those around him; on account of whose plots and snares, he +was compelled to flee into a cave. It is nearly of the same purport as +the Psalm preceding. + +_We_ ought to make use of this Psalm also against tyrants, and against +sycophants, and certain powerful ones, about the palaces of kings and +princes; who persecute us on account of the word and name of God, and +persecute our doctrine also; interpreting every thing that we do in +the worst sense; and traducing and hating all that fear God. + +And David here paints forth the cruelty of these characters; “Their +teeth (says he) are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp +sword.” Thanks be to God therefore, that he does not forsake his +people, but makes their enemies fall into the pit which they +themselves have made; so that they are utterly subverted and taken in +their own craftiness! + + + + +PSALM LVIII. + +_David reproveth wicked judges, describeth the nature of the wicked, +devoteth them to God’s judgments, whereat the righteous shall +rejoice._ + +To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David. + + +Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge +uprightly, O ye sons of men? + +Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands +in the earth. + +The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they +be born, speaking lies. + +Their poison _is_ like the poison of a serpent; _they_ are like the +deaf adder _that_ stoppeth her ear; + +Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so +wisely. + +Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of +the young lions, O LORD. + +Let them melt away as waters _which_ run continually: _when_ he +bendeth _his bow to shoot_ his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. + +As a snail _which_ melteth, let _every one of them_ pass away: _like_ +the untimely birth of a woman, _that_ they may not see the sun. + +Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with +a whirlwind, both living and in _his_ wrath. + +The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash +his feet in the blood of the wicked. + +So that a man shall say, verily _there is_ a reward for the righteous: +verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation against those hardened heretics, and +enthusiastic spirits, who pertinaciously defend their own errors, and +stop their ears; and who are so blinded and taken captive, that they +can hear no one; but pursue, with headlong precipitation, their own +designs, and rush on to the accomplishment of them, like a horse at +full speed. And these, as if they would devour the godly, cease not to +threaten them in the most terrifying manner.—David, however, here +makes use of five beautiful similitudes: under which, he represents +their vain attempts, and shows, that those very plots which they lay +for others, fall upon their own heads. + +1. The sudden inundation with which they make their attack, rushes +with such violence and roaring, that it seems as if it would tear up +and carry away every thing before it: and yet it flows by, and +suddenly disappears! + +2. Their arrow, fixed on the bow, threatens certain destruction: but, +in a moment, the bow and arrows are broken together, and the deadly +weapon accomplishes nothing! + +3. The snail puts forth his horns from his shell, as if he were just +going to do some deadly and mighty injury: but those horns prove to be +soft and ineffectual; they do nothing: nor have the power of doing any +hurt whatever. + +4. An imperfect conception, disengaged by abortion, makes the womb of +the mother to extend, as if there were a perfect conception, and as if +something great would at length come forth: but before it is brought +forth, it perishes, and never sees the sun. + +5. You may see a branch of buck-thorn, (which is the most prickly kind +of thorn,) filled with young sharp points and prickles, and seeming as +if it would one day tear many in pieces at once, and maim persons on +every side of it; but, before the prickles are fully ripe and strong, +the whole bush is, perhaps, cut down by the woodman, and he burns it +in the fire, and reduces it to ashes! + +So, just according to these similitudes, those enemies of God and +truth, plan, plot, and breathe out dreadful things; but like a mighty +flame, where there is no more fuel left to feed it, their fury ends in +nothing! + + + + +PSALM LIX. + +_David prayeth to be delivered from his enemies.—He complaineth of +their cruelty.—He trusteth in God.—He prayeth against them.—He +praiseth God._ + +To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, +and they watched the house to kill him. + + +Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise +up against me. + +Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men. + +For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; the mighty are gathered against +me; not _for_ my transgression, nor _for_ my sin, O LORD. + +They run and prepare themselves without _my_ fault: awake to help me, +and behold. + +Thou, therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to +visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. +Selah. + +They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round +about the city. + +Behold, they belch out with their mouth; swords _are_ in their lips; +for who, _say they_, doth hear? + +But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them: thou shalt have all the heathen +in derision. + +_Because of_ his strength will I wait upon thee: for God _is_ my +defence. + +The God of my mercy shall prevent me; God shall let me see _my desire_ +upon my enemies. + +Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and +bring them down, O LORD our shield. + +_For_ the sin of their mouth, _and_ the words of their lips, let them +even be taken in their pride; and for cursing and lying _which_ they +speak. + +Consume _them_ in wrath, consume _them_, that they _may_ not _be_; and +let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. +Selah. + +And at evening let them return, _and_ let them make a noise like a +dog, and go round about the city. + +Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge, if they be not +satisfied. + +But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in +the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of +my trouble. + +Unto thee, O my strength, I will sing: for God _is_ my defence, _and_ +the God of my mercy. + + +This Psalm is a prayer; and may be very properly understood as offered +up in the person of Christ, complaining of, and prophecying concerning +the Jews; on whom, on account of their denial of Christ, and their +rejection of the gospel, the awful judgments of God should fall; but +yet, not so as to destroy the whole nation entirely; but, in such a +manner, as to make of them an example to all future nations;—that they +should be scattered abroad as exiles, and left vagabonds among all +nations; and should be punished by being given up to blindness, and +maddened fury; so as not to be able to teach anything, or say +anything, but blasphemies against Christ. And this we see fulfilled in +them in reality: for all their books and commentaries are replete with +the most bitter reproaches and blasphemies against Christ and his +gospel. And, for this their wickedness, they suffer dreadful and +unceasing punishments: for they ‘go about the city like hungry dogs,’ +seeking food, and finding it not. + +The meaning of this prophecy is, therefore, that at the end, after the +times of the apostles, the Jews should be left as exiles, should be +banished from their own land, should wander about as outcasts, should +be oppressed under foreign jurisdictions, should be driven out from +one country to another, and should be cast out without any certain +dwelling-place; and that they should seek out any corner of the world, +where they might collect together again the wrecks and remains of +their kingdom, and endeavour to find out another one to lead them, but +should be frustrated in every attempt. And their exile and dispersion +shall remain unfinished until the end appointed: till then, they shall +remain and waste away like famished dogs, and run and smell about +round the cities, and gape like dogs, but shall not be filled: and +they shall perish without a king, and without a kingdom. + +But with respect to the history of this Psalm, it may rightly be +understood as referring to David, praying against the heirs of Saul +and the Saulites; who, being at length stripped of their kingdom, +wandered about like yawning and hungry dogs, ejected from their +kingdom, and forsaken and held in contempt, until they all utterly +perished. For God declared that the house of Saul should not be raised +up; though the posterity of Saul greatly desired his kingdom. + + + + +PSALM LX. + +_David, complaining to God of former judgment,—now, upon better hope, +prayeth for deliverance.—Comforting himself in God’s promises, he +craveth that help whereon he trusteth._ + +To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; +when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joab +returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand. + + +O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been +displeased; O turn thyself to us again. + +Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the +breaches thereof; for it shaketh. + +Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink +the wine of astonishment. + +Thou hast given a banner to them that feared thee, that it may be +displayed because of the truth. Selah. + +That thy beloved may be delivered; save _with_ thy right hand and hear +me. + +God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide +Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. + +Gilead _is_ mine, and Manasseh _is_ mine; Ephraim also _is_ the +strength of mine head; Judah _is_ my lawgiver; + +Moab _is_ my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, +triumph thou because of me. + +Who will bring me _into_ the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? + +_Wilt_ not thou, O God, _which_ hadst cast us off? and _thou_, O God, +_which_ didst not go out with our armies? + +Give us help from trouble: for vain _is_ the help of man. + +Through God we shall do valiantly: for he _it is that_ shall tread +down our enemies. + + +This is a signal thanksgiving. David gives thanks for the happy state +of his kingdom, in which religion and political government flourished +and prospered; for, in these two things, well-ordered, consist all +things divine and human. Before the time of David, in the days of +Saul, all things were in disorder, and the kingdom was in a declining +state; as the former verses of the Psalm show. The Philistines had +greatly afflicted the Israelites: so much so that even the ark of the +Lord was despised and profaned. + +Again, in the reign of Saul, all things were carried on with injury, +oppression, and wickedness: which is always the case, when God +forsakes magistrates, and suffers them to go on in their own ways. And +the example of David, who was obliged to have recourse to such +various, wise, and cautious means for safety, shows that the palace of +Saul was full of Ahithophels, and of all such pests of religion and +good government. + +But, says David, “Thou, O Lord, hast given a sign to them that feared +thee, that they may display it, and may believe and be assured, that +thou art present with them.” For God had given to his own a sign, and +had left it to them; by which, all those that believed in the grace of +God, might be comforted; namely, the ark of the covenant and the +mercy-seat; which God had delivered, by signal miracles, out of the +hand of the Philistines. For God had promised and declared, that he +would hear all those that called upon him before this ark, and this +mercy-seat; and that he would there vouchsafe his presence. + +At the end of the Psalm, he enumerates all his countries and his +people; and, in a very striking and eminent way, extols the true +worship of God, the true religion. “God (saith he) speaks in his +holiness (or sanctuary); I will rejoice:” that is, God is present in +my kingdom by his word, which is there preached: in this I will +rejoice. + +He enumerates, in order, these countries: Succoth, Shechem, Gilead, +Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah, Moab, Philistia. And, at the end, he +confesses, that, to defend and protect all these, by a good +government, and to ensure them victory against all their +enemies,—against Edom and Philistia, (that is to carry on war and to +extend dominions, successfully,) is not in the power of human wisdom +or human strength; “For vain (saith he) is the help of man. All +successful valour and victory are from God.” Why he does not mention +by name more countries than these nine, it belongs to a full +commentary to explain; the narrow limits, therefore, of our present +summary, will not allow us to enter upon that explanation. + +We may sing this Psalm to the honour of God also, because in the +church of Christ, God is continually making new orchards and gardens; +and daily increasing the number of its churches and parishes; in which +the word of God is preached; in which the sacraments are administered +in a godly manner; and in which there are various gifts of the Holy +Spirit. + + + + +PSALM LXI. + +_David fleeth to God upon his former experience.—He voweth perpetual +service unto him, because of his promises._ + +To the chief Musician upon Neginah. A Psalm of David. + + +Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. + +From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is +overwhelmed; lead me to the rock _that_ is higher than I. + +For thou hast been a shelter for me, _and_ a strong tower from the +enemy. + +I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever; I will trust in the covert of +thy wings. Selah. + +For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given _me_ the heritage +of those that fear thy name. + +Thou wilt prolong the king’s life; _and_ his years as many +generations. + +He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, _which_ +may preserve him. + +So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform +my vows. + + +This is a prayer against the enemies of the people of God, and +especially also for magistrates, and for the king—that God would +increase faith in him, and further him in the knowledge of his holy +name and word; that he may walk in faith and in the fear of God; that +his government may be happy and endure; and that religion and good +government may not be injured and distracted by seditions and wars. +For Solomon, in his Proverbs, says, “That for the sins of the people, +God changes kings and kingdoms.” But where there are many kings, +there, (according to the manner of all human vicissitudes,) what one +builds up, another casts down: as the proverb goes, “A new king, a new +law,”—all changes in a state are dangerous: happy is that kingdom, +therefore, which, being once well constituted, is long preserved in +the same state. + + + + +PSALM LXII. + +_David professing his confidence in God discourageth his enemies.—In +the same confidence he encourageth the godly.—No trust is to be put in +worldly things.—Power and mercy belong to God._ + +To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. + + +Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him _cometh_ my salvation. + +He only _is_ my rock and my salvation; _he is_ my defence; I shall not +be greatly moved. + +How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all +of you: as a bowing wall _shall ye be, and as_ a tottering fence. + +They only consult to cast _him_ down from his excellency: they delight +in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. + +My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation _is_ from him. + +He only _is_ my rock and my salvation: _he is_ my defence; I shall not +be moved. + +In God _is_ my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, _and_ +my refuge, _is_ in God. + +Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: +God _is_ a refuge for us. Selah. + +Surely men of low degree _are_ vanity, _and_ men of high degree _are_ +a lie: to be laid in the balance, they _are_ altogether _lighter_ than +vanity. + +Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches +increase, set not your heart _upon them_. + +God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power _belongeth_ +unto God. + +Also unto thee, O LORD, _belongeth_ mercy: for thou renderest to every +man according to his work. + + +This Psalm contains most excellent doctrine: it greatly exalts the +dignity of faith, showing how firm a safeguard faith in God is, and +what a strong defence it is against all the evils of life. On the +other hand, the Psalmist shows the vanity of all confidence in +men;—that nothing is more vain, or more fallacious than to trust in +man. ‘God (says he) is my rock, my strength, and my defence: God is my +hope, my salvation, my strength, my glory, my life, and my trust. God +is my safe protection. God is my faithful helper; who never deceives +me. Therefore, vain are the sons of men. The sons of men are all +liars:’ that is, all human things are deceiving, uncertain, and cannot +be held fast. + +Many are to be found, who trust in the favour of kings and princes; +and on that account, they are puffed up with pride and insolence, and +oppress others with the more confidence; and especially if they see +their wall bowing down and giving way; that is, if they see a man +declining in his affairs, who was once in prosperity; or if they see +him not protected by wealth and influence against injury: such an one +as this, they endeavour to overthrow wholly; and to that end, +ingratiate themselves with the powerful, and wind themselves into +their affections, on whose favour they depend; as on a propitious +deity. + +But such see not how fallacious the favour of men is, and how variable +and uncertain their wills are; in a word, they see not that “vain is +the help of man!” Nor will they believe it to be vain, until they find +it out by experience, and are brought to lament their error; as Cicero +and many other wise men have done. Cicero exclaims with respect to +Octavius, ‘O how vain was all my reputation for being a wise man, &c.! +O how far was I from being wise indeed; though I sometimes evinced +that wisdom which was esteemed to be such; but in vain!’ Thus writes +he in his epistle to Octavius.—Therefore the sum of all religion is +‘Trust in God and injure not thy neighbour!’ So shalt thou rightly +conduct thyself before both God and men! + + + + +PSALM LXIII. + +_David’s thirst for God.—His manner of blessing God.—His confidence of +his enemies’ destruction, and his own safety._ + +A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. + + +O God, thou _art_ my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth +for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where +no water is; + +To see thy power and thy glory, so _as_ I have seen thee in the +sanctuary. + +Because thy loving-kindness _is_ better than life, my lips shall +praise thee. + +Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy +name. + +My soul shall be satisfied as _with_ marrow and fatness; and my mouth +shall praise _thee_ with joyful lips: + +When I remember thee upon my bed, _and_ meditate on thee in the +_night_ watches. + +Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings +will I rejoice. + +My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me. + +But those _that_ seek my soul, to destroy _it_, shall go into the +lower parts of the earth. + +They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes. + +But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him +shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. + + +This is a prayer containing the deep feelings of an afflicted heart, +thirsting after the word of God, which is the word of consolation! +David called thus upon God, when he fled from the face of Saul, and +lay hid in the wilderness of Judah. “My soul thirsteth for thee; my +flesh longeth for thee, that I may see thee in thy sanctuary.” O how +fervently does he desire to be present in the tabernacle, and before +the mercy-seat in the sanctuary! And to hear the word of God, in the +assembly of those who there truly worshipped him? He complains, also, +bitterly against the Saulites; who so hostilely lay in wait for his +life, that he could be in safety no where; and was compelled to be +away from the place of the worship of God; even away from the +sanctuary.—Notwithstanding all this, however, he raises himself up +with a holy firmness, and magnanimity, and glories in being king, +depending on the choice and promise of God; by which he comforts and +sustains himself during the time of that most miserable flight and +calamity. + +This Psalm may be used by those who are under the oppression of +tyrants, who feel a hungering and thirsting after the word of God, and +who can, under their calamity, glory in being the sons and heirs of +God, because they have the knowledge of Christ, and love the word; and +who can persevere in this confidence, until the impious Saul be +destroyed, and David exalted; that is, until God raise up and comfort +those that fear him. + + + + +PSALM LXIV. + +_David prayeth for deliverance, complaining of his enemies.—He +promiseth himself to see such an evident destruction of his enemies, +as the righteous shall rejoice at it._ + +To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. + + +Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the +enemy. + +Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection +of the workers of iniquity. + +Who whet their tongue like a sword, _and_ bend _their bows to shoot_ +their arrows, _even_ bitter words; + +That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot +at him, and fear not. + +They encourage themselves _in_ an evil matter; they commune of laying +snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? + +They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both +the inward _thought_ of every one _of them_, and the heart, _is_ deep. + +But God shall shoot at them _with_ an arrow; suddenly shall they be +wounded. + +So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves; all that +see them shall flee away. + +And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God: for they +shall wisely consider of his doing. + +The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and +all the upright in heart shall glory. + + +This is a most ardent prayer, full of the feelings of a heart under +great straits, by reason of the unceasing and infinite malice of the +devil, the perfidy of men, and the ingratitude of the world. + +David here cries unto God, on account of having experienced so much +treachery, even from those of his own household, (as always is the +case, in the cause of religion). He cries to the Lord against his +betrayers and his most virulent slanderers,—those vipers, who, by +wicked speeches, and all the arts of perfidy and malice, did not cease +to plot against him. Of this base gang were his own son Absalom, +Ahithophel, and others like them; and especially many in the court of +Saul; Doeg, &c. + +He continues, however, perseveringly to comfort and console +himself;—that, by the just judgment of God, these same enemies shall +bring evil upon their own heads; and that those very base and viperous +tongues, which now cannot rest nor cease to slander, shall only wound +themselves; as, in the end, it happened unto Absalom, Ahithophel, and +Doeg. + +In the same way also, we ought to pray against all those vipers, our +enemies, in the halls of kings, bishops, and princes: who attack us +with satanic craft and hatred, and with all the arts of wickedness. +But they shall fall themselves into the snares which they have laid, +(as we have seen it exemplified in numberless instances;) and they +shall only plan mischief which shall fall upon their own heads; that +men may openly behold and see the works of God, and acknowledge that +God himself has visited them. + + + + +PSALM LXV. + +_David praiseth God for his grace.—The blessedness of God’s chosen by +reason of benefits._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm and Song of David. + + +Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow +be performed. + +O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. + +Iniquities prevail against me: _as for_ our transgressions, thou shalt +purge them away. + +Blessed _is the man whom_ thou choosest, and causest to approach _unto +thee, that_ he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the +goodness of thy house, _even_ of thy holy temple. + +_By_ terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of +our salvation; _who art_ the confidence of all the ends of the earth, +and of them that are afar off _upon_ the sea: + +Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; _being_ girded with +power: + +Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and +the tumult of the people. + +They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid of thy tokens: +thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. + +Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it +with the river of God, _which is_ full of water: thou preparest them +corn, when thou hast so provided for it. + +Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; thou settlest the furrows +thereof; thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing +thereof. + +Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. + +They drop _upon_ the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills +rejoice on every side. + +The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered +over with corn: they shout for joy, they also sing. + + +This is a remarkable Psalm of thanksgiving; (and all productions of +this kind were formed by the prophet out of the First Commandment,) +wherein thanks are rendered unto God, because he preserves among his +people (to whom he has given his word against Satan, heretics, and all +adversaries) the true religion, and the true worship of God; and +because he preserves also political peace, and guards the state from +all seditions, wars and tumults; and dispels all the storms of the +counsels of war, slaughter and bloodshed. For war is nothing less than +a horrible storm and tempest, which hurls into confusion all things +divine and human; and throws them into a perturbation, like as when +the waves of the sea rage with violence. + +The Psalmist gives thanks to God that he preserves peace;—(in which +one thing are contained all the treasures of good;) that he gives rain +from heaven and fruitful seasons; and that he crowns the year with his +goodness: that is, that during the revolution of the year, he +accomplishes and performs, as it were, a certain round of divine +blessing and goodness. For, in the spring, there first appear the +blossoms; and then, shortly after, the strawberries and cherries; and +then, ere long, plums, apples, and berries of various juice and +virtue; (to say nothing about the perpetual verdure of the herbs which +flourishes all the while, and is continually revived with fresh +supplies of dew). To these we are to add, the infinite variety of +herbs and odours. And then, at the time of harvest, our barns are +filled with wheat, rye, barley, and corn, and grain of every kind. In +the autumn, our presses overflow with wine of an infinite variety of +taste and fragrance, and our vats are filled to the brim. Thus the +Lord fills the whole revolution of the year, and every part of it, +with his overflowing and infinite goodness: and indeed every single +fruit is, as it were, a fund, and a world of the goodness of God. + +But how few are there, in general, who think about these numberless +and valuable blessings, and render thanks unto God for them? Alas! we +have innumerable examples of the impious manner in which the noble, +the powerful, and the rich, have abused the saving doctrine of faith +and Christian liberty, and also that peace which God has hitherto +miraculously preserved to us:—we have numberless examples, I say, of +the manner in which they have abused these great blessings, to their +own lusts, as Sodom and Gomorrah did:—but they shall be visited with +Sodom and Gomorrah’s judgment. + +You see, therefore, that those in the kingdom of David, and among the +people of Israel who composed these Psalms, were excellent and great +men. For these are spiritual and truly divine poems. No poems ever +equalled these. No poets, not even Homer himself, ever equalled these +poets, who thus speak of God, his works, and his creatures. These +Psalms contain the greatest and most weighty things, in a marvellous +brevity of expression! + + + + +PSALM LXVI. + +_David exhorteth to praise God, to observe his great works, to bless +him for his gracious benefits.—He voweth for himself religious service +to God.—He declareth God’s special goodness to himself._ + +To the chief Musician, a Song _or_ Psalm. + + +Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: + +Sing forth the honour of his name; make his praise glorious. + +Say unto God, How terrible _art thou in_ thy works! through the +greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto +thee. + +All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall +sing to thy name. Selah. + +Come and see the works of God _he is_ terrible _in his_ doing toward +the children of men. + +He turned the sea into _dry land_: they went through the flood on +foot: there did we rejoice in him. + +He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not +the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. + +O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be +heard; + +Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be +moved. + +For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is +tried. + +Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our +loins. + +Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads: we went through fire and +through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy _place_. + +I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my +vows, + +Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in +trouble. + +I will offer unto thee burnt-sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense +of rams: I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. + +Come _and_ hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath +done for my soul. + +I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. + +If I regard iniquity in my heart, the LORD will not hear _me_: + +_But_ verily God hath heard _me_; he hath attended to the voice of my +prayer. + +Blessed _be_ God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy +from me. + + +This is a general thanksgiving, for God’s having rescued and delivered +his people so often out of the hands of their enemies, and out of the +very jaws of death itself; as he did at the Red Sea. The Books of +Judges and Kings are full of these deliverances. + +These deliverances are no less great and wonderful, at this day, in +the church, when God delivers those that fear him out of temptations, +both internal and external. For Satan, of whom that earthly Pharaoh +was so especial a type, being inflamed with so horrible a desire of +distressing and destroying, daily persecutes the church: and he would, +if he could, so harm every single one of the godly, and so beset them +on every side, that they should see nothing but death, and an angry +God: out of all these things, however, God delivers his own. + + + + +PSALM LXVII. + +_A prayer for the enlargement of God’s kingdom, to the joy of the +people, and the increase of God’s blessings._ + +To the chief Musician on Neginoth, a Psalm _or_ Song. + + +God be merciful unto us, and bless us; _and_ cause his face to shine +upon us. Selah. + +That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all +nations. + +Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. + +O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the +people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. + +Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. + +_Then_ shall the earth yield her increase; _and_ God, even our God, +shall bless us. + +God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ; foretelling, that +it should be a spiritual kingdom, in which grace and the remission of +sins should be proclaimed, not only in Judea, but throughout all +nations. “Let the people praise thee, O God, yea let all the people +praise thee; for thou judgest the people righteously, &c.” That is, +thou reignest, by the Gospel, throughout all nations: thou judgest +all: (that is, all sinners in the hypocrisy of nature,) that they may +be brought to give thanks unto thee for thy mercy, and may rejoice, +and praise the blessings of the gospel. + +This sacrifice of praise, this offering of thanks, is the highest +worship of God, and is a sacrifice truly acceptable unto him, (as we +have continually observed;) for David does not here say, ‘The nations +shall become proselytes, and shall be circumcised, and shall flock to +Jerusalem:’ but “The nations shall remain uncircumcised, and shall, +nevertheless, sing praises unto God, and shall laud and magnify him:” +that is, the gospel shall be preached among all nations, and the +kingdom of Christ shall arise, the kingdom of grace and of the mercy +of God. + + + + +PSALM LXVIII. + +_A prayer at the removing of the ark.—An exhortation to praise God for +his mercies, for his care of the church, for his great works._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm _or_ Song of David. + + +Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate +him flee before him. + +As smoke is driven away, _so_ drive _them_ away: as wax melteth before +the fire, _so_ let the wicked perish in the presence of God. + +But let the righteous be glad: let them rejoice before God; yea, let +them exceedingly rejoice. + +Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon +the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. + +A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, _is_ God in his +holy habitation. + +God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are +bound with chains; but the rebellious dwell in a dry _land_. + +O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst +march through the wilderness; Selah: + +The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: +_even_ Sinai itself _was moved_ at the presence of God, the God of +Israel. + +Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm +thine inheritance, when it was weary. + +Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy +goodness for the poor. + +The LORD gave the word: great _was_ the company of those that +published it. + +Kings of armies did flee apace; and she that tarried at home divided +the spoil. + +Though ye have lien among the pots, _yet shall ye be as_ the wings of +a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. + +When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was _white_ as snow in +Salmon. + +The hill of God _is as_ the hill of Bashan; an high hill, _as_ the +hill of Bashan. + +Why leap ye, ye high hills? _this is_ the hill _which_ God desireth to +dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell _in it_ for ever. + +The chariots of God _are_ twenty thousand, _even_ thousands of angels; +the Lord _is_ among them _as in_ Sinai, in the holy _place_. + +Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast +received gifts for men; yea, _for_ the rebellious also, that the LORD +God might dwell _among them_. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD, _who_ daily loadeth us _with benefits, even_ +the God of our salvation. Selah. + +_He that is_ our God _is_ the God of salvation; and unto God the LORD +_belong_ the issues from death. + +But God shall wound the head of his enemies, _and_ the hairy scalp of +such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses. + +The LORD said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring _my +people_ again from the depths of the sea: + +That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of _thine_ enemies, _and_ the +tongue of thy dogs in the same. + +They have seen thy goings, O GOD; _even_ the goings of my God, my +King, in the sanctuary. + +The singers went before, the players on instruments _followed_ after; +among _them were_ the damsels playing with timbrels. + +Bless ye God in the congregations, _even_ the LORD from the fountain +of Israel. + +There _is_ little Benjamin _with_ their ruler, the princes of Judah +_and_ their council, the princes of Zebulun, _and_ the princes of +Naphtali. + +Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which +thou hast wrought for us. + +Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto +thee. + +Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the +calves of the people, _till every one_ submit himself with pieces of +silver: scatter thou the people _that_ delight in war. + +Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her +hands unto God. + +Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the LORD; +Selah: + +To him that rideth upon the heaven of heavens _which were_ of old: lo, +he doth send out his voice, _and that_ a mighty voice. + +Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency _is_ over Israel, and his +strength _is_ in the clouds. + +O God, _thou art_ terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel +_is_ he that giveth strength and power unto _his_ people. Blessed _be_ +God. + + +This Psalm is, in the Latin, most obscurely translated; so much so, +that this one Psalm may well put us in remembrance of what we are +indebted unto God, for the great light which he has given us in this +our day; in having blessed us with the study of languages, and with +good books and instructors. Yet, in return for this universal, great, +and unspeakable gift, through the unceasing revilings of Satan, God +hears nothing but, ‘O this Lutheran poison! O this Lutheran +heresy!’—The world shall suffer heavy punishment for the contempt of +the blessing of this great and merciful light! + +In the former Latin translation of this Psalm there were the most +monstrous renderings; such as ‘_Rex vir tutum dilecti dilecti.—Speciei +domus dividere spolia.—Si dormiatis inter medios cleros.—Nives +dealbabuntur in Salmon.—Mons Dei, mons pinguis, mons +coæquatus.—Arundinis increpa feras. Congregatio taurorum in vaccis +populorum,’ &c._ + +And how much of the same obscurity was there in Hosea, and the like +difficult books? What, then, have _they_ profited the church, who, by +a sort of madness, and from a hatred of, and longing desire to, +suppress the light of the gospel, have all along condemned not only +all pious studies, but all useful learning and godliness! But how easy +is it to sit down and condemn all things, and, as it were, to spit at +the sun that enlightens all things! The truly learned and godly know, +however, how arduous it is to imitate the laborious endeavours of +those who engage in the work of translations. But let us proceed to +speak upon the Psalm.— + +This Psalm is a signal prophecy concerning Christ; a prophecy more +animated and exalted, than usual, in fervency of spirit; and, as it +were, exulting in the Holy Ghost; setting before us a view of the +church, and those things which are to take place under the New +Testament; and all this is done with a representation so clear and +expressive, and with every thing depicted in that exact order, that it +seems to be, not a prediction of things to come, but a description of +things passing before our eyes. The Holy Ghost foretels the +resurrection and ascension of Christ, the revelation of the Holy +Spirit from heaven, and the mission of the Apostles: he describes, I +say, the whole of this spiritual kingdom: this kingdom of grace and +remission of sins, in which Christ should be preached as the true God, +and as the Saviour and deliverer from death. + +He shows also, that the kingdom and priesthood of the Jews was to be +abolished, and that a new and spiritual kingdom was to be erected; +which should stand, not in human strength, nor in many thousands of +horse and foot, but in the ministry and power of the word!—that it +should be a kingdom, in which the Lord should give the word unto those +who should preach it, in much power; by which the grace of Christ, and +the remission of sins by Christ, should be preached, and not the law +of Moses. + +He calls the apostles, “kings and heads of armies;” because, by the +gospel and the ministry of the word, they continually attack the +kingdom of the devil and the gates of hell. For what are all the +sermons and exhortations of the apostles, but the most terrible +battles and conflicts against sin, death, the devil, hell, and all the +righteousness and wisdom of the world? + +He also calls them “high hills, rich hills, and the inheritance of +God;” and “chariots of the Lord of many thousands;” and also, “the +multitude of them that preach good tidings, and sing, and play upon +instruments;” because, the apostles and ministers of the word, by +preaching the joyful gospel and the word of grace, continually praise, +sing of, and celebrate the immense benefits of Christ, and the mercy +of God. Thus, throughout the whole Psalm, the fervent prophet exulting +in the Holy Ghost, describes, in a most sweet song, the whole kingdom +of Christ! + +In the end, he prays that God would be pleased to render the church +more flourishing, and to give his blessing and a happy success to this +kingdom. And indeed, the prophet felt his heart moved, and was +peculiarly uplifted and fervent in spirit, when he composed this +divine and heavenly psalm concerning the kingdom of Christ. + + + + +PSALM LXIX. + +_David complaineth of his affliction.—He prayeth for deliverance.—He +devoteth his enemies to destruction.—He praiseth God with +thanksgiving._ + +To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim. A Psalm of David. + + +Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto _my_ soul. + +I sink in deep mire, where _there is_ no standing: I am come into deep +waters, where the floods overflow me. + +I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I +wait for my God. + +They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine +head: they that would destroy me, _being_ mine enemies wrongfully, are +mighty: then I restored _that_ which I took not away. + +O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. + +Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my +sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of +Israel. + +Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my +face. + +I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s +children. + +For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of +them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. + +When I wept, _and chastened_ my soul with fasting, that was to my +reproach. + +I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. + +They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I _was_ the song of +the drunkards. + +But as for me, my prayer _is_ unto thee, O LORD, _in_ an acceptable +time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me: in the truth of +thy salvation, + +Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered +from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. + +Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me +up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. + +Hear me, O LORD; for thy loving-kindness _is_ good: turn unto me +according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. + +And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble; hear me +speedily. + +Draw nigh unto my soul, _and_ redeem it: deliver me, because of mine +enemies. + +Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine +adversaries _are_ all before thee. + +Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness: and I +looked _for some_ to take pity, but _there was_ none; and for +comforters, but I found none. + +They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me +vinegar to drink. + +Let their table become a snare before them: and _that which should +have been_ for _their_ welfare, _let it become_ a trap. + +Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins +continually to shake. + +Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take +hold of them. + +Let their habitation be desolate; _and_ let none dwell in their tents. + +For they persecute _him_ whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the +grief of those whom thou hast wounded. + +Add iniquity unto their iniquity; and let them not come into thy +righteousness. + +Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written +with the righteous. + +But I _am_ poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on +high. + +I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with +thanksgiving. + +_This_ also shall please the LORD better than an ox _or_ bullock that +hath horns and hoofs. + +The humble shall see _this, and_ be glad: and your heart shall live +that seek God. + +For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. + +Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that +moveth therein: + +For God will save Sion, and will build the cities of Judah; that they +may dwell there, and have it in possession. + +The seed also of his servants shall inherit it; and they that love his +name shall dwell therein. + + +This Psalm is a prayer full of those most deep and spiritual feelings +that were experienced in the person of Christ our Lord. In the +beginning of the Psalm, in the first three verses, with what a +fervency and weight of words does the Psalmist describe those great +terrors of death and hell which Christ undertook and endured, for our +sins. “Save me now, O Lord,” saith he, “for the waters overflow me, I +sink into the depth of the mire: I have now no where to stand, nothing +whereon to set my foot, I sink into the abyss of the sea, and the +floods overflow me.” By all which figures and expressions he shadows +forth, with all his powers, that unspeakable agony of Christ, which he +endured for our sins, when groaning under the infinite weight of the +wrath of God. + +In the 7th verse Christ confesses himself as bearing our sins, and +complains of the Jews, who crucify him. “They gave me,” saith he, +“gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink:” so +expressively and circumstantially does the prophet foretel the +sufferings of Christ! And then he speaks, with the same clearness, +concerning the Jews who should be blinded, and their kingdom and +priesthood which should be destroyed, as also it was fulfilled; so +that now we see the accomplishment of these things, and experience has +set them plainly before our eyes. + +In the end of the Psalm the prophet shows that the law should be +abolished, and that a new worship should be instituted without the law +and circumcision: “I will praise the name of the Lord,” saith he, +“with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall +please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that hath horns and +hoofs.” By these words he shews that the law should be abrogated with +the whole of that splendidly ceremonious worship, the boasted pride of +circumcision, the sabbaths, and the sacrifices; and that the worship +of the New Testament should be established in its stead; namely, the +sacrifice of praise and the preaching of the gospel; for it is by +faith in Christ, and obedience to the gospel that we attain unto the +true knowledge of God, and it is by truly keeping the first +commandment that God is truly worshipped; which, as it is written, +(Mark xii. 33.) is “more than all whole burnt offerings and +sacrifices.” + + + + +PSALM LXX. + +_David soliciteth God to the speedy destruction of the wicked, and +preservation of the godly._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. + + +Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O LORD. + +Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them +be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt. + +Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, +aha. + +Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such +as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. + +But I _am_ poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou _art_ my +help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying. + + +This Psalm is a prayer against the persecutors and enemies of the +church and of the godly: for such instruments of the devil cease not +to plot against the good, and those that fear God, with all possible +machinations of craft, and with all the bitterness of Cain; and, like +Satan himself, they burn with an insatiable desire and determination +to destroy the church; nay, more than this, they insult the miseries +and calamities of the saints. + + + + +PSALM LXXI. + +_David, in confidence of faith, and experience of God’s favour, +prayeth both for himself, and against the enemies of his soul.—He +promiseth constancy.—He prayeth for perseverance.—He praiseth God, and +promiseth to do it cheerfully._ + + +In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. + +Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine +ear unto me, and save me. + +Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou +hast given commandment to save me; for thou _art_ my rock and my +fortress. + +Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand +of the unrighteous and cruel man. + +For thou _art_ my hope, O Lord GOD: _thou art_ my trust from my youth. + +By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me +out of my mother’s bowels: my praise _shall be_ continually of thee. + +I am as a wonder unto many: but thou _art_ my strong refuge. + +Let my mouth be filled _with_ thy praise _and with_ thy honour all the +day. + +Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my +strength faileth. + +For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul +take counsel together, + +Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for _there is_ +none to deliver _him_. + +O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste for my help. + +Let them be confounded _and_ consumed that are adversaries to my soul; +let them be covered _with_ reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt. + +But I will hope continually, and yet will praise thee more and more. + +My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness _and_ thy salvation all +the day; for I know not the numbers _thereof_. + +I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of thy +righteousness, _even_ of thine only. + +O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared +thy wondrous works. + +Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I +have shewed thy strength unto _this_ generation, _and_ thy power to +every one _that_ is to come. + +Thy righteousness also, O God, _is_ very high, who hast done great +things: O God, who _is_ like unto thee! + +_Thou_, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me +again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. + +Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. + +I will also praise thee with the psaltery, _even_ thy truth, O my God: +unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. + +My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, +which thou hast redeemed. + +My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for +they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my +hurt. + + +This Psalm is a general prayer; which, I think, may be very properly +used in the person of the whole church against all her enemies and +persecutors who are now or ever shall be, unto the end. “Forsake me +not,” saith he, “in the time of mine old age,” &c. and although this +may more especially apply to the prophet himself, as praying for +divine protection under his infinite temptations; yet the words may be +appropriately applied to the last times, and to the close of the +church militant before the last day. For the church has her old age +also: and Christ himself and his apostles have foretold, “That in the +latter days perilous times shall come:” as Daniel also prophesied, +that the truth should be persecuted and iniquity should abound: and +this we have experienced under Mahomet, and the Pope, to our infinite +peril and sorrow. + +Hence, in verses 15–17, the prophet foretells the justice and +righteousness of God. “My mouth (saith he) shall show forth thy +righteousness. O God thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto +have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and +grey-headed, &c.” This prophecy may be of singular use to us, and +apply to us very appropriately: because God has, as it were, brought +us back out of hell, and from the depths of the earth, and has made +the light of his word to shine again, by which our consciences have a +firm and eternal consolation. These our times are like the times of +Elias and Enoch: for they commonly say of us, ‘These men will subvert +antichrist, and restore all things!’ + + + + +PSALM LXXII. + +_David, praying for Solomon, sheweth the goodness and glory of his, in +type, and in truth, of Christ’s kingdom.—He blesseth God._ + +A Psalm for Solomon. + + +Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the +king’s son. + +He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with +judgment. + +The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, +by righteousness. + +He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of +the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. + +They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout +all generations. + +He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers _that_ +water the earth. + +In his days shall the righteous flourish: and abundance of peace so +long as the moon endureth. + +He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto +the ends of the earth. + +They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his +enemies shall lick the dust. + +The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings +of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. + +Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve +him. + +For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and +_him_ that hath no helper. + +He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the +needy. + +He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious +shall their blood be in his sight. + +And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: +prayer also shall be made for him continually: _and_ daily shall he be +praised. + +There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the +mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and _they_ of +the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. + +His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as +the sun: and _men_ shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him +blessed. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous +things. + +And blessed _be_ his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth +be filled _with_ his glory; Amen, and Amen. + +The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. + + +This is a most remarkable prophecy concerning Christ and his kingdom, +to be spread throughout the whole world, over all kingdoms, and the +isles of the sea: which should not be a kingdom of death, sin, and +judgment, but a kingdom of grace, righteousness, peace, and joy.—But +the life, the victory, the peace, and the glory of the church shall be +hidden; they shall be hidden in God; and the saints in this world +shall endure the most bitter hatred of the world, and its +persecutions; they shall shed their blood for Christ; nevertheless, +that blood shall be precious in the sight of the Lord, and he shall +require it. + +This Psalm also, verse 15, declares that the old worship of the law of +Moses should be abrogated, and a new worship set up, which should +consist in prayer and the giving of thanks. “Prayer shall be made unto +him (saith he) continually, and daily shall he be praised.” For the +sacrifice of praise and the preaching of the gospel, is the daily +sacrifice, and the highest worship of the New Testament. Here you hear +nothing of circumcision, or the law of Moses, as that which the +nations should receive. It saith that the kings of nations and nations +themselves shall endure and shall praise this king. Therefore, this +king, Christ, is truly and properly God. For prayer is the worship of +the first and greatest commandment, and is due to God alone; for he +alone can deliver from death and every affliction. + + + + +PSALM LXXIII. + +_The prophet, prevailing in a temptation, sheweth the occasion +thereof, the prosperity of the wicked.—The wound given thereby, +diffidence.—The victory over it, knowledge of God’s purpose, in +destroying of the wicked, and sustaining the righteous._ + +A Psalm of Asaph. + + +Truly God _is_ good to Israel, _even_ to such as are of a clean heart. + +But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh +slipped. + +For I was envious at the foolish, _when_ I saw the prosperity of the +wicked. + +For _there are_ no bands in their death; but their strength _is_ firm. + +They _are_ not in trouble _as other_ men; neither are they plagued +like _other_ men. + +Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth +them _as_ a garment. + +Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could +wish. + +They are corrupt, and speak wickedly _concerning_ oppression: they +speak loftily. + +They set their mouth against the heavens; and their tongue walketh +through the earth. + +Therefore his people return hither; and waters of a full _cup_ are +wrung out to them: + +And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most +High? + +Behold, these _are_ the ungodly who prosper in the world; they +increase _in_ riches. + +Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in +innocency. + +For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. + +If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend _against_ the +generation of thy children. + +When I thought to know this, it _was_ too painful for me, + +Until I went into the sanctuary of God; _then_ understood I their end. + +Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down +into destruction. + +How are they _brought_ into desolation, as in a moment? they are +utterly consumed with terrors. + +As a dream when _one_ awaketh; _so_, O LORD, when thou awakest, thou +shalt despise their image. + +Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. + +So foolish _was_ I and ignorant; I was _as_ a beast before thee. + +Nevertheless, I _am_ continually with thee; thou hast holden _me_ by +my right hand. + +Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me _to_ +glory. + +Whom have I heaven _but thee_? and _there is_ none upon earth _that_ I +desire beside thee. + +My flesh and my heart faileth: _but_ God is the strength of my heart, +and my portion for ever. + +For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou hast destroyed +all them that go a whoring from thee. + +But _it is_ good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in +the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. + + +This is a Psalm that instructs us against that great offence and +stumbling-block concerning which all the prophets have complained; +namely, that the wicked flourish in the world, enjoy prosperity, and +increase in abundance, while the godly suffer cold and hunger, and are +afflicted, and spit upon, and despised, and condemned; and that God +seems to be against and to neglect the latter, and to regard, support +and give success to the former. And this outside appearance of the +false church has, moreover, a great influence with, and excites the +admiration of, the world around. Whatever these hypocrites do or say, +they boast with great confidence, is pious, holy and divine: on the +other hand, they consider the lives of the godly to be ungodly, and +their doctrine erroneous. This offence has existed, and has exercised +and vexed the godly from the very beginning of the church. + +“So foolish was I,” saith Asaph, (v. 22.) that is, I was accounted +ungodly, a heretic, and a despiser of God. But these temptations, +saith he, remain until I cast away all my own cogitations about this +offence, and go into the sanctuary: that is, until I hear or read the +word, and find what God saith concerning the ungodly; and until I look +into the histories and behold the judgments of God, which have been +since the foundation of the world. There I find what God threatens in +his First Commandment: and how he has fulfilled this judgment and +executed it, even from Cain; by which all the ungodly are overthrown +and overwhelmed on a sudden: for they build upon slippery places and +upon the sand, but the godly build upon a rock. + + + + +PSALM LXXIV. + +_The prophet complaineth of the desolation of the sanctuary.—He moveth +God to help in consideration of his power, of his reproachful enemies, +of his children, and of his covenant._ + +Maschil of Asaph. + + +O God, why hast thou cast _us_ off for ever? _why_ doth thine anger +smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? + +Remember thy congregation, _which_ thou hast purchased of old; the rod +of thine inheritance, _which_ thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, +wherein thou hast dwelt. + +Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; _even_ all _that_ the +enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. + +Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up +their ensigns _for_ signs. + +_A man_ was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick +trees. + +But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and +hammers. + +They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled _by casting +down_ the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. + +They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have +burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. + +We see not our signs: _there is_ no more any prophet: neither _is +there_ among us any that knoweth how long. + +O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy +blaspheme thy name for ever? + +Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck _it_ out of +thy bosom. + +For God _is_ my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the +earth. + +Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of +the dragons in the waters. + +Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, _and_ gavest him _to +be_ meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. + +Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty +rivers. + +The day _is_ thine, the night also _is_ thine; thou hast prepared the +light and the sun. + +Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and +winter. + +Remember this, _that_ the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and _that_ +the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. + +O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude _of the +wicked_: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever. + +Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are +full of the habitations of cruelty. + +O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise +thy name. + +Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man +reproacheth thee daily. + +Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise +up against thee increaseth continually. + + +This is a prayer against the enemies who were then laying waste +Jerusalem, the sanctuary, all the holy places of assembly and of the +worship of God in the land, and even the national cities themselves; +uttering at the same time blasphemies against God, as if he were not +able to succour and defend his people. + +It seems also to be a prophecy of the future, and a prayer against +that future devastation which was wrought by those cruel enemies, the +Chaldeans, and by Antiochus Epiphanes; for it was on these two +occasions only that the temple and the city of Jerusalem were +destroyed, with such cruelty as is here depicted. + +We also use this Psalm against the Turk and Mahomet; and also against +our Antiochus, the pope; who destroys daily the true church and the +preaching of the word of God, daily despoils and scatters all sacred +and divine things, and every where stirs up and diffuses abroad the +poison of the devil and every abomination. + + + + +PSALM LXXV. + +_The prophet praiseth God.—He promiseth to judge uprightly.—He +rebuketh the proud by consideration of God’s providence.—He praiseth +God, and promiseth to execute justice._ + +To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, a Psalm _or_ Song of Asaph. + + +Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, _unto thee_ do we give thanks; +for _that_ thy name is near thy wondrous works declare. + +When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly. + +The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the +pillars of it. Selah. + +I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not +up the horn: + +Lift not up your horn on high: speak _not with_ a stiff neck. + +For promotion _cometh_ neither from the east, nor from the west, nor +from the south. + +But God _is_ the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. + +For in the hand of the LORD _there is_ a cup, and the wine is red: it +is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs +thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring _them_ out, _and_ +drink _them_. + +But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. + +All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; _but_ the horns of +the righteous shall be exalted. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation against all turbulent and hardened +hypocrites, who boast of their church and their name, and despise +alike all threatenings, and all exhortations; ever speaking like those +arrogant hypocrites in Psalm xii: “Who shall teach us?” “Who is Lord +over us?” As if they should say, the power is ours, and the authority +is ours, and he that does not listen to, and obey us, let him be +accursed. + +In like manner also now, our bishops are secure; and, from the +‘Council of Worms’ to this day, are deaf to all entreaties, and +insensible to all tears. And equally deaf also are most kings and +princes and fanatical spirits; who are so confident in themselves and +in their own imaginations, that they seem to think that God himself +could not overthrow them or cast them down. + +This Psalm admonishes us, the people of God, to know and acknowledge, +that there is a God who will surely judge all iniquity, if we do but +wait his time. For he is the Lord who maketh the mountains to tremble, +and who appeared on Mount Sinai with such terrible majesty. He, +according to the word of his First Commandment, visits the wicked in +his own appointed time, and yet preserves the pillars of the earth; +that is, the godly and the righteous; who bear up and sustain this +world upon their shoulders as it were: in the same way as the Apostle +Paul calls the church the “pillar and ground of the truth.” Thus, God +preserved the righteous and innocent Lot when he overthrew Sodom: and +thus he preserved also the believing Jews and the Apostles when he +destroyed Jerusalem, and overthrew the whole nation and kingdom: for +he knows, when he destroys any nation, how to preserve his own. + + + + +PSALM LXXVI. + +_A declaration of God’s majesty in the church.—An exhortation to serve +him reverently._ + +To the chief Musician on Neginoth. A Psalm _or_ Song of Asaph. + + +In Judah _is_ God known; his name _is_ great in Israel. + +In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. + +There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and +the battle. Selah. + +Thou _art_ more glorious _and_ excellent than the mountains of prey. + +The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of +the men of might have found their hands. + +At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast +into a dead sleep. + +Thou, _even_ thou, _art_ to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight +when once thou art angry? + +Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, +and was still, + +When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. + +Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath +shalt thou restrain. + +Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him +bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. + +He shall cut off the spirit of princes: _he is_ terrible to the kings +of the earth. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and of the same subject-matter as +Psalm xlvi. It gives thanks unto God for preserving his word and +worship in Jerusalem; and shows that it is he who, by marvellous deeds +and wonders, protects and defends his people against all kings and +tyrants; such as Sennacherib. For the Lord, the Divine Majesty, is a +wonderful “Man of war”; who has the hearts and spirits of kings in his +hand, and who can fill the enemies with fear, and break their minds +and spirits, whenever he pleases, with a single nod of his will. + +In this manner does God fight for his church against tyrants and +erroneous enemies. In the very midst of the course of their fury and +their hostile roaring, he brings down and breaks their spirits with +fear: and it is a terrible thing to kick and fight against him, who +can, in a moment, take away that which is the chief thing in +battle—the spirit of a man! Satan himself, who makes war against the +righteous with such unceasing rage, with such horrible desire to +destroy, and with such confidence in his might, is cast down in his +spirit, in a moment, by a repulse of the shield of faith, and falls +back and is undone: how much more then shall a mortal man! + +This verse, therefore, wherein the Psalmist says, “He shall cut off +the spirit of princes,” ought greatly to comfort us; for thereby we +may know, that we cannot be conquered or oppressed, but as God wills; +seeing we have that Warrior for our Captain, who holds in his hand the +hearts and spirits of our enemies; and who, without any arms or +weapons of men, can lay our adversaries prostrate in a moment, by +striking their spirits with fear! + + + + +PSALM LXXVII. + +_The psalmist sheweth what fierce combat he had with diffidence.—The +victory which he had by consideration of God’s great and gracious +works._ + +To the chief Musician to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. + + +I cried unto God with my voice, _even_ unto God with my voice; and he +gave ear unto me. + +In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD: my sore ran in the night, +and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted. + +I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was +overwhelmed. Selah. + +Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak. + +I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. + +I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own +heart: and my spirit made diligent search. + +Will the LORD cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? + +Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth _his_ promise fail for +evermore? + +Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender +mercies? Selah. + +And I said, This _is_ my infirmity: _but I will remember_ the years of +the right hand of the Most High. + +I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy +wonders of old. + +I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. + +Thy way, O God, _is_ in the sanctuary: who _is so_ great a God as +_our_ God! + +Thou _art_ the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength +among the people. + +Thou hast with _thine_ arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and +Joseph. Selah. + +The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: they were afraid: the +depths also were troubled. + +The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows +also went abroad. + +The voice of thy thunder _was_ in the heaven: the lightnings lightened +the world: the earth trembled and shook. + +Thy way _is_ in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy +footsteps are not known. + +Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. + + +This Psalm contains a blessed doctrine: the Psalmist puts forth +himself as an example: and the whole is for the consolation of the +godly: for the Psalmist describes the unspeakable anguish and sorrow +of a heart alarmed at the wrath of God and sin: and he says, verse 4, +that he was so overwhelmed with these terrors and sorrows, that he +could neither sleep nor speak. And in verses 7–10, he, as it were, +repeats all these his feelings of sorrow and dread, saying, “Will God +forget to be merciful? Doth his promise fail for evermore”? + +But here, as the Psalm saith, lies the greatest and best of all +consolations,—you will at once find comfort and deliverance if, +casting away from your mind (if you can by any means do it,) all these +apprehensions of evils and sorrows, (by which indeed you are +distressed in vain,) you turn to the word and works of God, and to the +histories of God’s doings and dealings from the beginning of the +world: for you will there find that the works and doings of God from +the beginning have been these,—to be merciful to and to save and help +the sorrowful, the distressed, the destitute, and the afflicted; and +to visit, in vengeance, the secure, the proud, the despisers, and the +wicked, in the same way as he delivered the Israelites, and destroyed +the Egyptians. Hence it is that David says, “Thy way, O God, is in the +deep,” and “in the sea:” for God saves in the midst of death and of +destruction, when despair is on every side. + +Learn this, my Christian brother! This Psalm thus sets forth to us God +and the ways of God: that is, how he works, and what he does, in his +church and in the saints: and all this is thus written, that we should +not despair in perils and afflictions, when we are beyond the reach of +all human help: but that rather, casting away all our own +apprehensions and distressing thoughts, we should, at, and from that +time, begin to trust in God, and to trust in him more and more, +waiting for his help. + + + + +PSALM LXXVIII. + +_An exhortation both to learn and to preach the law of God.—The story +of God’s wrath against the incredulous and disobedient.—The Israelites +being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David._ + +Maschil of Asaph. + + +Give ear, O my people, _to_ my law: incline your ears to the words of +my mouth. + +I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old; + +Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. + +We will not hide _them_ from their children, shewing to the generation +to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful +works that he hath done. + +For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in +Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them +known to their children; + +That the generation to come might know _them, even_ the children +_which_ should be born, _who_ should arise and declare _them_ to their +children: + +That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of +God; but keep his commandments: + +And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious +generation; a generation _that_ set not their heart aright, and whose +spirit was not stedfast with God. + +The children of Ephraim, _being_ armed, _and_ carrying bows, turned +back in the day of battle. + +They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; + +And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them. + +Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of +Egypt, _in_ the field of Zoan. + +He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the +waters to stand as an heap. + +In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with +a light of fire. + +He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave _them_ drink as _out +of_ the great depths. + +He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down +like rivers. + +And they sinned yet more against him, by provoking the Most High in +the wilderness. + +And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust. + +Yea, they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish a table in the +wilderness? + +Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams +overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his +people? + +Therefore the LORD heard _this_, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled +against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel. + +Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation; + +Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of +heaven, + +And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the +corn of heaven. + +Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full. + +He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven; and by his power he +brought in the south wind. + +He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as +the sand of the sea; + +And he let _it_ fall in the midst of their camp, round about their +habitations. + +So they did eat and were well filled: for he gave them their own +desire; + +They were not estranged from their lust: but while their meat _was_ +yet in their mouths, + +The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and +smote down the chosen _men_ of Israel. + +For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous +works. + +Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in +trouble. + +When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and +inquired early after God: + +And they remembered that God _was_ their Rock, and the high God their +Redeemer. + +Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto +him with their tongues: + +For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in +his covenant. + +But he, _being_ full of compassion, forgave _their_ iniquity, and +destroyed _them_ not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and +did not stir up all his wrath: + +For he remembered that they _were but_ flesh; a wind that passeth +away, and cometh not again. + +How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, _and_ grieve him in +the desert! + +Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of +Israel. + +They remembered not his hand, _nor_ the day when he delivered them +from the enemy: + +How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of +Zoan: + +And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they +could not drink. + +He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and +frogs, which destroyed them. + +He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour +unto the locust. + +He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with +frost. + +He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot +thunderbolts. + +He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, +and trouble, by sending evil angels _among them_. + +He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but +gave their life over to the pestilence; + +And smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of _their_ strength +in the tabernacles of Ham: + +But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the +wilderness like a flock. + +And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea +overwhelmed their enemies. + +And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, _even to_ this +mountain, _which_ his right hand had purchased. + +He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an +inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their +tents. + +Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his +testimonies: + +But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were +turned aside like a deceitful bow. + +For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him +to jealousy with their graven images. + +When God heard _this_, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: + +So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent _which_ he +placed among men; + +And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the +enemy’s hand. + +He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his +inheritance. + +The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to +marriage. + +Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation. + +Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, _and_ like a mighty man that +shouteth by reason of wine. + +And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: he put them to a +perpetual reproach. + +Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe +of Ephraim: + +But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. + +And he built his sanctuary like high _palaces_, like +the earth which he hath established for ever. + +He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: + +From following the ewes great with young he brought him, to feed Jacob +his people, and Israel his inheritance. + +So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided +them by the skilfulness of his hands. + + +This Psalm, by a glorious instruction, in a long recital of the acts +of the children of Israel as examples, from the departure out of Egypt +down to David, teaches us to believe and trust in God: showing us, how +“very present” God always was to those who believed in him, in all +their perils, and even in the midst of death. And, on the other hand, +it shows us, how surely and terribly God always visited those who +despised his word and departed from him. + +For, according to the words of the first commandment, God has, from +the beginning, wrought, not only in his own people, but in the +Gentiles also; and so he will work down to the world’s end; showing +mercy to those that love him, and visiting in judgment those that hate +him. + +And although the world despises, more unconcernedly than all things +else, the threatenings of God and his promises also; yet, +nevertheless, God still goes on working, according to the words of his +first commandment; and that commandment still prevails over all the +kingdoms of the earth; laying prostrate kings, overturning kingdoms, +uprooting families, and blotting out mighty names. And, on the other +hand, the same commandment still and ever goes on, preserving those in +the church of God who love him; lifting up them that are down; +succouring the oppressed; feeding the poor, the captives, and the +exiles; loosing those that are in prison; raising the dead; and +bringing salvation. + +The hardened and unbelieving world do not believe God: nevertheless, +this first commandment goes on thus according to the word which it +contains, to accomplish God’s will, in things private, and in things +public, in this present age, and throughout all the ages to come. + + + + +PSALM LXXIX. + +_The psalmist complaineth of the desolation of Jerusalem.—He prayeth +for deliverance, and promiseth thankfulness._ + +A Psalm of Asaph. + + +O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple +have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps. + +The dead bodies of thy servants have they given _to be_ meat unto the +fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the +earth. + +Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and +_there was_ none to bury _them_. + +We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to +them that are round about us. + +How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn +like fire? + +Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon +the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name. + +For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place. + +O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies +speedily prevent us; for we are brought very low. + +Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; and +deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake. + +Wherefore should the heathen say, Where _is_ their God? let him be +known among the heathen in our sight, _by_ the revenging of the blood +of thy servants _which is_ shed. + +Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the +greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die: + +And render unto our neighbours seven-fold into their bosom their +reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O LORD. + +So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for +ever; we will shew forth thy praise to all generations. + + +This Psalm is a prayer to God against that future national +destruction, which was wrought by the Chaldeans and Antiochus +Epiphanes; it is of the same subject-matter as Psalm lxxiv, and +therefore it may be set forth by the explication there given. Isaiah +has the same prayer against future devastations, chap. 63. + + + + +PSALM LXXX. + +_The psalmist in his prayer complaineth of the miseries of the +church.—God’s former favours are turned into judgments.—He prayeth for +deliverance._ + +To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph. + + +Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; +thou that dwellest _between_ the cherubims, shine forth. + +Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and +come _and_ save us. + +Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be +saved. + +O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of +thy people? + +Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to +drink in great measure. + +Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours; and our enemies laugh +among themselves. + +Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we +shall be saved. + +Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, +and planted it. + +Thou preparedst _room_ before it, and didst cause it to take deep +root, and it filled the land. + +The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof +_were like_ the goodly cedars. + +She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. + +Why hast thou _then_ broken down her hedges, so that all they which +pass by the way do pluck her? + +The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the +field doth devour it. + +Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and +behold, and visit this vine; + +And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch +_that_ thou madest strong for thyself. + +_It is_ burned with fire; _it is_ cut down: they perish at the rebuke +of thy countenance. + +Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man +_whom_ thou madest strong for thyself. + +So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon +thy name. + +Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we +shall be saved. + + +This is a prayer against those most bitter and daily enemies, the +neighbouring Philistines, Syrians, Moabites, Edomites, &c.: for +Jerusalem was situated in the midst of these nations, all enemies, on +every side. + +This Psalm is appropriate for _us_ against bishops, and monks, and +priests, who hate us more bitterly than any Edomite or any Cain. The +fathers used this Psalm (such was the state of the church then) +against her error-broaching enemies. + + + + +PSALM LXXXI. + +_An exhortation to a solemn praising of God.—God challengeth that duty +by reason of his benefits.—God exhorting to obedience; complaineth of +their disobedience, which proveth their own hurt._ + +To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of Asaph. + + +Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of +Jacob. + +Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the +psaltery. + +Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our +solemn feast day. + +For this _was_ a statute for Israel, _and_ a law of the God of Jacob. + +This he ordained in Joseph _for_ a testimony, when he went out through +the land of Egypt: _where_ I heard a language _that_ I understood not. + +I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from +the pots. + +Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the +secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. +Selah. + +Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou +wilt hearken unto me; + +There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any +strange god. + +I _am_ the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: +open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. + +But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of +me. + +So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: _and_ they walked in +their own counsels. + +Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, _and_ Israel had walked in my +ways! + +I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against +their adversaries. + +The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but +their time should have endured for ever. + +He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with +honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. + + +This is the form of a prayer and a solemn song for the people of the +Jews, which was sung yearly at the feast of tabernacles, to admonish +that people, and to keep them in the true worship of God; namely, that +of the first commandment. This Psalm, therefore, like the prophets, in +all their great instructions, holds forth and enforces the very words +of the first commandment, “I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none +other gods but me:” that is, thou shalt hold me as thy God, thou shalt +cleave unto me, thou shalt trust alone in me; thou shalt not worship, +thou shalt not call upon, any other God. + +But here the whole world lieth in wickedness, the whole is unclean, +the whole is the kingdom of the devil. Not only were the people of the +Jews in this state of transgression against the first commandment, but +all nations, and all religions, and all worshippers, from the +beginning of the world; and they will be the same down to the end of +the world. The Israelites were indeed the people of God; they had the +prophets, and the godly priests and Levites, continually enforcing on +them this great and highest worship of the first commandment in all +their preachings: and yet they fell away from this worship. Their +mouth ought to have been full of God and the praise of God, but it was +full of idolatry, and of idolatrous doctrines and abominations. + +Here is the perverseness of the world: they will admire, they will +take up with, they will profess, all other kinds of worship, all other +forms and kinds of religions and hypocrisies, and they will multiply +and adorn them: but they will trample that very glorious worship of +the first commandment under foot: _that_ worship the devil cannot +bear; _that_ worship he works to extinguish by all the ways and means +in his power. + +And in the church of God, under the New Testament, this Psalm teaches +us the righteousness of faith and of Christ; that we ought to set +Christ and his righteousness before and above all works: for our mouth +ought to be full of Christ. But we, like the Jews, turn aside to other +gods, embracing sometimes these and sometimes those sayings and +traditions, each one following the idol imaginations and thoughts of +his own heart. + + + + +PSALM LXXXII. + +_The psalmist having exhorted the judges, and reproved their +negligence, prayeth God to judge._ + +A Psalm of Asaph. + + +God standeth in the congregation of the mighty: he judgeth among the +gods. + +How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? +Selah. + +Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. + +Deliver the poor and needy: rid _them_ out of the hand of the wicked. + +They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: +all the foundations of the earth are out of course. + +I have said, Ye _are_ gods; and all of you _are_ children of the Most +High. + +But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. + +Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation against tyrants, and wicked kings and +magistrates, who oppressed the destitute, the fatherless, and the +widows. I have given a full commentary on this Psalm, which is now in +public; therefore I need not say more upon it here. + + + + +PSALM LXXXIII. + +_A complaint to God of the enemies’ conspiracies.—A prayer against +them that oppress the church._ + +A Song or Psalm of Asaph. + + +Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O +God. + +For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; and they that hate thee have +lifted up the head. + +They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted +against thy hidden ones. + +They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from _being_ a nation; +that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. + +For they have consulted together with one consent; they are +confederate against thee: + +The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab and the +Hagarenes; + +Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines, with the inhabitants of +Tyre; + +Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. +Selah. + +Do unto them as _unto_ the Midianites; as _to_ Sisera, as _to_ Jabin, +at the brook of Kison; + +_Which_ perished at En-dor: they became _as_ dung for the earth. + +Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb; yea, all their princes as +Zebah and as Zalmunna: + +Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. + +O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind. + +As fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on +fire, + +So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy +storm. + +Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. + +Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to +shame, and perish: + +That _men_ may know that thou, whose name alone _is_ JEHOVAH, _art_ +the Most High over all the earth. + + +This Psalm is a prayer of the same nature as Psalm lxxx. as the same +mentioned names of the same nation show, who were bitter enemies unto +Israel. The same explanation, therefore, will suffice. + + + + +PSALM LXXXIV. + +_The prophet longing for the communion of the sanctuary, sheweth how +blessed they are that dwell therein.—He prayeth to be restored unto +it._ + +To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm for the sons of Korah. + + +How amiable _are_ thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! + +My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the LORD; my +heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. + +Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for +herself, where she may lay her young, _even_ thine altars, O LORD of +hosts, my King, and my God. + +Blessed _are_ they that dwell in thy house: they will be still +praising thee. Selah. + +Blessed _is_ the man whose strength _is_ in thee; in whose heart _are_ +the ways _of them_: + +_Who_ passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well: the rain +also filleth the pools. + +They go from strength to strength; _every one of them_ in Zion +appeareth before God. + +O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. + +Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. + +For a day in thy courts _is_ better than a thousand. I had rather be a +door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of +wickedness. + +For the LORD God _is_ a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and +glory: no good _thing_ will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. + +O LORD of hosts, blessed _is_ the man that trusteth in thee. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation, which breaks forth into the most sweet +and powerful expressions, in praise and love of the ministry of the +word. “Blessed are they (says David) that dwell in thy house:” that +is, they alone are truly blessed, and rest on a sure and eternal +consolation, who dwell in thy house and in thy tabernacle: that is, in +the place where thy word is taught and heard. For such, as the Apostle +saith, (1 Cor. i.) “are increased in all good, and enriched in all +wisdom and all knowledge, and with every good gift, so that they can +want nothing.” They have all riches. + +Wherefore let the world have their rich ones, their powerful ones, and +their wise ones, and their consolations in this world; let them trust +and glory in their wisdom, their might, their wealth, and their +possessions,—my heart triumphs in the living God; that is, I rejoice, +and triumph, and glory, with all my heart, that I know God in his +word, and that I am of his true church. And I would rather cleave and +hold to this poor despised flock of God’s people, to his church of +poor afflicted ones, who call upon God in truth; I would rather cleave +to them, and hover over them, as a bird over her young in the nest, +than live in the most splendid palace of all earthly kings. I had +rather sit at the door of the house of the Lord; that is, occupy the +lowest place among the people of God, despised and disregarded by the +world, than be loaded with all the dainties and riches of the +universe, and not belong to the assembly of them that hear, and love, +and know the word of God. + +This Psalm, therefore, exhorts us rather to suffer ourselves to be +torn away from all the riches, honours, consolations and pleasures of +the world, than from the house of God. For no riches, nor even +kingdoms, can deliver us from sin or death, or from the kingdom of the +devil; nor can they overcome, in our hearts, the terrors of hell or of +the judgment of God. But God gives, by his word, grace and victory +over all these. “He is a sun and a shield” that is, in all darkness +and in all afflictions, of every kind, the word of God is a joyful +light, a sure consolation, a firm bulwark, and an invincible armour +against the violent assault of the devil and of sin: neither of which +can the riches or the wisdom of this world vanquish. He, therefore, +that hath the word of God hath every thing: he that hath not the word +of God hath nothing. O blessed, eternally blessed are they, who thus +love and value the word of God! but where are they! how few such are +there to be found! for the world is full of mockers and despisers! + + + + +PSALM LXXXV. + +_The Psalmist, out of the experience of former mercies, prayeth for +the continuance thereof.—He promiseth to wait thereon, out of +confidence of God’s goodness._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm to the sons of Korah. + + +LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back +the captivity of Jacob. + +Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all +their sin. Selah. + +Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned _thyself_ from +the fierceness of thine anger. + +Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger towards us to +cease. + +Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to +all generations? + +Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? + +Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. + +I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto +his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. + +Surely his salvation _is_ nigh them that fear him; that glory may +dwell in our land. + +Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed +_each other_. + +Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down +from heaven. + +Yea, the LORD shall give _that which is_ good: and our land shall +yield her increase. + +Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set _us_ in the way of +his steps. + + +This Psalm is a prayer containing the feelings of a heart that fears +God; and it persuades, in the most impressive words, such an one, not +to dread God’s anger. For those who fear God, are not like the +despisers and Epicureans, who are secure and care for nothing that +happens; but when calamities fall upon godly men, their first and main +concern is to turn to God that smites them, and to make anew their +peace with him. + +The anger wherewith God chastised his people, at this time, was this: +he had taken away from them, for a time, the word; he had diminished +the number of those that preached it in truth, and had made few the +true prophets, priests and Levites. In addition to which, the peace of +the nation was broken by seditions; and many evils prevailed in the +state and among the rulers thereof. And this was not all: there came +on also the dread and expectation of war, and the want of the +necessary provisions of life: for these calamities generally follow, +one after the other, when God, according to the first commandment, +visits the iniquities of a people. + +The Psalmist, therefore, prays that God would be pleased again to +preserve the church, and also the nation; again to restore the real +ministers of the word, who preached it in truth, and by whom alone God +truly speaks unto men. + +The Psalmist, therefore, breaks forth with a wonderful burden of +heart, as if he had said, ‘O that I might again hear the Lord truly +speaking! O that the word of God were again truly preached, lest even +the godly should be “turned to folly”’ (or ignorance; that is, lest +they should be so broken down and utterly worn out, by the greatness +of their afflictions, as not to know what to do.) ‘O that both the +worship of God, and the prosperity of our nation, may be restored, and +that peace, and concord, and truth, and justice, may flourish among +us! that the fruits of the earth, and the produce of the fields and of +the vineyards may be blessed; that we may lead a godly life in this +our day, and, as St. Paul saith, may “look for the glorious appearing +of the great God!”’ + + + + +PSALM LXXXVI. + +_David strengtheneth his prayer by the conscience of his religion,—by +the goodness and power of God.—He desireth the continuance of former +grace.—Complaining of the proud he craveth some token of God’s +goodness._ + +A Prayer of David. + + +Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me; for I _am_ poor and needy. + +Preserve my soul, for I _am_ holy: O thou my God, save thy servant +that trusteth in thee. + +Be merciful unto me, O LORD: for I cry unto thee daily. + +Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up +my soul. + +For thou, LORD, _art_ good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in +mercy unto all them that call upon thee. + +Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my +supplications. + +In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer +me. + +Among the gods _there is_ none like unto thee, O LORD; neither _are +there any works_ like unto thy works. + +All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O +LORD; and shall glorify thy name. + +For thou _art_ great, and doest wondrous things, thou _art_ God alone. + +Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to +fear thy name. + +I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart; and I will +glorify thy name for evermore. + +For great _is_ thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul +from the lowest hell. + +O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent +_men_ have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them. + +But thou, O LORD, _art_ a God full of compassion, and gracious; +long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. + +O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength unto thy +servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. + +Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see _it_, and be +ashamed; because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. + + +This Psalm is a supplication, and, as the title shows, a prayer of +David: and here you may see that prayer is the highest exercise of +faith, and the highest worship of God. Every one knows with what +destroying calamities that great man David, that “man after God’s own +heart,” was surrounded; and yet you may see, in the book of Kings, +that, in his deepest straits and most calamitous afflictions, he calls +upon God with all the ardour of his heart against his enemies, Saul, +his son Absalom, &c. those instruments of the devil, who so heavily +afflicted him. + +Behold what an example of prayer for us to follow, this great, this +most spiritual man, gives us in the 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th verses. +See how fixedly he has before his eyes the first commandment. “O God,” +saith he, “who is like unto thee among the gods?” who doeth works like +unto thy works? “Thou art great and doest wonderful works; thou art +God alone. Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, +long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and in truth, unto all that call +upon thee.” + +Behold here how he calls up and sharpens, as it were, his faith, at a +view of the mercy of God! so that, apprehending that mercy and the +promise, he goes forth on the assurance, that God is not only powerful +and great, and invincible against all the assaults of the devil and of +the world, and against all creatures; but that he is also ever present +unto the godly, and ever merciful to those that call upon him, and +believe in him. And thus, _we_ also ought to apprehend the word of the +divine promise of mercy, and cast out of our hearts all doubt, that we +may be enabled to call upon him without misgiving. + +At the end David prays, “Show me a token for good.” God sometimes +permits the wicked to glory for a while, as if they certainly should +soon devour the saints, and those that fear him. But God never finally +forsakes his people: for here, in the church below, he often delivers +the godly, who fear him, out of the greatest perils; yea, out of the +very jaws of death; and plainly proves that he is ever present and +near his own: for their deliverances plainly show the hand of God. It +is for such a token, or sign, as this, that David here prays. + + + + +PSALM LXXXVII. + +_The nature and glory of the church.—The increase, honour, and comfort +of the members thereof._ + +A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah. + + +His foundation _is_ in the holy mountains. + +The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of +Jacob. + +Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. + +I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold +Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this _man_ was born there. + +And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and +the highest himself shall establish her. + +The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, _that_ this _man_ +was born there. Selah. + +As well the singers as the players on instruments _shall be there_: +all my springs _are_ in thee. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ and the church, in +times to come. The Psalmist, after the manner of the prophets, sets +before us the future Jerusalem and the future Zion, as if represented +in a painting before our eyes: the boundaries of which should be those +of the world itself, reaching from east to west, and from north to +south; and in which church there should be born men of every nation, +kingdom, tribe, and tongue,—Ethiopians, Egyptians, Babylonians, +Tyrians, Philistines, &c. and that these should be born in this +church, not by a natural birth, but by the word of the gospel. + +“Great, excellent, and glorious things shall be spoken and preached in +thee, O city of God!” For the gospel is a great and glorious doctrine, +the highest of all doctrines, even the word of salvation; hence, as +Paul saith, (Phil. i. 10.) the gospel contains, in comparison with the +law, “the things that are excellent.” For by the gospel is given to us +the knowledge of the counsel and will of God; in what manner God is +pacified; how we are delivered from sin, from the power of the devil, +and from eternal death; which things neither the law, nor any human +philosophy, could teach. + +In the last verse also, the Psalm most beautifully sets forth what the +highest worship, under the New Testament, should be. “There shall be +in thee, (saith the Psalmist,) as the harmonious concert of those +playing on instruments;” that is, it is not Moses, or the law, that +shall be taught in that city; but the sweet and joyful message of the +gospel shall be preached by the ministry of the word, even grace and +the remission of sins by Jesus Christ. + + + + +PSALM LXXXVIII. + +_A prayer containing a grievous complaint._ + +A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon +Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. + + +O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day _and_ night before thee. + +Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; + +For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the +grave. + +I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man _that +hath_ no strength: + +Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou +rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. + +Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. + +Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted _me_ with all +thy waves. Selah. + +Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an +abomination unto them: _I am_ shut up, and I cannot come forth. + +Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily +upon thee; I have stretched out my hands unto thee. + +Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise _and_ praise +thee? Selah. + +Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? _or_ thy +faithfulness in destruction? + +Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the +land of forgetfulness? + +But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer +prevent thee. + +LORD, why castest thou off my soul? _why_ hidest thou thy face from +me? + +I _am_ afflicted and ready to die from _my_ youth up: _while_ I suffer +thy terrors I am distracted. + +Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off. + +They came round about me daily like water, they compassed me about +together. + +Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, _and_ mine acquaintance +into darkness. + + +This is a prayer, as in the person of Christ and of all the saints. It +contains those mighty feelings and conflicts of heart, which no +mortals but those who experience them, can either describe or +conceive; I mean those pangs and pains, and that heavy sorrow of +spirit, (above all natural distress of body or of mind, and above all +natural fear and dread,) when the heart is filled with a sense of the +majesty and anger of God, and is alarmed at the nature and end of sin; +while God also, as yet, holds off all consolation; and the soul is +shaken in the midst of darkness and terror, and, as Christ saith +himself, “sifted by the devil like wheat in a sieve;” while the +malicious Satan craftily augments the soul’s views of the anger of +God, and drives out of sight all hope of mercy and grace. + +David here calls these unspeakable terrors of soul, “hell,” +“darkness,” “the shadow of death.” “Thou hast cast me (saith he) into +the lowest pit, into darkness and the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon +me; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.” And rightly does +David describe these pains and terrors by the terms, “death,” “hell,” +&c. because this anguish of soul is of the very nature, and power, and +poison, and sting of hell and death; for no sooner is the darkness +dispersed, by some shining in of divine consolation, than death is no +longer death, but we die gladly. And indeed, where such fears and +terrors of mind abound and continue, they extend to the body, bring on +a paleness and emaciation, and affect the whole man. Paul calls them +the “buffetting of Satan,” and “thorns in the flesh;” which has +reference to a custom in certain nations of punishing criminals by +transfixing their bodies with a certain sharp pointed conical +instrument, in the shape of a thorn; and mocking and deriding them in +their suffering. And just thus it is that the nations of the world +contemptuously call Christ ‘that crucified fellow,’ and the Jews, +‘That fellow that was hanged.’ For the world, in their malice, not +only persecute Christ, but also deride and mock his sufferings, and +the sufferings of his members. And hence it is David complains thus in +this Psalm, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine +acquaintance into darkness.” + + + + +PSALM LXXXIX. + +_The psalmist praiseth God for his covenant, for his wonderful power, +for the care of his church, for his favour to the kingdom of +David.—Then complaining of contrary events, he expostulateth, prayeth, +and blesseth God._ + +Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. + + +I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I +make known thy faithfulness to all generations. + +For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness +shalt thou establish in the very heavens. + +I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my +servant, + +Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all +generations. Selah. + +And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness +also in the congregation of the saints. + +For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? _who_ among the +sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? + +God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be +had in reverence of all _them that are_ about him. + +O LORD God of hosts, who _is_ a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy +faithfulness round about thee? + +Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou +stillest them. + +Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast +scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. + +The heavens _are_ thine, the earth also _is_ thine: _as for_ the world +and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them. + +The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall +rejoice in thy name. + +Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, _and_ high is thy right +hand. + +Justice and judgment _are_ the habitation of thy throne: mercy and +truth shall go before thy face. + +Blessed _is_ the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O +LORD, in the light of thy countenance. + +In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness +shall they be exalted. + +For thou _art_ the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn +shall be exalted. + +For the LORD _is_ our defence; and the Holy One of Israel _is_ our +king. + +Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid +help upon _one that is_ mighty; I have exalted _one_ chosen out of the +people. + +I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: + +With whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen +him. + +The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict +him. + +And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that +hate him. + +But my faithfulness and my mercy _shall be_ with him; and in my name +shall his horn be exalted. + +I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. + +He shall cry unto me, Thou _art_ my Father, my God, and the Rock of my +salvation. + +Also I will make him _my_ first-born, higher than the kings of the +earth. + +My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and 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. + +His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. + +It shall be established for ever as the moon, and _as_ a faithful +witness in heaven. Selah. + +But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine +anointed. + +Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned +his crown, _by casting it_ to the ground. + +Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong +holds to ruin. + +All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his +neighbours. + +Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all +his enemies to rejoice. + +Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to +stand in the battle. + +Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the +ground. + +The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with +shame. Selah. + +How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn +like fire? + +Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in +vain! + +What man _is he that_ liveth, and shall not see death? shall he +deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah. + +LORD, where _are_ thy former loving-kindnesses, _which_ thou swarest +unto David in thy truth? + +Remember, LORD, the reproach of thy servants; _how_ I do bear in my +bosom _the reproach of_ all the mighty people; + +Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have +reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD for evermore. Amen, and amen. + + +This is a remarkable prophecy concerning Christ and his kingdom; he +speaks of the church or kingdom of Christ, as a “kingdom in the +heavens;” in the same manner as Christ himself calls it “the kingdom +of heaven.” And though this spiritual kingdom of Christ is here upon +earth, yet the Psalmist gloriously describes it as being “in the +heavens.” + +The Psalmist, indeed, here apprehends the promise made to David +concerning Christ; and, opening that promise in a wonderful manner, he +describes the riches of this spiritual kingdom. He enforces the +everlasting firmness and sureness of that promise; and, taking a stand +of heavenly meditation therein, he dwells upon the effectual power of +that promise against all the violence of sin, and the malice and +accusation of the devil; and here the Psalmist takes up his divine +abode; here he fixes his standing; as the apostle hath it, “by faith +ye stand:” and he says that this truth of God, this his promise was +prepared from everlasting, built up in the fulfilment of God’s purpose +of mercy, and firm, and “established in the heavens.” + +“Thy faithfulness and truth,” (says the Psalmist,) “are established in +the heavens;” that is, a heavenly righteousness is preached by the +gospel, which is not placed in us, or in any worthiness or merit of +ours; but is out of us, and is the righteousness of Christ, and is +imputed, for Christ’s sake, unto all that believe in him: and hence, +the promised riches of this kingdom are the gift of the Spirit, and +the remission of sins, with all other spiritual blessings: all which +are not offered unto us on any condition of the law, or of our works +or our merit, but are given unto us freely of God. Salvation, +therefore, is not a matter conditional on our works, but freely given +unto us for Christ’s sake; that thus all doubting and uncertainty may +be taken from our souls; and that we may safely rest, entirely and +only on the immutable and immoveable certainty of this truth and +promise of God. + +The temporal kingdom of the Jews was promised to that people, on +condition of a law given to them; that, if they kept that law, +nationally, as a people, if they were therein good and obedient, they +should be preserved and blessed. And, in the same way also, all the +kingdoms of the world are given to their people under a like condition +of a law, and, as long as they are good and obedient, God preserves +them. But the immense and glorious riches of this spiritual kingdom, +the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Spirit, victory over death +and the devil, &c. are promised and held forth without any condition +of a law; and, in a word, the remission of sins is promised, freely, +not only to those who have done nothing to deserve it, but to those +who have done everything to forfeit it. This is a throne, therefore, +not of angry and destroying majesty, but of grace alone; and being +founded, not on the basis of our good works and merits, but on the +rock of the sure and everlasting truth of God, it affords a great and +marvellous consolation to the afflicted consciences of sinners. + +After, however, the prophetic Psalmist has described the flower and +glory of this kingdom and church of Christ, he deplores, on the other +hand, from verse 39, in the most powerful expressions, the desolations +and destructions of it: saying, that it shall come to pass that this +kingdom, like as the apostle has also foretold, shall be so disturbed +and torn to pieces by antichrist, that it shall seem as if God had +wholly forgotten his promise unto it; nay, as if, contrary to the word +of his promise, he did nothing but show his wrath against this +kingdom. + +All these things, however, are written for a consolation unto the +godly; and especially unto us who, in these last times, have witnessed +such abominations of papacy; these things, I say, are written for our +comfort and consolation; that we should not be broken-spirited, or +terrified, at the multitude and diversity of offences; nor be driven +to despair, though wickedness should have the dominion for a time, and +though Satan should, as it were, so subvert all things human and +divine, that there should seem to be no church of Christ at all, no +remains of the kingdom of Christ upon earth. For if you look at the +abomination of the Pope, and of Mahomet, which have spread themselves +over the whole world, no other appearance is presented than that there +is not a vestige of the true church remaining: and yet, it is not +wholly blotted or rooted out from the earth; for, under the reign of +each abomination and tyranny, there has ever existed a true church of +Christ, although greatly despised and greatly oppressed. + + + + +PSALM XC. + +_Moses, setting forth God’s providence, complaineth of human +fragility, divine chastisements, and brevity of life.—He prayeth for +the knowledge and sensible experience of God’s good providence._ + +A prayer of Moses, the Man of God. + + +LORD, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. + +Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the +earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou _art_ +God. + +Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of +men. + +For a thousand years in thy sight _are but_ as yesterday when it is +past, and _as_ a watch in the night. + +Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are _as_ a sleep: in the +morning _they are_ like grass _which_ groweth up. + +In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is +cut down, and withereth. + +For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. + +Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret _sins_ in the +light of thy countenance. + +For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a +tale _that is told_. + +The days of our years _are_ threescore years and ten; and if by reason +of strength _they be_ fourscore years, yet _is_ their strength labour +and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. + +Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, _so +is_ thy wrath. + +So teach _us_ to number our days, that we may apply _our_ hearts unto +wisdom. + +Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy +servants. + +O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all +our days. + +Make us glad according to the days _wherein_ thou hast afflicted us, +_and_ the years _wherein_ we have seen evil. + +Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their +children. + +And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou +the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish +thou it. + + +This Psalm contains a very great and important doctrine; in which +Moses teaches what is the origin and cause of that death to which the +whole human race is subject, and the reason why so horrible a +punishment was inflicted on the whole race of mortals: the Psalmist +saith, it was on account of sin: and the guilt and desert of sin are +greater than can be conceived by the human mind, unless God touch the +heart with a knowledge of it; and yet, in this sin and guilt, and +under this wrath, all the sons of Adam are born. + +Moses here opens widely this punishment of sin, and this horrible +misery; setting forth the proof of it in the shortness and uncertainty +of human life; which life, in addition to this its shortness and +uncertainty, is subject also to all kinds of calamity: and, in verse +11, Moses saith that this very unspeakable misery—death, and all other +human calamities, as parts of that death, tend, or should lead us, to +seek the grace and mercy of God, who alone can deliver us from all +these evils,—sin, the slavery of the devil, and death. Hence all the +calamities and afflictions of life, and even death itself, the +punishment of sin, work together for good unto the elect, and unto +those that fear God; that they may, by all things, be humbled, broken +down, and crucified, and so, thirst after grace. + +“So teach us that we must die,” says Moses, “that we may become wise:” +that is, that we may learn to know God and his will aright; for this +is what Moses calls “becoming wise.” The wicked, and fools, who are +not exercised with afflictions, who number not their days, nor think +of death, nor meditate on the misery of life, but remain unexperienced +and ignorant of all spiritual things, and are wrapped up in their own +hypocrisy, never rightly know God, nor truly seek his help and mercy. + +Moses then closes his Psalm with a divinely concluding prayer, “Let +thy work appear unto thy servants,” or “Show us thy work, O Lord.” +Here, by the work of God, he means deliverance from sin and death; +and, in a word, all that deliverance that our fathers expected from +that blessed seed, which we have revealed to us in Christ. And again, +saith Moses, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy:” and he twice +repeats, “Prosper thou the works of our hands:” that is, for the time +that we live, direct and prosper thou our whole life: preserve thy +true religion and the good government of our nation: guard us from +heresies, errors, wars, seditions, and all such evils. This Psalm, +therefore, is a short but a most spiritual prayer. + + + + +PSALM XCI. + +_The state of the godly.—Their safety.—Their habitation.—Their +servants.—Their friends; with the effects of them all._ + + +He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide +under the shadow of the Almighty. + +I will say of the LORD, _He is_ my refuge, and my fortress: my God; in +him will I trust. + +Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, _and_ from +the noisome pestilence. + +He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou +trust; his truth _shall be thy_ shield and buckler. + +Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, _nor_ for the arrow +_that_ flieth by day, + +_Nor_ for the pestilence _that_ walketh in darkness, _nor_ for the +destruction _that_ wasteth at noon-day. + +A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; +_but_ it shall not come nigh thee. + +Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the +wicked. + +Because thou hast made the LORD, _which is_ my refuge, _even_ the Most +High, thy habitation. + +There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh +thy dwelling. + +For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy +ways. + +They shall bear thee up in _their_ hands, lest thou dash thy foot +against a stone. + +Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the +dragon shall thou trample under feet. + +Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I +will set him on high, because he hath known my name. + +He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I _will be_ with him in +trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. + +With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. + + +This is a most distinguished jewel among all the Psalms of +consolation. The Psalmist highly exalts faith in God, and shews that +it is an invincible strength against all evils, and against all the +gates of hell. + +At the very outset, the Psalmist says, “He that dwelleth in the secret +place of the Most High, abideth under the shadow of the Almighty;” and +such an one shall say unto the Lord, “Thou art my confidence, my +protection, my fortress and my God,” that is, he that believeth and +trusteth in God, and rests in his protection,—he shall find, though +shaken on every side, by the devil, by sin, by the world, and by +various and endless temptations, that the godly are proof and +invincible against all these evils; that God is most high over all; +that he is Omnipotent; and, in a word, that “greater is he that is in +us than he that is in the world.” + +Towards the conclusion, this Psalm contains, accumulated together, +eight or nine promises of grace, which the Psalmist drew out of the +first commandment, as out of a fountain. This Psalm, therefore, ought +to be set before afflicted souls. 1. The Psalmist says “Because he +hath hoped in me, therefore will I deliver him.” 2. “I will set him on +high.” 3. “Because he hath called upon me, I will hear him.” 4. “I +will be with him in trouble.” 5. “I will deliver him.” 6. “I will set +him on high, or glorify him.” 7. “With long life will I satisfy him.” +8. “I will show him my salvation:” that is, that I am “mighty to +save!” + +And this also is the second Psalm wherein angels are proclaimed as our +watchful guardians and protectors: which is a truth very greatly +consoling to the really godly, who know with what fury Satan +unceasingly assaults the church, and all the saints. This Psalm +enumerates four kinds of evils and afflictions, which are to be +endured by the saints and those that fear God: + +1. “Mighty fear,”—“terror by night.” The scripture frequently +represents temptations and afflictions under the figures of darkness +and night; and consolations under the figurative descriptions of light +and day. The Psalmist, therefore, here sets forth all those horrible +instances of hatred, that Cain-like purpose to destroy, (which is ever +secretly bound up in the hearts of pharisaic religionists) all those +malicious threats, those hostile traps and snares, those created +perils, those injuries, and all those other terrible oppositions which +Satan ever raises up against the word of God, by nightly fear, or +“terror by night.” + +2. “The arrow that flieth by day.” By which are meant to be described +all those open clamours, reproaches, execrations, and blasphemies, by +which tyrants and hypocrites openly attack and condemn the word of +God, and the doctrine of Christ. Of this kind are the pope’s bulls, +(and truly they are bulls!) and also, the edicts of kings and princes, +the virulent and blasphemous books of erroneous disputers, and the +writings of erroneous and visionary men, such as the anabaptists, and +the like. + +3. “The pestilence that creepeth (or walketh) in darkness.” These are +the deceits, the crafts, and the artifices of the papists; and the +leagues, the covert conspiracies, the secret counsels, by which those +enemies consult and plan among themselves in their private conclaves: +which clandestine machinations they think they can keep hidden, even +from the eyes of God himself; and by all which diabolical means, they +plot to destroy and root out the godly and all doctrine that is truly +good and saving. + +4. “The disease (or contagion, or destruction) that wasteth at noon +day.” This is the work of open persecution; whereby these holy Cains, +in their unheard-of cruelty and tyranny, shed the blood of the Abels, +drive into exile the godly, plunder their substance, and slaughter +them by every cruelty of torture; thereby attempting to lay the true +church utterly waste, and to leave not a vestige of the true word +remaining. + +This is my view of the Psalm. I know that St. Bernard gives other +interpretations. Let others, therefore, if they can, put forth a +better explication than I have done: that my view is simple, and +agreeable to the mind and spirit of the prophets, is self-manifest, +and proved by experience: for we see and experience daily, that the +saints of God are attacked and exercised by these four afflictions for +the word’s sake, by means of the devil and by the world. The Holy +Spirit, therefore, by this Psalm, revives and strengthens our faith; +and by the cluster of promises at the end of the Psalm, the same Holy +Spirit quickens and refreshes our hearts with consolation: this Psalm +therefore ought to be most acceptable to all the saints. + + + + +PSALM XCII. + +_The prophet exhorteth to praise God, for his great works, for his +judgments on the wicked, and for his goodness to the godly._ + +A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day. + + +It _is a_ good _thing_ to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing +praises unto thy name, O Most High: + +To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness +every night, + +Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltry; upon the harp +with a solemn sound. + +For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in +the works of thy hands. + +O LORD, how great are thy works! _and_ thy thoughts are very deep. + +A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. + +When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of +iniquity do flourish; _it is_ that they shall be destroyed for ever: + +But thou, LORD, _art most_ high for evermore. + +For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; +all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered; + +But my horn shalt thou exalt like _the horn of_ an unicorn: I shall be +anointed with fresh oil. + +Mine eye also shall see _my desire_ on mine enemies; _and_ mine ears +shall hear _my desire_ of the wicked that rise up against me. + +The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a +cedar in Lebanon. + +Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the +courts of our God. + +They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and +flourishing; + +To shew that the LORD _is_ upright; _he is_ my rock, and _there is_ no +unrighteousness in him. + + +This is a consolatory Psalm. The first six verses are full of the most +sweet experiences of a heart rejoicing and triumphing in that +incomparable treasure—a knowledge of the true and sure word of God, +and of the promises of grace in Christ. It is the same rejoicing of +heart as that of the apostle, when he, exulting in the Spirit, saith, +“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” + +At the very opening of the Psalm, the Psalmist saith, “O how +excellent, how sweet a thing is it to give thanks unto the Lord, and +to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High!” that is, O what is +sweeter than to know God aright by his word, and by true faith; to +acknowledge his infinite mercies; to give thanks unto him joyfully and +adoringly, with every cord and string of our hearts; to proclaim and +praise him unceasingly with a full heart and a full mouth; to triumph +in his goodness; and to offer him the full sacrifice of thanksgiving! +in a word, to worship him with that all high and all-true worship of +the first commandment, which requires for its high worship, above all +things, true faith, and such joyful exercises of faith as these; as if +the Psalmist had said, ‘How precious is that worship of God! How +acceptable unto God, how grateful in his sight, and in the sight of +angels too, are all such sabbaths, such sacrifices as these! Though we +saints, all the while, are said, by the world, to know nothing about +worshipping God!’ + +All these glorious things are pointed by the Psalmist against false +saints and hypocrites; who honour God (as they think) with cold hearts +and lips, and tread all the while that high worship of the first +commandment under foot; and yet make a great show of the name of +church among them, and flourish in the sight of the world, and display +much wealth and much power and greatness. But though they greatly +flourish and prosper thus for a time; yet they at length perish and go +to destruction: and, according to the word of Paul, “Their folly is +made manifest unto all.” + +But the godly and the saints, though thus exercised and broken with +afflictions, flourish, nevertheless, like palm-trees, in the house of +the Lord, and will flourish for evermore! Neither time, nor age, nor +sorrow of mind, nor any afflictions, nor death itself, can root them +out, or hurt them! But, both living and dying, and even in death +itself, they live and bring forth fruit through the word of God, as +Paul saith, “_No creature_ can separate them!” But fools, that is, the +wicked and epicureans of this world, regard not these things, they +will not hear or endure them; and of this sort we may see thousands of +atheistical men in our day. + + + + +PSALM XCIII. + +_The majesty, power, and holiness of Christ’s kingdom._ + + +The LORD reigneth; he is clothed with majesty: the LORD is clothed +with strength, _wherewith_ he hath girded himself: the world also is +established, that it cannot be moved. + +Thy throne _is_ established of old: thou _art_ from everlasting. + +The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their +voice; the floods lift up their waves. + +The LORD on high _is_ mightier than the noise of many waters, _yea, +than_ the mighty waves of the sea. + +Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, +for ever. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the spread of the kingdom of Christ, as +far and wide as the earth is extended, and its establishment for ever. +But against this kingdom, as the Psalmist saith, the “waves” and +“mighty waters” will swell and lift up themselves; that is, the +kingdoms and peoples of the world will roar against the Lord and +against his Anointed; and will rage against the godly with sword and +fire; but they shall not prevail: for, as Daniel saith, “this kingdom +shall break in pieces all other kingdoms beneath it, and shall stand +for ever.”—Daniel ii. 44. + +But thy kingdom shall be established in no other way than by the word +of the gospel. It shall not stand by the force of arms, nor by +external pomp, or glory, before the world; but it shall be husbanded, +and shall be increased and adorned, by the ministry of the word of the +gospel. This is the “holiness,” (namely the ministry of the word) that +shall “become,” or “adorn,” the house of the Lord. For this true and +high worship of God which is in the kingdom of Christ, takes the place +of all sacrifices and of all oblations, candlesticks, and the like; +and the preaching of the word, and the giving of thanks, are instead +of all external representations of mercy: hence Paul saith, that the +Old Testament is done away by this New Testament worship. + + + + +PSALM XCIV. + +_The prophet, calling for justice, complaineth of tyranny and +impiety.—He teacheth God’s providence.—He sheweth the blessedness of +affliction.—God is the defender of the afflicted._ + + +O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance +belongeth, shew thyself. + +Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the +proud. + +LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? + +_How long_ shall they utter _and_ speak hard things? _and_ all the +workers of iniquity boast themselves? + +They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage: + +They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. + +Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob +regard _it_. + +Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, _ye_ fools, when will ye +be wise? + +He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, +shall he not see? + +He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth +man knowledge, _shall not he know?_ + +The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they _are_ vanity. + +Blessed _is_ the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him +out of thy law; + +That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the +pit be digged for the wicked. + +For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his +inheritance: + +But judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in +heart shall follow it. + +Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? _or_ who will stand up +for me against the workers of iniquity? + +Unless the LORD _had been_ my help, my soul had almost dwelt in +silence. + +When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. + +In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my +soul. + +Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth +mischief by a law? + +They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and +condemn the innocent blood. + +But the LORD is my defence; and my God _is_ the rock of my refuge. + +And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them +off in their own wickedness; _yea_, the LORD our God shall cut them +off. + + +This is a general but a most fervent prayer, filled with the feelings +of an afflicted and sorrowful heart, grieving that the blood of the +Abels should be shed and drank up, with such iniquity and cruelty, by +Cainish hypocrites. + +The Psalmist complains, (as I consider it,) not of hostile nations, +but of those domestic hypocrites and enemies, who will have it to +appear that they, yea, that they alone, are the people of God; that +is, the Psalmist complains of the wicked kings, and princes, and +priests, and prophets, among the people of Israel. It is to these the +Psalmist turns, in this apostrophe, “Understand, ye brutish among the +people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?” He calls these +characters “fools;” that is, ignorant and impious despisers of God; +because they taught and ruled the people without knowledge, and +wickedly. + +In a word, the Psalmist here directs his word against all who +persecuted the true prophets, and their disciples and followers, and +slew them with Cainish hatred, and nevertheless boasted all the while +in God, and the name of God; who (they said) had given them power, and +made, and defended, and protected them, as magistrates and priests; +but who did not regard heretics, who seditiously resisted _them_ that +were the princes and magistrates of the people of God. And many such +things they continued to say. + +Now, against all such the prophet burns with zeal; and (with a certain +zealous mimicry, as it were,) imitates their own words and +expressions; saying, (that is, meaning that they say,) “The Lord shall +not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” And it is thus +that the papists say, in their security, ‘Do you think God regards +these heretics! No! he regards us: he has respect unto us, the +catholic church, whom we certainly represent in the world.’ Against +such as these, the prophet burns with the rage of zeal; and against +such he prays, and begs of God, that there may be enough to stand +forward for the truth. + +But, in the 16th verse, the Psalmist, on the other hand, strikes at +the perfidious deceitfulness of the world: “Who (saith he) is on my +side? Who will rise up for me against the evil doers?” As if he had +said, ‘I know the world careth nothing about this: the blood of God’s +Abels is shed, and no one regardeth it. But (continues the holy +Psalmist) this is my sure and eternal consolation, that the cause +which I love and espouse is the right cause; nay, the cause of God, +and not my cause: and I know in whom I have believed.’ I am assured, +saith the Psalmist, (verse 20,) that the “seat of the scornful,” and +the “counsel of the ungodly,” cleave not, and belong not, unto thee: +that is, I am sure that thou, O God, approvest not any impious or +blasphemous doctrine. I am sure that thou requirest and demandest the +blood, (and every drop of that blood,) and the tears, of the Abels, at +the hands of their persecutors; and that thou wilt keep, and fulfil, +and glorify thy word, even in the midst of the death of thy saints; +and that thou wilt revenge all blasphemy and wickedness against thee +and them. + + + + +PSALM XCV. + +_An exhortation to praise God for his greatness, and for his goodness, +and not to tempt him._ + + +O come, let us sing unto the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the +rock of our salvation. + +Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful +noise unto him with psalms. + +For the LORD _is_ a great God, and a great King above all gods. + +In his hand _are_ the deep places of the earth; the strength of the +hills is his also. + +The sea _is_ his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry _land_. + +O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our +Maker. + +For he _is_ our God; and we _are_ the people of his pasture, and the +sheep of his hand. To-day, if ye will hear his voice, + +Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, _and_ as _in_ the day of +temptation in the wilderness: + +When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. + +Forty years long was I grieved with _this_ generation, and said, It +_is_ a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my +ways: + +Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my +rest. + + +This Psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, and its contents are fully +and learnedly explained in the Apostle’s epistle to the Hebrews. It +prophecies concerning the time of the New Testament, and sets forth +the lovely and sweet voice of the gospel. In a word, the Psalmist +instructs us in, and allures us to, the knowledge of the riches of the +grace of God; which riches were known to our fathers as well as unto +us, in the promised seed—Christ. + +‘Come (saith the Psalmist) and let us rejoice in the Lord. Come ye +that are afar off and ye that are near, and let us exult in the Lord; +let us triumph in the God of such salvation:’ that is, Come and let us +rejoice with the whole triumph of our hearts, in that infinite benefit +and mercy—the granted grace of Christ! Since we have such promises, +let us not neglect such great salvation. For to believe in the promise +of grace, contrary to all the objections of conscience, the +temptations of Satan, and the fears of the heart, is the true worship +of God! + +In a word, the Psalmist warns against unbelief. “Harden not your +hearts (says he) as ye did at Massah and Meribah in the desert: your +fathers, on account of their unbelief, entered not into the holy land +of promise.” + +The whole of this Psalm is to be referred to Christ: for he is that +blessed God in whom we ought to rejoice, and whom the Psalmist would +have to be known. He is our Shepherd, and we are the sheep of his +pasture. He is that God, whom our fathers tempted in the desert, as +Paul saith, (1 Cor. x.) It was he who took out of the way the law, and +abolished all the ceremonial worship of the Old Testament. He will no +longer have the worship established by Moses; but he will have faith +in the gospel, the preaching of the remission of sins, and that one +true offering—praise, instead of the whole Levitical worship. + + + + +PSALM XCVI. + +_An exhortation to praise God,—for his greatness,—for his kingdom,—for +his general judgment._ + + +O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth. + +Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day +to day. + +Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. + +For the LORD _is_ great, and greatly to be praised: he _is_ to be +feared above all gods. + +For all the gods of the nations _are_ idols: but the LORD made the +heavens. + +Honour and majesty _are_ before him: strength and beauty _are_ in his +sanctuary. + +Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD +glory and strength. + +Give unto the LORD the glory _due unto_ his name: bring an offering, +and come into his courts. + +O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the +earth. + +Say among the heathen _that_ the LORD reigneth: the world also shall +be established that it shall not be moved; he shall judge the people +righteously. + +Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, +and the fulness thereof. + +Let the field be joyful, and all that _is_ therein: then shall all the +trees of the wood rejoice + +Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he +shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his +truth. + + +This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ, and the spreading +of the gospel over the whole world and before every creature; which +gospel will be a word of joy and thanksgiving, of peace, of rejoicing, +and of a continued sacrifice of praise: as the clear text of the Psalm +of itself plainly shows. + +Here, commandment is given to all nations, kingdoms, peoples, woods, +rivers, fountains, trees, &c. that they should praise and magnify the +Lord, and celebrate his name with rejoicing, because he judgeth the +world in righteousness and in truth: that is, because, through Christ, +the promised seed, he delivers, and will deliver the people from sin, +from the power of the devil, from the wrath of God, and from eternal +death: and because, instead of the kingdom of death and of darkness, +he sets up the kingdom of light, of the remission of sins, and of +eternal life, before all men. + +This is that most joyful shout of victory, that peculiar song, that +most sweet note of the New Testament, concerning the kingdom and grace +of Christ; in which kingdom there are born new men and new creatures; +not by the law or by the works of Moses, but by faith, by the Spirit +of God through Christ, so that each believer is a new creature and a +marvellous work of God; and all believers daily do marvellous works +and are marvellous monuments, in that they continue in spiritual life, +and are finally conquerors over the mighty powers of sin and the +devil; hence it is that David says, verse 1. “Declare his wonders +among all people.” + + + + +PSALM XCVII. + +_The majesty of God’s kingdom.—The church rejoiceth at God’s judgments +upon idolaters.—An exhortation to godliness and gladness._ + + +The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles +be glad _thereof_. + +Clouds and darkness _are_ round about him: righteousness and judgment +_are_ the habitation of his throne. + +A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. + +His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw and trembled. + +The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD, at the presence +of the LORD of the whole earth. + +The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his +glory. + +Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves +of idols: worship him, all _ye_ gods. + +Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced, because +of thy judgments, O LORD. + +For thou, LORD, _art_ high above all the earth: thou art exalted far +above all gods. + +Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his +saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. + +Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in +heart. + +Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance +of his holiness. + + +This also, like the preceding, is a prophecy concerning Christ and his +kingdom; and the sum of it is to proclaim, that Christ establishes and +strengthens his spiritual kingdom by the gospel; wherein he preaches +repentance, and whereby his lightnings and thunders terrify the whole +world, and cause the mountains to melt like wax before the fire of his +face: that is, by the gospel he condemns, casts down, and humbles all +human righteousness, human wisdom, and human patience, throughout the +world, and brings down every thing that is high and lifted up; as +Isaiah saith, chapter 3, “And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that +day.” For Christ alone is our “righteousness, our sanctification, and +our redemption,” and that by the counsel of God, as it is written, +“There is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, +but Jesus Christ and him crucified.” + +Together also with these enemies of the gospel and these mountains of +the world, the ceremonial kingdom of the Jews perisheth, and all the +outward worship of the law, and, indeed, every thing that is not in +Christ. For he (as the apostle Paul saith, Col. i.) “in all things +hath the pre-eminence.” And again, “For there is one Mediator between +God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.” And so also, in Daniel, The stone +cut out of the mountain filled the world, and broke in pieces all +other kingdoms. + + + + +PSALM XCVIII. + +_The Psalmist exhorteth the Jews, the Gentiles, and all the creatures +to praise God._ + +A Psalm. + + +O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: +his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. + +The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he +openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. + +He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: +all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. + +Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, +and rejoice, and sing praise. + +Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a +psalm. + +With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, +the King. + +Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that +dwell therein. + +Let the floods clap _their_ hands; let the hills be joyful together + +Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness +shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. + + +This again is a prophecy concerning the preaching of Christ and the +spread of his kingdom, and it is of the same subject as the two +preceding Psalms; it calls upon us to rejoice in God, to triumph, to +give thanks, and to praise God for that great salvation: that is, to +preach the remission of sins, and those riches of grace which are by +Christ Jesus. + +In this Psalm you again have set before you what is the highest +worship of God, namely, that of the New Testament; which standeth not +in the offering of thanks in Jerusalem, but in knowing Christ,—that +King who ruleth the people in righteousness; who is himself righteous, +and who maketh the people righteous throughout the world; and who +alone delivereth them from sin, from death, and from the power of the +devil; and doeth it all without any merit of theirs. + + + + +PSALM XCIX. + +_The prophet, setting forth the kingdom of God in Zion,—exhorteth all, +by the example of forefathers, to worship God at his holy hill._ + + +The LORD reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth _between_ the +cherubims; let the earth be moved. + +The LORD _is_ great in Zion; and he _is_ high above all the people. + +Let them praise thy great and terrible name; _for_ it _is_ holy. + +The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, +thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. + +Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; _for_ he _is_ +holy. + +Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call +upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them. + +He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, +and the ordinance _that_ he gave them. + +Thou answeredst them, O LORD our God: thou wast a God that forgavest +them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions. + +Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our +God _is_ holy. + + +This Psalm is a Psalm of blessed doctrine. It exhorts the people of +God to preserve sacredly that true worship of the first commandment, +the praising of God alone, and the continuing in the faith of him, +although the nations on all sides and the whole world should roar +against that people who glory in being the people of God, and who know +that God is to be found no where but in this and that corner of the +earth, in that tabernacle, in that sanctuary, and at that mercy-seat, +where the word and the promise of God are preached. And the Psalm +shows that this true people of God are exposed to the most bitter +hatred of the world and of the devil, and to afflictions of every +kind. + +The Psalmist mentions, by name, Moses, and Aaron, and Samuel; those +best of men among the people of God, who endured great afflictions, +both inward and outward, for the sake of the name and the word of God. +The Psalmist shows, however, (as is set forth verses 4 and 5.) and +teaches this people of God, that the highest worship of God is not +placed in ceremonial sacrifices: therefore he says, “Let them praise +thy great and terrible name, for it is holy.” “In this kingdom of God, +(says the Psalmist,) justice and judgment are loved.” “Thou +justifiest,” says he, “thy people;” that is, thou deliverest from sin +and death, and extendest unto them the remission of their sins. + +And unto us, who are in and of the church of God, the present Psalm is +a glorious prophecy of Christ, who governs and rules this church, the +true Zion, in the Spirit, throughout the whole world, wheresoever she +is. The holy Psalmist shews us, that Christ, sitting at the right hand +of the Majesty in the heavens, is there continually as our Sacrificer +and our Sacrifice. And he testifies that the whole world rages and +roars against this people and church of God, and kills the saints, and +loads them with all manner of afflictions, on account of their +profession and worship of Christ. + + + + +PSALM C. + +_An exhortation to praise God cheerfully, for his greatness and for +his power._ + +A Psalm of Praise. + + +Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. + +Serve the LORD with gladness; come before his presence with singing. + +Know ye that the LORD he _is_ God: _it is_ he _that_ hath made us, and +not we ourselves: _we are_ his people, and the sheep of his pasture. + +Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, _and_ into his courts with +praise: be thankful unto him, _and_ bless his name. + +For the LORD _is_ good, his mercy _is_ everlasting; and his truth +_endureth_ to all generations. + + +This Psalm again is a prophecy concerning Christ. It calls upon all to +rejoice, to triumph, and to give thanks; to enter his gates with +thanksgiving, and his courts and sanctuary with praise: because, by +the gospel and the preaching of the remission of sins, that kingdom of +Christ is established and strengthened, which shall remain and stand +for ever: and for the setting-up of which kingdom thanks are for ever +to be given. + + + + +PSALM CI. + +_David maketh a vow and profession of godliness._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O LORD, will I sing. + +I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O! when wilt thou come +unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. + +I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them +that turn aside, _it_ shall not cleave to me. + +A froward heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked +_person_. + +Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that +hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. + +Mine eyes _shall be_ upon the faithful of the land, that they may +dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. + +He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that +telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. + +I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off +all wicked doers from the city of the LORD. + + +This Psalm contains a most solemn and necessary doctrine: and David +puts forth himself, so great a king, as an example. He teaches that +impious members and courtiers ought not to be borne with by any godly +magistrate or prince. He recounts also the iniquities, by which those +who are in the courts of kings and princes, more especially harm the +state and the church. He shews that they do the greatest evil when +they are given to sin or to false doctrine; and when they injure the +causes of good men by their hatred of them. + +In the opening of the Psalm David says, “I will sing of mercy and of +judgment:” that is as if he had said, ‘I will sing that God most +certainly, according to the word of the first commandment, visits the +godly with mercy, and the ungodly with judgment, at all times.’ Of +this visiting mercy David was himself an example, seeing that he had +been so many times delivered from the very claws and jaws of the +devil. And of the divine visitations of judgment, Absalom, Ahithophel, +Joab, and others, were examples. And every king and magistrate, who +sets himself to defend the true religion, and to do good to his +nation, is at once exposed to the hatred of all men, even of his own +family and court: which is plainly seen in the case of Absalom, +Ahithophel, and other persecutors of David. + +Hence it is that David, having so often experienced God’s fulfilment +of the word of his first commandment, sings in all places and at all +times, ‘that God is God over all, exercising mercy and judgment.’ And +it is with God alone that a kingdom and commonwealth can be rightly +governed: for where God is not, there all things are scattered and in +confusion, and neither families are subject to their heads, nor +citizens to their rulers. + + + + +PSALM CII. + +_The prophet in his prayer maketh a grievous complaint.—He taketh +comfort in the eternity and mercy of God.—The mercies of God are to be +recorded.—He sustaineth his weakness by the unchangeableness of God._ + +A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his +complaint before the LORD. + + +Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. + +Hide not thy face from me in the day _when_ I am in trouble; incline +thine ear unto me: in the day _when_ I call, answer me speedily. + +For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an +hearth. + +My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat +my bread. + +By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. + +I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert. + +I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top. + +Mine enemies reproach me all the day; _and_ they that are mad against +me are sworn against me. + +For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping; + +Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me +up, and cast me down. + +My days _are_ like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like +grass. + +But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all +generations. + +Thou shalt arise, _and_ have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour +her, yea, the set time, is come. + +For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust +thereof. + +So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of +the earth thy glory. + +When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. + +He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their +prayer. + +This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which +shall be created shall praise the LORD. + +For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven +did the LORD behold the earth; + +To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are +appointed to death; + +To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; + +When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the +LORD. + +He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. + +I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; thy years +_are_ throughout all generations. + +Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens +_are_ the work of thy hands. + +They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax +old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they +shall be changed: + +But thou _art_ the same, and thy years shall have no end. + +The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be +established before thee. + + +This Psalm is a prayer of an afflicted and tempted heart, miserably +sighing and praying for deliverance and the coming of the kingdom of +God. And indeed the whole sum and substance of this Psalm is, “Thy +kingdom come.” + +This Psalm may be used as a general prayer. It was used especially by +the fathers under the law: who being most spiritual men, and knowing +the infinite weight of sin, and the kingdom of death, longed for the +coming and revelation of Christ, the kingdom of grace, and the +blessing promised. + +“Have mercy upon Zion (saith the Psalmist) for the time to have mercy +upon her is come.” For thy servants (saith he) long for her to be +built up again, and for the stones and cement to be made ready: that +is, they long for that grace and that blessing to be revealed unto all +nations, and to be preached in all kingdoms; that those who are +captives and in chains under the power of the devil and of sin, and +who are the sons of wrath and death, may be delivered; and that there +may flow together into the true Zion, the church of God, those out of +all nations and kingdoms, who may magnify the name of the Lord, and +may preach and hear the gospel, and that all the rigid demands and +ceremonies of the law, and the whole of the Old Testament +dispensation, may cease. For out of and without Christ there is +nothing but the kingdom of sin and death: that is, a continual misery +and distress in this life, by various and hard temptations of the +devil and the world: and also a shortness of life itself, and that +life changeable and uncertain, full of sorrow and full of death; which +life the godly consider it a “gain” to have shortened and finished: as +the apostle saith, “to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” + +But amidst all this misery, in Christ is consolation and eternal life; +for he is before every creature; he created the heaven and the earth, +and by him all things consist; and he also, in the regeneration, will +renew the heavens and the earth. Hence he is independent of and above +all time and years, and of his years there is no end. He now dies no +more, death hath no more dominion over him. For this kingdom of life +and of salvation (saith the Psalmist) we pray and long. May this +kingdom come. Amen. + + + + +PSALM CIII. + +_An exhortation to bless God for his mercy, and for the constancy +thereof._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, _bless_ his holy +name. + +Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: + +Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; + +Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies; + +Who satisfieth thy mouth with good _things; so that_ thy youth is +renewed like the eagle’s. + +The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all _that are_ +oppressed. + +He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of +Israel. + +The LORD _is_ merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in +mercy. + +He will not alway chide; neither will he keep _his anger_ for ever. + +He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to +our iniquities. + +For as the heaven is high above the earth, _so_ great is his mercy +toward them that fear him. + +As far as the east is from the west, _so_ far hath he removed our +transgressions from us. + +Like as a father pitieth _his_ children, _so_ the LORD pitieth them +that fear him. + +For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we _are_ dust. + +_As for_ man, his days _are_ as grass; as a flower of the field, so he +flourisheth: + +For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof +shall know it no more. + +But the mercy of the LORD _is_ from everlasting to everlasting upon +them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; + +To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his +commandments to do them. + +The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom +ruleth over all. + +Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his +commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. + +Bless ye the LORD, all _ye_ his hosts; _ye_ ministers of his that do +his pleasure. + +Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion: bless +the LORD, O my soul. + + +This is a glorious Psalm, and full of the most ardent feelings and +exercises of faith, and of a believing heart, a heart acknowledging +the infinite mercies of God, both temporal and spiritual. “Bless the +Lord (saith the Psalmist), O my soul,” &c. The Psalmist embraces, in +the first three verses, six kinds of divine mercies and benefits, for +which he exhorts all the godly to give praise unto God with their +whole heart, and to celebrate his great and holy name. + +The first kind of mercy enumerated is the remission of all our sins in +Christ, and for Christ’s sake, our only Mediator and High-priest: who +by himself sustained the just and infinite wrath of God, which burned +against our sins: who offered himself a sacrifice to God for them; by +which offering he reconciled unto us the Eternal Father, and now +pleads for us with an unceasing and prevailing intercession. + +The second kind of mercy is the healing of those manifold, and by no +means light infirmities, which shall remain in the flesh of the +saints, as long as they live in this world: all which remnant of sins +God, for Christ’s sake, imputeth not unto them that believe: nor does +he only cover those sins by not imputing them, but he moreover purges +them away, by the gift of his Holy Spirit. + +The third kind of mercy is a continual and daily protection and +defence against all the dangers of death, into numbers of which we +continually fall; and into more and greater of which we should fall by +fire, by water, by sword, by pestilence, and other means of +destruction, and be destroyed by them on account of the deserts of our +sins, if God did not in his mercy prevent and save and preserve our +lives. + +The fourth kind of mercy is a manifold dispensation of the grace of +God, wherewith he covers and defends us with a shield, and crowns us, +giving us the Holy Spirit, and strengthening our minds with the true +doctrine against all doubts, and with true consolation in all perils +and evils; and bestowing on the godly many and various gifts. + +The fifth kind of mercy is that boldness wherewith by the aid and +urgency of the Holy Spirit, we fearlessly preach before the world +these great mercies of God toward us: whereby many others also may +learn to acknowledge and lay hold of the goodness of God in Christ, +and, embracing it themselves in the true faith, may, with us, magnify +and call upon God. + +The sixth kind of mercy is the restoration of our depraved nature by +Christ into the image of God; into which image we being renewed by the +Holy Ghost, begin with full purpose of heart to obey God; and so +continue, until, being made perfect in the life to come, we may be +able to render a full obedience with our whole unimpeded powers. + +The Psalmist, therefore, first renders thanks to God for his spiritual +benefits; and then he from his heart thanks God for bestowing +blessings of every kind,—peace, good magistrates, good laws, good +wives, good children, the fruits of the earth, and all needful +provision. The Psalmist sets forth God as a most kind Father towards +us (who are nothing but a loathsome sore, full of sin) and as not +dealing with us according to our sins, but treating and protecting us, +according to his infinite grace and mercy, as dear children: yet so +that he will have us to keep his covenant and his counsel: that is, to +believe in him, to fear him, and to have him for our God. For if we +trust in our own works or righteousnesses, we thereby immediately +break his covenant, and walk not in his counsel, and follow strange +gods, and thus sin against the First Commandment. + +Now this fulfilling of the law, and keeping the covenant of God, is in +and through Christ alone, who was then promised to the fathers, but +now in these last days has been given unto us; and manifested; whose +kingdom shall rule over all. + +At the end of the Psalm, when the Psalmist calls upon the angels and +the hosts of God, the powers and the dominions, to praise and magnify +him, he means Christ and the church and the apostles who cause his +word to be heard. For all our salvation is in Christ, and there is no +grace out of Christ; who is preached by the angels; that is, by the +apostles. + + + + +PSALM CIV. + +_A meditation upon the mighty power, and wonderful providence of +God.—God’s glory is eternal.—The prophet voweth perpetually to praise +God._ + + +Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou +art clothed with honour and majesty: + +Who coverest _thyself_ with light as _with_ a garment; who stretchest +out the heavens like a curtain; + +Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the +clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind; + +Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire; + +_Who_ laid the foundations of the earth, _that_ it should not be +removed for ever. + +Thou coveredst it with the deep as _with_ a garment; the waters stood +above the mountains. + +At thy rebuke they fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away. + +They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys, unto the +place which thou hast founded for them. + +Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not +again to cover the earth. + +He sendeth the springs into the valleys, _which_ run among the hills. + +They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench +their thirst. + +By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, _which_ +sing among the branches. + +He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with +the fruit of thy works. + +He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service +of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth; + +And wine _that_ maketh glad the heart of man, _and_ oil to make _his_ +face to shine, and bread _which_ strengthened man’s heart. + +The trees of the LORD are full _of sap_: the cedars of Lebanon, which +he hath planted; + +Where the birds make their nests: _as for_ the stork, the fir-trees +_are_ her house. + +The high hills _are_ a refuge for the wild goats, _and_ the rocks for +the conies. + +He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. + +Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the +forest do creep _forth_. + +The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God. + +The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in +their dens. + +Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour, until the evening. + +O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: +the earth is full of thy riches; + +_So is_ this great and wide sea, wherein _are_ things creeping +innumerable, both small and great beasts. + +There go the ships; _there is_ that leviathan, _whom_ thou hast made +to play therein. + +These wait all upon thee, that them mayest give _them_ their meat in +due season. + +_That_ thou givest them, they gather; thou openest thine hand, they +are filled with good. + +Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their +breath, they die, and return to their dust. + +Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the +face of the earth. + +The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in +his works. + +He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and +they smoke. + +I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my +God while I have my being. + +My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the LORD. + +Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no +more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a most spiritual song and a Psalm of glory to God. It is drawn +out of the First Commandment: and with a grand enumeration of all the +creatures of God, it sets forth and exalts the whole work of creation. +By this recounting of the works of creation the Psalmist’s design is +to show, that all the creatures, whether those in the heavens, those +in the earth, or those in the sea, are monuments of the goodness of +God. And what orator or what poet ever has existed, or ever will +exist, with an eloquence adequate to describe the infinite use and +benefits of even one creature of God. If any one of those creatures +were gifted with speech, so as to declare its own nature and value, it +would praise God with a thousand tongues. Not only, therefore, the +whole of God’s works together, as one glorious universe, but each one +creature, if you would explain its nature and use, exceeds all the +eloquence of men and angels. + +What philosopher or sage could even open or utter the extent of the +use and blessings of common light, in which we live? What one of them +could ever explain what that is which we call light, in which we all +breathe, all are nourished, and all live; by which the night and +darkness are dispelled in one short moment; by which the whole +creation is rendered visible, and as it were, recreated; and by which +all creatures, from out of one same obscure darkness, receive each +their proper hues and colours? + +Who, again, can recount the benefit and blessings of that one creature +the sun? and then those of the moon? Who can enumerate the blessings +of fire, of water, of fountains and springs? If one creature were +deprived for one short hour of the blessings of fire or of water, you +would in a moment see the wide and infinite benefit of one of those +creatures of God. + +But alas! who can even touch one of these creatures with anything like +a due comment or reflection! And yet, when heathen men have +contemplated the whole universe of creatures so diligently, (as we see +it done in Cicero’s second book ‘De Natura Deorum;’) and have thence +gathered and concluded that there exists some eternal Deity who +created and who governs all these things; it would be a shame in one +professing the fear and worship of that God, to be cold and not +affected with these same things, and not to meditate and reflect upon +them. + +This Psalm, therefore, is a Psalm of thanksgiving for all the +creatures which God has created, whether in the heavens, in the earth, +or in the sea; and a rendering of thanks unto God also, that he hath +made a covenant with the day and the night, and hath given laws to the +heaven and the earth; laws so certain that they cannot be moved, but +continue in their appointed order. The moon, saith the Psalmist, +distinguished the seasons; the sun knoweth his going down; the day +cometh, and also the night; the summer returns at its appointed time, +and the winter also in its season. Thou fillest, saith he, that +immense space of the heaven with light: thou stretchest out the heaven +itself like a curtain, which resteth not on any beams or columns: and +thou suspendest the mighty range of clouds, at thy word, like a +glorious canopy. The winds rise, and blow over and blow through all +things, having neither wings nor feathers. And the angels whom thou +sendest forth, saith he, fulfil their commands like the winds, and +like a “flame of fire.” + +Hence the prophet, as you see, has all these things depicted in his +mind, and his faith is kindled by a meditation on this wonderful and +ineffable work of creation. But, alas! how few, how very few, are +there who thus look into, meditate on, and admire these created +things? Here, therefore, with a view to reprove both the indolence and +the wickedness of certain characters, I cannot help transcribing the +words of Cicero, a heathen, who cites another heathen, Aristotle: +‘Aristotle,’ says Cicero, ‘has most greatly and beautifully spoken +thus. “If there could be men, who had lived under the earth in grand +and noble habitations; habitations adorned with paintings and works of +art, and with all those embellishments which ornament the houses of +those who are now accounted wealthy and happy; and if it could so be +that such subterranean inhabitants had never been above ground, but +had heard by fame and report that there was a certain Deity, and a +certain Almighty power of that Deity; and then if it could so be, +that, at a certain time, the doors of the earth’s surface should be +thrown open, and they should come forth from their subterranean +abysses into these above-ground regions which we inhabit:—when such +men beheld, on a sudden, the earth, the sea, and the heavens; when +they saw the expanded grandeur of the clouds, and felt the mighty +power of the winds; when they looked up to the sun and beheld his +glorious magnitude and his beauty, and knew something of his influence +and efficacy in all creation,—that it is he, who, by diffusing his +light through the whole heaven, makes the day; and when such mortals, +newly admitted on earth, should see by the departure of the sun the +whole creation veiled in the darkness of night, while the whole heaven +was studded and bespangled with stars; and when they saw and +understood the various degrees of the light of the moon, and the +increasings and decreasings of that heavenly body; and the various +risings and settings of all the celestial luminaries; and, finally, +when such astonished and contemplating strangers on the earth’s +surface should know the appointed and never-erring and never-varying +courses and revolutions of all these glorious creatures,—they would, +with one voice, confess that there was a God, and that all these +creatures were the works of that God! But our minds, by daily use, +become insensible to these things; and as we daily see all these +creatures we inquire not their nature, nor wonder at their glory: as +if the novelty of such things, and not their greatness and glory, is +that which should lead us to meditate on their natures, and the ends +of their creation.”’ Thus far Cicero, the heathen! I shall perhaps be +deemed by some a silly man for bringing forth these things out of the +books of a heathen! Let those that would fear God, then, remember what +is required of them! + + + + +PSALM CV. + +_An exhortation to praise God, and to seek out his works.—The story of +God’s providence over Abraham,—over Joseph,—over Jacob, in Egypt,—over +Moses delivering the Israelites,—over the Israelites brought out of +Egypt, fed in the wilderness, and planted in Canaan._ + + +O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds +among the people. + +Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous +works. + +Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the +LORD. + +Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. + +Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the +judgments of his mouth; + +O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. + +He _is_ the LORD our God: his judgments _are_ in all the earth. + +He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word _which_ he +commanded to a thousand generations. + +Which _covenant_ he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; + +And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, _and_ to Israel _for_ an +everlasting covenant: + +Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your +inheritance: + +When there were _but_ a few men in number: yea, very few, and +strangers in it. + +When they went from one nation to another, from _one_ kingdom to +another people; + +He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their +sakes; + +_Saying_, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. + +Moreover, he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole +staff of bread. + +He sent a man before them, _even_ Joseph, _who_ was sold for a +servant: + +Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron: + +Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him. + +The king sent and loosed him: _even_ the ruler of the people, and let +him go free. + +He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: + +To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom. + +Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. + +And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their +enemies. + +He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his +servants. + +He sent Moses his servant; _and_ Aaron whom he had chosen. + +They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. + +He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his +word. + +He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. + +Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their +kings. + +He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, _and_ lice in all +their coasts. + +He gave them hail for rain, _and_ flaming fire in their land. + +He smote their vines also and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of +their coasts. + +He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without +number, + +And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of +their ground. + +He smote also all the first-born in their land, the chief of all their +strength. + +He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and _there was_ not +one feeble _person_ among their tribes. + +Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon +them. + +He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night. + +_The people_ asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the +bread of heaven. + +He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry +places _like_ a river. + +For he remembered his holy promise, _and_ Abraham his servant. + +And he brought forth his people with joy, _and_ his chosen with +gladness: + +And gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited the labour +of the people; + +That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the +LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of particular thanksgiving; and a song especially +adapted to the people of the Jews; that in the use of this Psalm they +might render thanks unto God for all those, his wonderful works, which +he wrought from Abraham down to the time when they were led into the +promised land of Canaan. And the Psalmist, having recounted all these +glorious works in their order, concludes with that word of Moses, +(Deut. ix.) “That God did not do all these mighty works on account of +any righteousness or merit of theirs, but because of the covenant and +the promise which he had made with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and +Jacob:” for how righteous they were and what they deserved at the hand +of God, is sung in the Psalm following. + + + + +PSALM CVI. + +_The Psalmist exhorteth to praise God.—He prayeth for pardon of sin, +as God did with the fathers.—The story of the people’s rebellion, and +God’s mercy.—He concludeth with prayer and praise._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for _he is_ good: for +his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? _who_ can shew forth all +his praise? + +Blessed _are_ they that keep judgment, _and_ he that doeth +righteousness at all times. + +Remember me, O LORD, with the favour _that thou bearest unto_ thy +people: O visit me with thy salvation; + +That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the +gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. + +We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have +done wickedly. + +Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not +the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked _him_ at the sea, _even_ at +the Red Sea. + +Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his +mighty power to be known. + +He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them +through the depths, as through the wilderness. + +And he saved them from the hand of him that hated _them_, and redeemed +them from the hand of the enemy. + +And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. + +Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. + +They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: + +But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the +desert. + +And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. + +They envied Moses also in the camp, _and_ Aaron the saint of the LORD. + +The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of +Abiram. + +And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the +wicked. + +They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. + +Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth +grass. + +They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; + +Wondrous works in the land of Ham, _and_ terrible things by the Red +Sea. + +Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen +stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should +destroy _them_. + +Yea, they despised the pleasant land; they believed not his word; + +But murmured in their tents, _and_ hearkened not unto the voice of the +LORD: + +Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the +wilderness: + +To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in +the lands. + +They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of +the dead. + +Thus they provoked _him_ to anger with their inventions; and the +plague brake in upon them. + +Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and _so_ the plague was +stayed. + +And that was counted unto him for righteousness, unto all generations +for evermore. + +They angered _him_ also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill +with Moses for their sakes: + +Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with +his lips. + +They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded +them: + +But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. + +And they served their idols; which were a snare unto them. + +Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, + +And shed innocent blood, _even_ the blood of their sons, and of their +daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land +was polluted with blood. + +Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with +their own inventions. + +Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, +insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. + +And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated +them ruled over them. + +Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into +subjection under their hand. + +Many times did he deliver them: but they provoked _him_ with their +counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. + +Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry: + +And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the +multitude of his mercies. + +He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them +captives. + +Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give +thanks unto thy holy name, _and_ to triumph in thy praise. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: +and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of acknowledgment, of confession, and of thanksgiving. +The Psalmist confesses all those sins of murmuring and unbelief, and +those other numerous transgressions against the first commandment, by +which the people of Israel provoked God, and rendered themselves +utterly unworthy of all his mercies. + +At the conclusion of the Psalm, therefore, the Psalmist proclaims the +exceeding greatness of the divine mercy of God; whereby he continued +mindful of his counsel and his covenant, and did not pour forth all +his wrath, but was merciful to them for his own name’s sake. As Moses +saith also, (Deut. ix.) “Know ye, that not for your righteousness doth +the Lord God give unto you this good land: for ye are a stiff-necked +people.” Therefore as the Israelites, the whole of that people of God, +could glory in nothing, but that they were saved by the mercy and +grace of God; so also we cannot glory in any work or merit of our own, +but in the mercy of God only! + + + + +PSALM CVII. + +_The psalmist exhorteth the redeemed, in praising God, to observe his +manifold providence, over travellers, over captives, over sick men, +over seamen, and in divers varieties of life._ + + +O give thanks unto the LORD, for _he is_ good: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +Let the redeemed of the LORD say _so_, whom he hath redeemed from the +hand of the enemy; + +And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, +from the north, and from the south. + +They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city +to dwell in. + +Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. + +Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, _and_ he delivered +them out of their distresses. + +And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city +of habitation. + +Oh that _men_ would praise the LORD _for_ his goodness, and _for_ his +wonderful works to the children of men! + +For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with +goodness. + +Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, _being_ bound in +affliction and iron; + +Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the +counsel of the Most High: + +Therefore he brought down their heart with labour: they fell down, and +_there was_ none to help. + +Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, _and_ he saved them +out of their distresses. + +He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake +their bands in sunder. + +Oh that _men_ would praise the LORD _for_ his goodness, and _for_ his +wonderful works to the children of men! + +For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in +sunder. + +Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their +iniquities, are afflicted: + +Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the +gates of death. + +Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble; and he saveth them out +of their distresses. + +He sent his word and healed them, and delivered _them_ from their +destructions. + +Oh that _men_ would praise the LORD _for_ his goodness, and _for_ his +wonderful works to the children of men! + +And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his +works with rejoicing. + +They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters; + +These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. + +For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the +waves thereof. + +They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their +soul is melted because of trouble. + +They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their +wit’s end. + +Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out +of their distresses. + +He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. + +Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto +their desired haven. + +Oh that _men_ would praise the LORD _for_ his goodness, and _for_ his +wonderful works to the children of men! + +Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise +him in the assembly of the elders. + +He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry +ground; + +A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell +therein. + +He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into +water-springs. + +And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city +for habitation; + +And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of +increase. + +He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and +suffereth not their cattle to decrease. + +Again, they are minished, and brought low, through oppression, +affliction, and sorrow. + +He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the +wilderness, _where there is_ no way. + +Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh _him_ +families like a flock. + +The righteous shall see _it_, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop +her mouth. + +Whoso _is_ wise, and will observe these _things_, even they shall +understand the loving-kindness of the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in general; rendering praise for that +infinite and incomparable mercy and goodness of God, wherewith he +daily helps and succours all men, both the righteous and the wicked, +under the various calamities of life, and defends them against the +Devil: preserving also the public peace, giving healthfulness of air +and climate, and blessing the earth to the springing of its +productions; as Paul saith, 2 Tim. ii. “Who is the Saviour of all men, +especially of them that believe.” + +In the fourth verse, where the Psalmist says, “They wandered in the +wilderness in a solitary way,” he refers to all kinds of calamities; +and especially to the afflictions of those who are oppressed with +poverty, who are exiles, and deserted, and wandering without any +certain dwelling-place. + +In the ninth verse by those “sitting in darkness,” &c. he means those +throughout the whole world, who on account of their own crimes, or for +other causes, are held in bonds and in prisons, and who are sometimes +delivered by the interposition and help of God himself. + +Then again, verse 6, he refers to those who live wickedly and fear not +God; on whom God sends diseases and distresses to punish them; of whom +some, although they call not upon God, are delivered by his pure mercy +alone. + +In verse 22, he speaks of those who are in perils on the seas, and +there enduring storms and shipwrecks; under which calamities God often +delivers wicked sailors, and preserves them from shipwreck and death, +and from the power of the Devil, by his mere goodness and mercy. + +Verse 32 has reference to those fields and vineyards that are visited +with barrenness or any other calamity; unto whom God gives rain and +fruitfulness, not according to their merits, but of his abounding +mercy, whereby he sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust. + +Verse 38 applies to those who are oppressed by the Turk or any other +tyrants, or by wars and seditions, and whose all in this world is in +peril; unto whom God often, on a sudden, gives peace and quietness, as +he calmeth the waves of the sea. + +This Psalm, therefore, shows that all salvation is to be sought and +expected from God alone; who will never forsake his people, or his +church, or those that trust in him; and that he often bestows these +benefits on the Turks, and on the openly impious and profane; even +when they are seeking all these great blessings from their idols of +wood and stone. And we who profess the name of Christ also, not at all +unlike the Turks, leave God our true and only Saviour and implore the +help of saints. Hence St. Leonard is worshipped as the liberator of +the imprisoned; St. Sebastian is invoked by those who are in dread of +pestilence; St. George is the protecting saint of military troops of +horse and foot; St. Erasmus is said to bless with riches those that +call upon him; St. Christopher is openly worshipped as the god of land +and sea; and his image is affixed to all doors of temples, and to all +prows of ships, and adored by all sailors. And thus we have divided +the glory of God and of his saving mercies, which is due to him alone, +unto saints set up by idolatrous men; just in the same way as the +heathens gave to their gods the attributes and functions which belong +to God only. This Psalm, however, rightly ascribes all the glory to +God alone. + + + + +PSALM CVIII. + +_David encourageth himself to praise God.—He prayeth for God’s +assistance according to his promise.—His confidence in God’s help._ + +A Song or Psalm of David. + + +O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my +glory. + +Awake, psaltery and harp; I _myself_ will awake early. + +I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people; and I will sing praises +unto thee among the nations. + +For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth _reacheth_ +unto the clouds. + +Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; and thy glory above all the +earth: + +That thy beloved may be delivered, save _with_ thy right hand, and +answer me. + +God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice; I will divide +Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. + +Gilead _is_ mine; Manasseh _is_ mine; Ephraim also _is_ the strength +of mine head; Judah _is_ my law-giver; + +Moab _is_ my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over +Philistia will I triumph. + +Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? + +_Wilt_ not _thou_, O God, _who_ hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O +God, go forth with our hosts? + +Give us help from trouble: for vain _is_ the help of man. + +Through God we shall do valiantly: for he _it is that_ shall tread +down our enemies. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving of the same substance, and almost in +the same words as Psalm lx.; wherein the Psalmist gives thanks for the +happy state of his kingdom, for the establishment of the true religion +and good government, and for the increase of his dominions. + +The first verses of the Psalm, however, refer to the kingdom of +Christ. David prays that God would be pleased to set up this kingdom +of Christ in all nations; that thus the kingdom and dominion of David +may be extended far and wide throughout all nations, according to the +promise. For this temporal kingdom of David was confined within very +narrow limits in comparison with the whole world, and was a kingdom +not likely to be extended over all the nations and people of the +earth; and yet this kingdom God promised to enlarge and extend, as in +Isaiah, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall +stand for an ensign of the people,” Isa. xi. 10. And again, chapter +ix. 7, “Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it +and to establish it for ever.” + + + + +PSALM CIX. + +_David, complaining of his slanderous enemies, under the person of +Judas devoteth them.—He sheweth their sin.—Complaining of his own +misery, he prayeth for help.—He promiseth thankfulness._ + +To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. + + +Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; + +For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened +against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. + +They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against +me without a cause. + +For my love they are my adversaries: but I _give myself unto_ prayer. + +And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. + +Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. + +When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer +become sin. + +Let his days be few; _and_ let another take his office. + +Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. + +Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek +_their bread_ also out of their desolate places. + +Let the extortioner catch all that he hath: and let the strangers +spoil his labour. + +Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any +to favour his fatherless children. + +Let his posterity be cut off; _and_ in the generation following let +their name be blotted out. + +Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let +not the sin of his mother be blotted out. + +Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the +memory of them from the earth. + +Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor +and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. + +As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in +blessing, so let it be far from him. + +As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it +come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. + +Let it be unto him as the garment _which_ covereth him, and for a +girdle wherewith he is girded continually. + +_Let_ this _be_ the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of +them that speak evil against my soul. + +But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy +mercy _is_ good, deliver thou me. + +For I _am_ poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. + +I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down +as the locust. + +My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. + +I became also a reproach unto them: _when_ they looked upon me they +shaked their heads. + +Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: + +That they may know that this _is_ thy hand; _that_ thou, LORD, hast +done it. + +Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; +but let thy servant rejoice. + +Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover +themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. + +I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him +among the multitude. + +For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save _him_ from +those that condemn his soul. + + +Certain hypocrites of monks are accustomed to use this Psalm, +(generally known by the name of ‘The God of praise,’) as a sort of +incantation: and they say that, to a certainty, against what person +soever they babble and sing out the terrible words of this Psalm; that +man is at once death-struck, and never lives a year afterwards. + +This Psalm, however, is most certainly full of the complaints, tears, +and groans of the godly against these very hypocrites themselves. It +may be very properly considered as used in the person of Christ, +deeply complaining against his betrayers the Jews, and against the +cruelty of the Jews, which was not satisfied, even after the shedding +of his innocent blood. + +Like unto Judas Iscariot, and unto all the Jews, are pharisaical +saints and hypocrites, of all nations and ages; of whom Christ doth +not say in vain, that they are guilty of all the blood that has been +shed from Abel downwards. For so great and bitter is the terribleness +and fury of their virulent and Satanic hatred, that they cannot rest +satisfied with the shedding of the blood of Abel and all the saints +from the beginning of the world, but must hang Christ himself on the +cross; and that is not all, they must (as the Psalmist saith, ver. +22.) wag their heads at him, and insult and mock his sufferings; “If +he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross.” + +Concerning these wretches, David says, (ver. 2.) “They have opened +their blaspheming mouth against me:” for the raving fury of such +hypocrites is incredible. And again he says, “For my love they are my +adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me +evil for good, and hatred for my love.” And again, “They fight against +me without a cause.” + +These are the true and real colours of these hypocrites who pretend to +be in the truth. We have here pourtrayed not only the Cainish +countenances of these Iscariots, but their pharisaic and virulent +hearts themselves; which are now become organs and instruments of the +devil. And we have also here depicted their thoughts, their furious +purposes of injuring and harming, by which the minds of such are +incessantly actuated. For these embittered wretches knowingly and +purposely, and against the light of their own consciences, fight +against and deny the known truth; and, as Stephen says, cease not to +resist the Holy Ghost. And although they are convinced by natural +reason, by the Scriptures, and by their natural understanding, they +still reject and fight against God and Christ, and harden themselves +in the denial of the truth. And finally, “They delight not in +blessing;” but refuse and cast from them God and his Christ. + +In addition to all this, they “render evil for good.” The ingratitude +of these hypocrites and of the world surely is enough, in not +returning any thing for all that good which is offered to them by God +himself, and by the saints in his name: but they rest not here; they +render, for all this good, hatred and cursing, and a purpose to injure +and to destroy: which is manifestly not human, but Satanic cruelty. + +But we, the people of God, are hereby admonished throughout all times +and ages of the church that, whenever God is pleased to reveal his +word, and Christ is preached, so surely will the church have her +Judases: that is, so surely will she have her enemies and her +hypocrites; who, though they boast of the name of being the church of +God, will prove themselves “vipers.” + +To set forth, therefore, the terrible judgments that shall fall on +those, who thus, with cruelty and without mercy, rage against the +people of God, the Psalmist shows (ver. 16.) that God will, to +recompense their iniquity, direct his fury also against them, who thus +mercilessly oppress “his poor,” and will pour out all his wrath upon +them: and that, as these hypocrites so confidently despised God and +his saints; and as, though covered with the shed blood, and bathed +with the tears of so many saints, they still laughed at their +calamities, as if they really sought cursing and not blessing; so, +that cursing shall flow in upon them like a river. + +And again (saith David) they have cast away the word of God from them, +and have rejected and despised the offered salvation, therefore all +consolation and salvation shall depart from them, and no more be +brought near unto them, neither now nor to all eternity. On the other +hand, as they loved cursing, they shall be clothed with it as with a +girdle; it shall enter like water into their bowels, and like oil into +their bones: and they shall bear about with them, like Cain, +everlasting fears and terrors, and shall be tormented unceasingly with +the stings of their wickedness and sin; and they shall moreover be +exiles, deserted outcasts, vagabonds, and held in contempt of all, as +the Jews now are, exhibiting an awful fulfilment of the judgments +herein denounced. + + + + +PSALM CX. + +_The kingdom, the priesthood, the conquest, and the passion of +Christ._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make +thine enemies thy footstool. + +The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in +the midst of thine enemies. + +Thy people _shall be_ willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties +of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy +youth. + +The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou _art_ a priest for ever +after the order of Melchizedek. + +The LORD at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of +his wrath. + +He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill _the places_ with the +dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. + +He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the +head. + + +This is a peculiar and glorious prophecy concerning the kingdom of +Christ. This Psalm is cited by Christ himself, Matt. xxii. and he +applies it to his own kingdom and priesthood. It speaks gloriously of +Christ sitting at the right hand of the Majesty in the heaven, and as +being the son and the seed of David, according to the flesh, and also +David’s Lord and God, the Creator and the Maker of all things, all +power being given unto him in heaven and in earth: as the apostle also +saith, “Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and +declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of +holiness.” Rom. i. 3. + +Christ cites this Psalm, (which, as we have said, is a very glorious +one) to confound the Pharisees. Indeed there is not a Psalm like it in +the whole scripture; and it ought to be very dear unto the church; +seeing that it confirms that great article of faith—Christ’s sitting +at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. For Christ is here +declared to be a King and Priest; sitting at God’s right hand, not +only as truly man, but also as properly God; the Propitiator and +Mediator between God and men; the Omnipotent and the Eternal! + +Christ is no where, throughout all the books of the prophets, and of +the whole scripture, so plainly and clearly declared to be “a Priest,” +and so “a Priest for ever,” who alone did, and alone could abrogate +the Aaronic and Levitical priesthood; and who is, and ever will be an +eternal propitiation and reconciliation for us; as is most +beautifully, most fully, and with a wonderful power of the Holy +Spirit, opened by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews. + +Hence, this heavenly and golden Psalm has a blessed author (David) and +a glorious interpreter (Christ.) And all the apostles, all godly +consciences, and all who are not utterly unacquainted with the +temptations of sin, and of Satan, know how great and firm a +consolation it is against all the violent attacks of the devil, to be +able to see Christ as our High Priest. Hence it is that Paul breaks +forth into those great words, “If God be for us, who can be against +us! Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather +that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also +maketh intercession for us.” Rom. viii. 31–34. + +It is, therefore, of infinite benefit to the universal church of +Christ, that the glorious things of this Psalm, the remission of sins, +and the reconciliation of God toward us, which are brought in unto us +by the priesthood of Christ, and which are infinite and eternal, are +most carefully and most fully explained to us in the epistle to the +Hebrews; and that such glorious doctrines of the truth concerning the +priesthood of Christ are always present, and ready to our hands. + + + + +PSALM CXI. + +_The Psalmist by his example inciteth others to praise God for his +glorious and gracious works.—The fear of God breedeth true wisdom._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with _my_ whole heart, in +the assembly of the upright, and _in_ the congregation. + +The works of the LORD _are_ great, sought out of all them that have +pleasure therein. + +His work _is_ honourable and glorious; and his righteousness endureth +for ever. + +He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD _is_ +gracious and full of compassion. + +He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of +his covenant. + +He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give +them the heritage of the heathen. + +The works of his hands _are_ verity and judgment; all his commandments +_are_ sure. + +They stand fast for ever and ever, _and are_ done in truth and +uprightness. + +He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for +ever: holy and reverend _is_ his name. + +The fear of the LORD _is_ the beginning of wisdom: a good +understanding have all they that do _his commandments_: his praise +endureth for ever. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and a song for the people of Israel, +to be sung at the feast of the passover, or at the eating of the +paschal Lamb. For by this short song the people were instructed to +give thanks, and to magnify and praise God for those great and +glorious works of his,—the leading them out of Egypt at the first; and +also, for giving them a good and divine government, for the priesthood +he established, for the law he gave them, and for appointing the +preaching of his word; for their feasts and for their Sabbaths, for +public peace and a good administration of the laws, and, in a word, +for all his infinite mercies: all which I have more fully opened in my +more extended commentary on this Psalm. + + + + +PSALM CXII. + +_Godliness hath the promises of this life, and of the life to +come.—The prosperity of the godly shall be an eyesore to the wicked._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. Blessed _is_ the man _that_ feareth the LORD, +_that_ delighteth greatly in his commandments. + +His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright +shall be blessed. + +Wealth and riches _shall be_ in his house: and his righteousness +endureth for ever. + +Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: _he is_ +gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous. + +A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with +discretion. + +Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in +everlasting remembrance. + +He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting +in the LORD. + +His heart _is_ established, he shall not be afraid, until he see _his +desire_ upon his enemies. + +He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness +endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour. + +The wicked shall see _it_, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his +teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation for those that fear God: in which those +that truly fear him are encouraged and praised in their Christian +conversation: “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord,” saith the +Psalmist. As if he had said, The people of God appear to them to be of +all men the most miserable; and both their life and their doctrine are +condemned by the world, and by those tongues which the devil raises up +and uses for the work. All things in the saints make them appear to +the world, as if they were left and forsaken, and deserted of God, and +as if they, and their posterity, and all like them, must surely +perish. And then again, their lives and conversations, (though they +render most essential services, both to their nation and to the +church, and though they conduct themselves blamelessly before God and +man,) are, by the malice of the devil, represented as most abominable, +and they themselves are looked upon as the contempt and off-scouring +of the earth. + +On the other hand, all hypocrites in the world are lauded as the +saints of God. “But,” as the wise man saith, “better is the little in +the house of the righteous, than the great revenues of the wicked.” In +the midst of all this false representation, however, the righteous, +standing fast in all these their afflictions, and steadily trusting in +God, are delivered and saved, and gain blessed consolation, while the +wicked perish on every side. “To the upright,” saith the Psalmist, +“there ariseth light in darkness.” Here, according to the general +language of the scriptures, he calleth consolation, light; and +temptation, darkness. + +And, then, in the end of the Psalm, that noble and unsubdued +steadiness of faith is greatly praised: which, in such mighty +struggles, and in such agonizing conflicts, is yet unwearied and +unyielding, resting in the promise of God; and which, though +contending with such mighty waves, is yet enabled to sing with Paul, +“Thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” “He +shall not be afraid of evil tidings,” saith the Psalmist, “his heart +is fixed, trusting in the Lord: his heart is established, he shall not +be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies.” verse 7, 8. For +unless there were in us divine strength communicated by Christ, it +would be impossible that we could stand against such numerous and +mighty assaults of temptation. + + + + +PSALM CXIII. + +_An exhortation to praise God for his excellency,—for his mercy._ + + +Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name +of the LORD. + +Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. + +From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S +name _is_ to be praised. + +The LORD _is_ high above all nations, _and_ his glory above the +heavens. + +Who _is_ like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, + +Who humbleth _himself_ to behold _the things that are_ in heaven, and +in the earth! + +He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, _and_ lifteth the needy out of +the dunghill; + +That he may set _him_ with princes, _even_ with the princes of his +people. + +He maketh the barren woman to keep house, _and to be_ a joyful mother +of children. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a most conspicuous and most blessed prophecy of the kingdom of +Christ, and of its extension from the rising unto the setting of the +sun throughout all the kingdoms of the earth: it calls upon all +nations to laud and magnify God, and to proclaim the riches of his +grace; that is, the remission of sins for Christ’s sake. For Christ is +the God of the humble, the God of the afflicted, and the God of those +that call upon him and that cry unto him; he is an altogether loving +and lovely Saviour and God, who sitteth at the right hand of the +Majesty on high, and loves and has respect unto the humble, the +afflicted, the oppressed, and the trembling and contrite in heart. + +The peculiar and express office of Christ, and the work of the kingdom +of Christ is to bring down the proud, to put to shame the wise, and to +condemn hypocrites and false saints: and, on the other side, to raise +up and exalt the humble, to enlighten and instruct fools, to sanctify +unclean sinners, to make fruitful the barren, to comfort the +fatherless; that is, those who are in any way afflicted or distressed. + + + + +PSALM CXIV. + +_An exhortation, by the example of the dumb creatures, to fear God in +his church._ + + +When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of +strange language, + +Judah was his sanctuary, _and_ Israel his dominion. + +The sea saw _it_, and fled; Jordan was driven back. + +The mountains skipped like rams, _and_ the little hills like lambs, + +What _ailed_ thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, _that_ +thou wast driven back? + +Ye mountains, _that_ ye skipped like rams; _and_ ye little hills like +lambs? + +Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of +the God of Jacob; + +Which turned the rock _into_ a standing water, the flint into a +fountain of waters. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and a song for the people of Israel, +to praise God while celebrating the feast of the passover; to magnify +him for bringing them with a high hand out of Egypt, through the Red +Sea, through the desert, over mountains, and through Jordan, into the +land of promise. We use this Psalm to give thanks unto Christ, who +delivered us from the kingdom of darkness, and translated us into the +kingdom of light, even into his own kingdom, the kingdom of God’s dear +Son, and led us forth into eternal life. + + + + +PSALM CXV. + +_Because God is truly glorious, and idols are vanity, he exhorteth to +confidence in God.—God is to be blessed for his blessings._ + + +Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for +thy mercy, _and_ for thy truth’s sake. + +Wherefore should the heathen say, Where _is_ now their God? + +But our God _is_ in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath +pleased. + +Their idols _are_ silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. + +They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see +not; + +They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell +not; + +They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk +not; neither speak they through their throat. + +They that make them are like unto them; _so is_ every one that +trusteth in them. + +O Israel, trust thou in the LORD; he _is_ their help and their shield. + +O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; he _is_ their help and their +shield. + +Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; he _is_ their help and their +shield. + +The LORD hath been mindful of us; he will bless _us_: he will bless +the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron. + +He will bless them that fear the LORD, _both_ small and great. + +The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. + +Ye _are_ blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. + +The heaven, _even_ the heavens, _are_ the LORD’S: but the earth hath +he given to the children of men. + +The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. + +But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. +Praise the LORD. + + +This is a glorious Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the God of Israel is +praised, as being the one, only, true, living God, the Saviour of all +men, and especially of them that believe; and wherein also, all the +other gods of the nations, who can save neither themselves nor others, +are confessed, in the true faith, to be dumb idols. + +Wherefore the Psalmist, in the first verse, saith “Not unto us, O +Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory.” As if he had +said, ‘Look not upon us, O Lord, to see how good or how righteous we +are, for if thou do this, thou wilt never help us, thou wilt never +save us; we shall remain a people without salvation, and without God, +like all the nations around us; or we shall ever be at an uncertainty +whether we shall be saved or not. But look, O our God, at thy holy +word, and at the glory of thine own name,—that thou callest thyself +our God; and that thou art the true and the living God, with whom is +mercy, and with whom is plenteous redemption. According, O Lord, to +thy promises of grace, according to thy counsel and thy covenant, in +the which thou hast said, “I am the Lord your God;” according to this +thy glorious name deal thou with us, O Lord; but not according to any +name of ours, whereby we may be called sacrificers, or good-workers, +or singers, or fathers, or the like: for all these names the nations +that know not thee may assume, and yet remain still nations without +God.’ + + + + +PSALM CXVI. + +_The psalmist professeth his love and duty to God for his +deliverance.—He studieth to be thankful._ + + +I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice _and_ my +supplications. + +Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon +_him_ as long as I live. + +The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon +me: I found trouble and sorrow. + +Then called I upon the name of the LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, +deliver my soul. + +Gracious _is_ the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God _is_ merciful. + +The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. + +Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully +with thee. + +For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, +_and_ my feet from falling. + +I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. + +I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted. + +I said in my haste, All men _are_ liars. + +What shall I render unto the LORD _for_ all his benefits towards me? + +I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. + +I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his +people. + +Precious in the sight of the LORD _is_ the death of his saints. + +O LORD, truly I _am_ thy servant; I _am_ thy servant, _and_ the son of +thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. + +I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon +the name of LORD. + +I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his +people, + +In the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. +Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in which the Psalmist renders thanks, +after coming out of a most heavy trial, and again rejoices in God; +praising God for having delivered him from the terrors of death, and +from the pains of hell; for by such terms does he express those deep +and heavy spiritual temptations, concerning which he had spoken +before, Psalm vi., which are not known unto all. And the Psalmist +complains also that he suffered all these things, and was thus +overwhelmed and almost destroyed by these heavy trials, because of his +confession of his faith and the truth of God before the world. “I +believed (saith he) and therefore have I spoken:” but I am heavily +afflicted for the word’s sake. For all the saints confess and teach +the righteousness of faith; and, on the other hand, they expose and +condemn all the righteousness, wisdom, and holiness of the world, and +also all hypocrisy, and the outside form of godliness. And this the +world will by no means whatever endure: they ever rage and roar +against it: and they load the godly with every kind of affliction, +because of their unsocial confession: and hence arise all those +terrors without and those fears within, by which the church of Christ +and the saints have ever been afflicted from the kingdom of the devil, +in the midst of which their confession is made. + +But amid all these great, and hard, and numerous afflictions of Satan +and the world, the Psalmist has this firm consolation, that his work +and cause are right before God; therefore he comforts and encourages +himself by relying on the word of God, and stirs up and strengthens +himself unto all confidence. “I will take (saith he) the cup of +salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.” As if he had said, If +they drink my destruction from the cup of their fury, and hate and +persecute me unto death; what then? “I will take the cup of God’s +salvation and helping grace:” that is (as if he had said), Supporting +and strengthening my faith with the glad word of thy promise, as with +strong and generous wine, I shall be filled with the Spirit, by +drinking of that cup; and, by my continuing to preach and spread the +word, I shall hold out the cup to others also, who confess with me the +same truth, and preach the same word; that they also may draw the same +consolation with me, out of the same most blessed word of the grace of +God. + +This (saith the Psalmist) is our case, and this is the way in which we +drink of it and use it. We drink of it ourselves, and then we hold it +out to others, and invite them to drink also; and this is the true +worship of God; and by this we laud and magnify his name. By this +service we truly pay our vows unto God, namely, the vow of the first +commandment, paid unto God by his people; for the greatest and highest +vow of the first commandment is this—God, the true, the living God, +alone shall be our God: we will cleave unto him alone: him only will +we adore; him only will we worship; him only will we seek; on him only +will we call! + +As, therefore, in many other Psalms, so also in this, you may see what +is the true sacrifice of praise (of that praise which is wrought in +the heart and in the spirit by the Holy Ghost, and is not lip-service +only.) And in this Psalm you may also see that the true preaching of +the word, and the true confession of the word, before the world, form +the highest and most precious worship of God. + + + + +PSALM CXVII. + +_An exhortation to praise God for his mercy and truth._ + + +O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. + +For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the +LORD _endureth_ for ever. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a prophecy concerning Christ; that all peoples out of all +kingdoms and islands, shall know Christ in his kingdom; that is, in +his church; in that kingdom where mercy and grace, and the remission +of sins, and eternal life, and everlasting consolation, shall be +preached against sin, death, the power of the devil, and all evil. +This Psalm has been before explained in my more full commentary +thereon. + + + + +PSALM CXVIII. + +_An exhortation to praise God for his mercy.—The psalmist by his +experience sheweth how good it is trust in God.—Under the type of the +psalmist, the coming of Christ in his kingdom is expressed._ + + +O give thanks unto the LORD; for _he is_ good; because his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +Let Israel now say, that his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy _endureth_ for +ever. + +I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, _and set me_ +in a large place. + +The LORD _is_ on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? + +The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see +_my desire_ upon them that hate me. + +_It is_ better to trust in the LORD, than to put confidence in man: + +_It is_ better to trust in the LORD, than to put confidence in +princes. + +All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I +destroy them. + +They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name +of the LORD I will destroy them. + +They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of +thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. + +Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall: but the LORD helped +me. + +The LORD _is_ my strength and song, and is become my salvation. + +The voice of rejoicing and salvation _is_ in the tabernacles of the +righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. + +The right hand of the LORD is exalted; the right hand of the LORD +doeth valiantly. + +I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. + +The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto +death. + +Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go in to them, _and_ I +will praise the Lord; + +This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. + +I will praise thee; for thou hast heard me, and art become my +salvation. + +The stone _which_ the builders refused is become the head _stone_ of +the corner. + +This is the LORD’S doing; it _is_ marvellous in our eyes. + +This _is_ the day _which_ the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be +glad in it. + +Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now +prosperity. + +Blessed _be_ he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed +you out of the house of the LORD. + +God _is_ the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with +cords, _even_ unto the horns of the altar. + +Thou _art_ my God, and I will praise thee; _thou art_ my God, I will +exalt thee. + +O give thanks unto the LORD; for _he is_ good: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + + +This is also a Psalm of thanksgiving. This Psalm, “O give thanks unto +the Lord,” which I so much love and admire, is the one which I, in +particular, call the golden Psalm; and is the Psalm which has often +revived and comforted me in my temptations. + +The Psalmist gives thanks, and at the same time utters forth a +prophecy concerning Christ, who by his suffering entered into glory; +who is that stone rejected of the builders, which became the head of +the corner; as Christ himself also saith, Matt. xxi. citing this +Psalm. The Psalmist also describes with blessed feelings of heart the +joyful day of the gospel, the day of salvation and peace, the day of +joy and consolation, and the true and glorious feast-day. + +Among other things the Psalmist speaks of the church and the children +of God, who are to be conformed to the image of his Son; shewing, that +they must be surrounded with afflictions on every side, and by the +cross and through death enter into glory. + +A brief summary, however, like this, cannot set forth the great and +glorious contents of this Psalm: but my particular and more full +Commentary on it will supply, in some measure, what is here wanting. + + + + +PSALM CXIX. + +_This psalm containeth sundry prayers, praises, and professions of +obedience._ + + +א ALEPH. + +Blessed _are_ the undefined in the way, who walk in the law of the +LORD. + +Blessed _are_ they that keep his testimonies, _and that_ seek him with +the whole heart. + +They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. + +Thou hast commanded _us_ to keep thy precepts diligently. + +O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. + +Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy +commandments. + +I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have +learned thy righteous judgments. + +I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly. + + +ב BETH. + +Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed +_thereto_ according to thy word. + +With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy +commandments. + +Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. + +Blessed _art_ thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. + +With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. + +I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as _much as_ in all +riches. + +I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. + +I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. + + +ג GIMEL. + +Deal bountifully with thy servant, _that_ I may live, and keep thy +word. + +Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. + +I _am_ a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. + +My soul breaketh for the longing _that it hath_ unto thy judgments at +all times. + +Thou hast rebuked the proud _that are_ cursed, which do err from thy +commandments. + +Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies. + +Princes also did sit _and_ speak against me: _but_ thy servant did +meditate in thy statutes. + +Thy testimonies also _are_ my delight _and_ my counsellors. + + +ד DALETH. + +My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word. + +I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes. + +Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy +wondrous works. + +My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy +word. + +Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously. + +I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid _before me_. + +I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame. + +I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my +heart. + + +ה HE. + +Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes: and I shall keep it _unto_ +the end. + +Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe +it with _my_ whole heart. + +Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I +delight. + +Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. + +Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; _and_ quicken thou me in +thy way. + +Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who _is devoted_ to thy fear. + +Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments _are_ good. + +Behold I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy +righteousness. + + +ו VAU. + +Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, _even_ thy salvation, +according to thy word. + +So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I +trust in thy word. + +And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have +hoped in thy judgments. + +So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever. + +And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts. + +I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be +ashamed. + +And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. + +My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved; +and I will meditate in thy statutes. + + +ז ZAIN. + +Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to +hope. + +This _is_ my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. + +The proud have had me greatly in derision: _yet_ have I not declined +from thy law. + +I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself. + +Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy +law. + +Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. + +I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy +law. + +This I had, because I kept thy precepts. + + +ח CHETH. + +_Thou art_ my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy +words. + +I entreated thy favour with _my_ whole heart: be merciful unto me +according to thy word. + +I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. + +I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments. + +The bands of the wicked have robbed me, _but_ I have not forgotten thy +law. + +At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy +righteous judgments. + +I _am_ a companion of all _them_ that fear thee, and of them that keep +thy precepts. + +The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes. + + +ט TETH. + +Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy +word. + +Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy +commandments. + +Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word. + +Thou _art_ good, and doest good: teach me thy statutes. + +The proud have forged a lie against me: _but_ I will keep thy precepts +with _my_ whole heart. + +Their heart is as fat as grease: _but_ I delight in thy law. + +_It is_ good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy +statutes. + +The law of thy mouth _is_ better unto me than thousands of gold and +silver. + + +י JOD. + +Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I +may learn thy commandments. + +They that fear thee will be glad when they see me: because I have +hoped in thy word. + +I know, O LORD, that thy judgments _are_ right, and _that_ thou in +faithfulness hast afflicted me. + +Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according +to thy word unto thy servant. + +Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law _is_ +my delight. + +Let the proud be ashamed: for they dealt perversely with me without a +cause: _but_ I will meditate in thy precepts. + +Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy +testimonies. + +Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed. + + +כ CAPH. + +My soul fainteth for thy salvation; _but_ I hope in thy word. + +Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? + +For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; _yet_ do I not forget thy +statutes. + +How many _are_ the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute +judgment on them that persecute me? + +The proud have digged pits for me, which _are_ not after thy law. + +All thy commandments _are_ faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; +help thou me. + +They had almost consumed me upon earth: but I forsook not thy +precepts. + +Quicken me after thy loving-kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of +thy mouth. + + +ל LAMED. + +For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. + +Thy faithfulness _is_ unto all generations: thou hast established the +earth, and it abideth. + +They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all _are_ +thy servants. + +Unless thy law _had been_ my delights, I should then have perished in +mine affliction. + +I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened +me. + +I _am_ thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts. + +The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: _but_ I will consider thy +testimonies. + +I have seen an end of all perfection: _but_ thy commandment _is_ +exceeding broad. + + +מ MEM. + +O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. + +Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: +for they _are_ ever with me. + +I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies +_are_ my meditation. + +I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. + +I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy +word. + +I have not departed from thy judgments; for thou hast taught me. + +How sweet are thy words unto my taste! _yea, sweeter_ than honey to my +mouth! + +Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false +way. + + +נ NUN. + +Thy word _is_ a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. + +I have sworn, and I will perform _it_, that I will keep thy righteous +judgments. + +I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word. + +Accept, I beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth, O LORD, +and teach me thy judgments. + +My soul _is_ continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law. + +The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy +precepts. + +Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they _are_ +the rejoicing of my heart. + +I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, _even unto_ +the end. + + +ס SAMECH. + +I hate _vain_ thoughts: but thy law do I love. + +Thou _art_ my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word. + +Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my +God. + +Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be +ashamed of my hope. + +Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy +statutes continually. + +Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their +deceit _is_ falsehood. + +Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth _like_ dross: therefore +I love thy testimonies. + +My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments. + + +ע AIN. + +I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors. + +Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me. + +Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy +righteousness. + +Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy +statutes. + +I _am_ thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy +testimonies. + +_It is_ time for _thee_, LORD, to work: _for_ they have made void thy +law. + +Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold. + +Therefore I esteem all _thy_ precepts _concerning_ all _things to be_ +right; _and_ I hate every false way. + + +פ PE. + +Thy testimonies _are_ wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them. + +The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto +the simple. + +I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments. + +Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto +those that love thy name. + +Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion +over me. + +Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. + +Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes. + +Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law. + + +צ TSADDI. + +Righteous _art_ thou, O LORD, and upright _are_ thy judgments. + +Thy testimonies _that_ thou hast commanded _are_ righteous and very +faithful. + +My zeal hath consumed me: because mine enemies have forgotten thy +words. + +Thy word _is_ very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it. + +I _am_ small and despised; _yet_ do not I forget thy precepts. + +Thy righteousness _is_ an everlasting righteousness, and thy law _is_ +the truth. + +Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; _yet_ thy commandments +_are_ my delights. + +The righteousness of thy testimonies _is_ everlasting: give me +understanding, and I shall live. + + +ק KOPH. + +I cried with _my_ whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy +statutes. + +I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies. + +I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy +word. + +Mine eyes prevent the _night_-watches, that I might meditate in thy +word. + +Hear my voice, according unto thy loving-kindness: O LORD, quicken me +according to thy judgment. + +They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law. + +Thou _art_ near, O LORD; and all thy commandments _are_ truth. + +Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded +them for ever. + + +ר RESH. + +Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; for I do not forget thy law. + +Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word. + +Salvation _is_ far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes. + +Great _are_ thy tender mercies, O LORD; quicken me according to thy +judgments. + +Many _are_ my persecutors and mine enemies; _yet_ do I not decline +from thy testimonies. + +I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy +word. + +Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy +loving-kindness. + +Thy word _is_ true _from_ the beginning: and every one of thy +righteous judgments _endureth_ for ever. + + +ש SCHIN. + +Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in +awe of thy word. + +I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. + +I hate and abhor lying: _but_ thy law do I love. + +Seven times a-day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous +judgments. + +Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend +them. + +LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments. + +My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly. + +I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways _are_ +before thee. + + +ת TAU. + +Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD; give me understanding +according to thy word. + +Let my supplication come before thee; deliver me according to thy +word. + +My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes. + +My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments _are_ +righteousness. + +Let thine hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts. + +I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law _is_ my delight. + +Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help +me. + +I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not +forget thy commandments. + + +This Psalm is the most extended in the whole Psalter. It contains +prayers, consolations, doctrines, thanksgivings, and repeats all these +with a varied fulness. It is however given forth with a deep and +blessed intent: namely, that by this repetition and fulness, it may +invite and exhort us to hear and diligently to treasure up the word of +God. For throughout the whole Psalm the Psalmist exalts unto the +heavens, with the highest praises, the pure doctrine of God’s holy +word. He sets it forth as to be preferred before all gold and precious +stones, and before all the riches of the world; as Solomon also +beautifully speaks of it in his Proverbs. + +On the other hand, the Psalmist earnestly warns against all false +doctrine and against all security and contempt of the word. For no +pestilence is more destroying than false doctrine, or human doctrines +without or contrary to the word of God. And knowing that Satan without +cessation assaults the church of God with all kinds of heresies and +false doctrine; the Psalmist takes up a great part of this Psalm in +consolations. + +The principal, and indeed whole foundation and truth of godliness lies +in the pure teaching and hearing of the word of God. For where that +word is purely taught and heard, there, to a certainty, will be +begotten pure and prevailing prayer, calling upon God, diligence in +reading, teaching, and exhortation, consolation for the weak that are +afflicted and tried, strengthening of heart and spirit, joy, peace of +conscience, thanksgivings, prophecyings, an abundant understanding of +the scriptures; and, in a word, true religion, and the true worship of +God; and also, confidence in God under the cross and afflictions, and +perseverance unto the end; and, finally, all the blessed operations +and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and all those things which please God +and displease the Devil. + +On the contrary, where the pure word is not taught, or where there is +a weariness and loathing of the word, there the true religion becomes +extinguished, and all true worship of God perishes. For where the true +word of God is not taught, there is not any truth of God; there is +found a great noise of external holiness, and the form of godliness, +and hypocrisy;[1] there, indeed, is psalm-singing, prayer, doctrines, +consolation, thanksgiving, and all the varieties of the worship of +God, with all interpretations of the scriptures. I will add, also, +that there you may find sufferings and martyrdoms. But all is outside +show; all is the form of godliness only; all is false; all is feigned, +and nothing but lies; all is full of the poison of the devil. Nor +without true faith in the heart, nor without the divine word, nor +without the worship of the First Commandment, is there, or can there +be, any true and real worship of God. + +[Footnote 1: Luther is here deeply opening up the extent to which the +“form of godliness” may be carried, yet without the truth and “power” +of it.] + +How many thousands of priests and monks have sung this Psalm at their +first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, in their temples. + +But what did they do during all their singings? They did nothing else +but call down God’s judgment and indignation on their own heads! For +the design of this Psalm, in every word of it, is to glorify the word +of God, and to confound, put to shame, destroy, and blot out all +hypocrisy upon the face of the earth. + + + + +PSALM CXX. + +_David prayeth against Doeg, reproveth his tongue, complaineth of his +necessary conversation with the wicked._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. + +Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, _and_ from a deceitful +tongue. + +What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou +false tongue? + +Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. + +Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, _that_ I dwell in the tents of +Kedar! + +My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. + +I _am for_ peace: but, when I speak, they _are_ for war. + + +This Psalm is an earnest prayer; and it complains, with deep feelings +of sorrow, of those horrible evils which Satan causes in the church by +a false and crafty tongue: that is, by that virulent and truly +serpentine tongue which boasts of God and the worship of God, and +never instructs any one in the truth, nor leads them to God. + +For false teachers cause infinite and terrible evils in the church; +and like giants with immense weapons in their hands, they never strike +without inflicting some mighty wound: or, like fire-brands cast into a +grove of juniper trees, they consume in all directions, with a sudden +and devouring flame. And just so, the common people often burst out +into one general flame, even by the throwing in among them of one +single spark of false and wicked doctrine; and not only do they blaze +forth with a sudden flame of their minds and spirits, but even greatly +admire the error and the hypocrisy. For all doctrines of this kind, as +being more congenial to human reason than the truth of God, quickly +please men; as Paul saith, 2 Tim. iv. “They will heap to themselves +teachers, having itching ears.” + +Mesech are the nations nigh unto Jerusalem itself, towards the north; +where the Tartars now are. And Kedar are the Arabs, to the east of +Jerusalem. These nations are types of all enemies and heretics who +oppose themselves as adversaries to the true church. The Mesech of +Christians, at this time are the Turks, who derive their origin from +the Tartars. And the Kedar are Mahomet and the Saracens; for they are +from Arabia. These with their Alcoran have oppressed and laid waste +the Gospel in many places: and that fire of wicked doctrine, broke out +into a mighty blaze, just like a brand cast into a thicket of juniper +trees. + + + + +PSALM CXXI. + +_The great safety of the godly, who put their trust in God’s +protection._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. + +My help _cometh_ from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. + +He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not +slumber. + +Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. + +The LORD _is_ thy keeper; the LORD _is_ shade upon thy right hand. + +The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. + +The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy +soul. + +The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this +time forth, and even for evermore. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation, wherein the Psalmist, from his own +experience, exhorts the godly to a constancy of faith, and to an +expectation of help and defence from God. For although in the hour of +temptation God puts off his help, and all things appear as if he were +asleep, or had forgotten us altogether, and had left us to be scorched +by the heat of the sun by day, and by the beams of the moon by night; +that is, as though he had given us up to be afflicted and destroyed by +all manner of temptations, by Satan, by the world, and by sin, day and +night: yet it is not so;—he has not given us up, as we, according to +the weakness of our flesh, imagine and feel. He sees and regards us, +and watches over us; nor does he suffer us to be so burnt as to be +destroyed, nor so tempted or distressed, as to be swallowed up of +over-much sorrow: and this all blessedly experience, who call upon him +for his help and patiently wait for it. + + + + +PSALM CXXII. + +_David professeth his joy for the church, and prayeth for the peace +thereof._ + +A Song of degrees of David. + + +I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the +LORD. + +Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. + +Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: + +Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony +of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD. + +For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of +David. + +Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. + +Peace be within thy walls, _and_ prosperity within thy palaces. + +For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace _be_ +within thee. + +Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, it contains the feelings of a glad, a +rejoicing, and a thankful heart, for that unspeakable gift of God,—the +ministry of his word. This Psalm in the person of the Jews, rejoices +that God had appointed a certain place, namely Jerusalem, in the midst +of that people, where the name and the word of God had a certain +dwelling-place and could there be found: and where it was administered +by certain persons, the Levites and the priests, to certain disciples; +namely, to the tribes of Israel. + +For what calamity or misery can be greater than to seek the word of +God anxiously, and not be able to find it? This calamity and misery +the children of Israel experienced in the times of God’s anger, when, +being forsaken by him, and left to their own inventions, they sought +and worshipped idols. And in these our times of monkery also, the +masses and the travellings about to so many Marys have given abundant +proofs of what it is to seek the word of God and not to find it. + +Our Jerusalem, our certain place, is the church, and our temple is +Christ. Wheresoever Christ is preached and the sacraments are duly +administered, there we are sure God dwells; and there is our temple, +our tabernacle, our cherubim, and our mercy-seat; for there God is +present with us by his word. + + + + +PSALM CXXIII. + +_The godly profess their confidence in God, and pray to be delivered +from contempt._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. + +Behold, as the eyes of servants _look_ unto the hand of their masters, +_and_ as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our +eyes _wait_ upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us. + +Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly +filled with contempt. + +Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at +ease, _and_ with the contempt of the proud. + + +This Psalm is a fervent prayer against all those secure and proud +despisers of the word of God and its true ministers. And the Gentile +nations were not the only despisers who contemned the whole religion +of the Israelites and the true worship of God, and condemned it as +sedition altogether: but the idolaters and false teachers which were +in the midst of that very people themselves proudly despised and +derided the godly, that little flock of God, and the true prophets; as +Psalms xii. and xiv. complain. And in the same way also our papists +and fanatics now, who seem in their own eyes to be more holy than the +gospel itself, more proudly and contemptuously than any others +despise, trample underfoot, and spit upon all true and good ministers +of the word of God. Not to say anything now about that security and +pride wherein, at this day, even our bishops and priests themselves, +who are more profane than all heathen nations put together, despise +the true word of God. So that we, as the Psalmist saith in its +conclusion, are indeed filled with the derision of the rich and the +contempt of the proud. But may God, (and he will!) regard us, and +glorify his word. Amen. + + + + +PSALM CXXIV. + +_The church blesseth God for a miraculous deliverance._ + +A Song of degrees of David. + + +If _it had not been_ the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say; + +If _it had not been_ the LORD who was on our side when men rose up +against us; + +Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled +against us: + +Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: + +Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. + +Blessed _be_ the LORD, who hath not given us _as_ a prey to their +teeth. + +Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the +snare is broken, and we are escaped. + +Our help _is_ in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. + + +The Psalmist, in this Psalm, gives thanks unto God for defending his +little helpless flock, here in the midst of the kingdom of the devil, +struggling against all temptations, against tyrants, and against +bloodthirsting hypocrites; and for delivering them from the snares of +virulent calumniators; the number of whom is so great, that compared +with the little flock of God, they are like a sweeping torrent, or a +mighty deluge, to one solitary rivulet. + +Though, however, their teeth were of iron; that is, though their power +were infinitely greater than it is, and though their snares (that is, +their cunning devices,) were infinitely more crafty than they are; yet +“Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world;” he breaks +and destroys their teeth, he defeateth their snares, and wonderfully +delivers his people, as we have seen it in our own times, on many and +great occasions. + + + + +PSALM CXXV. + +_The safety of such as trust in God.—A prayer for the godly, and +against the wicked._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +They that trust in the LORD _shall be_ as mount Zion, _which_ cannot +be removed, _but_ abideth for ever. + +_As_ the mountains _are_ round about Jerusalem, so the LORD _is_ round +about his people from henceforth, even for ever. + +For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the +righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. + +Do good, O LORD, unto _those that be_ good, and to _them that are_ +upright in their hearts. + +As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead +them forth with the workers of iniquity: _but_ peace _shall be_ upon +Israel. + + +This also is a Psalm of thanksgiving containing the feelings of an +exercised faith: thanking God, that, although he sometimes permits +false prophets and fanatical spirits to prevail, as if they would +possess all things (which thing God often does so permit to be, as a +punishment for the ingratitude of his people, who value not the +blessing of the word;) yet he visits such with the more terrible +judgment, and suffers them not to prevail in all things against the +righteous, lest the righteous, being entirely broken by too great +afflictions and sorrows, should, through discouragement and despair, +fall away from the word unto ungodliness and sin. + +For the final end of all false teachers and blasphemers ever +is,—confusion, terrible judgment, and destruction; “And their glory,” +as the apostle saith, “is turned into shame.” But the end of the poor +flock of God, even though the church be proved and tried by a thousand +fires and deaths, though it appear a thousand times over to be +oppressed, destroyed and extirpated is,—eternal life, eternal +consolation, eternal glory! This is what the Psalmist means, when he +says, “The Lord doth good to them that be good, and to them that are +upright in their hearts: but as for them that turn aside unto their +crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the evil doers, but +peace shall be upon Israel.” + + + + +PSALM CXXVI. + +_The church, celebrating her incredible return out of captivity, +prayeth for, and prophesieth the good success thereof._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them +that dream. + +Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: +then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for +them. + +The LORD hath done great things for us; _whereof_ we are glad. + +Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. + +They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. + +He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall +doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves _with him_. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from the Babylonish +captivity; whether it was written after the captivity, or before it, +as a prophecy to comfort the Jews with the certain hope of +deliverance, and that they should not despair, is uncertain: but at +what particular time it was written, it matters not. + +This Psalm ends with a remarkable and glorious conclusion; which +embraces, in a few words, the whole counsel and the immutable decree +of God concerning his church; namely, that it behoved Christ first to +suffer, and then to be raised up, and exalted of God and glorified. +And so also Christians must first fill up a certain measure of +afflictions before they enter into their joy; while, on the contrary, +the men of the world fill up a certain measure of their joy before +they are eternally punished and damned. + +The church, therefore, is that poor little helpless flock, in the +midst of a wicked nation. They are that little company who pray, cry, +are tempted, and are afflicted by the world; who sow in tears, but +reap in joy. “But,” says the Psalmist, “they went, and wept as they +went, sowing precious seed; but they shall come again with joy, +bringing their sheaves with them.” + +These afflictions, and these deaths of the saints are very precious; +hence it is that the Psalmist calls them “precious seed;” because they +are followed by the most fruitful crops, and by the most abundant +harvests. But we infants in grace, we poor little children, under our +tears and our sighs, understand not the voice, or the mind, or the +will of our heavenly Father in these afflictions: nor can we see or +understand how precious this seed is in the sight of God; who calls +even “death,” (which is the worst and lowest of all these seeds,) +“precious;” saying, in another place, “Precious in the sight of the +Lord is the death of his saints;” and God sets this precious seed thus +sown by his children, before all the treasures of the world. + + + + +PSALM CXXVII. + +_The virtue of God’s blessing.—Good children are his gift._ + +A song of degrees for Solomon. + + +Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: +except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh _but_ in vain. + +_It is_ vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the +bread of sorrows: _for_ so he giveth his beloved sleep. + +Lo, children _are_ an heritage of the LORD; _and_ the fruit of the +womb _is his_ reward. + +As arrows _are_ in the hand of a mighty man; so _are_ children of the +youth. + +Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be +ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. + + +This Psalm contains a most blessed and important doctrine. It is of +the same subject-matter as that contained in the book of Solomon, +called Ecclesiastes. The Psalmist teaches, that all governments and +commonwealths rightly constituted are the good and free gifts of God: +and that none of them can be either rightly constituted, at the first, +nor preserved afterwards, by any human wisdom or might: but that all +these things are in the hand of God: that, where he giveth not peace, +where he giveth not men desirous of the arts of peace, and wise +therein, where he holdeth not the helm of the state,—that there, all +human wisdom, however great, all laws, all ordinances, all might, all +arms, all preparations are vain. + +In the next place, the Psalmist saith, that where God blesseth not a +domestic household, where he giveth not concord between husband and +wife, success and happiness in the bringing up of children, diligence +and faithfulness to men-servants and maid-servants; there, all labour +and industry and toil are vain: concerning all which I have spoken +more largely in my more full commentary on this psalm. + + + + +PSALM CXXVIII. + +_The sundry blessings which follow them that fear God._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +Blessed _is_ every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his +ways. + +For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy _shalt_ thou _be_, +and _it shall be_ well with thee. + +Thy wife _shall be_ as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: +thy children like olive-plants round about thy table. + +Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. + +The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of +Jerusalem all the days of thy life. + +Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, _and_ peace upon Israel. + + +This is a Psalm of consolation, wherein the Psalmist extols, with the +highest praises, marriage, as a holy and godly kind of life, +instituted of God himself. The Holy Spirit here comforts and +encourages all husbands and wives with a divine consolation; and +confirms and fortifies them against all those wrong cogitations and +thoughts of human reason; which reason does not look at what good +there is in marriage, but only beholds and exaggerates what of evil +there may be in it; and thus blasphemes the glorious work of God in +the two sexes. Hence, here arises all those blasphemous sayings among +the heathen: ‘There are three great evils in life; fire, water, and +woman.’ But Solomon saith, “He that findeth a wife findeth a good +thing.” + +This Psalm reminds husbands and wives that they should not look at the +labours, the troubles, the cares, or the various temptations and +trials which are to be endured in marriage; but that they should +rather keep their eyes fixed on the word and will of God; from which +they ought to hold themselves assured that marriage was not a human +invention, nor a matter casually contrived of men; but that the whole +human race were, from the beginning, created and formed of God, man +and woman, and that neither of the sexes, nor their design can or +ought to be altered or changed by men, by the devil, or any other +creature, any more than the sun and moon and their offices can or +ought to be altered or changed. + +God, saith the scripture, created them male and female, and blessed +them. Marriage, therefore, is that kind of life, which, as being the +creation and institution of God, greatly pleases him. If, therefore, +thou shalt obey God herein, and shalt keep the eyes of thy faith fixed +on the good, and on the blessings of marriage; if thou shalt obey the +commandment and the call of God in taking to thyself a wife, the sexes +created of God will not be vile, but precious in thy sight: and all +the little troubles and trials of marriage shall be drowned and lost +in that divine blessedness,—the knowing that God favours husbands and +wives, and is present with them; that the joining of marriage is one +of his own works; and that he provides for, and defends those who are +joined together. + +To fortify thyself, therefore, against all that blasphemy of human +reason and of the devil, by which they condemn marriage, hold thou +fixed in thine heart that heavenly word, “And the Lord made them male +and female, and said, Be fruitful and multiply.” And if thou fear the +Lord thou shalt be happy, and it shall be _well with thee_ in +marriage, even though the virulent and blaspheming mouth of the devil, +and the whole world together with him, should say it shall be _evil +with thee_! + + + + +PSALM CXXIX. + +_An exhortation to praise God for saving Israel in their great +afflictions.—The haters of the church are cursed._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: + +Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not +prevailed against me. + +The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. + +The LORD _is_ righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. + +Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion: + +Let them be as the grass _upon_ the house-tops, which withereth afore +it groweth up: + +Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves, +his bosom. + +Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD _be_ upon +you; we bless you in the name of the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the people of Israel give +thanks unto the God of Israel for his deliverances and consolations of +every kind: seeing that from the beginning he had often mightily and +marvellously delivered them from the hand of their enemies, as we have +it recorded in the books of Judges and Kings; where we find that the +Israelites were often oppressed by the cruel power and tyranny of +their Gentile enemies, who afflicted them for a long time, and, as it +were, ploughed upon their backs (as the Psalmist saith) and made long +their furrows, and held them most cruelly under their yokes; until God +sent them a Saviour, and delivered them both from the ploughers and +the ploughs, and their yokes also. + +At the conclusion, the Psalmist prays against them; or rather, +prophesies that they shall perish, and shall be burnt up like grass +upon the house-tops; as it also came to pass: for all the enemies and +the nations that were adversaries unto Israel perished; but Israel +remained, and was afterwards lifted up with new consolations. + +In the same way also all the wicked and the enemies of God and of his +word, are like grass upon the house-tops; which flourishes, indeed, +like a thriving garden, as if it would remain; but before it is grown +up, it withers, is burnt up, and becomes of no use whatever. So also +the enemies of the word, and all erroneous teachers, when they are +shining in pride and magnifying themselves in their boastings against +God, wither on a sudden like the falling grass; while Christians and +the church of God flourish for evermore. + + + + +PSALM CXXX. + +_The Psalmist professeth his hope in prayer, and his patience in +hope.—He exhorteth Israel to hope in God._ + +A Song of degrees. + + +Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD: Lord, hear my voice: +let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. + +If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? + +But _there is_ forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. + +I wait for the LORD; my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. + +My soul _waiteth_ for the Lord more than they that watch for the +morning: _I say, more than_ they that watch for the morning. + +Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD _there is_ mercy, and +with him is plenteous redemption. + +And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. + + +This is a very blessed Psalm and a prayer unto God, proceeding from a +spirit and feeling of heart truly Davidical: for this Psalm confesses +that none is righteous before God on account of his own works and +merits, but only through grace and by faith in the promise of God, +freely giving the remission of sins and peace by Jesus Christ: on this +promise of God the Psalmist relies; and with this word of promise he +supports and comforts himself when struggling in the depths of sin and +hell. + +And he exhorts all Israel with a loud voice, to learn and to do the +same. “For (says the Psalmist) with thee only is mercy, and with thee +is plenteous redemption, that thou mayest be feared:” that is, that +thou mayest be worshipped with the worship of the first and greatest +commandment,—with the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. “And he +(continues the Psalmist) shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities;” +that is, neither Israel, nor any man, shall be delivered from sin, +from the power of the devil, and from death, in any other way than by +the grace and the free remission of sins: but he shall, without these, +remain in the deep; that is, in the kingdom of sin, death, and the +devil, and under the wrath of God. + +Behold in how few words this Psalm expresses the most glorious things! +The Psalmist is a truly great teacher of divine truths, and of the +whole sum of godliness. He has a clear and thorough view of those +glorious promises. “I will put enmity between thee and the serpent, +and between thy seed and his seed: thou shalt bruise his head:” and, +“In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The +Psalmist wraps up both these promises in that one verse, “And he shall +redeem Israel from all his iniquities.” + + + + +PSALM CXXXI. + +_David professing his humility, exhorteth Israel to hope in God._ + +A Song of Degrees of David. + + +LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I +exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. + +Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of +his mother: my soul _is_ even as a weaned child. + +Let Israel hope in the LORD, from henceforth and for ever. + + +This is also a blessed Psalm, containing, in a few brief words, the +same most important doctrine which was taught also in the preceding +Psalm,—that we are not to trust in our own righteousness or works: and +it attacks all proud and arrogant hypocrites, who, by human strength, +attempt works beyond all human powers, namely to pacify God; and +understand not the power of grace nor the remission of sins; but +endeavour to pacify God by their own works. + +“My heart is not lifted up,” (saith the Psalmist); as if he had said, +Those proud saints (as they imagine themselves) being ignorant of all +trials and temptations, and spiritual things, trust greatly in their +own works, and know not what sin is, nor what the anger and judgment +of God are. But I, being broken down and humbled by these things, know +what they are. For whenever I leave off to trust closely and wholly to +the promise of grace; as often as I cease to suck the breast of mercy +and promised pardon, my rest is gone, and I begin to weep and howl +with distresses and straits of conscience; just as a little +newly-weaned infant cries unceasingly, night and day, for the breast +of its mother which it has lost. + +The sum therefore of all true religion and godliness is this, “Let +Israel hope in the Lord:” that is, there is no other salvation, there +is no other consolation, there is no other sure peace of conscience +for any mortal, than the apprehending and embracing the promise of +grace. Take care, therefore, that thou neglect not this true mother’s +breast for thy soul; take heed that thou lose it not out of thy mouth; +for this breast alone is that which can relieve, refresh, and quiet +thirsting and sinking consciences, in any of their agonies on account +of sin. Christ alone is eternal life, peace, and consolation! + + + + +PSALM CXXXII. + +_David in his prayer commendeth unto God the religious care he had for +the ark.—His prayer at the removing of the ark, with a repetition of +God’s promises._ + +A Song of Degrees. + + +LORD, remember David, _and_ all his afflictions; + +How he sware unto the LORD, _and_ vowed unto the mighty _God_ of +Jacob; + +Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into +my bed; + +I will not give sleep to mine eyes, _or_ slumber to mine eyelids, + +Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty +_God_ of Jacob. + +Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah; we found it in the fields of the wood. + +We will go into his tabernacles; we will worship at his footstool. + +Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou and the ark of thy strength. + +Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints +shout for joy. + +For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. + +The LORD hath sworn _in_ truth unto David, he will not turn from it; +Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. + +If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall +teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for +evermore. + +For the LORD hath chosen Zion: he hath desired _it_ for his +habitation. + +This _is_ my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. + +I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with +bread. + +I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall +shout aloud for joy. + +There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for +mine anointed. + +His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown +flourish. + + +This Psalm is a prayer, in which Solomon and the people of Israel beg +of God to preserve the priesthood and the kingdom: that is, that he +would maintain the true religion, the true worship of God, and a +prosperous and happy state of the kingdom among that people. In a +word, it is a prayer to God that he would be pleased to preserve the +ministry of the word above all things; and then also the laws, the +magistrates, and the public peace: for where these two things, the +word and the laws, are rightly constituted and preserved, there all +things go well with a kingdom. + +In the eleventh verse, the Psalmist, turning his eye, as it were, to +the promise, feels the fullest assurance that he is heard. For God had +promised by oath that he would dwell in that place, namely, in +Jerusalem or Zion; and would bless both the priesthood and the +kingdom, if they would keep the commandments of their God, and obey +him. + +Why the Psalmist calls, in the sixth verse, this habitation of God, +Jerusalem, “Ephratah,” and “the fields of the wood,” is explained in +my more full commentary elsewhere, on these “Psalms of Degrees.” + + + + +PSALM CXXXIII. + +_The benefit of the communion of saints._ + +A song of degrees. + + +Behold, how good and how pleasant _it is_ for brethren to dwell +together in unity! + +_It is_ like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon +the beard; _even_ Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his +garments; + +As the dew of Hermon, _and as the dew_ that descended upon the +mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, _even_ +life for evermore. + + +This Psalm contains an important doctrine, and an exhortation unto +concord in the church, and also in the state; and especially an +exhortation unto unity in the Spirit; concerning which Paul speaks, +Phil. ii.; and also, it exhorts unto agreement in doctrine, and unto +peace in general. Let the wise, the strong, and the holy, (the +Psalmist would say,) bear with and support the simple, the +weak-minded, and the infirm; which is indicated and implied by the two +similitudes of “ointment” and “dew.” + +The Psalmist alludes to the priesthood and the kingdom. For divine +harmony and agreement in the priesthood, or in the doctrine of the +truth, is a great and lovely gift of God, and diffuseth a fragrance +like precious ointment; and this fragrance descendeth or runneth down; +that is, unity in the doctrine of truth, runs down from the high +priest Aaron, down his beard, and even unto the skirts of his +clothing; that is, down to all other teachers of the truth. + +And this “dew of Hermon” signifies literally that dew which revives +the flower of Lebanon; and, spiritually, the concord of Lebanon; that +is, of Jerusalem. For, as the natural dew fructifies Lebanon, and all +the places near unto Lebanon, so concord in divine and spiritual +things causes a kingdom to flourish and prosper. + +Wherever, therefore, concord in a state and in its church flourishes, +there God dwells with all his grace and blessing; but where there are +dissensions, divisions, and discord, there is the dwelling of Satan. + + + + +PSALM CXXXIV. + +_An exhortation to bless God._ + +A song of degrees. + + +Behold, bless ye the LORD, all _ye_ servants of the LORD, which by +night stand in the house of the LORD. + +Lift up your hands _in_ the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. + +The LORD, that made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Zion. + + +This again is a very short and brief Psalm, but it contains a most +blessed doctrine. It teaches and exhorts priests and Levites, to +perform the duties of their office diligently, and to be constant and +careful in the worship of God; that they be instant day and night in +teaching and exhorting by the word; as Paul exhorteth Timothy to the +continual preaching of the word; saying, “be instant in season and out +of season.” As if he had said, Be thou ever at the duty of thy office; +teach, exhort, rebuke; exercise both thyself and others unto godliness +by a constant preaching of the word; and continue therein, even though +some be turned unto fables, and others despise thee. + +For where the pure word of God is not sought and learnt, there, most +certainly, is no worship of God; there, of necessity, perishes all +true religion; and there as surely perishes also, the good and +prosperity of the nation; which is certainly either deserted of God, +or involved in darkness, errors, and the power of the Devil. But where +the word of God continues in truth, and the scriptures are rightly set +forth, there God gives his blessing. And although Satan will there +greatly oppose himself to, and will afflict both the church and the +state; yet God, who made the heavens and the earth, and who is +therefore greater than all creatures and the Devil also, preserves +that state and that church; and, on account of their holding fast his +name and his word, he saves them, even though they be ungrateful and +unworthy of his salvation. + +Let all ministers, and preachers, and bishops therefore, know, that +this Psalm, beginning “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of +the Lord,” &c. pertains unto them; teaching them to know that the +highest worship of God is the preaching of the word; because, thereby +are praised and celebrated the name and the benefits of Christ. + + + + +PSALM CXXXV. + +_An exhortation to praise God for his mercy, for his power, for his +judgments. The vanity of idols. An exhortation to bless God._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise _him_, O ye +servants of the LORD. + +Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of +our God, + +Praise the LORD; for the LORD _is_ good: sing praises unto his name; +for _it is_ pleasant. + +For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, _and_ Israel for his +peculiar treasure. + +For I know that the LORD _is_ great, and _that_ our LORD _is_ above +all gods. + +Whatsoever the LORD pleased, _that_ did he in heaven, and in earth, in +the seas, and all deep places. + +He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh +lightnings for the rain: he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries. + +Who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast. + +_Who_ sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon +Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. + +Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; Sihon king of the +Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan: + +And gave their land _for_ an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his +people. + +Thy name, O LORD, _endureth_ for ever; _and_ thy memorial, O LORD, +throughout all generations. + +For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself +concerning his servants. + +The idols of the heathen _are_ silver and gold, the work of men’s +hands. + +They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see +not; + +They have ears, but they hear not: neither is there _any_ breath in +their mouths. + +They that make them are like unto them: _so is_ every one that +trusteth in them. + +Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron: + +Bless the LORD, O house of Levi; ye that fear the LORD, bless the +LORD. + +Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise +ye the LORD. + + +This Psalm is a Psalm of thanksgiving; exhorting all priests and +ministers of the word to preach and to praise God in his great and +marvellous works, done in Egypt and in the land of Canaan, that the +people might not forget God and his wonderful works, and be turned +unto idols, and false kinds of worship; which very soon takes place +through security or contempt; where the word of God is not taught +diligently and with a great willingness and fervor of heart; as we +have already seen in the preceding Psalm. + +But where God judges a people; as the Psalmist sets it forth, verse +14; that is, when God by the mouth of his ministers, judges and +condemns our sin; there he manifests his grace unto us; there is a +ground of firm consolation for afflicted consciences; there God is +found and known, (for he is found in no other places and doctrines +than these!) there, to a certainty, he will be propitious and merciful +to his servant. But, where the word of God is not; there God is +silent; for where he doth not preach, he doth not judge; and there, to +a certainty, is the wrath of God and blindness. “Therefore,” (as saith +the Psalmist) “Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, all ye +servants of the Lord:” that is, preach the word and explain it, with +all diligence; and proclaim the works of the Lord. + + + + +PSALM CXXXVI. + +_An exhortation to give thanks to God for particular mercies._ + + +O give thanks unto the LORD; for _he is_ good: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +O give thanks to the LORD of lords: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever. + +To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever. + +To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +To him that made great lights: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +The sun to rule by day: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever. + +To him that smote Egypt in their first-born: for his mercy _endureth_ +for ever. + +And brought out Israel from amongst them: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever: + +With a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +To him which divided the Red Sea into parts: for his mercy _endureth_ +for ever: + +And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy +_endureth_ for ever. + +To him which smote great kings: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever: + +And slew famous kings: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever: + +And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever: + +And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever: + +_Even_ an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy _endureth_ +for ever. + +Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever: + +And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever. + +Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy _endureth_ for ever. + +O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy _endureth_ for +ever. + + +This Psalm is a blessed and general thanksgiving for the infinite, +unspeakable, and never-failing mercies of God, both with respect to +the body and the soul. In this golden and glorious Psalm, the +Psalmist’s design is to embrace and set forth a summary, as it were, +to all priests and ministers of the word; as a pattern for the subject +matter of all sermons, exhortations, and Psalms to be delivered to the +people: that all false and wicked doctrine might be avoided, and also +all false worship of God; and that God might be worshipped truly with +that worship required by the first commandment of the Decalogue. + +For this ought to be the sum and substance of all true worship,—“Let +us praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever:” +that is, praise, laud, and proclaim, without ceasing, the infinite +largeness of his grace. Learn ye, from his word, that as he hath +promised, so he is ever present with us, and continually bestows his +blessings upon us; and that the riches of his goodness are boundless +and inexhaustible. + +To fortify our hearts, therefore, against the devil, (whose whole aim +and employment is to destroy in our hearts faith in God, and the +knowledge of his goodness and mercy, and to cast us under doubting and +sorrow,) the Psalmist repeats this holy sentence at the end of every +verse—“For his mercy endureth for ever:” by which words, so often +repeated, the holy man wishes to impress and fix on our hearts the +doctrine of grace and the worship of the first commandment: as if he +had said, it is the infinite goodness of God, and not any human works +or merits of your own, that has done all these wonderful things for +you. It is the pure and unspeakable greatness of God’s goodness and +grace, that pours forth all these things upon you, and therefore they +are poured forth upon you freely and without any merit or deserving of +yours, and even while you are wholly undeserving of such mercies. + +In this repeated expression also the Psalmist refers, after the manner +of the prophets, to the promise of Christ to come; for it was from no +works of men, nor from any merit of theirs, that the promise of Christ +was given unto Abraham, which said, “In thy seed shall all the nations +of the earth be blessed.” + +Learn, thou, therefore, to rehearse and impress upon thine own heart, +and on the hearts of others also, this repeated conclusion of each +verse; that it may be a bulwark for thee against the devil, who is +ever maliciously jeering our temptations, and saying, that it is not +the _mercy_ of God, but his _judgment_, that “endureth for ever.” +Hypocrites and enthusiasts sing not, nor can sing, this blessed +conclusion of the verses, “For his mercy endureth for ever.” They can +only sing, ‘For our goodness endureth for ever.’ But do thou, +Christian brother, hold fast this doctrine of a Davidical heart; the +truly divine and heavenly doctrine of the remission of sins; a +remission “enduring for ever,” and which sin can never destroy; which +alone overcomes the devil and all errors, and which alone can give the +conscience rest under all temptations, and the agonizing conflicts of +death. + + + + +PSALM CXXXVII. + +_The constancy of the Jews in captivity.—The prophet curseth Edom and +Babel._ + + +By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we +remembered Zion. + +We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. + +For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and +they that wasted us _required of us_ mirth, _saying_, Sing us _one_ of +the songs of Zion. + +How shall we sing the LORD’S song in a strange land? + +If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget _her cunning_. + +If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my +mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. + +Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who +said, Rase _it_, rase _it, even_ to the foundation thereof. + +O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy _shall he be_, +that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. + +Happy _shall he be_, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against +the stones. + + +This Psalm is a prayer in the persons of the captives of Babylon; +whether we understand it as having been written after the captivity, +or before it in the way of prophecy. The captives here pray for the +city of Jerusalem; that is, for the place of the word and the worship +of God; for all these things had been destroyed by the Babylonians. + +This Psalm shows us that the first concern of all that fear and know +God should be the preservation of a place for the ministration of the +word, and for the true religion and true worship of God. For, as here, +when Jerusalem is destroyed, Babylon and Edom, and all other wicked +nations rejoice, and triumph over the grief and the tears of the +people of God, which adds great bitterness to their afflictions. But +such enemies shall never enjoy their triumph unpunished of God. They +themselves shall be laid waste in their appointed time, and shall be +utterly overthrown and laid in ruins and in ashes; their flourishing +youth shall be destroyed by the sword, their children shall be dashed +against the stones, and neither age nor sex shall find mercy. But +Israel and the people of God shall remain for evermore. In this manner +fell Babylon, that queen of nations: and in the same manner also shall +fall all the Babylonians and Edomites in our day, who rejoice, like +their forefathers, in the afflictions and calamities of the true +church of God. + + + + +PSALM CXXXVIII. + +_David praiseth God for the truth of his word.—He prophesieth that the +kings of the earth shall praise God.—He professeth his confidence in +God._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing +praise unto thee. + +I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy +lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word +above all thy name. + +In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, _and_ strengthenedst me +_with_ strength in my soul. + +All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear +the words of thy mouth. + +Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great _is_ the glory +of the LORD. + +Though the LORD _be_ high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the +proud he knoweth afar off. + +Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt +stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy +right hand shall save me. + +The LORD will perfect _that which_ concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, +_endureth_ for ever: forsake not the work of thine own hands. + + +This is a Psalm of general thanksgiving unto God for all his help +against enemies: and it prays that the kingdom of Christ may come; and +it prophesies also that even kings and nations shall hear the gospel, +shall render thanks unto God for the same, and shall know and worship +him in truth; and shall acknowledge the eternal kingdom of Christ, +namely, his exaltation over all things, and over every name that is +named; and that he succours, helps, and saves humble, tempted, and +afflicted sinners. + +In the conclusion of the Psalm, the Psalmist prays, “Forsake not the +work of thine own hands;” that is, Raise up, establish, and preserve +this promised kingdom of Christ, for the sake of which thou hast +chosen this people. + + + + +PSALM CXXXIX. + +_David praiseth God for his allseeing providence, and for his infinite +mercies.—He defieth the wicked.—He prayeth for sincerity._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. + + +O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known _me_. + +Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my +thought afar off. + +Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted _with_ +all my ways. + +For _there is_ not a word in my tongue, _but_, lo, O LORD, thou +knowest it altogether. + +Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. + +_Such_ knowledge _is_ too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot +_attain_ unto it. + +Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy +presence? + +If I ascend up into heaven, thou _art_ there: if I make my bed in +hell, behold, thou _art there_. + +_If_ I take the wings of the morning, _and_ dwell in the uttermost +parts of the sea; + +Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. + +If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be +light above me. + +Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the +day: the darkness and the light _are_ both alike _to thee_. + +For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s +womb. + +I will praise thee; for I am fearfully _and_ wonderfully made: +marvellous _are_ thy works; and _that_ my soul knoweth right well. + +My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, _and_ +curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. + +Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book +all _my members_ were written, _which_ in continuance were fashioned, +when _as yet there was_ none of them. + +How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the +sum of them! + +_If_ I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when +I awake, I am still with thee. + +Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, therefore, ye +bloody men. + +For they speak against thee wickedly, _and_ thine enemies take _thy +name_ in vain. + +Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with +those that rise up against thee? + +I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. + +Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: + +And see if _there be any_ wicked way, and lead me in the way +everlasting. + + +This is a high and glorious Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the +Psalmist, with a marvellous fervour of spirit, touches on that +all-high matter,—God’s predestination of all things; and proclaims +that incomprehensibleness of the divine wisdom and goodness, whereby, +in a wonderful manner, he himself and all men, with all their affairs, +all their works and all their thoughts, both the greatest and the +least, were predestinated of God from everlasting. This manifold +wisdom of God is incomprehensible to flesh and blood! + +“Thou, O Lord (saith the Psalmist) hast searched me out and known me; +thou knowest me altogether; thou understandest my thoughts long before +they are conceived by me. Wherever I move, whithersoever I go, thou +surroundest me on every side; and being ever present with me, thou +beholdest all my undertakings, and my works, and my ways, and all that +I think of doing or undertaking. There is no speech, not even the +least word, upon my tongue, but thou, O God, knowest it, before I +utter it. Thine eyes beheld me, when yet imperfect in my mother’s +womb; and thou didst wonderfully form and fashion me there.” And (ver. +6) the Psalmist exclaims, “Such knowledge is too high and wonderful; +no mortal thought can attain unto it.” + +Here, it is as if the Psalmist had said, it is not in the capacity or +powers of any mortal to think or determine how he will lead his life, +what he will undertake, what he will do, what he will speak, what he +will think, where he will go, or to, or from, or in what place he will +turn; but all our acts, motions, and thoughts, are nothing less than +the works of God ever present with us, doing and ruling all things as +he will. And hence (ver. 19.) he utters his indignation against the +wicked; saying, “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.” Here he +burns with zeal against hypocrites, who, being ignorant of all the +works and words of God, and utterly blind and mad, ascribe all their +doings to their own works and merits. + +These mortals are perpetually putting forth and boasting of their own +ability and works, and are ever relying on their own doings and +merits, and ascribing unto themselves that glory which belongs to God +alone; whereas they have not one of their words in their own power, as +of, or from, themselves; but all their words and thoughts are in the +hand of God.—This glory, I say, they arrogate to themselves, when they +are all the while so far from the wisdom of God and his divine works, +that they neither know themselves nor any one part of themselves; nor +understand how they were formed or fashioned in the womb of their +mother; nor what their own body is, nor what are its properties and +organs; nor what their eyes are, nor what their brain is; nor what the +origin and nature of that motion is, by which their body is moved; +and, in a word, when they know not what the soul and this natural life +are; nor whence arise all those various motions and affections of the +mind within, nor how they are uttered outwards by the tongue. + +When, therefore, this whole that we are, and this all that we do, are +not our own wisdom or doing, but God’s; and since we cannot comprehend +these earthly things; since, I say, we neither can know nor do any one +of these earthly and corporal things, as of ourselves; how awful a sin +is that enormous arrogance, whereby we profess that we have so much +power in ourselves and in our free-will, that we can understand God, +and do his divine and spiritual works, and deliver ourselves from sin, +and death, and hell. + +Wherefore (ver. 20.) the Psalmist utters his holy indignation against +such hypocrites and teachers of human works and doings; saying, “Thine +enemies speak blasphemously against thee, O Lord, and they are proud +and lifted up against thee without cause. Guard thou me, and prove and +try me, that I may continue in the right way; the way that is true and +eternal;” that is, in the way of the knowledge of the word of thy +grace. + + + + +PSALM CXL. + +_David prayeth to be delivered from Saul and Doeg.—He prayeth against +them.—He comforteth himself by confidence in God._ + +To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David. + + +Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent +man; + +Which imagine mischiefs in _their_ heart: continually are they +gathered together _for_ war. + +They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison _is_ +under their lips. Selah. + +Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the +violent man, who have purposed to overthrow my goings. + +The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords: they have spread a net +by the way-side: they have set gins for me. Selah. + +I said unto the LORD, Thou _art_ my God: hear the voice of my +supplications, O LORD. + +O GOD the LORD, the strength of my salvation; thou hast covered my +head in the day of battle. + +Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; further not his wicked +device, _lest_ they exalt themselves. Selah. + +_As for_ the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of +their own lips cover them. + +Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into +deep pits, that they rise not up again. + +Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt +the violent man to overthrow _him_. + +I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, _and_ +the right of the poor. + +Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright +shall dwell in thy presence. + + +This Psalm is an ardent prayer against those hypocrites, who not only +cause many offences, and lay many nets and snares for them that go on +the right way, but proceed with terrible threats and unceasing cruelty +against all who will not approve and follow their errors and wicked +ways. + +The Psalmist therefore here prays that God would be pleased to +disappoint their counsels and purposes, and all the wicked plots which +they form, and devise, and to turn them on themselves and on their own +heads; that all these enemies of the people of God may perish with +that horrible judgment with which Pharaoh perished in the Red Sea, +who, being at the same time struck with lightning from heaven, and +overwhelmed with the waves of the sea, was utterly destroyed. + +This Psalm affords an abundant consolation to the godly; as the +Psalmist saith in its conclusion, “The wicked shall fall into their +own nets, whilst that I at all times escape.” + + + + +PSALM CXLI. + +_David prayeth that his suit may be acceptable, his conscience +sincere, and his life safe from snares._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, +when I cry unto thee. + +Let my prayer be set forth before thee _as_ incense; _and_ the lifting +up of my hands _as_ the evening sacrifice. + +Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. + +Incline not my heart to _any_ evil thing, to practise wicked works +with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. + +Let the righteous smite me; _it shall be_ a kindness: and let him +reprove me; _it shall be_ an excellent oil, _which_ shall not break my +head: for yet my prayer also _shall be_ in their calamities. + +When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my +words; for they are sweet. + +Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and +cleaveth _wood_ upon the earth. + +But mine eyes _are_ unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; +leave not my soul destitute. + +Keep me from the snares _which_ they have laid for me, and the gins of +the workers of iniquity. + +Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. + + +This Psalm also is a fervent prayer, wherein the Psalmist prays to be +delivered from wicked teachers, who pretend to speak of peace, and +craftily use soft and flattering words, after they have found that +they can prevail nothing by terrors and threats. “Let the righteous,” +saith he, “smite me:” that is, I had rather that true and faithful +teachers should rebuke and condemn me, and reprove my ways, than that +hypocrites should flatter me and applaud me as a saint. + +And farther, (saith the Psalmist) although I suffer affliction for the +sake of that true and sound doctrine to which I cleave, and though, by +afflictions returning again and again, my bones be broken in pieces +and scattered like clods of earth before the penetrating and dividing +plough; yet I had rather be reproved and smitten by godly and true +teachers, and so acknowledge my sin, and rest upon the promise of God, +than hear all the flattering words of those hypocrites who deceive +themselves and others; and who pretend to have peace with God, when +there is no such peace unto them. For all such teachers and their +hypocrisies shall be hurled, as it were, from a mighty precipice, and +they shall suddenly be dashed to pieces and shall perish together; +their glory shall be hurried into confusion, and their end shall be +utter destruction; and then it shall appear how bitter their pleasing +doctrine is. + + + + +PSALM CXLII. + +_David sheweth that in his trouble all his comfort was in prayer unto +God._ + +Maschil of David; a Prayer when he was in the cave. + + +I cried unto the LORD with my voice: with my voice unto the LORD did I +make my supplication. + +I poured out my complaint before him: I shewed before him my trouble. + +When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path; +in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. + +I looked on _my_ right hand, and beheld, but _there was_ no man that +would know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. + +I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou _art_ my refuge, _and_ my +portion in the land of the living. + +Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my +persecutors: for they are stronger than I. + +Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous +shall compass me about; for thou shall deal bountifully with me. + + +This Psalm is a prayer; wherein the Psalmist, being now surrounded +with peril on every side, cries unto God out of prison, as it were, by +reason of the great cruelty and malice of false teachers, who +persecuted him on account of the word. + +As the people of Israel were a stiff-necked people, their Cainish +malice and bitterness had so hardened them, that they stoned, +rejected, and killed the true prophets, on account of their preaching +of the word, and maintaining the true worship of God; and had given +themselves up to hypocrisy and idolatry; and all this, their histories +of them testify; as does Christ also, (Matt. xxiii.) and Stephen. +(Acts vii.) + +Hence, as these things were fully known, so we find most of the Psalms +grievously complaining of the cruel malice of false prophets and +hypocrites. And just in the same way, from the very beginning, +hypocrites and false teachers have afflicted the true church of God; +and the true saints in all ages found it necessary to cry unto God +continually, against all such hypocrites and Cainish pretenders to +saintship. All this is abundantly testified by the histories of the +times of Elijah and king Ahab and Jezebel; when all the true prophets +of the Lord were compelled to flee and to hide themselves, to escape +the furious cruelty of these adversaries; all which histories might +have been adduced as examples in this Psalm. And the recent times of +the Arian heresy afford also a plain example of the same persecution +and malice, when all the catholic bishops were compelled to flee; for +Satan neither can nor will endure the pure word of God! + + + + +PSALM CXLIII. + +_David prayeth for favour in judgment.—He complaineth of his +griefs.—He strengtheneth his faith by meditation and prayer.—He +prayeth for grace, for deliverance, for sanctification, for +destruction of his enemies._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my supplications: in thy +faithfulness answer me, _and_ in thy righteousness. + +And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall +no man living be justified. + +For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to +the ground: he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that hath +been long dead. + +Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me: my heart within me is +desolate. + +I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works: I muse on the +work of thy hands. + +I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul _thirsteth_ after thee, as +a thirsty land. Selah. + +Hear me speedily, O LORD; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from +me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. + +Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I +trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up +my soul unto thee. + +Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. + +Teach me to do thy will; for thou _art_ my God: thy Spirit _is_ good; +lead me into the land of uprightness. + +Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake +bring my soul out of trouble. + +And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that +afflict my soul: for I _am_ thy servant. + + +This is a prayer, expressing the deep feelings of an afflicted and +agonizing conscience. The Psalmist, being in the midst of the sense +and peril of sin, and terrified at the judgment of God, begs of God +not to enter into judgment with him, and firmly cleaves to the promise +of mercy, and of the remission of sins. He complains, on the other +hand, of hypocrites and teachers of the law and of works; by means of +whom, as his instruments, the devil terribly harasses the godly, and +loads them with various trials and straits of mind and conscience, and +endeavours to draw them away from the certainty of the divine promise +unto doubt; in which state, consciences are horribly shaken with fear +and darkness, and the dread of the wrath of an unappeased God. + +“The enemy,” saith David, “hath persecuted my soul; he hath made me to +dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead; therefore my +spirit is overwhelmed within me.” Here David refers to those straits +into which consciences are cast by those who lay upon them burdens too +heavy to be borne, (as Christ saith concerning the Pharisees, Matt. +xxiii.) And yet will not so much as touch them with one of their +fingers. And hence this Psalm blessedly shows that there is no sure or +solid consolation for consciences, save for those who depend on the +promise of the free remission of sins, and on the word of God’s grace: +“Enter not,” saith David, “into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for +in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” + +That afflicted hearts and consciences can find rest in no other way +than this, all the scriptural histories bear witness. All the holy +patriarchs, from the beginning of the world, were justified before God +by the free, unmerited imputation of righteousness, and not by their +own works; as Peter also testifies (Acts xv.) concerning the law, “Why +tempt ye God; to lay upon us a yoke which neither we nor our fathers +were able to bear. But we believe that by the grace of our Lord Jesus +Christ, we shall be saved, as they.” + +“I remember,” says David again, “the days of old, I meditate on the +works of thy hands;” as if he had added, ‘By these, thy works from the +beginning, I comfort and support myself in all my temptations: for all +the great saints from the beginning were saved, not by any merit of +their own righteousness, but by grace alone: they were delivered from +sin and from the wrath of God, by faith in Christ the promised seed: +as Abraham also was, by the same grace of God in Christ, called out of +idolatry.’ Joshua xxiv. 2, 3. + +Therefore God leaves here no ground for any mortal’s boasting in his +own works and merits: and yet, by this doctrine of works Satan hath +never ceased to distress and torment consciences, contrary to the +manifest words and works of God. + + + + +PSALM CXLIV. + +_David blesseth God for his mercy both to him and to man.—He prayeth +that God would powerfully deliver him from his enemies.—He promiseth +to praise God.—He prayeth for the happy state of the kingdom._ + +A Psalm of David. + + +Blessed _be_ the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, +_and_ my fingers to fight: + +My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my +shield, and _he_ in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me. + +LORD, what _is_ man, that thou takest knowledge of him! _or_ the son +of man, that thou makest account of him! + +Man is like to vanity: his days _are_ as a shadow that passeth away. + +Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they +shall smoke. + +Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows and +destroy them. + +Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great +waters, from the hand of strange children; + +Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand _is_ a right hand of +falsehood. + +I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltry _and_ an +instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee. + +_It is he_ that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his +servant from the hurtful sword. + +Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth +speaketh vanity, and their right hand _is_ a right hand of falsehood: + +That our sons _may be_ as plants grown up in their youth; that our +daughters _may be_ as cornerstones, polished _after_ the similitude of +a palace: + +_That_ our garners _may be_ full, affording all manner of store: +_that_ our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our +streets: + +_That_ our oxen _may be_ strong to labour; _that there be_ no breaking +in, nor going out; that _there be_ no complaining in our streets. + +Happy _is that_ people that is in such a case: _yea_, happy _is that_ +people whose God _is_ the LORD. + + +This is a blessed Psalm of thanksgiving for kings, princes, and all +magistrates. David here, as a king and a magistrate himself, who had +to govern the state and carry on wars, confesses that all prosperous +and happy government, all success at home and abroad, all the arts of +peace, and all victory in war, are the good gifts of God; and that a +man can no more effect these things by human wisdom or strength, or by +any ability of his own, than he can hold the millions of minds of +nations bound unto himself, and make their multitudes obey him alone: +for what could any mortal man do towards preserving whole kingdoms, +and cities, and provinces in quiet from sedition and commotions amid +all the infinite malice of the devil and the world? Every mortal man +would fail, like a vanishing shadow, before the thought of such an +undertaking. + +But the God of all majesty, as Isaiah saith, is the Lord of all the +kingdoms and kings of the earth. He, as Daniel saith, removes and +establishes kingdoms. That monarch of heaven and earth also taketh +down one king and sitteth up another. And he it is, who, in the time +of peace, curbs the wills and holds the minds of the multitude, and +stills all civil commotions like the waves of the sea, against all the +raised winds of the devil. And it is the same God also, who, in the +time of war, terrifieth the enemies of a nation, and maketh their +hearts to tremble, when he thunders in the heavens, when he touches +the mountains and great hills of nations and of peoples: he is +terrible; and who can stand before him? When he strikes the hearts of +the enemy with fear, it is easy for us to conquer. But what human +wisdom or power can strike this terror, or do or ordain such mighty +things? + +David then prays against the deeds of his own people, and rebukes +their ungodliness. The Israelites, because they had that especial +honour and glory of being the people of God, were above all people of +a stiff-neck; proud, seditious, avaricious, envious, unbelieving, and +disobedient; and all these things they manifested in their conduct to +Moses, to David himself, and to other godly kings. And although they +saw David, in the same manner as Moses before him, with the manifest +presence of God, and with great and divine miracles, governing the +state, and conducting wars successfully, in the midst of the assaults +of enemies on every side; yet falling into pride and security, from a +confidence in their high title, as the people of God; they showed +themselves to be no better than those of their forefathers, of whom +Moses saith, “Ye have always been a rebellious and stiff-necked people +before the Lord, from the day that I first knew you.” For the people +of David were carnally affected and ungodly; and were as if they had +said, ‘Command, and command again, if thou wilt; expect, and expect +still; and why dost thou preach unto us faith, whereas we all the +while continue in affliction? Those whom God favors, and to whom he +shows mercy, he blesses: to them he gives wives, children, riches, +houses, lands, and all things, and happiness in all things; and happy +are the people that are in such a case.’ Nor were false prophets +wanting, to dwell upon temporal promises in their preaching, and to +withstand the true prophets; denying that those were the favorites of +God who were not blessed with temporal prosperities; and saying that +all the saints of God were so blessed. + +Against these, therefore, David now most fervently prays, and +encourages himself in heart and in faith by his past experiences of +God’s mercies and deliverances. “If, (saith David,) thou hast +aforetime delivered me from the sword of Goliath, and hast given me +the victory, as thou hast done also unto other kings; so now defend me +from this ungodly, hardened, and unbelieving people; who neither +regard God nor his civil ministers; who care not with what evils a +good king is surrounded in his government, nor what perils of war +prevail, nor what blessings of peace are enjoyed; but are an ignorant +and unfeeling herd; the very dregs and sink of men: yea, very swine, +who regard nothing but their belly; whom it is more difficult to rule, +than to conduct the most fierce and perilous wars.” Exactly like unto +these are some of our nobles and citizens and countrymen now; who, for +the sake of their belly, trample and spit upon all true religion and +good learning; and indeed on all things human and divine. + +David here attacks these ungodly ones with a most severe rebuke; +calling them “strange children;” hereby cutting up that glorying of +theirs, wherein they boasted of being the children of Abraham, and the +peculiar people of God: and yet were all the while worse than any +heathen nation, and were false children and strangers; for they +honoured God with their mouth and with their lips, while their heart +was far from him. + + + + +PSALM CXLV. + +_David praiseth God for his fame, for his goodness, for his kingdom, +for his providence, for his saving mercy._ + +David’s Psalm of praise. + + +I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever +and ever. + +Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and +ever. + +Great _is_ the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness _is_ +unsearchable. + +One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare +thy mighty acts. + +I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy +wondrous works. + +And _men_ shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will +declare thy greatness. + +They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and +shall sing of thy righteousness. + +The LORD _is_ gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of +great mercy. + +The LORD _is_ good to all and his tender mercies _are_ over all his +works. + +All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless +thee. + +They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; + +To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious +majesty of his kingdom. + +Thy kingdom _is_ an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion _endureth_ +throughout all generations. + +The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all _those that be_ +bowed down. + +The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due +season. + +Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living +thing. + +The LORD _is_ righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. + +The LORD _is_ nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call +upon him in truth. + +He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear +their cry, and will save them. + +The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he +destroy. + +My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless +his holy name for ever and ever. + + +This is a very blessed Psalm of thanksgiving for the kingdom and +dominion of Christ, which God was about to raise up among the people +of Israel: for it was on account of Christ, that this whole people was +from the beginning chosen out of all other nations; and on account of +Christ also that the law was given unto them, and the whole Mosaic +worship established. + +This Psalm also most especially urges forward that highest and most +excellent of all works, the peculiar and most glorious worship of God, +which the first table of the decalogue demands; that is, the sacrifice +of praise. The Psalmist in the most exalted expressions proclaims the +power of God, and his infinite mercy; which is above all his works. + +The whole Psalm presents to us a wonderful display of the eloquence of +the Holy Spirit; setting forth, by a great depth of feeling, and by a +luxuriant abundance of words and expressions, the glorious height of +the worship of God embraced in these words of the first commandment of +the decalogue, “I AM THE LORD THY GOD!” And the Psalm prays that men +may acknowledge the kingdom of Christ, “That thy power,” says David, +“may be known unto men, and the glorious majesty of thy kingdom:” that +is, that it may be known by the gospel, that there is no other +deliverance from the power of the devil, and from sin and eternal +death, than by faith in the word of thy mercy and grace, given unto us +in Jesus Christ. + +The power and kingdom of Christ lies hidden under the outward +appearance of the cross and of weakness; and the word of the gospel is +a contemptible doctrine with the wise and powerful of the world; for +“the gospel,” as Paul saith, “is the wisdom of God hidden in a +mystery.” And again, saith he, “Christ crucified, is, unto the Jews, a +stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.” But when this +kingdom is, by the preaching of the word, and by the teaching and the +confession of the saints, made known before the world, it is proved to +be the kingdom of God and the power of God. + +That which the Psalmist saith, (verse 14) pertains especially unto the +kingdom of Christ, which is a kingdom that “upholdeth all that fall, +and lifteth up all them that are down;” for Christ is the king of the +afflicted, of the poor, of the fallen; and the king who justifies +sinners and raises the dead: by whom God is reconciled unto us, and +hears us as a father; fulfilling the desire of them that fear him, and +feeding and clothing us whom the world hateth, and guarding and +defending us against the gates of hell. + +From a worshipping admiration therefore, of the largeness of the grace +of God, the Psalmist breaks out into this fervent wish and prayer, +“and let all flesh bless his holy name;” as if he had said, the +blessings and riches of the kingdom of Christ are immense and +unsearchable; as Paul also saith, “Thanks be unto God for his +unspeakable gift.” + + + + +PSALM CXLVI. + +_The Psalmist voweth perpetual praises to God.—He exhorteth not to +trust in man.—God, for his power, justice, mercy, and kingdom, is only +worthy to be trusted._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul. + +While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God +while I have any being. + +Put not your trust in princes, _nor_ in the son of man, in whom _there +is_ no help. + +His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day +his thoughts perish. + +Happy _is he_ that _hath_ the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope +_is_ in the LORD his God: + +Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein _is_; +which keepeth truth for ever: + +Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the +hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: + +The LORD openeth _the eyes of_ the blind: the LORD raiseth them that +are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous: + +The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and +widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down. + +The LORD shall reign for ever, _even_ thy God, O Zion, unto all +generations. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; and it contains a blessed doctrine; +namely, that we ought to trust in God, who alone can defend; and who +does defend faithfully all those that trust in him, and all those whom +the world hates and casts out. And the Psalm shows, that we ought not +to trust in any man, not even in kings or princes, nor in the mighty, +nor in the rich, as the world do. For (as the Psalmist saith) “it is +God alone that can mightily and gloriously deliver out of affliction,” +and all trust in man is deceitful and vain; for (to say nothing about +the vanity of such trust in all other particulars) no man knoweth any +thing certain respecting his own life! + + + + +PSALM CXLVII. + +_The Prophet exhorteth to praise God for his care of the church, his +power, and his mercy:—to praise him for his providence:—to praise him +for his blessings upon the kingdom, for his power over the meteors, +and for his ordinances in the church._ + + +Praise ye the LORD: for _it is_ good to sing praises unto our God; for +_it is_ pleasant, _and_ praise is comely. + +The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts +of Israel. + +He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. + +He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by _their_ +names. + +Great _is_ our LORD, and of great power: his understanding _is_ +infinite. + +The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the +ground. + +Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving: sing praise upon the harp unto +our God: + +Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, +who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. + +He giveth to the beast his food, _and_ to the young ravens which cry. + +He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure +in the legs of a man. + +The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in +his mercy. + +Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. + +For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy +children within thee. + +He maketh peace _in_ thy borders, _and_ filleth thee with the finest +of the wheat. + +He sendeth forth his commandment _upon_ earth: his word runneth very +swiftly. + +He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. + +He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? + +He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to +blow, _and_ the waters flow. + +He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto +Israel. + +He hath not dealt so with any nation: and _as for his_ judgments, they +have not known them. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a very blessed Psalm of thanksgiving for the various +unequalled and infinite mercies and gifts of God. + +In the first place, it thanks him for that especial mercy—his +regarding in, and miraculously delivering out of, afflictions, the +nations of Israel, his peculiar people, and the city of Jerusalem, +though placed in the midst of Gentile enemies. + +In the next place, it blesses God for that great and unspeakable +mercy, his giving throughout all the earth, to the godly and to the +ungodly, to the grateful and to the ungrateful, all necessary food and +gladness of heart, as Paul saith, Acts xiv. 17. “Filling the hearts of +men with food and gladness.” + +And more especially the Psalmist renders thanks unto God for his +refreshing, reviving, and comforting with his consolations, the hearts +of the godly when distressed and weakened by the devil, and burnt up, +as it were, by the greatness of the temptations; and for helping them +in all times of their temptation, affliction, and labour. + +Again, it thanks him for giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, +both unto the evil and unto the good; and for giving food unto men and +unto all the beasts of the earth; even so, that he suffereth not even +the ravens to hunger. + +And above all, the Psalmist gives thanks unto God, because he hears +and regards the godly, who call upon him; and that, especially in +Jerusalem; which is the place of his name and of his word; and because +he giveth Jerusalem, his city, civil peace, and a happy state of +government. + +Further, the Psalmist praises God for health of body and his blessing +therein, and for the good bringing up of children, and domestic order +and prosperity. And also for defence against all outward enemies, and +for the preservation of the boundaries of their land, and for national +peace and happiness. And, finally, he blesses God for the richness and +fertility of the land of Judah, and for the abundance of its fruits. + +The chosen people of God, and the elect places of his Zion have the +privilege, above all other nations, of being blessed with the word and +the worship of God. Wherefore they, above all others, show forth the +works of God and his wonders among the people. And all the creatures +of God, and his daily wonders, and blessings of rain, snow, dew, +frost, &c. are more clearly known where his word and worship are, than +among idolatrous nations, who have neither the prophets, nor the +Spirit, nor the word, nor see his works, though they daily enjoy his +creatures and all his heavenly gifts and mercies; on all which +abundant gifts and mercies they feed like swine; for as they are +ignorant of the word, they are altogether ignorant of God. + + + + +PSALM CXLVIII. + +_The Psalmist exhorteth the celestial, the terrestrial, and the +rational creatures to praise God._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in +the heights. + +Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. + +Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. + +Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that _be_ above the +heavens. + +Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were +created. + +He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree +which shall not pass. + +Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: + +Fire and hail; snow and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: + +Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars: + +Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl: + +Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the +earth: + +Both young men and maidens; old men and children: + +Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; +his glory _is_ above the earth and heaven. + +He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; +_even_ of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye +the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; wherein the Psalmist calls upon, and +exhorts all creatures, both in heaven and in earth, to praise God; +calling more especially on his saints, the children of Israel, among +whom is the word and the worship of God. + +In this Psalm you may remark this blessed doctrine, that all orders of +men, all kinds of life, which are created of God, are good,—that is, +kings, magistrates, judges, young men, old men, &c. For if to hold the +office of a magistrate and to hear and judge causes were of itself +wicked, then such magistrates could not call upon and praise God, nor +would the Holy Spirit exhort them in this Psalm to that praise of God. +And where there are magistrates and laws, kings and princes, there +also there are subjects, town-sergeants and constables. And there also +there must be artificers in the cities, and men-servants and +maid-servants, and countrymen, and soldiers, &c. And, again, where +there are young men and old men, there are also wives and children, +and so whole families and households. + +All these things are good and holy gifts of God, and by no means to be +condemned or refused, as the pope blasphemously saith they are. All +these things, moreover, show that their all-high and Almighty Creator +is good; and that all these his good creatures ought to speak his +praise, to sound it forth with thousands of tongues, and to celebrate +this infinite goodness and the countless and unspeakable mercies of +God! + +If, therefore, thou desirest, contrary to the blasphemous doctrine of +the pope, and all like him, to know how supremely good all the +creatures of God are, from the least of them even to the greatest of +them; then, suppose to thyself that one of these creatures, out of the +universal whole, were deficient or wanting, for one short moment; +suppose there were no fire or no sun for a moment’s space even; +suppose there were no women, no infantine offspring;—suppose, I say, +any deficiency of this kind: by this thought thou wilt immediately +feel that no one can sufficiently praise God, even for one of his +creatures? And how many creatures has he formed! What worlds of +goodness has he created! + + + + +PSALM CXLIX. + +_The prophet exhorteth to praise God for his love to the church, and +for that power which he hath given to the church._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, _and_ his praise in +the congregation of saints. + +Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be +joyful in their King. + +Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him +with the timbrel and harp. + +For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek +with salvation. + +Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their +beds. + +_Let_ the high _praises_ of God _be_ in their mouth, and a two-edged +sword in their hand; + +To execute vengeance upon the heathen, _and_ punishments upon the +people; + +To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of +iron; + +To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his +saints. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This Psalm is also a Psalm of thanksgiving for that infinite goodness +of God, his being merciful to his people; and for assuring them, by +his word, and by his promises of his good will towards them; and that +he will hear them, regard them, and have mercy upon them. To which +immense goodness of God, no thanks of his people can be equal. And +that treasure of mercy, which is greater than the whole world unto +afflicted consciences,—that God freely promises to his people his +blessing, in the seed of Abraham, and the remission of sins; and does +not regard their unworthiness in the gift;—that treasure of mercy, I +say, is greater than the mind of man is capable of conceiving. + +This Psalm, therefore, (if we may so speak) is properly a Psalm of the +New Testament. Hence the Psalmist saith, “Sing unto the Lord a new +song:” showing that all praise is to be sung unto the king of Israel +and of Zion; whom all ought to laud with rejoicing, “upon their beds:” +that is, in the churches and temples where they meet for worship; as +the prophet Isaiah also mentions their temples, their altars, their +beds, and their couches, where Israel committed fornication; that is, +worshipped their idols. + +And that also pertains to the New Testament where the Psalmist saith, +“And a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the +heathen, and to bind their kings with chains.” This is not to be +understood simply of the Jews or of the Mahometans, with respect to +any earthly tyranny; but this is the vengeance promised in the +scriptures; which the seed of Abraham, that is, the Israelites and the +apostles, should execute by the sword of the Spirit, by which they +should destroy idolatry in so many nations, and should put to shame +the wisdom of the whole world, as the apostle Paul saith. 2 Cor. x. + + + + +PSALM CL. + +_An exhortation to praise God with all kinds of instruments._ + + +Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the +firmament of his power. + +Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent +greatness. + +Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery +and harp. + +Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed +instruments and organs. + +Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding +cymbals. + +Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. + + +This is a Psalm of praise, written for the people of Israel, (to +praise God in his holiness, or in his sanctuary): that is, to praise +him for that infinite and unequalled mercy, of erecting his sanctuary, +his tabernacle, his ark, his mercy-seat among the Israelites; and +thereby making Jerusalem the place of his dwelling. For God dwelt in +that place, the city of Jerusalem, as in the heaven of his habitation. +Hence other prophets call that people “the heavens,” and the place of +the habitation, of the name, and of the word of God. Because the +presence, the power, and the majesty of God are there, where he +manifests himself forth by his acts and his wonderful works. + +The Psalmist then mentions many musical instruments, which were used +by the people of Israel in their worship, according to the appointed +ceremonies of the Levitical worship and priesthood. But among +Christians and the people of the New Testament, the trumpet, psaltery, +the harp, the timbrels, are the gospel itself in the ministration of +the word. + + + + +CONCLUDING ADMONITION. + + +I would, in conclusion, have all godly souls (whom Satan, without +ceasing, harasses with temptations,) to bear in mind that all the +laudatory Psalms, or Psalms of thanksgiving, are also promises of God, +designed to lift up, to sustain, and to refresh afflicted consciences, +and to furnish them with arguments against the devil; assuring them +that God is the God of peace, of life, of consolation, and not the God +of misery, cruelty, and damnation. For when David and other saints +thus joyfully, and with all possible abundance of expression, praise +God, they thereby show forth unto all the afflicted, that God never +forsakes his own in their temptations, but pities all such; and that +he gives them breathing-times in their conflicts, succours them in +their distresses, beholds their contrite hearts, gives them in due +time an end of their afflictions, delivers them from all evils, and +oft-times most sweetly and marvellously comforts them. + +Wherefore, every thanksgiving in the Psalms, is at the same time, a +promise of grace, and a sweet doctrine to the tempted and the +afflicted: because thereby is shown, by the example of David and of +others, that God regardeth the afflicted, heareth all that call upon +him, and giveth peace unto them in all the various afflictions under +which they labour. + +Learn thou well then how to gather, throughout the book of Psalms, the +blessed argument against the devil, contained in the words, “PRAISE YE +THE LORD!” It was this that comforted David himself while praising +God: for they are not the dead that praise the Lord, nor they that are +swallowed up of sorrow, nor they that go down into hell! + +As therefore God ceaseth not, during this short and momentous life, to +try and prove his church, by causing her to undergo these many and +great offences, temptations, and afflictions, and these most bitter +hatreds of Satan and of the word; so he will, as surely, most +marvellously and excellently comfort her from heaven, and deliver her, +and save her! + +All, therefore, that believe, how many soever they be, and how many or +great soever their afflictions, are ever lifted up by the consolations +of God. And hence God will comfort us also, and all saints; and he +will open our mouths to praise him; that Satan may be confounded in +all his devices and in all his works, and that Jesus Christ, the Lord +our God, may be glorified! who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, +liveth and reigneth, One God, blessed for evermore. Amen. + + + + +THE PRINTER + +TO THE GODLY READER, GREETING. + + +Behold, we here present unto thee, good Reader, the summary Commentary +of Doctor Martin Luther, collected from his mouth by those that heard +him, with all possible care and diligence. We could scarcely obtain +leave from the holy author to edit this commentary in his name: +because he felt that many things were wanting in this extemporaneous +explication, which a diligent writing down might have rendered more +perfect and more clear. But as he was satisfied that the sense and +substance of each Psalm were every where faithfully given, and that a +very important part of the true religion was here copiously handled; +he was, under these assurances, the more willing to overlook any thing +that might be wanting in the way of greater correctness, and loftier +language and expression. + +We hope, therefore, that this our labour will not be unacceptable to +the lovers of the Holy Scriptures and divine things. For they will +here see how blessedly this great man opened and taught the word of +God, and what his only aim and object were therein. And they will also +be the better enabled to judge of the writings of others. For while +others devote all their labours, pains, and aims, to thrust their +books upon the world; they never, in those books, touch in the least +upon those things which form the substance of the true religion! +Reader, farewell! May thy soul be blessed by our labour! + + + + +PRINTED BY L. AND G. SEELEY, THAMES DITTON, SURREY. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75892 *** diff --git a/75892-h/75892-h.htm b/75892-h/75892-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc5b39c --- /dev/null +++ b/75892-h/75892-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14533 @@ + +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> + +<html> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> + <title>A manual of the book of psalms | Project Gutenberg</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} + h1 {text-align:center} + h2 {text-align:center} + h3 {text-align:center} + h4 {text-align:center} + h5 {text-align:center} + .center {text-align: center} + .right {text-align: right} + .poetry-container {text-align: center} + .poetry {display: inline-block; text-align: left} --> + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75892 ***</div> +<h1>A MANUAL<br><br> +<small>OF</small><br><br> +THE BOOK OF PSALMS<br> +<br> +<small><small>OR, THE</small></small><br><br> +<small>SUBJECT-CONTENTS OF ALL THE PSALMS</small></h1> +<br> +<br> +<h2><small><small>BY</small></small><br><br> +MARTIN LUTHER</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4><small>NOW FIRST TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH</small><br> +<br> +BY THE REV. HENRY COLE,</h4> +<p class="center"><small>LATE OF CLARE-HALL, CAMBRIDGE;<br> +TRANSLATOR OF “SELECT WORKS” OF LUTHER, &C.</small></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE<br> +AND SOLD BY L. AND G. SEELEY,<br> +FLEET STREET, LONDON.<br> +MDCCCXXXVII.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.</h3> +<br> + +<p>The assurance that the following production of the immortal and +beloved reformer, Luther, would be acceptable and beneficial to every +lover of divine and experimental truth, was the motive that led the +Translator to present it, in an English version, to the British church +of Christ.</p> + +<p>No commendatory remarks are needed: the work itself will at once speak +its own worth. The translator would only observe, that in the +following M<small>ANUAL</small> C<small>OMMENTARY</small> on the Book of Psalms, Luther has most +divinely, experimentally, and beautifully opened up—the vanity and +delusion of all forms (even a gospel “form”) of godliness, without the +known and possessed “power” thereof;—the opposition and malicious +persecution which the real disciples of Christ ever meet with from the +wicked, and, above all, from hypocrites in religion;—the true and only +grounds of a Christian man’s hope, peace, and salvation; which are, a +trust and rest alone in the grace, righteousness, and atonement of our +Lord Jesus Christ;—the blessedness of a nation where the pure word and +worship of God guide, and are upheld by, its throne and government; +and the sure destruction of a kingdom when its magistrates act against +that word and worship;—and finally, the glory of all the creatures of +God, the abounding goodness of God in them, and the infinite +blessedness of their lawful use.</p> + +<p>Luther takes occasion also, from numberless passages in the Psalms, to +describe, point out, and distinguish the true church of God in the +midst of the earth, and the signs by which she may be known from all +other churches;—that she is that company of poor and afflicted people, +who are burdened with sins, filled with fears, covered with +infirmities, and despised by the world, and considered both by the +wicked, and by formal professors of religion, to be the last people +likely to be the church of God. He repeatedly shews, however, that +such, notwithstanding their rejection by all, are the true people and +church of God; and that it is unto such, and such only, that all the +promises of grace and mercy in Christ, and of help, provision, and +defence in this world, are made; ‘For (saith Luther) if you will look +through the whole Bible, you will find, that God is not the God of the +rich, the proud, the secure, &c. but of the poor, the fearful, the +afflicted, and the helpless; who cannot do without his daily mercy and +help, either in the things of this world, or of that which is to +come.’</p> + +<p>That the great and heavenly things thus opened by the admired Luther +may be understood and enjoyed by every reader of the following manual, +is the desire and prayer of,</p> + +<div class="right">T<small>HE</small> T<small>RANSLATOR</small>. </div> + +<blockquote><i>Highbury Place, Islington,<br> + June 8, 1837.</i></blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p><i>Other invaluable productions of Luther, which have never before been +translated into E<small>NGLISH</small>, are in hand, and will duly appear: which, +added to the four vols. of “Select Works,” the “Bondage of the Will,” +and the work “on Popery,” just published by Messrs. Nisbet, will put +the E<small>NGLISH</small> Church of Christ in possession of all the holy Reformer’s +works which are the most calculated to be of divine benefit to her.</i></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>MARTIN LUTHER TO HIS FRIEND.</h3> +<br> + +<p>I am unwilling to acknowledge that you are right in being so +industrious to publish abroad my poor productions: I fear you are +actuated too much by favour towards me. As to myself, I am wholly +dissatisfied with my works on the Psalms: not so much on account of +the sense which I have given, which I believe to be true and genuine, +as on account of the verbosity, confusion, and undigested chaos of my +commentaries altogether. The Book of Psalms is a book, my Commentaries +on which, from want of time and leisure, I am obliged to conceive, +digest, arrange, and prepare all at once. For I am overwhelmed with +occupation. I have two sermons to preach in a day: I have to meditate +on the Psalms: I have to consider over the letters which I receive by +the posts (as they are called) and to reply to my enemies: I have to +attack the Pope’s Bulls in both languages: and I have to defend +myself. (To say nothing about the letters of my friends which I have +to answer, and various domestic and casual engagements to which I am +obliged to attend!)</p> + +<p>You do well, therefore, to pray for me; for I am oppressed with many +afflictions, and much hindered from the performance of my sacred +duties;—my whole life is a cross to me! I have now in hand the xxii. +Psalm, “My God, my God, &c.;” and I had hopes of completing a +Commentary on the whole Book of Psalms, if Christ should give us a +sufficient interval of peace, so that I could devote my whole time and +attention to it: but now, I cannot devote a fourth part of my time to +such a purpose: nay, the time that I do devote to it, is but a few +stolen moments.</p> + +<p>You do right in admonishing me of my want of moderation: I feel my +deficiency myself; but I find that I have not command over my own +mind: I am carried away from myself, as it were, by a certain vehement +zeal of spirit, while I am conscious that I wish evil to no one, +though all my adversaries press in upon me with such maddened fury: so +that, in fact, I have not time to consider who my enemies are, nor +what various treatment they require. Pray, therefore, the Lord for me, +that I may have wisdom to speak and write that which shall please him +and become me, and not what may appear becoming to them. And now, +farewell in Christ.</p> + +<blockquote><i>Wittemberg</i>, <small>A.D.</small> 1521.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>MARTIN LUTHER’S PREFACE TO THE BOOK OF PSALMS.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Many of the old and godly fathers have highly extolled the Book of +Psalms, above all the other books of the Scripture, and have testified +their exceeding fondness and partiality for them. And indeed this +book, though small, deserves to be recommended above all others, (if a +difference may be made): though the Psalms of David do not want the +aid of borrowed encomiums, for they carry with them an abundance of +self-recommendation; and in them is the old proverb verified, which +says ‘The work proves the workman.’ Therefore, I have not put my hand +to this book for the purpose of parading before the world an encomium +upon it, since it so amply commends itself; but that I might, +according to the best of my ability, present those that fear God with +my judgment upon its all-excelling contents.</p> + +<p>In the years that are past we have seen an infinity of books handed +about in the world, but all most insipid and worthless; which, behind +an apparently honest and plausible title, (for they were prefaced with +the sentiments and examples of the saints) contained the most nugatory +fables, and the most barefaced lies. The world, therefore, was +everywhere so filled with writings of this kind, the most foolish, and +at the same time the most impious, that the Psalms themselves were +disregarded and thrust into darkness, and we had not one Psalm rightly +interpreted or understood. And yet, as this sweet book of David +continued to be sung in all our churches, and to be chanted over so +many thousand times in these incessant rounds and forms of +prayer,—even by this frigid use of the Psalms, bad as it was, some small savor +of life was diffused abroad among many that were of an honest and good +heart; and from these words themselves only, though not understood, +those that feared God drank in some little sweetness of the breath of +life, and some small taste of consolation, like the faint fragrance +which is found in the air that is not far from a bed of roses. Their +experience was like also unto a simple man passing through a flowery +and sweet-smelling meadow, who, though he knew not the peculiar nature +and properties of the flowers and herbs, yet found his senses regaled +with the general fragrance.</p> + +<p>I would say what I think of the Psalms in a few words thus:—I believe, +for my part, that there is no book under heaven, either of histories +or examples, to be compared to the Book of Psalms. Wherefore, if it +were right to ask of God, and, if such were our soul’s desire, that +all the greatest excellences and most choice experiences of all the +true saints should be gathered and collected from the whole church +since it has existed, and should be most briefly and appropriately +condensed into the focus of one book; if God, I say, should permit any +most spiritual and most gifted man to form and concentrate such a book +from all the excellences of the saints, and from the flower of the +facts recorded in the whole scripture (which might be done);—such a +book would be what the Book of Psalms is, or like unto it. For in the +Book of Psalms we have not the life of one of the saints only, but we +have the experience of Christ himself, the head of all the saints, for +he is set forth in those Psalms: we have, moreover, the feelings and +experiences of all the faithful, both under their sorrows and under +their joys, both in their adversity and their prosperity: how they +conducted themselves towards God, towards their friends, and towards +their enemies: how they acted in various perils and afflictions, in +the midst of temptations, and under the greatest necessities.</p> + +<p>And moreover, in addition to the great and blessed doctrines and +instructions in godliness which it embraces, the Book of Psalms ought +to be most dearly and highly prized by us on this account;—because it +contains such clear prophecies concerning the death and resurrection +of Christ, and holds forth such great and gracious promises concerning +the kingdom of Christ, the spread of the Gospel, and the state of the +whole church. So that you may truly call the Book of Psalms, a little +Bible; for in it all things that are contained in the whole Bible are +given to us in the most wonderfully brief and sweet manner, and +condensed into a most beautiful manual.</p> + +<p>If God should himself hand down a book out of heaven and commend it to +us with a divine voice, how highly would you prize and value it, how +greedily would you seize it? Be assured then that the Holy Spirit +himself has written and handed down to us this Book of Psalms, as a +form of prayer, in the same way as a father would give a book to his +children. He himself has drawn up this manual for his disciples; +having collected together, as it were, the lives, groans, and +experiences of many thousands, whose hearts he alone sees and knows. +If, therefore, thou canst not read the whole Bible, behold! thou +mayest, by reading the Book of Psalms only, have not only a summary of +all godliness, but all godly excellences, and the most spiritual +experiences.</p> + +<p>And again, another great excellency of the Book of Psalms is this. In +other scriptures and histories, for the most part the works and bodily +exercises only of the saints are described: you have very few +histories which give you the words, expressions, and sighs of the +saints, which are the indexes of the state of their minds. But it is +in these things that the Book of Psalms may be a feast of delight for +the meditations of the godly. In these respects, therefore, the +reading of a Psalm is peculiarly sweet; because you have therein, not +only the works and acts of the saints, but their very words and +expressions, nay, their sighs and groans to God, and the utterance in +which they conversed with him during their temptations; and all these +are recorded in such a lively and descriptive manner, that those +saints, though now dead, seem still to live and speak in the Psalms.</p> + +<p>Thus all other histories and lives of the saints, which describe their +acts and works only, when compared to the Book of Psalms, set forth +to us nothing more than dumb saints; and every thing that is recorded +of them is dull and lifeless. But in the Psalms, where the very +expressions of those that prayed in faith are recorded, all things +live, all things breathe, and living characters are set before us in +the most lively colours: the saints are represented to us as standing +supported by their faith, even in the midst of afflictions and +tribulations. A dumb man, indeed, is rather a lifeless post than a +man; for man is distinguished from the brute creation by nothing more +than by the power of speech. A stone even, under the hand of the +artificer, may represent the figure of a man. And, as to eating and +drinking, all dumb animals can do those things as well as he: they can +use the organs of sense as well as he: and indeed, as to strength of +body, they have greatly the advantage of him. Hence, it is the power +of speech that so distinguishes man from, and raises him above, the +brute creation: and that speech is the index of, and the mirror that +reflects, the mind.</p> + +<p>As, therefore, the Psalms describe the words and expressions of the +saints, they give us an exact picture of their minds. For the Psalms +record not those common and everywhere-heard expressions of the +saints, but those ardent and pathetic utterances, by which, in real +earnest, and under the very pressure of temptations, and in the very +wrestlings of their souls, they poured out their hearts like Jacob, +not before man, but before God! The Psalms give us, therefore, not +only the works and words of the saints, but the very hidden treasure +of their hearts’ feelings—the very inmost sensations and motions of +their soul.</p> + +<p>Wouldst thou see, then, the face and countenance of David, which he +carried under all those perils and sorrows with which the Lord +exercised him?—then read the Psalms; and they will give thee not only +the outward David, but, more expressively still, the inner David; and +that more descriptively than he could do it himself, if he were to +talk with you face to face. What then are all other histories, which +band about the singular works, and I know not what miracles of the +saints? I can see all the works and the miracles of the saints in +these everywhere-to-be-had records, but I can see nothing of the +feelings and sensations of their hearts.</p> + +<p>As, therefore, I had much rather hear David or any such eminent saint +speak, than merely see the works or exercises of his body; so, much +rather would I know the inmost thoughts of David’s heart, and the +inward conflicts and struggles of his faith. With this knowledge the +Psalms furnish us most satisfactorily; so that from them we can know +what he felt and what all the saints felt, under their temptations, +from the ardent expressions and effusions which are uttered. For the +human heart is like a ship in the midst of the sea, which is exposed +to the perils of the winds and the waves on every side, and made as it +were their sport. For as the ship is suddenly assaulted, so trouble, +and the fear of future evil, like a sudden tempest, assaults and +disarms our minds: and then flow in cowardice of spirit, and sorrow of +heart, which, like the waves, run over us and threaten to overwhelm us +every moment. By and by, again, the confidence inspired by prosperity +carries us up to heaven in full sail; and then, security under our +present prospects dashes unexpectedly our ship against a rock. These, +I say, and the numberless other evils and perils of this life, tend to +arouse and stir up the saints, and teach and bring them to sigh and +groan from the recesses within, to pour out their whole hearts, and to +cry with their whole souls unto heaven. The complaints of those who +thus grieve and groan in truth, are far more ardent than theirs’ who +only feign sorrows and straits of mind: just as the man, who feels +joyful and glad in reality, discovers a far greater gladness, +hilarity, and exultation in his countenance, expressions, and whole +appearance, than he who only smoothes his brows with a feigned +rejoicing.</p> + +<p>The expressions contained in the Psalms, then, as I have said, are +uttered under the true and real feelings of the heart; and the greater +part of them contain the pathetic and ardent utterances of the heart +under every kind of affliction and temptation. But wherever the +feelings of joy are described, you will never find the sensations of a +heart, filled with gladness and exultation, more significantly and +expressively described, than in the Psalms of thanksgiving, or the +Psalms of praise. There you may look into the hearts of the saints, as +into paradise, or into the opened heaven; and may see, in the greatest +variety, all the beautiful and flourishing flowers, or the most +brilliant stars, as it were, of their upspringing affections towards +God for his benefits and blessings.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, you will never find the straits, the sorrows, and +the pains of a distressed mind any where described in a more +expressive manner than in the Psalms of temptations, or of complaints; +as in Psalm vi. and the like; where you see all dark and gloomy, all +full of anguish and distress, under a sight and sense of divine wrath, +and the working of despair.</p> + +<p>And so again, where the Psalms are speaking of hope or fear, they so +describe those feelings in their true and native colours, that no +Demosthenes or Cicero could ever equal them in liveliness, or +descriptiveness of expression. For, as I have before observed, the +Psalms have this peculiarity of excellence above all other books of +description,—that the saints, whose feelings and sensations are +therein set forth, did not speak to the wind, under those their +exercises and conflicts, nor to an earthly friend, but unto, and +before, God himself, and in the sight of God. And it is this that +above all things gives a seriousness, and reality to the feelings,—it +is this that affects, as it were, the very bones and the marrow,—when +a creature feels itself speaking in the very sight and presence of its +God! But when we are speaking otherwise, and complaining to a friend, +or to a man only, our necessities are not so keenly and really felt; +our feelings are not so ardent, real, and poignant.</p> + +<p>The Book of Psalms, therefore, as it contains these real feelings of +the saints, is a book so universally adapted and useful to all +Christians, that whatever one that truly fears God may be suffering, +or under what temptation soever he may be, he may find, in the Psalms, +feelings and expressions exactly suited to his case; just as much so +as if the Psalms had been indited and composed from his own personal +afflictions.</p> + +<p>It ought, therefore, godly soul, to be a great consolation to thee +when the Psalms truly suit and delight thee. There is a saying of +Quinctilian left on record, who says, ‘He that is truly delighted with +Cicero may be assured that he has made a good progress:’ which I may +not unappropriately turn thus,—‘He that is really delighted with, and +receives consolation from, the Psalms of David, may be assured that he +has arrived at some knowledge and experience in divine things.’ For +when thou findest thyself under the same feelings that David was; when +the chords and strings of his harp are really re-echoed by the +feelings and sensations of thy heart; thou mayest assure thyself that +thou art in the congregation of the elect of God; seeing that thou art +afflicted in the same manner as they were afflicted, and that thou +prayest with the same faith, sensations, and affections as they +prayed. Whereas, to a cold and frigid reader, destitute of faith, all +these Psalms are insipid and unengaging.</p> + +<p>Again, the Psalms are those parts of the lives of the saints, which +you may most safely copy and imitate. Other lives and histories, which +do not set forth the words and expressions, but certain works of the +saints, contain many things of the saints which we cannot imitate, +such as certain signs and wonders, and demonstrations of divine power. +And indeed some of the recorded works of those who are considered to +have been saints, are such that you cannot imitate them without +eminent peril; being such works as cause sects and heresies, and draw +us away from the unity of the Spirit; of which we have abundant proof +in monkery. But the Psalms call us away from all sects and divisions, +to the unity of the Spirit. They teach us to maintain fear in +prosperity, and not to cast away our hope in adversity; and thus to be +of the same mind, to have the same desires, and to have the same +feelings and sensations with all the saints.</p> + +<p>In a word, if you desire to see the Christian church painted forth, as +it were, in a most beautiful picture, and in the most lively and +descriptive colours, then take the Psalms into thy hands; this will be +as an all-clear mirror, which will represent to thee the whole church +in its true features; and if thou be one that fears God it will +present to thee a true picture of thyself: so that, according to the +maxim of the philosopher of old, γνωθι σεαυτον, thou wilt, by this book, +come to a true knowledge of thyself, nay, and also of God and all +creatures.</p> + +<p>Let us therefore watch over our hearts, and see that we be thankful in +this our day for this revelation of the word, for this unspeakable +gift of God. Let us use these precious gifts to the glory of God, and +the good of our neighbour, lest we be made to suffer the deserved +punishment of our ingratitude. For not many years ago, during that +barbarous blindness and ignorance, what a treasure should we have had, +if we had possessed one Psalm only, really and truly understood and +set forth; but we had not so much as one! And now we are blessed with +such an abundance of revelation—“Blessed therefore are the eyes which +see the things that we see, and the ears which hear the things that we +hear.” But how do I fear lest, like the Israelites in the desert, we +should at length nauseate this manna and say, “Our souls loathe this +light food.” But however, the despisers of the word shall bear their +judgment, whoever they are, even as the Israelites bore the awful +judgments wherewith God punished them. But may the Father of all +mercies and the God of all consolation, keep and increase in us the +knowledge of his word, for Jesus Christ our Lord’s sake: to whom, for +this Book of Psalms, and for all the excellent gifts which he has +richly bestowed upon us, be praise and glory, for ever and ever! Amen!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>MARTIN LUTHER’S INTRODUCTORY ADMONITION.</h3> +<br> + +<p>Before I commence my S<small>UMMARIES</small>, or <small>SUBJECT-CONTENTS</small> of the Psalms, I +would desire the reader to bear in mind that the Psalms contained in +this Book of David are of five different kinds.</p> + +<p>1. Some Psalms are Prophecies concerning Christ, the church, the +different states of the church, and the various afflictions of the +saints, &c. To this class belong all those Psalms which contain +promises and threatenings,—promises concerning the deliverances and +salvation of the godly; and threatenings concerning the destruction of +the wicked.</p> + +<p>2. There are some Psalms which teach us what we ought to do, and what +we ought not to do, according to the law of God. To this kind belong +all those Psalms which condemn human doctrines, and extol the majesty +and authority of the word of God.</p> + +<p>3. There are Psalms of consolation; which comfort and lift up the +hearts of those who are distressed, tempted, and afflicted by Satan +and the world: and which, on the other hand, rebuke and terrify +tyrants. To this class belong all those Psalms which minister +consolation to the godly, and threaten the oppressors with the +judgments of God.</p> + +<p>4. There are supplicatory Psalms, wherein the prophet and others in +their afflictions call upon God in prayer and implore his help. To +this class belong all those Psalms which complain of persecutions from +the wicked.</p> + +<p>5. There are also Psalms of thanksgiving; wherein thanks are rendered +to God for all his mercies and benefits, and for his deliverance in +various times of need. To this class belong all those Psalms which +celebrate the praises of God and laud him for his works. These are the +principal Psalms in the whole Book; and these peculiarly come under +the denomination of Psalms: for the whole Book was expressly written +to praise God and to worship him according to the First Commandment. +Hence, in the Hebrew, the Book is called <small>SEPHER IL CHILLIM</small>: that is, +the Book of Praises and Thanksgivings.</p> + +<p>The reader, however, is to bear in mind also, that the Psalms are not +to be understood in a superstitious manner. He is not to suppose that +every Psalm must be divided into these five particulars in certain +verses; for some Psalms contain two of these particulars, some three, +and some all five of them: for, very often, the same Psalm contains +prophecy, doctrine, consolation, supplication and thanksgiving. But I +have just made these remarks, that the reader may know that the Psalms +contain these five particulars; for knowing that, is of great help, +not only to the understanding of them, but to the perceiving of their +order, to the bearing of them in memory, and to the perfect knowledge +of them.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>THE BOOK OF PSALMS.</h2> +<br> +<hr align="center" width="100"> +<br> + +<h3>PSALM I.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The happiness of the godly.—The unhappiness of the ungodly.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, +nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the +scornful.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But his delight <i>is</i> in the law of the L<small>ORD</small>; and in his law doth he +meditate day and night.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that +bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not +wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The ungodly <i>are</i> not so: but <i>are</i> like the chaff which the wind +driveth away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in +the congregation of the righteous.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the +ungodly shall perish.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This first is a Psalm of consolation; by which the hearts of the godly +are encouraged and stirred up to magnify above all things the word of +God, in which the whole of true life and salvation stands; and to +hear, read, weigh, and meditate on it with a willingness of mind. For +this Psalm shows, that those only are truly blessed, prosperous in all +things, and enjoy a firm, sure, and eternal consolation both in +prosperity and adversity, who are enabled to learn and know, from his +word, the will and the works of God.</p> + +<p>Thus, as a tall palm-tree by the water-side continually grows upwards +higher and higher against all the violence of storms, retains its +strength against all the weights that man can put upon it, and, by a +secret growth, becomes daily more and more flourishing, and brings +forth its fruits in its season; so, saith this Psalm, do the saints +increase and grow continually by the Spirit and word; so are they +rendered more and more firm and constant, and invincible against every +evil; so do they daily become more fortified against all the +calamities of life.</p> + +<p>This Psalm denies, on the other hand, that any knowledge of God or any +true consolation can be derived from human doctrines, how fair a show +soever they may make. The wicked, (saith it,) and hypocrites, are like +the chaff that is scattered by the wind: that is, the wicked are +utterly destroyed by afflictions, at least in death; they endure not +in temptation, but by and by separate themselves from the assembly of +the righteous, and at length come to nought.</p> + +<p>God looks upon those alone who worship him by hearing, learning, and +declaring his word; and these are they whom this Psalm pronounces +“blessed.” He disregards all the rest, who are hypocrites and +pharisaical worshippers; he despises all their good works and +worshippings, and leaves them to perish in their blindness.</p> + +<p>This Psalm flows from the Third Commandment, and has respect unto that +which is there written: “Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath +day;” that is, that thou hear, read, meditate on, and ponder the word +of God. And the sum of this Psalm is comprehended in the Lord’s +Prayer, in the second and third petitions, where we pray, that the +kingdom of God may increase and be edified by his word, and at length +be revealed in its perfection, and that his will may be done: and both +of these petitions are answered, when the word of God, which abideth +for ever, is purely taught and learnt, and seriously and diligently +used and pondered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM II.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The kingdom of Christ.—Kings are exhorted to accept it.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel +together, against the L<small>ORD</small>, and against his Anointed, <i>saying</i>,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the L<small>ORD</small> shall have them +in derision.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore +displeasure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will declare the decree: the L<small>ORD</small> hath said unto me, Thou <i>art</i> my +Son; this day have I begotten thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ask of me, and I shall give <i>thee</i> the heathen <i>for</i> thine +inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth <i>for</i> thy +possession.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in +pieces like a potter’s vessel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the +earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Serve the L<small>ORD</small> with fear, and rejoice with trembling.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish <i>from</i> the way, when his +wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed <i>are</i> all they that put their +trust in him.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a remarkable prophecy concerning Christ: it is cited by +the apostles in the Acts, chapter iv.: it predicted that Christ should +suffer, be crucified, and glorified, and that he should be King and +Lord of all creatures; that to him should be given all power both in +heaven and in earth, and that his name should be above every name that +is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come.</p> + +<p>This Psalm contains also a description of the kingdom of Christ and +the terrible threatenings of God against the kings, the princes, the +wise, and the powerful of the world; that they shall all perish, who, +being carried away with the pride of human reason and carnal wisdom, +do not acknowledge this King, Christ, nor obey his gospel; but who +oppose his kingdom, and endeavour to blot out his name.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, this Psalm contains most consoling promises, +namely, that he that sitteth in the heavens, (in comparison of whom +all the kings of the earth are mere worms,) holds in derision, and in +a moment defeats, all their counsels and all their crafty devices +against his word and this kingdom of Christ; and that he ever +powerfully and miraculously saves, preserves, delivers, and prospers +believers, and the whole church throughout the world, in the midst of +the kingdom of the devil, and against all the powers and the gates of +hell.</p> + +<p>This Psalm flows from the First Commandment; where God declares that +he alone will be our God, to save us and deliver us from all +afflictions. Thus, it was he alone that delivered us, through Christ, +from sin, from death, from the power of the devil, and from hell, and +gave unto us eternal life. This pertains to the second petition of the +Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM III.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The security of God’s protection.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his +son.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, how are they increased that trouble me? many <i>are</i> they that +rise up against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many <i>there be</i> which say of my soul, <i>There is</i> no help for him in +God. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>art</i> a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of +mine head.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I cried unto the L<small>ORD</small> with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy +hill. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I laid me down and slept; I awaked: for the L<small>ORD</small> sustained me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set +<i>themselves</i> against me round about.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O L<small>ORD</small>; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine +enemies <i>upon</i> the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the +ungodly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Salvation <i>belongeth</i> unto the L<small>ORD</small>: thy blessing is upon thy people. +Selah.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer of David in the time of his greatest +affliction, and under the severest trial he ever experienced. And here +we have set before us a signal example of this greatest and most +spiritual of men—David; how he, in the time of Absalom, when all +Israel revolted from him and went over to Absalom; how this eminent +saint, I say, who was now an exile, forsaken by all, betrayed by those +of his own household, and in the midst of the most appalling peril of +his own life and salvation; how, when sinking under this heavy +calamity, and struggling in this agony, he prayed unto God in faith; +and what a fervency of heart there was in these his cries unto him.</p> + +<p>In a word,—in this Psalm, David, with a wonderful feeling of mind, and +a signal experience of faith, extols, in the highest strains, the +greatness of the long-suffering and goodness of God, when he says, +“Salvation is of the Lord!” As if he had said, The Lord is he alone +who has all salvation in his hand, and all the issues of life and +death. He sets up and changes kingdoms in a moment, just as he wills. +No peril is so great, no death so instant, from which he cannot +deliver his own, if they but call upon him in true faith, and flee +unto him alone.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment, wherein it is said, +“I am the Lord thy God;” and it is comprehended in the seventh +petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray, “Deliver us from evil.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM IV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David prayeth for audience.—He reproveth and exhorteth his +enemies.—Man’s happiness is in God’s favour.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician on Neginoth. A Psalm of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me +<i>when I was</i> in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O ye sons of men, how long <i>will ye turn</i> my glory into shame? <i>how +long</i> will ye love vanity, <i>and</i> seek after leasing? Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But know that the L<small>ORD</small> hath set apart him that is godly for himself: +the Lord will hear when I call unto him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, +and be still. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>There be</i> many that say, Who will shew us <i>any</i> good? L<small>ORD</small>, lift thou +up the light of thy countenance upon us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time <i>that</i> their +corn and their wine increased.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, L<small>ORD</small>, only +makest me dwell in safety.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation: yet it at the same time teaches us to +bear afflictions patiently, to expect the help of God, and to trust in +him in all adversities. For that greatest of all wisdom, true and real +Christian wisdom, is unknown to the world: which wisdom is, to learn +and to know, by daily temptations and by various trials of faith, that +God exercises his people in all these afflictions, to the end that +they may understand his will; and that his design in exposing them to +the all-bitter hatred of the world and the devil, is, that he might +save, deliver, comfort, strengthen, and glorify them in a wonderful +manner, in the midst of perils, and even in death itself; and that he +might make known his conflicting church as being invincible, through +faith and the word, in the midst of the kingdom of the devil, against +all the storms of the world, and under all the clouds, darkness, and +tempests of temptations of every kind.</p> + +<p>This Psalm also most severely strikes at all hypocrites and wicked men +of every description, who, before the eyes of the world, would have us +believe that they are the only true saints and the people of God; who +even say that they worship God, while they know nothing of him; for in +the time of affliction, they tremble with cowardly fear, and +impatiently mutter in their hearts against God and his holy will; they +soon forget his words and his works, and, wickedly forsaking him who +alone is able to comfort them, cease from expecting his aid, hate the +cross, and seek for human consolation: whereas, there is no sure +consolation to be obtained either from friends or from all the +resources of human help; for in God alone is sure consolation; and +that is all-sure, and eternal; which no creature can take away, either +in this world or in that which is to come.</p> + +<p>This peace and consolation of God, however, is not like the peace of +the world. For, “Know ye, (saith David) that the Lord dealeth +wonderfully with his saints:” he casts them down, that he may raise +them up; he afflicts them that he may minister consolation unto them; +he humbles them that he may exalt them; he makes them sorrowful that +he may make them glad: in a word, he kills them that he may make them +alive.</p> + +<p>The agonizing struggles of the godly, therefore, in this life against +sin, and the devil who unceasingly assaults them, and desires to sift +them as wheat, are their exercises of faith and patience: from which +exercises those that fear God learn more satisfactorily to know his +presence;—that he is ever present with them; and that he will never +leave nor forsake those that believe in him, but will ever +marvellously deliver, save and rescue them from all their deaths and +destructions.</p> + +<p>But the wicked and hypocrites, how much soever they may talk about God +with their lips, yet hate God, and hate this his will in the +afflictions of his saints; as it is written in the first +commandment—“Unto them that hate me.” And again, as Paul saith—“Whose God is their +belly.” These characters wish first, and above all things, that all +theirs,—their fortunes, their property, their friends, should be safe; +and they trust in their riches and possessions. All such, therefore, +deride this doctrine of faith: and if any one should preach to such +this patience, and this word of the cross, they would laugh at it, and +would boast of their holiness and religion in opposition to those who +truly fear God. They would say, ‘What! are we to be taught what is +right by such a fool as you? Are you to teach us what is good, and +what the true worship of God is?’</p> + +<p>This Psalm also pertains to the First Commandment. It teaches us to +trust in God both in prosperity and adversity, and patiently to wait +for his help, calling upon him with earnestness and constancy. The +subject matter of this Psalm is contained in the third and seventh +petition of the Lord’s Prayer—“Thy will be done,” and “Deliver us from +evil:” and also in the fourth, where we pray, “that there may be given +us our daily bread:” that is, peace, and all those things that are +required unto the sustaining of this life, against all the various +evils of poverty, hunger, and want; with which things the devil, in an +especial manner, exercises the church of God in this world.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM V.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth, and professeth his study in prayer.—God favoureth not +the wicked.—David, professing his faith, prayeth unto God to guide +him—and to preserve the godly.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth. A Psalm of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Give ear to my words, O L<small>ORD</small>; consider my meditation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee +will I pray.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O L<small>ORD</small>; in the morning will I +direct <i>my prayer</i> unto thee, and will look up.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou <i>art</i> not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness; neither +shall evil dwell with thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of +iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the L<small>ORD</small> will abhor the +bloody and deceitful man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But as for me, I will come <i>into</i> thy house in the multitude of thy +mercy; <i>and</i> in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lead me, O L<small>ORD</small>, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies; make +thy way straight before my face.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For <i>there is</i> no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part <i>is</i> +very wickedness; their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with +their tongue.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels: cast +them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have +rebelled against thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever +shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love +thy name be joyful in thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou, L<small>ORD</small>, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou +compass him as <i>with</i> a shield.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is an earnest prayer against that most destructive +pestilence in the church—false teachers: and all ages, from Cain, the +first man that was born, the first hypocrite after the creation of +Adam, and the first “man of blood,” have had their Cainish saints, +their false prophets, their false apostles, and their fanatic spirits; +who have taught their own human dreams, and their own traditions for +the word of God, and resolutely contended for their own Cainish +holiness, ever burning with an insatiable thirst to drink the blood of +the Abels, the true saints: and these Christ has called, in his +gospel, “vipers.”</p> + +<p>It is at the blasphemies of these against God, and their cruelty +towards men, that this Psalm strikes; and openly exposes the persons +themselves as most virulent hypocrites, in whose doctrine and works +there is nothing but outside daubing, nothing but doubting and +disquietude, and a whole slaughter-house of consciences. These +characters suppress the true word, the doctrine of faith, and the true +worship of God; namely, the worship required by the First Commandment: +and there is no end to their rage against those that fear God: they +cause horrid devastations in the church, and load her with an infinity +of injuries.</p> + +<p>Against the destructive influence of these, therefore, David prays in +this Psalm;—that it would please God to prevent the persecuting and +Cain-like counsels of such hypocrites, and all crafty and +blood-thirsty characters of the kind, and, amid all this bitter and +furious hatred of the world and the devil, and such an infinity of +cruelty in all their adversaries, to defend, comfort, prop up, and +protect the godly; to confound the hypocrisy of the wicked, to root +out all false worship; to cause the true word and the true worship of +God to spread and flourish, and to glorify the true church in the face +of the false one, under all the outward daubing and show of the +latter.</p> + +<p>In the last verse, David appends a most glorious promise;—that, +although those who truly fear God are cruelly treated by those +hypocrites, it shall yet come to pass that the godly shall at length +rejoice that their prayers are heard, and shall see the judgments of +God openly fall upon the hypocrites and fanatics, and the true church +defended and preserved.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the Second and Third Commandments of the +Decalogue, and to the first and second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer; +where we pray “that the name of the Lord may be sanctified and +glorified,” against the pride and gloryings of such hypocrites.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM VI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David’s complaint in his sickness.—By faith he triumpheth over his +enemies.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, on Neginoth upon Sheminith. A +Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot +displeasure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have mercy upon me, O L<small>ORD</small>; for I <i>am</i> weak: O L<small>ORD</small>, heal me; for my +bones are vexed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O L<small>ORD</small>, how long?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Return, O L<small>ORD</small>, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For in death <i>there is</i> no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall +give thee thanks?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I +water my couch with my tears.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all +mine enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the L<small>ORD</small> hath heard +the voice of my weeping.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath heard my supplication; +the L<small>ORD</small> will receive my prayer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return <i>and</i> +be ashamed suddenly.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer full of those mental exercises that are felt +under the deepest and most secret temptations which can only be known +by experience, because no words can describe them; for they are those +feelings under which the saints agonize in those bitter and +unutterable conflicts which are wholly unknown to the world: they are +those feelings, I say, under which they agonize when struggling with +sin, the law, and the wrath and judgment of God: all which are +experienced in the hours of darkness, while the devil is horribly +tempting and pressing in upon them.</p> + +<p>These internal fears and terrors, under which all the godly agonize +and sweat, will, of necessity, one day wholly swallow up the +hypocrites who are destitute of the word. Here it is, that in the +godly, there is an unspeakable conflict of justice with sin; the law, +and wrath of God, with a confidence in his mercy; and faith and hope, +with desperation and despair; though the godly are at length delivered +and saved. These terrors the scripture calls in other places, and +especially in the Psalms, “the pains of hell,” and, “the snares of +death.”</p> + +<p>But this Psalm expressly shews in the end, that the sighs and groans +of the godly under these agonizing conflicts, these pains, and these +straits of soul, shall surely be heard. This Psalm, therefore, and +others like it, open to us a view of the heart of David, and afford +the greatest consolation to the godly. For they shew, that, although +the saints thus deeply agonize under these straits, and under these +terrible and open views of the wrath of God, yet, that these +temptations which appear to be infinite and endless, shall surely have +an end, and that God will never forsake those who fear him, in their +terrors and conflicts with death and hell.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the prophet, in this Psalm, with a wonderful zeal +of spirit, and with the most cutting sharpness and severity, strikes +at all the wicked of the world: and, above all, he condemns all secure +hypocrites and pharisaical ministers; calling them, notwithstanding +their outward appearance of being saints,—“workers of iniquity;” who +persecute all afflicted and true Christians with the bitterness of +Cain, and cease not to hate them with all the virulence of Satan; +adding grief to their grief, and affliction to their affliction.</p> + +<p>‘Away with ye,’ saith he, ‘ye hypocrites. I have learnt that I have a +God to go to; but ye are ignorant both of God and of his works. Ye +know not what an awful weight the wrath of God is, and how great and +soul-refreshing a thing the remission of sins, the knowledge of +eternal life, and the experience of grace, are. Ye worship God with +your mouths and with your lips; ye trust in your own righteousnesses +and works, not knowing what God and what sin are; and therefore ye are +most cruel and most bitter enemies to the word and true worship of +God; in which worship, the greatest and most acceptable sacrifice is a +spirit thus pressed into straits and afflicted.’</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the First and Second Commandment; it +contains the agonizing conflict of faith, and calls upon God against +the force of sin and death. And it refers also to the first petition +of the Lord’s Prayer; as do also the other supplicatory Psalms. For, +to supplicate and pray, is to sanctify and call upon the name of the +Lord.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM VII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David prayeth against the malice of his enemies, professing his +innocency.—By faith he seeth his defence, and the destruction of his +enemies.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the L<small>ORD</small>, concerning the words +of Cush the Benjamite.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that +persecute me, and deliver me;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending <i>it</i> in pieces, while <i>there +is</i> none to deliver.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I +have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy;)</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take <i>it;</i> yea, let him tread +down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O L<small>ORD</small>, in thine anger; lift up thyself, because of the rage of +mine enemies; and awake for me <i>to</i> the judgment <i>that</i> thou hast +commanded.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their +sakes, therefore, return thou on high.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall judge the people: judge me, O L<small>ORD</small>, according to my +righteousness, and according to mine integrity <i>that is</i> in me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the +just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My defence <i>is</i> of God, which saveth the upright in heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry <i>with the wicked</i> every +day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow and made +it ready.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth +his arrows against the persecutors.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and +brought forth falsehood.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch <i>which</i> he +made.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing +shall come down upon his own pate.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise the L<small>ORD</small> according to his righteousness: and will sing +praise to the name of the L<small>ORD</small> Most High.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer against that common and usual blasphemy with which +the world accuses the prophets, apostles, and all others who fear God, +as being seditious persons, who destroy the peace and general +tranquility of the state: as Shimei bitterly upbraided David, when +under that heavy affliction in the time of Absalom, calling him a +bloody man, and saying that he had invaded the kingdom of Saul, &c. In +the same way the Jews accused Christ before Pilate. And in the same +way also now do certain hypocrites,—bishops and other enemies, against +all conscience, brand the professors of the gospel with the +appellation of ‘seditious persons.’</p> + +<p>Against all trials of this kind, which are indeed most bitter to bear, +the prophet fights by prayer unto God, calling upon God to bear +witness to his innocency. And then, to encourage and comfort all that +fear God, he shews, that all who thus pray are heard; and he sets +forth himself as an example.</p> + +<p>Lastly, he threatens a horrid, sudden, and momentary judgment to those +hypocrites and tyrants, who thus rage against the godly with the most +bitter hatred: and he signifies that all such shall in the end perish +like Absalom, who was cut off and died in a new, sudden, and dreadful +way, in the midst of his furious career, before he could accomplish +that which he had planned.</p> + +<p>This Psalm refers to the second precept in the Decalogue, and to the +first petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM VIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>God’s glory is magnified by his works, and by his love to man.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Gittith. A Psalm of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> our Lord, how excellent <i>is</i> thy name in all the earth! who +hast set thy glory above the heavens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, +because of thine enemies; that thou mightest still the enemy and the +avenger.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers; the moon and the +stars, which thou hast ordained;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What <i>is</i> man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that +thou visitest him?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast +crowned him with glory and honour.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands: thou +hast put all <i>things</i> under his feet:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, <i>and whatsoever</i> passeth +through the paths of the seas.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning Christ,—concerning his passion, his +resurrection, and his dominion over all creatures; and it is thus that +the apostle cites it, Ephes. i. with reference to the kingdom of +Christ: where he foretels, that the power and might of his kingdom +will be invincible against all enemies, how violent soever they may be +in their determination to wreak their vengeance:—that is, that he will +be victoriously mighty against all the wise and the powerful of the +world, and against all hypocrites and pharisaical saints:—that he will +be invincible and victorious, I say, not by arms, nor by mighty forces +of horse and foot, but by the word of his gospel; which shall be +preached by “babes and sucklings,” (that is, by humble men, men who +are weak and contemptible in the sight of the world,) and believed in +by his church of poor, afflicted, crying, and complaining +creatures:—that this word of the gospel, I repeat, preached and believed in by +such poor creatures, shall nevertheless confound all the wisdom of the +world, and break and crush under it all the strength of the world, and +that no creature power whatever shall impede it in its work and +course, but that it shall stand firmer than the heaven, or the sun, or +the moon, and shall endure for evermore!</p> + +<p>This Psalm pertains to the First Commandment, where God declares that +he will be our God: and also to the second petition of the Lord’s +Prayer, as I have before observed under Psalm II.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM IX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David praiseth God for executing of judgment.—He inciteth others to +praise him.—He prayeth that he may have cause to praise him.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben. A Psalm of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will praise <i>thee</i>, O L<small>ORD</small>, with my whole heart; I will shew forth +all thy marvellous works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O +thou Most High.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy +presence.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the +throne judging right.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou +hast put out their name for ever and ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O thou enemy! destructions are come to a perpetual end; and thou hast +destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the L<small>ORD</small> shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for +judgment;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister +judgment to the people in uprightness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of +trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, +L<small>ORD</small>, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing praises to the L<small>ORD</small>, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the +people his doings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he +forgetteth not the cry of the humble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have mercy upon me, O L<small>ORD</small>; consider my trouble <i>which I suffer</i> of +them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of +Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The heathen are sunk down in the pit <i>that</i> they made: in the net +which they hid is their own foot taken.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> is known <i>by</i> the judgment <i>which</i> he executeth: the wicked +is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked shall be turned into hell, <i>and</i> all the nations that +forget God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the +poor shall <i>not</i> perish for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O L<small>ORD</small>; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy +sight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Put them in fear, O L<small>ORD</small>; <i>that</i> the nations may know themselves <i>to +be but</i> men. Selah.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy: its title is “concerning the beautiful +youth:” that is, concerning the children that are born anew in Christ, +the people of God and the church of God. For the people and sons of +God, and his new-born children by faith in Christ, must be conformed +to the image of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>Christians and the true sons of God are variously afflicted in the +world; and the blood of the innocents is daily shed by the fury and +cruelty of Satan, raging against the word and the works of God. These +are the flourishing and undefiled youth, the sons and children of God, +of whom the title of the Psalm speaks; who are blameless, without +rebuke, and babes in the midst of wolves, and among a perverse +generation.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has its striking descriptions of persons: and the prophecy +which it contains is written in the manner of a thanksgiving: and +therefore it may be numbered among the consolatory Psalms. For, (as is +generally the case with these spiritual canticles and songs,) the +Prophet here speaks in his own person, and in that of all the saints +also who are afflicted for the word of God’s sake: all of whom give +thanks with wonderful sensations of heart, that God does not forsake +his own. But God requires, at times, the tears and the blood of the +saints: though he preserves and saves his Church, and renders her +invincible against sword or fire, and against all the power of enemies +temporal or spiritual, nay, in the midst of blood and death; and he +raises her up, as it were, from the blood, slaughter, and ashes of the +saints, and makes her flourish again and increase the more, in a +wonderful manner, in this and that part of the world: so that many, +even of the most bitter enemies, have been converted to the faith, and +even a Saul has been made a Paul; and sometimes also the judgments of +God have fallen on the wicked, and they have perished before the eyes +of the godly.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment of the Decalogue, +and to the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, as we have observed +concerning the preceding Psalm.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM X.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David complaineth to God of the outrage of the wicked.—He prayeth for +remedy.—He professeth his confidence.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Why standest thou afar off, O L<small>ORD</small>? <i>Why</i> hidest thou <i>thyself</i> in +times of trouble?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked in <i>his</i> pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken +in the devices that they have imagined.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the +covetous, <i>whom</i> the Lord abhorreth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek <i>after +God:</i> God <i>is</i> not in all his thoughts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His ways are always grievous; thy judgments <i>are</i> far above out of his +sight: <i>as for</i> all his enemies, he puffeth at them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for <i>I shall</i> never +<i>be</i> in adversity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and fraud: under his tongue +<i>is</i> mischief and vanity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places +doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily laid against the poor.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to +catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He croucheth, <i>and</i> humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his +strong ones.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he +will never see <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O L<small>ORD</small>; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou +wilt not require <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast seen <i>it;</i> for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite +<i>it</i> with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art +the helper of the fatherless.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil <i>man:</i> seek out his +wickedness <i>till</i> thou find none.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of +his land.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare +their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth +may no more oppress.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a fervent prayer, and contains complaints of the deepest +concern against Antichrist, that most atrocious enemy of God and the +gospel, who will ever assail and lay waste the church, not by force +and tyranny only, but with all the πανᴕργίᾳ of Satan, all his frauds +and impostures, and with an infinite variety of outside deception and +hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>This “Man of Sin” is descriptively pourtrayed in the present +Psalm;—that he really rages against the body with the sword, ruins and +destroys souls by his all-crafty and infinite hypocrisy, and with his +sweet poison of false doctrines, and imposing forms of worship; but +that he has no concern whatever about teaching any one kindly and with +gentleness, nor instructing them seriously unto godliness or true +comfort, but has his mouth ever full of cursing and deceit.</p> + +<p>This we have manifested in the kingdom of the Pope, and in the tyranny +of the Romish-church. All those fulminating and thundering +excommunications are mere execrations and <i>cursing</i>, by which he has +wished to make himself, and has succeeded in making himself, +formidable even to kings, under the false pretence of the apostolic +name, and divine authority. And his ‘<i>craft</i>’ and lies are all that +infinite and inexplicable variety of hypocrisy and traditions of men; +together with all that outward whitewash of holiness, and those +deceptive forms of worship, by means of which, and his delusions of +masses at one time, and of indulgences at another, this Antichrist +ceases not to turn to wicked lucre all things human and divine, under +the blasphemous cover and pretext of the name of God.</p> + +<p>In the end of the Psalm we have a consolation; which declares that +such an abomination shall, in the end of the world, be revealed, and, +having been made openly manifest by the sudden judgment of God, shall +be rooted out.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the Second Commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer; as have all the Psalms of supplication.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David encourageth himself in God against his enemies.—The providence +and justice of God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>In the L<small>ORD</small> put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, flee <i>as</i> a bird to +your mountain?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, lo, the wicked bend <i>their</i> bow, they make ready their arrow upon +the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> in his holy temple, the L<small>ORD’S</small> throne <i>is</i> in heaven: +his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth +violence his soul hateth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an +horrible tempest: <i>this shall be</i> the portion of their cup.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the righteous L<small>ORD</small> loveth righteousness; his countenance doth +behold the upright.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a complaint against erroneous and fanatical spirits: of +which kind are all those who in the present day draw men astray from +the pure and true doctrine of faith, and from the true worship of God, +(which stands in true faith and the fear of God in the heart,) to +hypocrisy, which has always an outward show of something great and +wonderful:—these, I say, are the erroneous and fanatics, who thus draw +away men like so many birds, and make them fly over to their +mountains: that is, make them turn easily over to hypocrisy, and +white-wash holiness, which, in outward show, appears to be something +great and wonderful, and a firm rock, whereas it is all a thing of +nought.</p> + +<p>David ascribes to these characters that which is the peculiar +characteristic of hypocrites,—that they arrogantly, proudly, and with +high looks, despise and deride the truly godly. What, say they, can +that righteous one, that fine fellow of a Christian, that poor +miserable creature, do?</p> + +<p>In the end we have a consolation that God will certainly hear, and +regard the afflicted; that he will be present with them, and show them +by manifest tokens of his hand that he will not forsake them, and that +he will, by horrible judgment, take vengeance on scoffers of this +kind; on these pharisees and other enemies of David.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the Second precept of the Decalogue, and +to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, destitute of human comfort, craveth help of God.—He comforteth +himself with God’s judgments on the wicked, and confidence in God’s +tried promises.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Sheminith, a Psalm of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Help, L<small>ORD</small>; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from +among the children of men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: <i>with</i> flattering lips +<i>and</i> with a double heart do they speak.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall cut off all flattering lips, <i>and</i> the tongue that +speaketh proud things;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who have said, with our tongue will we prevail; our lips <i>are</i> our +own: who <i>is</i> lord over us?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will +I arise, saith the L<small>ORD</small>; I will set <i>him</i> in safety <i>from him that</i> +puffeth at him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The words of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>are</i> pure words: <i>as</i> silver tried in a furnace +of earth, purified seven times.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt keep them, O L<small>ORD</small>, thou shalt preserve them from this +generation for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer containing a heavy complaint against them, who, +introduce human doctrines instead of the word of God, and who, +afterwards, by various new traditions and forms of worship disturb the +church, and fill all things with a white-wash show of religion, and +with the outward daubing of pharisaism and hypocrisy, so that wicked +men and hypocrites reign on every side, as the last verse complains. +For when human doctrines have once invaded the church, they go on to +rage far and wide, and spread in all directions like a cancer; there +is no end to their corruption and destructive influence; they take +possession of all things and wonderfully vex and torment consciences: +so that the number of the true saints and of those that truly fear God +is few and small indeed: of this the infinite variety of papistical +hypocrisy affords a manifest example.</p> + +<p>But we are consoled and comforted under all these afflictions by the +consideration that God always raises up in his church, sometimes in +this place and sometimes in that, his salvation; that is, his word and +gospel; which, while the prophets, apostles, and other ministers +throughout the world, boldly and plainly teach against all heresy, +they detect and bring to light false doctrines, and overturn all false +worship; for where the salvation of God is, (that is, the saving word +of Christ and his gospel) it burns up and consumes, like a +suddenly-kindled fire, all the chaff and straw of human traditions, +and delivers oppressed consciences.</p> + +<p>This, however, never takes place without afflictions, and the cross in +various forms. But as gold and silver are proved by the fire, so the +true knowledge and purity of the word is not preserved in the church +but by means of the truly spiritual and godly, who for the word’s sake +are exercised without and within by Satan, with various temptations: +for these, like gold, are proved in the fire, and thus grow daily and +flourish in the knowledge of the gospel, and the great things of God.</p> + +<p>This Psalm refers to the second and third precept of the Decalogue, +and to the first and second petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David complaineth of delay in help.—He prayeth for preventing +grace.—He boasteth of divine mercy.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>How long wilt thou forget me, O L<small>ORD</small>? for ever? how long wilt thou +hide thy face from me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How long shall I take counsel in my soul, <i>having</i> sorrow in my heart +daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Consider <i>and</i> hear me, O L<small>ORD</small> my God; lighten mine eyes lest I sleep +the <i>sleep</i> of death;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; <i>and</i> those that +trouble me rejoice when I am moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy +salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will sing unto the L<small>ORD</small>, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer full of the sighings and groanings of an afflicted +heart in the hour of darkness, and almost overwhelmed, under that +darkness, with the extreme of grief and sorrow, and driven to the +greatest strait of mind. Of which sorrow the spirit of sadness +himself, the devil, is the author, who casts the unwary into these +temptations and perturbations in a moment, when he finds them unarmed +with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God; which unarmed state he +himself causes by turning away our eyes from the promises and the word +of God, to look at the incredible ingratitude and iniquity of the +world, at the perplexed variety of offences, and at the greatness of +the perils which must be undergone for the sake of God’s word and of +his holy name. For it cannot be but that even a man of a sound mind +must be thrown into tribulation when he considers with what infernal +arts, with what stratagems of deceit, and with what bitter and Cainish +hatred, Satan and wicked men oppose themselves to the word of God; and +then, what fallings away and what monstrous instances of ingratitude +there are among those who pretend to be with us; all which offences +Satan raises up through the instrumentality of those who are unwilling +to appear not to be followers of godliness.</p> + +<p>But the prayer of the church has great power; it breaks through and +victoriously overcomes all hatred, all perils, and all snares, how +craftily soever they may be laid; and faith is more powerful than any +violence or storm of temptation. “This (saith John) is the victory +that overcometh the world, even our faith.” And this Psalm gives us an +example of that faith which enables us to stand fast in the midst of +death, and not to doubt that God is able, and will deliver us from our +terrible straits, and comfort us after all our fears; and which +teaches to believe that we shall struggle through all our distress +victoriously, though it may appear to be endless, if we do but turn +ourselves away from all dark and dismal appearances of things, lay +hold of that which is true and real, and lift ourselves up against the +weight that lays upon us, by resting in the consolation of the word of +the Lord: as James saith, “Is any afflicted, let him pray.”</p> + +<p>This Psalm also refers to the second precept, and to the first and +last petition of the Lord’s Prayer; where we pray “Hallowed be thy +name,” and “Deliver us from evil.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David describeth the corruption of a natural man.—He convinceth the +wicked by the light of their conscience.—He glorieth in the salvation +of God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The fool hath said in his heart, <i>There</i> is no God. They are corrupt; +they have done abominable works; <i>there is</i> none that doeth good.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if +there were any that did understand, <i>and</i> seek God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They are all gone aside, they are <i>all</i> together become filthy: <i>there +is</i> none that doeth good, no, not one.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people +<i>as</i> they eat bread, and call not upon the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There were they in great fear: for God <i>is</i> in the generation of the +righteous.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the L<small>ORD</small> is his +refuge.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that the salvation of Israel <i>were come</i> out of Zion! when the L<small>ORD</small> +bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, <i>and</i> +Israel shall be glad.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy; and it also teaches us, that all human +doctrines and works without faith are an abomination in the sight of +God; and that the God of all such hypocrites (of which kind are the +pope and his papists) is their belly; for they serve their belly, not +God or Christ, and devour widow’s houses.</p> + +<p>But such hypocrites, although they have always in their mouth the name +of God, and boast of the law and the works of the law, know not what +the true worship of God is, but always hate and persecute the name and +word of God, but the true doctrine, concerning faith and the fear of +God, they will not hear.</p> + +<p>Against such characters as these we must fight by prayer; which prayer +will certainly be heard, as is intimated in the last verse of this +Psalm, which promises the kingdom and dominion of Christ. For this +Psalm especially strikes at those seemingly holy pharisees, those +teachers of the law, who, before the coming of Christ, by enforcing +works and the righteousness of the law, were cruel torturers, and +tormented men’s consciences. And this Psalm promises that wished-for +day of Christ, and the redemption that should be wrought by his +coming. For the gospel was revealed from Zion, and the Spirit was +poured out upon the apostles at Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>This Psalm has reference to the First and Second Commandment: for it +gloriously exalts the word of God and promises the day of salvation, +that is, of Christ: but it rebukes hypocrites who despise the true +worship of God, and his faith and fear, and who serve not God but +their own belly. And it refers also to the first and second petition +of the Lord’s Prayer: where we pray, “Hallowed be thy name; Thy +kingdom come.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David describeth a citizen of Zion.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy +hill?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the +truth in his heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>He that</i> backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his +neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that +fear the L<small>ORD</small>. <i>He that</i> sweareth to <i>his own</i> hurt, and changeth not.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>He that</i> putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward +against the innocent. He that doeth these <i>things</i> shall never be +moved.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm strikes at the hypocrites who say that holiness stands in +the pretended works of the law of God, or in the vain and foolish +works of human invention and tradition; and it teaches us how to +understand the law of God rightly, and to live godly and righteously. +It shows us that we are to walk in the spirit and to mortify the +desires of the flesh. For the sum of all godliness is this;—to love +and worship God with a pure heart by faith, and then, to direct our +lives for the good of our neighbour; and to avoid all those things +which militate against these two; that is, to shun all hypocrisy and +pretended holiness, which militates against both faith and love: for +such an one is ignorant of the true worship of God, and neglects all +truly good works, which should be done for the benefit of his +neighbour.</p> + +<p>It has reference to the Third Commandment of the Decalogue, concerning +keeping holy the sabbath day, which is done when we hear and learn the +word. And it refers also to the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XVI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, in distrust of merits, and hatred of idolatry, fleeth to God +for preservation.—He sheweth the hope of his calling, of the +resurrection, and life everlasting.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>Michtam of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>O my soul</i>, thou hast said unto the L<small>ORD</small>, Thou <i>art</i> my Lord: my +goodness <i>extendeth</i> not to thee;</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>But</i> to the saints that <i>are</i> in the earth, and <i>to</i> the excellent, +in whom <i>is</i> all my delight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their sorrows shall be multiplied <i>that</i> hasten <i>after</i> another <i>god;</i> +their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their +names into my lips.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou +maintainest my lot.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant <i>places;</i> yea, I have a +goodly heritage.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will bless the L<small>ORD</small>, who hath given me counsel: my reins also +instruct me in the night-seasons.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have set the L<small>ORD</small> always before me: because <i>he is</i> at my right +hand, I shall not be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also +shall rest in hope.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer +thine Holy One to see corruption.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence <i>is</i> fulness of +joy; at thy right hand <i>there are</i> pleasures for evermore.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the passion and resurrection of Christ; +and the apostles quote it, Acts ii. and xiii. as having a striking +reference to Christ.</p> + +<p>This is a glorious Psalm and a precious jewel among all the Psalms on +this account,—because it shows forth in clear words that all that +splendid and magnificent worship of the law of Moses, its sacrifices, +its sabbath worship, its circumcision, in all which the Jews so +unceasingly boasted, is done away with by the gospel; for in the +fourth verse, David plainly says, that those who follow works and the +righteousness of the law, follow strange gods and idols: and he shows +that the Jews, although a sacred people, should be rejected, and +another people chosen, even a people who should believe in Christ, who +were the true elect, inheritance, and peculiar people of God.</p> + +<p>This Psalm also has reference to the First, Second, and Third +Commandments; for it foretels a new glory of God, a new work and word, +and that new kind of worship which was to be revealed to the world: +and it refers also to the first and second petitions of the Lord’s +Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XVII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, in confidence of his integrity, craveth defence of God against +his enemies.—He sheweth their pride, craft, and eagerness.—He prayeth +against them in confidence of his hope.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Prayer of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear the right, O L<small>ORD</small>, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, +<i>that goeth</i> not out of feigned lips.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold +the things that are equal.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited <i>me</i> in the night; thou +hast tried me, <i>and</i> shalt find nothing; I am purposed <i>that</i> my mouth +shall not transgress.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept <i>me +from</i> the paths of the destroyer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hold up my goings in thy paths, <i>that</i> my footsteps slip not.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine +ear unto me, <i>and hear</i> my speech.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right +hand them which put their trust <i>in thee</i>, from those that rise up +<i>against them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy +wings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>From the wicked that oppress me, <i>from</i> my deadly enemies, <i>who</i> +compass me about.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak +proudly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes +bowing down to the earth;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Like as a lion <i>that</i> is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young +lion lurking in secret places.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O L<small>ORD</small>, disappoint him, cast him down; deliver my soul from the +wicked, <i>which is</i> thy sword:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>From men <i>which are</i> thy hand, O L<small>ORD</small>, from men of the world, <i>which +have</i> their portion in <i>this</i> life, and whose belly thou fillest with +thy hid <i>treasure</i> they are full of children, and leave the rest of +their substance to their babes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be +satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer against false teachers, and those very delicate +saints, that is, hypocrites, who by their human doctrines, call men +off from the word of God, and hate and persecute the truly godly +teachers. These are the characters whom Paul also calls “enemies of +the cross of Christ:” for they are not willing to suffer anything for +God’s sake, but shun the cross; but make a pretext of the name and +worship of God, and under all the artifices of their hypocrisy, seek +nothing else than earthly advantages, honors, wealth, the favour of +men, and the pleasures and gratifications of the world. Hence David +calls them, in the last verse but one, ‘men of this world,’ and ‘men +of this life.’ Of this kind also are all those animals of the belly in +monasteries, those cumberers of the earth, the monks, and lazy +priests.</p> + +<p>This Psalm also has reference to the Second and Third Commandments, +and to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray +“Hallowed be thy name.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David praiseth God for his manifold and marvellous blessings.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the L<small>ORD</small>, who +spake unto the L<small>ORD</small> the words of this song in the day that the L<small>ORD</small> +delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of +Saul: And he said,</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will love thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, my strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> 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, <i>and</i> my high tower.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will call upon the L<small>ORD</small>, <i>who is worthy</i> to be praised: so shall I +be saved from mine enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made +me afraid.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In my distress I called upon the L<small>ORD</small>, and cried unto my God: he heard +my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, <i>even</i> into +his ears.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills +moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth +devoured: coals were kindled by it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness <i>was</i> under his +feet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings +of the wind.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him <i>were</i> +dark waters <i>and</i> thick clouds of the skies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>At the brightness <i>that was</i> before him his thick clouds passed, hail +<i>stones</i> and coals of fire.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his +voice; hail <i>stones</i> and coals of fire.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out +lightnings and discomfited them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the +world were discovered at thy rebuke, O L<small>ORD</small>, at the blast of the +breath of thy nostrils.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: +for they were too strong for me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the L<small>ORD</small> was my stay.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because +he delighted in me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the +cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I have kept the ways of the L<small>ORD</small>, and have not wickedly departed +from my God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For all his judgments <i>were</i> before me, and I did not put away his +statutes from me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore hath the L<small>ORD</small> recompensed me according to my righteousness, +according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man +thou wilt shew thyself upright.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou +wilt shew thyself froward.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high +looks.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou wilt light my candle: the L<small>ORD</small> my God will enlighten my +darkness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For by thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped +over a wall.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>As for</i> God, his way <i>is</i> perfect: the word of the L<small>ORD</small> is tried: he +<i>is</i> a buckler to all those that trust in him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For who <i>is</i> God save the L<small>ORD</small>? or who <i>is</i> a rock save our God?</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh my feet like hinds’ <i>feet</i> and setteth me upon my high +places.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine +arms.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right +hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them; neither did I turn +again till they were consumed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen +under my feet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast +subdued under me those that rose up against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might +destroy them that hate me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They cried, but <i>there was</i> none to save <i>them:</i> <i>even</i> +unto the L<small>ORD</small>, but he answered them not.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast +them out as the dirt in the streets.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; <i>and</i> thou +hast made me the head of the heathen: a people <i>whom</i> I have not known +shall serve me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall +submit themselves unto me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close +places.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> liveth; and blessed <i>be</i> my rock; and let the God of my +salvation be exalted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people unto me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above +those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent +man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, among the heathen, and +sing praises unto thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Great deliverance giveth he to his king; and sheweth mercy to his +anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in which David gives thanks to God +(as the title of the Psalm shows) because of his deliverance from all +his enemies. And this Psalm I should divide into four parts, for David +had combatted with four kinds of enemies—King Saul, the neighbouring +nations, his son Absalom, and his seditious subjects.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the Psalm, in the first six verses, David +describes the greatness of his perils, his distresses and his straits +in the midst of so many and great afflictions, out of which the Lord +delivered him, “The sorrows of hell (saith he) compassed me about, +&c.”</p> + +<p>Then in the seventh verse, after the manner of the prophets, he +alludes in his song of praise to the deliverance out of Egypt, and to +those mighty works at Mount Sinai and in the Red Sea; intimating, that +as God then powerfully delivered his people from the midst of death, +so, he also more than once had been delivered by the powerful arm and +the high hand of God, again, as it were from the hand of Pharaoh, and +from the midst of surrounding death.</p> + +<p>And then again, when he says verses 16, and 17, “He delivered me from +my strong enemies and from them that were mightier than I,” he alludes +to King Saul, who had persecuted him with hostile hatred and +bitterness for the word of God’s sake, because he was chosen from on +high to be King and to be his successor.</p> + +<p>At verse 28, he celebrates the goodness of God who stands by the +humble and those who are despised by the world and defends them +against the proud and the mighty: as he did in giving David the +victory over Goliah, the Philistines, the Amalekites, and other +nations.</p> + +<p>At verse 34, he intimates something respecting his third and domestic +adversary his son Absalom, who, on that account, was by far the more +dreadful and atrocious enemy.</p> + +<p>Then at verse 42, he gives thanks to God who so wonderfully stood by +him against the crafty counsels and snares of the seditious, of which +kind was Siba and, in the time of Absalom almost the whole of Israel. +For this most excellent and most godly king had many national and +domestic enemies, and seditious citizens; so much so, that, as he +himself here says, many gentile nations were far more kind and +obedient to him than his own people.</p> + +<p>Therefore any afflicted one, especially if in magisterial office, may +use this Psalm in giving thanks to God for his deliverance out of +various perils and distresses which fall upon those who govern the +state, or who are set over the Church.</p> + +<p>And if any one wishes to understand the Psalm allegorically, David +signifies here Christ; Saul signifies the Jews; the nations that +persecuted David, the tyrants of the world who set themselves against +the Gospel; Absalom, heretics who proceed out from us but are not of +us; the seditious subjects, outside-show-Christians who sound forth +Christ with their mouth, but in their heart are far from him: from all +which this afflicted David, that is, Christ and those who are +Christians, are at length delivered.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the second precept of the Decalogue, and to the +first petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The creatures show God’s glory.—The word his grace.—David prayeth for +grace.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament sheweth his +handy-work.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>There is</i> no speech nor language <i>where</i> their voice is not heard.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the +end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which <i>is</i> as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, <i>and</i> rejoiceth +as a strong man to run a race.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His going forth <i>is</i> from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto +the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The law of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> perfect, converting the soul: the testimony +of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> sure, making wise the simple:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The statutes of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>are</i> right, rejoicing the heart: the +commandment of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> pure, enlightening the eyes:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The fear of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of +the L<small>ORD</small> <i>are</i> true <i>and</i> righteous altogether.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>More to be desired <i>are they</i> than gold; yea, than much fine gold; +sweeter also than honey and the honey-comb.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Moreover, by them is thy servant warned: <i>and</i> in keeping of them +<i>there is</i> great reward.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who can understand <i>his</i> errors! cleanse thou me from secret <i>faults</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous <i>sins:</i> let them not have +dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent +from the great transgression.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be +acceptable in thy sight, O L<small>ORD</small>, my strength and my redeemer.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the preaching of the Gospel to every +creature under the whole heaven wherever the wide earth extends. “Day +unto day, (saith David) uttereth the word;” that is, ‘from day to +day;’ or, day and night shall the Gospel be propagated by the voice of +the apostles and the ministers of the word, farther and farther; and +that, not only in Judea but every where in all the earth, and in all +languages throughout the world.—And says David, as by the life-giving +light of the Sun, all things in nature are illuminated, recreated, and +cherished: so this new light, this voice of the Gospel shall illumine +the world, and, by communicating the Spirit, shall revive and purify +the hearts of men, and shall lift up and comfort distressed +consciences.</p> + +<p>Here also David intimates, that the old law which was the ministration +of death was to be done away with; and that the Gospel was to succeed, +which should be the ministration of life and of the Spirit; and which +should be a word sweet and lovely, illumining the eyes and purifying +the heart.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the Third Commandment; for it shews us what is +the true Sabbath, namely, the day or time, in which the Gospel should +be preached throughout the whole world and received by those who +should believe it.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The Church blesseth the King in his exploits.—Her confidence in God’s +succour.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob +defend thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will +set up <i>our</i> banners: the L<small>ORD</small> fulfil all thy petitions.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Now know I that the L<small>ORD</small> saveth his anointed: he will hear him from +his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Some <i>trust</i> in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the +name of the L<small>ORD</small> our God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen and stand upright.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Save, L<small>ORD</small>: let the king hear us when we call.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer for kings, rulers, magistrates, and all who sustain +that most heavy burthen of governing the state:—that God, in such +momentous concerns, to which all human diligence and wisdom are +unequal (as even heathen rulers have confessed from their own +experience), would stand by magistrates when exposed to the hatred of +all, to their secret councils and plans of deceit; and would keep all +subjects in their duty, and give his blessing in the preservation of a +good and happy constitution, and public peace; especially when Satan +with horrible hatred against God and the works of God, is endeavouring +to destroy the constitutions of kingdoms, and to confound all things +with slaughter and blood-shed.</p> + +<p>Those great and eminently spiritual men who produced this and the like +Psalms, plainly saw that such great and important matters could not be +managed and governed by any human wisdom or human counsels; and +therefore they wished to pen forms of prayer of this kind for the +safety of magistrates and transmit them to posterity. For such prayers +as these were especially necessary for the people of God at that time, +when David and other godly rulers after him, were continually +exercised with new enemies and new afflictions, and those the most +severely distressing.—Therefore all Kings and Rulers are fools who do +not seek for, and expect, the happy government and the success of +their affairs from heaven.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the second commandment, as do all the other +supplicatory Psalms; for it contains a calling upon the name of the +Lord. And it belongs also to the third petition of the Lord’s Prayer, +where we pray that the will of God, not of the devil, may be done.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>A thanksgiving for victory.—Confidence of further success.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord: and in thy salvation how +greatly shall he rejoice!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the +request of his lips. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a +crown of pure gold on his head.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He asked life of thee, <i>and</i> thou gavest <i>it</i> him, <i>even</i> length of +days for ever and ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His glory <i>is</i> great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou +laid upon him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him +exceeding glad with thy countenance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the king trusteth in the L<small>ORD</small>; and, through the mercy of the Most +High, he shall not be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies; thy right hand shall find +out those that hate thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the +L<small>ORD</small> shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour +them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from +among the children of men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they intended evil against thee; they imagined a mischievous +device, <i>which</i> they are not able <i>to perform:</i></blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, <i>when</i> thou shalt make +ready <i>thine arrows</i> upon thy strings against the face of them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be thou exalted, L<small>ORD</small>, in thine own strength: <i>so</i> will we sing and +praise thy power.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ;—that his kingdom +shall be temporal and eternal. The beginning of the Psalm gloriously +predicts that it shall come to pass that this king and this people +shall rejoice in this kingdom, and that the glory of it shall be +great. But you must understand that all this will be, not before the +world or according to the flesh, but in God. For Christ entered into +glory through the flesh and by the cross.</p> + +<p>This Psalm foretels also that this kingdom, that is, the Church of +Christ, although afflicted before the world, shall be enriched with +spiritual blessings and glorified; and that this word of grace and the +remission of sins, this joyful and all-sweet Gospel shall be diffused +abroad among all nations, and that the godly and those that believe, +shall rejoice and be glad, and exult in it with a full and perfect +joy, which no creature shall be able to destroy or to take away.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, David shews that the Jews who opposed this counsel +of God, and the whole of their kingdom should be destroyed by the +awful judgment of God, “Thou shalt make them (says he) to turn their +back;” that is, because that people opposed themselves to the Gospel, +and crucified Christ, thou shalt afflict them with heavy calamities; +and, having rejected the people destroyed their kingdom, and having +done away with, and abrogated the whole of their law and worship for +which they so furiously fight, thou shalt reduce them to a miserable +slavery, so that they shall be oppressed under a foreign yoke and +laws, and shall thus suffer the punishment due to their sins.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the first commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer: for it foretells of a people that +should not be under the law of Moses, but in a kingdom of rejoicing +and thanksgiving, and it speaks of a new manner of worship.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David complaineth in great discouragement.—He prayeth in great +distress.—He praiseth God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? <i>why art thou so</i> far from +helping me, <i>and from</i> the words of my roaring?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O my God, I cry in the day-time, but thou hearest not; and in the +night-season, and am not silent.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou <i>art</i> holy, O <i>thou</i> that inhabitest the praises of Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver +them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They cried unto thee, and were delivered; they trusted in thee, and +were not confounded.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I <i>am</i> a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the +people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All they that see me laugh me to scorn; they shoot out the lip, they +shake the head, <i>saying</i>,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He trusted on the L<small>ORD</small> <i>that</i> he would deliver him; let him deliver +him, seeing he delighted in him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou <i>art</i> he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me +hope <i>when I was</i> upon my mother’s breasts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou <i>art</i> my God from my mother’s +belly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be not far from me, for trouble <i>is</i> near; for <i>there</i> is none to +help.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many bulls have compassed me: strong <i>bulls</i> of Bashan have beset me +round.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They gaped upon me <i>with</i> their mouths, <i>as</i> a ravening and a roaring +lion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my +heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my +jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have inclosed +me: they pierced my hands and my feet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But be not thou far from me, O L<small>ORD</small>; O my strength, haste thee to help +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns +of the unicorns.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the +congregation will I praise thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye that fear the L<small>ORD</small>, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify +him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, +neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he +heard.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My praise <i>shall be</i> of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my +vows before them that fear him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they shall praise the L<small>ORD</small> that +seek him: your heart shall live for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the L<small>ORD</small>; and +all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the kingdom <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD’S</small>; and he <i>is</i> the governor among the +nations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All <i>they that be</i> fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that +go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his +own soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the L<small>ORD</small> for a +generation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people +that shall be born, that he hath done <i>this</i>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a kind of gem among the Psalms that contain prophecies +concerning Christ and his kingdom, and it is peculiarly excellent and +remarkable. For here, if anywhere, it may be said that David does not +seem to be delivering a prophecy of the future, but a history of the +past; a history of circumstances that took place within his own sight +and knowledge; for his expressions concerning Christ are not at all +more obscure than those of Peter or Paul, or any other of the +Apostles: and he speaks of Christ being nailed to the tree, and of the +piercing of his hands and his feet, as if the whole had taken place +before his own natural sight.</p> + +<p>This Psalm contains those deep, sublime, and heavy sufferings of +Christ, when agonizing in the midst of the terrors and pangs of divine +wrath and death, which surpass all human thought and comprehension. +And I know not whether any Psalm throughout the whole Book contains +matter more weighty, or from which the hearts of the godly can so +truly perceive those sighs and groans, inexpressible by man, which +their Lord and head Jesus Christ uttered when conflicting for us in +the midst of death, and in the midst of the pains and terrors of hell. +Wherefore this Psalm ought to be most highly prized by all who have +any acquaintance with these temptations of faith, and these spiritual +conflicts.</p> + +<p>Let Epicureans despise these things: examples of this kind will be +more precious to the truly godly and spiritual, whether they be found +in Christ himself, or (as St. Peter saith,) in our brethren that are +in the world, than all the treasures and riches of which the world can +boast.</p> + +<p>David as I said, describes most clearly and expressively the +sufferings of Christ, so much so, that you seem to see the +circumstances to take place before your eyes. And as he so clearly +pourtrays the forerunning sufferings of Christ, so does he with equal +plainness set forth the glories which followed them; for in the end of +the Psalm he shows that Christ should be delivered from the mouth of +the lion and of the dog, and from the midst of death and sufferings, +and should, through his resurrection wrought by divine power, be +glorified; that his Gospel should be preached, not only among that +people and in that kingdom, such narrow limits, but throughout all the +nations and kingdoms of the world; that the fat ones of the earth, +that is the rich and powerful of this world, and the poor also, should +be converted unto Christ; that his Church should be eternal, and his +posterity infinite; and that as King he should be adored throughout +the whole world, that his name should be praised and celebrated +throughout all ages, and his kingdom endure for ever, and remain +invincible against all the kingdoms of the world, and against all +creatures.</p> + +<p>The Psalm belongs to the first commandment of the Decalogue, for it +foretels a new worship of God; and it has reference to the first +petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David’s confidence in God’s grace.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> my shepherd; I shall not want.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the +still waters.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for +his name’s sake.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will +fear no evil: for thou <i>art</i> with me; thy rod and thy staff they +comfort me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou +anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and +I will dwell in the house of the L<small>ORD</small> for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a remarkable offering of thanks to God for the gift and +reception of the word: and it contains the description of a godly +heart acknowledging how incomparable and unspeakable a blessing and +gift of God the knowledge of his word is. It also gloriously declares +and extols the greatness of the goodness and mercy of God in leading +us in the right way, and in lifting us up and consoling us under every +temptation, while hypocrites are left to walk in their own crooked +ways.</p> + +<p>Under a beautiful similitude he compares himself to a sheep, in +seeking, (if perchance it has strayed) saving, defending and feeding +which, the faithful shepherd spares no labour nor anxiety. And as, +under a good and watchful shepherd, the sheep have fattening pastures, +and wholesome brooks and fountains; so do the godly find all these +same pastures for their hearts in the word which God has provided for +them.</p> + +<p>David alludes in this Psalm to the table and shew bread, and to the +balsam and the oil of gladness. For God will feed and comfort the +Ministers of the word, and the hearers, and will gladden them with his +cup though they are made sorrowful by the world.</p> + +<p>He calls the word of God a shepherd’s staff, refreshing waters, green +pastures, that by all such similitudes he may show that true +salvation, settled peace, and sure and eternal consolation are +established in men’s consciences by the word of God only.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the Third Commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>God’s lordship in the world.—The citizens of his spiritual +kingdom.—An exhortation to receive him.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The earth <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD’S</small>, and the fulness thereof; the world, and +they that dwell therein.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the +floods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who shall ascend into the hill of the L<small>ORD</small>? or who shall stand in his +holy place?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his +soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall receive the blessing from the L<small>ORD</small>, and righteousness from +the God of his salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This <i>is</i> the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O +Jacob. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting +doors; and the King of glory shall come in.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who <i>is</i> this King of glory? The L<small>ORD</small> strong and mighty, the L<small>ORD</small> +mighty in battle.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift <i>them</i> up, ye everlasting +doors: and the King of glory shall come in.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who <i>is</i> this King of glory? The L<small>ORD</small> of hosts, he <i>is</i> the King of +glory. Selah.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ to be spread +and extended throughout the whole world by the Gospel.</p> + +<p>By a striking apostrophe David turns himself to the kings, princes, +and wise ones of the earth, and the men of power and authority, whom +he calls after the genius of the Hebrew language, the ‘gates of the +world.’ Remember, (saith he to such,) that the earth is the Lord’s, he +is Lord of all. It was he that gave you your kingdoms. He has set up +his Christ as King over all, whom if ye adore and acknowledge not, ye +shall perish together with your kingdoms, and shall be dashed in +pieces like a potter’s vessel.</p> + +<p>He exhorts such to acknowledge themselves sinners: for these powerful +ones, these pharisees and these wise ones of the world, being blinded +with a conceited opinion of human wisdom and righteousness, are above +all others enfuriated against the Gospel: for when the kingdom of +grace and of the remission of sins is preached; when this Christ is +declared and proclaimed by the Gospel to be the only King of eternal +peace, the only victorious King over sin, death, and the devil; then +these tyrants and powerful ones of the world immediately burst out +with their cry of pride “Who is this King of Glory? Who?” As if they +should say, what! Shall those poor abject fishermen, those dross of +the earth teach us? Shall they, instead of the law of Moses, and +instead of the religion which we received from our forefathers, force +upon us this new worship of God, and this King of theirs who was +hanged upon the cross? Shall they persuade us to believe such dreams +as these?</p> + +<p>This Psalm, therefore, at the same time intimates that this kingdom of +Christ should not be corporeal or earthly, nor of such a kind as +should destroy political governments: but a kingdom in which the +preachers of it should bring into subjection unto Christ the world and +the kingdoms of the world by the word and the Gospel.</p> + +<p>To this kingdom (says David) kings and rulers shall oppose themselves +and shall crucify the King and Lord of Glory, and shall persecute the +Apostles and Ministers of the word: but he nevertheless shall break +through all kingdoms, and in defiance of every opposer shall enter +into the world and reign by the Gospel in the midst of his enemies: he +shall give to his Apostles a mouth and wisdom which none of their +adversaries shall be able to gainsay or resist: and while the +mightiest kingdoms of the earth, as Daniel saith, shall be moved and +destroyed, this eternal king shall endure for ever and be truly +manifested to be the Lord of victory and of glory.</p> + +<p>It has reference to the First Commandment of the Decalogue, and to the +first, second, and third petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David’s confidence in prayer.—He prayeth for remission of sins, and +for help in affliction.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, do I lift up my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed; let not mine enemies +triumph over me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which +transgress without cause.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shew me thy ways, O L<small>ORD</small>; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, +and teach me: for thou <i>art</i> the God of my salvation; on thee do I +wait all the day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember, O L<small>ORD</small>, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindnesses; for +they <i>have been</i> ever of old.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to +thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness’ sake, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Good and upright <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small>; therefore will he teach sinners in the +way.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his +way.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All the paths of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>are</i> mercy and truth unto such as keep his +covenant and his testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thy name’s sake, O L<small>ORD</small>, pardon mine iniquity; for it <i>is</i> great.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What man <i>is</i> he that feareth the L<small>ORD</small>? Him shall he teach in the way +<i>that</i> he shall choose;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The secret of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> with them that fear him; and he will show +them his covenant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eyes <i>are</i> ever toward the L<small>ORD</small>; for he shall pluck my feet out +of the net.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I <i>am</i> desolate and +afflicted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my +distresses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Look upon mine affliction, and my pain: and forgive all my sins.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel +hatred.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my +trust in thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer in which the prophet prays, with wonderful fervency +of heart, to be strengthened in the faith and in the love of the Word, +although he should have on this account great and bitter enemies in +the world: that is, that he may not be broken down in mind by the +afflictions, nor by the greatness and multiplicity of his own +encompassing infirmities when he saw that Epicurean hypocrites +despised the true religion and the true word with so much confidence +and secure presumption, as if they were things in which it was a +disgrace for men of a sound mind and a liberal education to be in the +least engaged.</p> + +<p>Ah Lord (saith David) preserve and glorify thy name and thy word. Let +us (saith he) who are thus derided, spit upon, and, for thy sake, well +nigh overwhelmed in the midst of so many afflictions and so many +offences, not be confounded, but let us expect thy consolations. Let +those haughty hypocrites and despisers be confounded both before God +and men, who, on account of their carnal wisdom and powers, and +riches, and other things of this world which they admire and value, so +despise thy word and thy worship, that they deem it a disgrace to have +such things in their thoughts. Our eyes (saith he) are unto thee O +Lord? Do thou, if there be any infirmity in us, pardon it. Keep us in +the knowledge of thy holy word and of that mystery of thine which is +hidden from the world, and stand by us in our great straits and +perils.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the Second Commandment, and to the second +petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David resorteth unto God in confidence of his integrity.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Judge me, O L<small>ORD</small>; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted +also in the L<small>ORD</small>; <i>therefore</i> I shall not slide.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Examine me, O L<small>ORD</small>, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thy loving-kindness <i>is</i> before mine eyes; and I have walked in +thy truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with +dissemblers.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have hated the congregation of evil-doers; and will not sit with the +wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar, O +L<small>ORD</small>?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy +wondrous works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where +thine honour dwelleth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In whose hands <i>is</i> mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be +merciful unto me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless +the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer unto God, containing a complaint against hypocrites +who want to be justified by the works of the law, and who always +persecute the true doctrine of faith and condemn its supporters for +heretics. David calls these characters dissemblers, heretics, bloody +men, wicked persons. For although they boast of great sanctity, yet +their hearts are full of hatred and bitterness against God, and craft +and iniquity against their neighbour: as Christ says of all such +pharisees when he rebukes them by Luke, “Ye are they who justify +yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts.” For such worship +God with their lips, but their heart is far from him: they worship him +not in truth, but do all for gain.</p> + +<p>In a word they serve not God but Mammon and their own belly: as Paul +saith to the Philippians. And this Psalm saith, “And their right hand +is full of bribes.” Yet their hypocrisy has a wonderful outside +appearance. And indeed the false church who has power and dominion on +her side, has always a more wonderful and showy appearance than the +true, which lies hidden under the various forms of the cross.</p> + +<p>Therefore we have need to pray in no slothful manner that God would +preserve us in his true Church, and would not suffer us to be mingled +and carried away with these characters, lest we have our portion with +such hypocrites, whose end, though they may for a time make a show +before the world, shall be destruction, and whose glory shall be +turned into confusion: as we have seen it exemplified in the Pope and +his kingdom.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the Third Commandment, and to the first and +second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer: for it speaks of the true +worship and kingdom of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David sustaineth his faith by the power of God, by his love to the +service of God, by prayer.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The L<small>ORD</small> +<i>is</i> the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up +my flesh, they stumbled and fell.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; +though war should rise against me, in this <i>will</i> I be confident.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>One <i>thing</i> have I desired of the L<small>ORD</small>, that will I seek after; that I +may dwell in the house of the L<small>ORD</small> all the days of my life, to behold +the beauty of the L<small>ORD</small>, and to inquire in his temple.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the +secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me: he shall set me upon a +rock.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about +me: therefore will I offer in this tabernacle sacrifices of joy: I +will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>when</i> I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and +answer me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>When thou saidst</i>, seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy +face, Lord, will I seek.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hide not thy face <i>far</i> from me; put not thy servant away in anger: +thou hast been my help: leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my +salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When my father and my mother forsake me, then the L<small>ORD</small> will take me +up.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Teach me thy way, O L<small>ORD</small>, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine +enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses +are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>I had fainted</i>, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the L<small>ORD</small> +in the land of the living.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wait on the L<small>ORD</small>; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine +heart: wait, I say, on the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a thanksgiving, containing also a prayer and consolation +against false teachers.</p> + +<p>David having been taught and exercised by such great afflictions, by +so many perils and sorrows, and by such fiery conflicts, for the +word’s sake, and having been supported therein against the devil, and +the world, now finds a greater truth and reliance on God, and is more +encouraged and fortified against all his enemies.</p> + +<p>The Lord (saith he) is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? +That is, the Lord hath so often and so wonderfully comforted me under, +and so powerfully delivered me from, various darknesses and storms of +temptations, that he will not leave nor forsake me in time to come. If +God, then, be for me, who can be against me? If God uphold me, what +power or violence of the enemy can cast me down, or who can destroy +me?</p> + +<p>I will not fear thousands of enemies (says he) though they should +raise up war against me. All that I am anxious about is this one +thing;—that I may remain and dwell in the house of the Lord; that is, +in the true church, and among those where the word of God is purely +and sincerely taught and learned. If I can hold fast this jewel I am +rich. For if I hold fast the word of God, no terrors, how great soever +they may be, nor even death itself, can destroy my light and my life; +that is, my sure and eternal consolation. But if I love not the word, +no human consolations, how great soever they may be, will be able to +afford me that light and life.</p> + +<p>David directs the whole of this Psalm against hypocrites and false +teachers, who are so soon carried away from the word, and who teach +human things and seduce men’s consciences. Here he calls these +characters false witnesses; that is, such as nothing can shame, and +who know not how to blush. The audacity of these inexperienced +characters is prodigious, who, without any calling, and without the +word, boastingly make use of the name of God and seduce men, and do +infinite damage both to the state and to the church. For we generally +find it to be the case, that the more inexperienced such characters +are, and the more devoid of spiritual things, the more easily they +rush forth to teach: and such as these are those fanatical spirits who +afterwards raise up divisions and sects against the truly godly.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the First and Second Commandments, and to the +first and second petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David prayeth earnestly against his enemies.—He blesseth God.—He +prayeth for the people.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Unto thee will I cry, O L<small>ORD</small> my rock; be not silent to me: lest, <i>if</i> +thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift +up my hands toward thy holy oracle.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, +which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief <i>is</i> in their +hearts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of +their endeavours; give them after the work of their hands; render to +them their desert.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because they regard not the works of the L<small>ORD</small>, nor the operation of +his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, because he hath heard the voice of my +supplications.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and +I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song +will I praise him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> their strength, and he <i>is</i> the saving strength of his +anointed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift +them up for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer of David, which in his time he used against Saul, and +others like him; but especially against all those Cainish hypocrites +who in word pretended to desire peace, but burned with secret hatred +in their hearts. Such a viper as this was Absalom, his son, against +him; and such an one also was Joab against Amasa and Abner, 2 Kings +iii. David, therefore, fearing lest the same things should be laid to +his charge, prays, “Draw me not away with the wicked, nor with the +workers of iniquity.”</p> + +<p>We may use the Psalm against tyrants and fanatical spirits; for in +this way are tyrants and persecutors of the word wont to pretend peace +in word, and yet secretly plan counsels of slaughter and murder all +the while. And so also fanatical spirits and all false prophets boast +with ‘big swelling words’ of the word of God, and tumultuously cry out +that they seek the glory and the worship of God, and promise nothing +but divine and heavenly things, and yet seek all the while their own +advantage and their own glory, destroying souls, and walking about in +sheep’s clothing, while they are inwardly nothing but ravening wolves.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the second and third precept, and to the first +and second petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David exhorteth princes to give glory to God, by reason of his power, +and protection of his people.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Give unto the L<small>ORD</small>, O ye mighty, give unto the L<small>ORD</small> glory and +strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give unto the L<small>ORD</small> the glory due unto his name; worship the L<small>ORD</small> in +the beauty of holiness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> upon the waters: the God of glory +thundereth: the L<small>ORD</small> is upon many waters.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> powerful; the voice of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> full +of majesty.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of the L<small>ORD</small> breaketh the cedars; yea, the L<small>ORD</small> breaketh the +cedars of Lebanon.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a +young unicorn.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of the L<small>ORD</small> divideth the flames of fire.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of the L<small>ORD</small> shaketh the wilderness; the L<small>ORD</small> shaketh the +wilderness of Kadesh.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of the L<small>ORD</small> maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the +forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of <i>his</i> glory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> sitteth upon the flood: yea, the L<small>ORD</small> +sitteth King for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> will give strength unto his people; the L<small>ORD</small> will bless his +people with peace.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the spread of the gospel throughout the +whole world, and concerning the preaching of the name of Christ before +kings and nations, and the children of Israel.</p> + +<p>“Give unto the Lord, ye mighty;” that is, ye kings, ye rulers, and ye +wise and rich ones of the world, ye Pharisees and rabbi, acknowledge +your wisdom, righteousness, and all your excellent political virtues, +your works of the law, and all that is high and excellent before men, +to be abomination in the sight of God; repent ye and believe the +gospel, that ye may quit yourselves under that one King and Lord, +Christ, and his church and kingdom, and, by faith and the wisdom of +God, acknowledge Christ, this son of God, to be God; for God, by a +manifest work of his power, in the beginning sent a flood upon the +whole world, and destroyed all flesh; and the same God, by his gospel +and by baptism, will drown and mortify the flesh, that is, the old +fleshly Adam, by a new and spiritual baptism: that as many as are +baptized into Christ, being crucified according to the old Adam, may +be raised up together with the second Adam, and become new men and new +creatures.</p> + +<p>He calls, by a figure, the kingdoms, nations, and powerful cities of +this world, forests; the wilderness of Kadesh, confused places of many +waters, places for hinds to calve, &c. These confused places the Lord +has revealed and discovered, and brought to the light of the gospel.</p> + +<p>This Psalm refers to the third precept, and to the second petition of +the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David praiseth God for his deliverance.—He exhorteth others to praise +him by example of God’s dealing with him.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm and Song at the dedication of the House of +David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will extol thee, O L<small>ORD</small>; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not +made my foes to rejoice over me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me +alive, that I should not go down to the pit.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto the L<small>ORD</small>, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the +remembrance of his holiness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For his anger <i>endureth but</i> a moment; in his favour <i>is</i> life: +weeping may endure for a night, but joy <i>cometh</i> in the morning.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou +didst hide thy face, <i>and</i> I was troubled.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I cried to thee, O L<small>ORD</small>; and unto the +L<small>ORD</small> I made supplication.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What profit <i>is there</i> in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall +the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear, O L<small>ORD</small>, and have mercy upon me: L<small>ORD</small>, +be thou my helper.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my +sackcloth, and girded me with gladness:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To the end that <i>my</i> glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. +O L<small>ORD</small> my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a remarkable Psalm, and truly Davidical. Here, with a +wonderful fervency of heart, he gives thanks unto God for having +delivered him from spiritual temptations and unspeakable conflicts +with Satan, and for having refreshed and comforted his heart when +brought down to such a state of weakness, when broken with such views +of misery, terror, and wrath, and when almost overwhelmed with the +greatness of his temptations. “Thou hast (saith he) brought my soul up +from hell:” that is, thou hast enabled me to overcome the violence and +fury of Satan, which never could be overcome by any human power.</p> + +<p>This Psalm contains, as you see, those sublime and heavenly feelings +of one rejoicing in the Holy Ghost, because God has turned such deep +distress, such overwhelming terrors and fears, so many tears and sighs +from the very belly of hell, into a joy that has refreshed and healed +the soul that was just before burning with the fiery darts of the +devil, and with the very flames of hell.</p> + +<p>The Psalm contains also a most sweet consolation: “His anger (says +David) endureth but for a moment: in his favour is life;” that is, +God, although he exercises the godly in these deep temptations, and +these intense agonizings of soul, yet he does not so try them with the +intent to slay them; nor does he afflict, in order to destroy his +people; nor is he the God of misery, of terror, and of death, but the +God of peace and of life, the God of joy and of consolation.</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the third precept and to the first petition of +the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, shewing his confidence in God, craveth his help.—He rejoiceth +in his mercy.—He prayeth in his calamity.—He praiseth God for his +goodness.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>In thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver +me in thy righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, +for an house of defence to save me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou <i>art</i> my rock and my fortress: therefore, for thy name’s +sake, lead me and guide me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me; for thou +<i>art</i> my strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O L<small>ORD</small> God +of truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my +trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my +foot in a large room.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have mercy upon me, O L<small>ORD</small>, for I am in trouble; mine eye is consumed +with grief, <i>yea</i>, my soul and my belly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my +strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my +neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me +without fled from me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I have heard the slander of many: fear <i>was</i> on every side: while +they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my +life.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I trusted in thee, O L<small>ORD</small>: I said, Thou <i>art</i> my God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My times <i>are</i> in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, +and from them that persecute me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ +sake.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let me not be ashamed, O L<small>ORD</small>; for I have called upon thee: let the +wicked be ashamed, <i>and</i> let them be silent in the grave.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things +proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Oh</i> how great <i>is</i> thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them +that fear thee; <i>which</i> thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee +before the sons of men!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of +man; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of +tongues.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the Lord; for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness +in a strong city.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: +nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications, when I cried +unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O love the L<small>ORD</small>, all ye his saints: <i>for</i> the L<small>ORD</small> preserveth the +faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that +hope in the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a thanksgiving, and contains also prayers and +consolations. And the way to arrive at a right understanding of the +deep feelings and circumstances contained in this Psalm, is to know +that this Psalm is the general and continual cry of Christ and his +members, groaning and sighing under the cross and various afflictions. +For the Church is a congregation of afflicted, poor, and tried +persons. The wicked men of the world, the rich, the despisers of all +religion, and the atheistical Epicureans have, as Christ saith, their +consolation; while the godly, the spiritual, and those that believe, +being exposed to the horrible hatred and envy of the devil, are +exercised and distressed through all their life, inwardly with fears +and terrors in their hearts, and outwardly by persecutions, +blasphemies, and contempt for the word of God’s sake; and yet, from +all these they are delivered: for, as St. Paul saith, “Where +afflictions abound, there consolations abound also.”</p> + +<p>This Psalm belongs to the second and third precept, and to the first +and third petition of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>ADMONITORY OBSERVATIONS.</h4> +<br> + +<p>And here I will cease to show, like a schoolmaster, to which precept +of the Decalogue, and to which member of the Lord’s Prayer each Psalm +belongs; for from what I have already said upon these points, my +seriously-disposed readers will be enabled to observe and judge for +themselves. All the supplicatory Psalms belong to the second precept +and to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, for they honour and +sanctify the name of the Lord. And the Psalms which teach, console, +and give thanks for deliverance, belong to the second and third +precepts of the Decalogue, and also to the first and third petitions +of the Lord’s Prayer: for they teach us how, in truth, to keep holy +the Sabbath day, how to worship God with the true and highest worship, +and how to offer the most acceptable sacrifice; namely, the sacrifice +of praise. And most of the Psalms refer to all those three precepts of +the Decalogue, and to all those petitions of the Lord’s Prayer.</p> + +<p>My reason for giving these hints respecting the commandments, and +petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, to which the different Psalms belong, +in this my brief summary of the contents of the Psalms, is this: to +show that the whole Scripture flows from the Decalogue as from a +fountain; and that in the Ten Commandments and in the Lord’s Prayer +are contained the sum and substance of all theology or divinity; and +that nothing can be taught in the Church more sublime or more +excellent than these two parts of Divine revelation. For we see how +the greatest prophets and Moses himself, drew their great and divine +discourses from the first, the second, and the third Commandments; +and, in a word, from the whole of the Decalogue; how diligently they +weighed every thing and made it harmonize with this; and how they +continually delivered new things, yet all with reference to this great +general Decalogue. Hence indeed it was that Moses, that most eminent +man of God, gave this precept, “These words (says he,) thou shalt +meditate, when thou standest up and when thou liest down; and thou +shalt teach them diligently to thy children,” &c.</p> + +<p>In all their discourses and writings, therefore, the prophets and +apostles allude and refer to the Decalogue or Ten Commandments. From +these Ten Commandments flow all the doctrines, and all the godly +living of the saints: for there is no holiness or godliness of life or +true religion, apart from the Ten Commandments: because they are the +never-failing inexhaustible fountain of all wisdom, righteousness, and +of all perfection in the saints. Nor is there any of the complaints +uttered by the Prophets or Apostles, nor will you find any other in +all their discourses, but that against false prophets, hypocrites and +false teachers, who, disregarding, nay, totally despising and spitting +upon, the true and highest worship of God, (which is that of the first +Commandment, that requires faith and the fear of God,) teach their own +human dreams, which have nothing whatever to do with the Decalogue, +and do not at all belong to it.</p> + +<p>Against these characters it is, (as we see in Moses himself, in +Isaiah, in Jeremiah, and in the epistles of Paul and Peter,) that the +Prophets and Apostles complain bitterly, and that with tears; against +these it is that they cry aloud and wage war with all their powers; +that they might preserve this true and highest worship of God, and +might destroy from among men, hypocrisy and all human doctrines and +fanatical dreams.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>Blessedness consisteth in remission of sins.—Confession of sins +giveth ease to the conscience.—God’s promises bring joy.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David, Maschil.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is he whose</i> transgression <i>is</i> forgiven, <i>whose</i> sin <i>is</i> +covered.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> the man unto whom the L<small>ORD</small> imputeth not iniquity, and in +whose spirit <i>there is</i> no guile.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day +long.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned +into the drought of summer. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I +said, I will confess my transgressions unto the L<small>ORD</small>; and thou +forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when +thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall +not come nigh unto him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou +shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I +will guide thee with mine eye.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be ye not as the horse, <i>or</i> as the mule, <i>which</i> have no +understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest +they come near unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many sorrows <i>shall be</i> to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the +L<small>ORD</small>, mercy shall compass him about.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be glad in the L<small>ORD</small>, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all +<i>ye that are</i> upright in heart.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a very remarkable and valuable one. St. Paul quotes it +in that profound discussion of his, Rom. iv. where he teaches us what +sin is, and how we obtain the remission of sins, and, in a word, how +we are justified before God: for it is in this matter that all +hypocrites so deeply err: because human reason cannot imagine that sin +is accompanied with such great and such infinite guilt before God, and +with a guilt that no human powers nor works can wash away. In a word, +it knows not what sin is, and thinks that it can be washed off, and +taken away by works.</p> + +<p>Whereas David here plainly says, “For this shall every one that is +godly pray:” and he says also, that no one can be justified or +sanctified before God, unless he acknowledge himself to be a sinner, +and know that he is to obtain the remission of sins without any works +and merits, by the mere mercy of God, and by a free and gratuitous +imputation. In a word, our righteousness is not placed in us, or in +our works; but is such, that the remission of our sins is truly and +rightly called the free <small>REMISSION</small> of our sins: and also that our sins +are truly said ‘<i>not to be imputed</i>,’ but ‘<i>to be covered</i>.’ ‘Blessed +(says David) are they (that is, such are accepted before God, and are +truly righteous and reconciled to God) whose transgressions are +forgiven and whose sins are covered.’</p> + +<p>Here David says, in plain words, that all the saints are, and still +remain, sinners; and that they are justified and sanctified in no +other way than this;—God of his free mercy, for Christ’s sake, is +pleased not to impute their sins unto them, nor to judge them, but, in +mercy, to forgive them, and cover over their sins, and forget them. +And although in many other respects there is a great difference +between the saints and the wicked, yet, in this point there is no +difference,—they are all equally sinners, and all equally sin every +day. But the sins of the saints are not imputed unto them: they are +covered and forgiven on account of their faith in the promise of free +grace. Whereas the sins of the wicked are imputed unto them, and they +are exposed to the eye and to the awful judgment of God. The wounds of +the latter are not bound up: but the wounds of the former are bound +up, and are cured with healing plasters and oil: and yet they are both +truly wounded and truly sinners! But of this, more in its place; and I +have said much upon it in others of my writings.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>God is to be praised for his goodness, for his power, and for his +providence.—Confidence is to be placed in God.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Rejoice in the L<small>ORD</small>, O ye righteous: <i>for</i> praise is comely for the +upright.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise the L<small>ORD</small> with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery, and an +instrument of ten strings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the word of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> right: and all his works <i>are done</i> in +truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the +goodness of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>By the word of the L<small>ORD</small> were the heavens made; and all the host of +them by the breath of his mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up +the depth in storehouses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let all the earth fear the L<small>ORD</small>: let all the inhabitants of the world +stand in awe of him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he spake, and it was <i>done;</i> he commanded, and it stood fast.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the +devices of the people of none effect.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The counsel of the L<small>ORD</small> standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart +to all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> the nation whose God <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small>; <i>and</i> the people +<i>whom</i> he hath chosen for his own inheritance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants +of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is +not delivered by much strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>An horse <i>is</i> a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver <i>any</i> +by his great strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, the eye of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> upon them that fear him, upon them +that hope in his mercy:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our soul waiteth for the L<small>ORD</small>: he <i>is</i> our help and our shield.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his +holy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thy mercy, O L<small>ORD</small>, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a remarkable thanksgiving, where the prophet calls upon +all the saints, and those that fear God, to rejoice and give thanks +unto God for his preserving the church so wonderfully in the midst of +the world, in the midst of the kingdom of the devil, and exposed to so +many evils and perils on every side,—to give thanks unto God, I say, +who never forsakes the godly, and those that fear him, when tossed to +and fro on such waves of temptation, nor suffers them to be +overwhelmed, nor to perish, though conflicting in so perilous a +manner.</p> + +<p>God, says David, created the heaven and this whole universe of things +by his word. “He spake, and they were made:” therefore he is +omnipotent, and nothing is difficult to him: and hence he can deliver +his own from the midst of death, and from the midst of hell. And then, +again, his goodness and his truth are exceedingly great and infinite. +He regardeth and heareth the afflicted, he is ever present with them +in the hour of temptation: and, as David says in another Psalm, “The +Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.”</p> + +<p>Therefore God is not only willing to help and succour the godly, but +to succour them even as a father would his children; even as that +gracious promise which is comprehended in the First Commandment, +declares “I am the Lord thy God:” that is, I will be the Lord thy God: +I will be thy life, thy salvation, thy shield, thy defence, thy +eternal strength, thy eternal salvation, and consolation; thy eternal +and infinite good, against all the evils that can come upon thee:—For +this is to be God!</p> + +<p>In the first place, therefore, David proclaims with great fulness of +expression this unequalled wisdom and power of God,—that God has in +his hand all the hearts and thoughts of all men, kings, rulers and +potentates throughout the whole world; that he turns them and orders +them just as he will; that he governs and overrules all their +deliberations and counsels, and directs them all according to his own +mind and pleasure. “The Lord (saith David) bringeth the counsel of the +heathen to nought:” that is, he wonderfully breaks off and disappoints +the counsels of the wise, of the kings, of the potentates of this +world: and suddenly defeats all the attacks of the enemies against his +people and his church, how sure soever of success they may appear, and +he turns all their destruction upon the heads of the enemies +themselves, so that they cannot perform their enterprises nor +accomplish the devices which they plot against the righteous, but they +fall themselves into the pits which they have digged, and there perish +and rot.</p> + +<p>This is no small consolation to those that fear God, amidst all that +bitterness and Satanic cruelty which the tyrants of this world execute +against the godly, when they fearfully threaten that they will fill +all things with blood if they do not deny Christ and his gospel. These +make no end of their threats, because they are as if they would +terrify God himself, and hurl Christ down from the throne of his +majesty. Whereas God, all the while, holds in his power the thoughts +and imaginations of every one of them, and also their life and the +breath that is in their nostrils: and therefore such are subverted and +destroyed in a moment before they have accomplished their designs. +Only meditate upon all the examples of this since the beginning of the +world. What became of all the counsels of the people of Sodom against +Lot? Where is that great monarch and terror of the world, Sennacherib? +What (to come to our own times) has become of Pope Leo X. and all the +other bitter enemies of the word?</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David praiseth God, and exhorteth others thereto by his +experience.—They are blessed that trust in God.—He exhorteth to the fear of +God.—The privileges of the righteous.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who +drove him away, and he departed.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will bless the L<small>ORD</small> at all times: his praise <i>shall</i> continually +<i>be</i> in my mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul shall make her boast in the L<small>ORD</small>: the humble shall hear +<i>thereof</i>, and be glad.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O magnify the L<small>ORD</small> with me, and let us exalt his name together.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I sought the L<small>ORD</small>, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my +fears.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They looked unto him, and were lightened; and their faces were not +ashamed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This poor man cried, and the L<small>ORD</small> heard <i>him</i>, and saved him out of +all his troubles.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The angel of the L<small>ORD</small> encampeth round about them that fear him, and +delivereth them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O taste and see that the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> good: blessed <i>is</i> the man <i>that</i> +trusteth in him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O fear the L<small>ORD</small>, ye his saints: for <i>there is</i> no want to them that +fear him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The young lions do lack and suffer hunger: but they that seek the L<small>ORD</small> +shall not want any good <i>thing</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Come, ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What man <i>is he that</i> desireth life, <i>and</i> loveth <i>many</i> days, that he +may see good?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The eyes of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>are</i> upon the righteous, and his ears <i>are open</i> +unto their cry.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The face of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> against them that do evil, to cut off the +remembrance of them from the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>The righteous</i> cry, and the L<small>ORD</small> heareth, and delivereth them out of +all their troubles.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth +such as be of a contrite spirit.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many <i>are</i> the afflictions of the righteous: but the L<small>ORD</small> delivereth +him out of them all.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Evil shall slay the wicked; and they that hate the righteous shall be +desolate.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> redeemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them that +trust in him shall be desolate.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a remarkable thanksgiving, and is nearly of the same +import with the preceding, as the title of the Psalm, and the sixth +verse show: for David here sets forth himself as an example and proof +before all the godly, to show, that God always hears the prayers and +supplications of the godly, and them that believe, and does not +despise the sighings of the afflicted.</p> + +<p>David here, after a majestic opening of the Psalm, promises that he +will set forth the sum of all godliness. “What man is he (saith the +Psalmist) that desireth life, and loveth many days. Keep thy tongue +from evil, &c.” Here, he requires before all things, the fear of the +Lord, and the worship of the First Commandment: that, cleaving closely +to the word, we might avoid hypocrisy and lying doctrines, and that we +might truly trust in God, endure his will, and not rebel or murmur +against him. And then, that we should live in peace with our +neighbour, not rendering evil for evil, but blessing even our +adversaries and our enemies, and, as much as in us lies, living in +peace with all men, whether they be good or evil.</p> + +<p>For thus does the counsel of God stand, which cannot be changed or +altered,—that the saints should live in affliction in this life. +Wherefore, if thou wilt be a godly man, if thou wilt cleave unto God, +prepare thy soul (as David here saith) to temptations, to the cross, +and to afflictions: for thus it is immutably decreed of God, (as he +says again afterwards) “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” +And again, this firm and eternal counsel of God stands also immutably +fixed,—that it is God’s will to deliver the saints from all these +evils, and so wholly and faithfully so, that not even the least bone +of them shall perish: nay, in the resurrection, and in glorification, +every bone shall return to the body with greater perfection than ever; +as Christ says in his Gospel, “Even the very hairs of your head are +all numbered.”</p> + +<p>What then is this light and momentary tribulation, in comparison with +that eternal weight of glory, which shall be revealed in us? For +although the bones and members of the saints are, above all others, +cruelly scattered and broken, burnt in the fire, and left to rot in +graves; yet, even though they be thus sown in ignominy, they shall be +raised in glory: they shall be quickened again with all their limbs +and bodies; and all their bones shall be restored; and the just shall +shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. For that maddened +and insatiable fury of the devil, shall not be able to mangle the +bones of the saints, or so to extinguish the church as that it shall +be annihilated altogether. The death, and the cruel bruising of the +bones of the saints, shall be temporary only: but their glorification +in God, shall be for ever and ever.</p> + +<p>And observe, how remarkably this Psalm speaks of the resurrection, and +also concerning angels. For this is the first Psalm which we have yet +treated on, that speaks of angels. This Psalm shows that they are +ministers and helpers to the saints, being sent forth to minister unto +them who shall be heirs of salvation. David shows that they are not +only present with us, but that they most diligently and unceasingly +watch over us, and stand up for our defence; that they encamp round +about us, and fight for us perpetually, as if in open battle, that +they may defend us against the horrible violence, and infinite snares +of Satan and his members. All which things are the greatest +consolation to the godly, and them that believe.</p> + +<p>This is all confirmed by the example of the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings +vi. 16. when he said concerning the ministration of angels, “Fear not, +for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them.” The +prophet makes an allusion here, after the manner of the prophets, who +drew all their matter from Moses, as it were from a fountain. Moses +says of Jacob, Gen. xxxii. when he feared the cruelty and rage of his +brother Esau, “And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them, +he said, this is God’s host.” So it is said, that angels came to +Elisha, and encamped round about him; as we have it in the present +Psalm.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth for his own safety, and his enemies’ confusion.—He +complaineth of their wrongful dealing.—Thereby he inciteth God against +them.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Plead <i>my cause</i>, O L<small>ORD</small>, with them that strive with me: fight against +them that fight against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Draw out also the spear, and stop <i>the way</i> against them that +persecute me: say unto my soul, I <i>am</i> thy salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let +them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the L<small>ORD</small> +chase <i>them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the L<small>ORD</small> +persecute them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For without cause have they hid for me their net <i>in</i> a pit, <i>which</i> +without cause they have digged for my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let destruction come upon him at unawares, and let his net that he +hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction, let him fall.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And my soul shall be joyful in the L<small>ORD</small>: it shall rejoice in his +salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All my bones shall say, L<small>ORD</small>, who <i>is</i> like unto thee, which +deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor +and the needy from him that spoileth him?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge <i>things</i> that I +knew not.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They rewarded me evil for good <i>to</i> the spoiling of my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing <i>was</i> sackcloth: I +humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own +bosom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I behaved myself as though <i>he had been</i> my friend <i>or</i> brother: I +bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth <i>for his</i> mother.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: +<i>yea</i>, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew +<i>it</i> not; they did tear <i>me</i>, and ceased not:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their +teeth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their +destructions, my darling from the lions.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee +among much people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: +<i>neither</i> let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against +<i>them that are</i> quiet in the land.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, <i>and</i> said, Aha, aha, +our eye hath seen <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>This</i> thou hast seen, O L<small>ORD</small>: keep not silence: O L<small>ORD</small>, be not far +from me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, <i>even</i> unto my cause, my +God and my Lord.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Judge me, O L<small>ORD</small> my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them +not rejoice over me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them +not say, We have swallowed him up.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at +mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify +<i>themselves</i> against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: +yea, let them say continually, Let the L<small>ORD</small> be magnified, which hath +pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness <i>and</i> of thy praise all +the day long.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer wherein David complains bitterly against those worst +of all men who are found about palaces, and who flatter kings and +rulers, and, for their own gain and advantage, tickle their ears with +adulation in order to please them; and at the same time, speak evil of +the innocent, enflame the powerful against the preachers and +professors of the word of God, endeavour to suppress the truth, and +cause awful injuries both to churches and to states. Thus such +characters as these traduced David before king Saul, though they were +men to whom David had rendered the greatest services, for whom he had +often most fervently prayed, and in endeavouring to save and protect +whom he had brought upon himself much misery and distress.</p> + +<p>The matter of this Psalm may be a great consolation to us when we see +the doctrines of truth and the gospel of God to be hated and traduced +before kings and rulers, with the most impudent lies, and the most +virulent speeches of the enemies of true piety, nay of every thing +that is honest and becoming man. Thus, a certain man, remarkable for +the fear of God, once told me that, at the tenth year of the August +Assembly, by the impudent and malicious report of some present, +nothing was talked about in the pope’s palace concerning Luther, but, +‘that he denied the Lord Christ, that he despised the Virgin Mary, and +contemptuously set aside baptism, the sacraments, and all religion; +and that he winked at theft, adultery, and other open sins, and +permitted them to pass by with impunity.’ These forgers, however, of +this manifest lie were put to shame openly when Charles V. himself was +present and heard me when I made a confession of my doctrine; and then +also, the devil, the father and fountain of lies, was himself +confuted. Thus are these wretches wont to traduce the godly in this +malicious manner, and to defame them, while they themselves in the +mean time enjoy all the secular benefits of the gospel. Of this stamp +there are thousands before us in our day.</p> + +<p>Hypocritical (or halting) mockers (saith David), who halt between two +desires,—who want to serve both God and men,—conspire together against +me. For these when they have been raised at the expense and loss of +the godly, and have golden riches and honours, trample those very +godly ones under their feet. Such ungrateful wretches as these are all +hypocrites and fanatical spirits, who serve not the Lord or Christ but +their own belly. And just such now are all those who enjoy and +squander all our property, and persecute us into the bargain.</p> + +<p>In a word, as it happened to Christ our head, so it is now with the +church and all who fear God. He that eateth my bread, saith Christ, +trampleth me under foot, and that for the hire of thirty pieces of +silver. These are those hypocrites who consider their own belly above +every thing else, whose unbounded and insatiable cruelty is ever +raging against those that fear God; as David here complains.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The grievous estate of the wicked.—The excellency of God’s +mercy.—David prayeth for favour to God’s children.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David the servant of +the Lord.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, <i>that there is</i> +no fear of God before his eyes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found +to be hateful.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The words of his mouth <i>are</i> iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to +be wise, <i>and</i> to do good.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way <i>that +is</i> not good; he abhorreth not evil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy mercy, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>is</i> in the heavens; <i>and</i> thy faithfulness +<i>reacheth</i> unto the clouds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy righteousness <i>is</i> like the great mountains; thy judgments <i>are</i> a +great deep: O L<small>ORD</small>, thou preservest man and beast.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How excellent <i>is</i> thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children +of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and +thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For with thee <i>is</i> the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see +light.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O continue thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee; and thy +righteousness to the upright in heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the +wicked remove me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and +shall not be able to rise.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm containing a very necessary doctrine, and marks +whereby heretics, false-teachers, and fanatical spirits may be +discovered. And in the end he begs of God with a wonderful fervency +that he may be guarded against all these pestilences. And after he had +at the beginning of the Psalm exactly described these characters in +their own colours, he takes courage, in the middle, himself, and +comforts all those that fear God; and tells them, that, although Satan +by his instruments roars and rages against the church, yet, that the +word of God shall remain and the kingdom of God stand unmoved, against +all the violence of Satan, and against the power of all the kingdoms +of the world.</p> + +<p>“Thy righteousness (says David) is like the great mountains: and thy +judgments are a great deep;” that is, as the rocks and mountains which +God has fixed, no power can overthrow;—and as the great deeps of the +sea are inexhaustible, so, thy word O Lord stands firm, and no human +power can overthrow or subvert the truth: and although all the gates +of hell and all the attempts of men and devils should set themselves +against thy word and will, yet with thee is the fountain of life; that +is, in thy house, where thou dwellest by the word in the midst of +enemies: that fountain and river of life will still remain; that is, +this word of thine, whereby afflicted consciences will be raised up +and revived.</p> + +<p>And here, if any where, the prophet expressively describes those false +teachers. He <i>first</i> of all breaks out against such, with the most +fervent zeal at the beginning of the Psalm. ‘Certainly, (saith he) if +there be any set of men, evil men, these are of all the worst: for +they are men of an abandoned impudence, virulent, and destitute of the +fear of God, and of faith in him; they are secure despisers of God and +religion; they are proud, arrogant, precipitate, audacious, and +prepared for every thing that is bad.’</p> + +<p>In the <i>next</i> place, they approve and commend no one but themselves. +They hate all others most bitterly, and traduce and defame them: they +excel in this one thing only,—in adorning and setting off themselves, +in using boasted self-praising words, in contemptuously despising +others, and in arrogating to themselves only the spirit and worship of +God, and the appellation of the true church.</p> + +<p>In the <i>third</i> place, their doctrines are most pernicious, and filled +with lies: for they fight against the doctrine of faith and of grace, +and deceive men by their outside daubing, and their hypocrisy.</p> + +<p>In the <i>fourth</i> place, they are rashly precipitate, and will endure no +monitor; for they are harder than any iron or any adamant: and if you +do not applaud all they say and all they do, they immediately rage and +make a tumult with all the fury of Satan.</p> + +<p>In the <i>fifth</i> place, they go out and diffuse their doctrines as +widely as possible; and their speech, as Paul saith, eateth like a +canker. For, for the most part, such men have an audacity above all +sincere and good men, and a determinate spirit to accomplish all their +own purposes; and they are restless, vehement, hot-headed, and so +furiously and wickedly aim at the accomplishment of their own +purposes, that you would think they would overturn everything else.</p> + +<p>And <i>lastly</i>, they hostilely persecute all those who do not subscribe +to their creed. And all these enormities they perpetrate with a +wonderfully unconcerned and insensible security; as if they were all +the time pleasing God and doing him service.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David persuadeth to patience and confidence in God, by the different +estate of the godly and the wicked.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious +against the workers of iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the +green herb.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Trust in the L<small>ORD</small>, and do good: <i>so</i> shalt thou dwell in the land, and +verily thou shalt be fed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Delight thyself also in the L<small>ORD</small>; and he shall give thee the desires +of thine heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Commit thy way unto the L<small>ORD</small>; trust also in him, and he shall bring +<i>it</i> to pass.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy +judgment as the noon day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Rest in the L<small>ORD</small>, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because +of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth +wicked devices to pass.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to +do evil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For evil-doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the L<small>ORD</small>, +they shall inherit the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For yet a little while, and the wicked <i>shall</i> not <i>be;</i> yea, thou +shalt diligently consider his place, and it <i>shall</i> not <i>be</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in +the abundance of peace.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his +teeth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall laugh at him; for he seeth that his day is coming.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast +down the poor and needy, <i>and</i> to slay such as be of upright +conversation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be +broken.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A little that a righteous man hath <i>is</i> better than the riches of many +wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the L<small>ORD</small> upholdeth the +righteous.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall +be for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall not be ashamed in the evil time; and in the days of famine +they shall be satisfied.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>shall be</i> as +the fat of Lambs: they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume +away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous sheweth +mercy, and giveth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For <i>such as be</i> blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and <i>they +that be</i> cursed of him shall be cut off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The steps of a <i>good</i> man are ordered by the L<small>ORD</small>; and he delighteth +in his way.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the L<small>ORD</small> +upholdeth <i>him with</i> his hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have been young, and <i>now</i> am old; yet have I not seen the righteous +forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>He is</i> ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed <i>is</i> blessed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are +preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of +judgment.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The law of his God <i>is</i> in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is +judged.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wait on the L<small>ORD</small>, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit +the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a +green bay-tree.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yet he passed away, and, lo, he <i>was</i> not: yea, I sought him, but he +could not be found.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mark the perfect <i>man</i>, and behold the upright: for the end of <i>that</i> +man <i>is</i> peace.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the +wicked shall be cut off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the salvation of the righteous <i>is</i> of the L<small>ORD</small>; <i>he is</i> their +strength in the time of trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And the L<small>ORD</small> shall help them, and deliver them; he shall deliver them +from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation, which exhorts us to patience in the +world; and shews us that we should not be angry with, nor mutter +against God, when we see it to be well with evil men, and evilly with +the good. This indeed is often a cutting offence, and exceedingly +galls the weak ones; concerning which also Habakkuk complains, chap. +i. For when the saints think that all things turn out prosperously and +successfully to the wicked, and all things adversely and +unsuccessfully to those that fear God, they appear, as to human +judgment, to be dealt hardly with indeed.</p> + +<p>We see an infinity of malice and ingratitude in the world, and an +extreme contempt of religion; a contempt of all good learning, and of +all virtue and honesty. Of this we have examples sufficiently +manifest, in our time, among the powerful and noble of this world, and +also among citizens and peasants, who all wish to have the liberty of +doing what suits their pleasure. To these impious despisers of the +word of God all things turn out prosperously: they abound in riches, +and they are raised to honours: while those that fear God are +afflicted with hunger and nakedness, and are despised, derided, and +contemned. And moreover, they endure the most bitter hatred of the +devil and the world for the word’s sake; they can scarcely breathe +under their afflictions, and they are often bound with fetters and +imprisoned. Here, not to give way to anger and indignation; here, not +to turn epicureans and deny God, is a wisdom beyond all that is human: +is a wisdom that is altogether spiritual and divine.</p> + +<p>The sum therefore of this Psalm is,—suffer; that is, learn patience. +Every evil must be overcome by bearing it with patience. Cast thy +cares upon the Lord. Do not murmur; be not angry; wish no ill to the +wicked. Leave the management and government of all to God: he is a +righteous judge.—This is the all-necessary doctrine that is delivered +to us in this Psalm: a doctrine wholly unknown to the wise of this +world. And here the Holy Spirit comforts the godly in a various, and +at the same time, most fatherly and affectionate way; and that with +the most great and gracious promises. And then, as an example, David +himself says, “I have been young, and now am old, yet saw I never the +righteous forsaken.” And then he concludes with threatenings against +the wicked. But to show forth this patience in the midst of so much +malice and perverseness of the world, is the power and operation of +the Holy Spirit only, and is found only in spiritual men: for all +human reason, and all the wise ones of the world, cannot judge +otherwise, than that it is unworthy of God, and unjust, that it should +be well with the evil, and ill with the good.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David moveth God to take compassion of his pitiful case.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot +displeasure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>There is</i> no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither +<i>is there any</i> rest in my bones because of my sin.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they +are too heavy for me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My wounds stink <i>and</i> are corrupt because of my foolishness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day +long.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For my loins are filled with a loathsome <i>disease:</i> and <i>there is</i> no +soundness in my flesh.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the +disquietness of my heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, all my desire <i>is</i> before thee; and my groaning is not hid from +thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine +eyes, it also is gone from me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen +stand afar off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They also that seek after my life lay snares <i>for me:</i> and they that +seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day +long.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I, as a deaf <i>man</i>, heard not; and <i>I was</i> as a dumb man <i>that</i> +openeth not his mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth <i>are</i> no +reproofs.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For in thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O L<small>ORD</small> my God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I said, <i>Hear me;</i> lest <i>otherwise</i> they should rejoice over me: +when my foot slippeth, they magnify <i>themselves</i> against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I <i>am</i> ready to halt, and my sorrow <i>is</i> continually before me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But mine enemies <i>are</i> lively, <i>and</i> they are strong: and they that +hate me wrongfully are multiplied.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I +follow <i>the thing that</i> good <i>is</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Forsake me not, O L<small>ORD</small>: O my God, be not far from me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make haste to help me, O L<small>ORD</small> my salvation.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a fervent prayer to God, in which David complains with +wonderful groanings, that he is stricken and bruised with the sense of +his sin; that he is distressed and straitened in spirit under the +deepest sorrow; and that he can see nothing and feel nothing but wrath +from heaven, and the terrible lightnings, arrows, and threatenings of +God; and in a word, death, and hell itself; and that this great +distress exhausts not only all the moisture, all the strength, all the +blood, and all the marrow of his frame, but fills him with an +unspeakable alarm and perturbation, and makes him pant and sweat with +agony; so that the intenseness of his feelings, destroys the natural +colour and appearance of his face, and affects his whole body. For to +feel in reality the burthen of the conscience under a sense of sin, is +a distress and terror exceeding all other distresses and terrors. And +these deep temptations of the godly are greatly increased by those +wicked ones without, who cease not to call them heretics, seditious +persons, and murderers. For these hypocrites, while they boast in the +teeth of the godly that they are the true saints, and the true church, +and the real people of God, (and God in the meantime, which is often +the case, not bringing in help and consolation) the godly are deeply +grieved and afflicted, as if God was their enemy because of their +sins.</p> + +<p>But this Psalm teaches us constantly to hope for, and expect the help +and consolation of God, and still to fight against all such hypocrites +by prayer. And the prophet, in the midst of the agonizing conflict of +this temptation, sustains and lifts up himself by taking courage from +the divine promise. And here he maintains his cause, (which is not the +cause of men but of God,) as a strong fortress against Satan and his +cause, and here again flows in the consolation of faith, &c. And so +also we ought to pray always, and in no temptation yield to sorrow of +mind, even though we are sinners, and though Satan shakes us with the +horrible terrors of sin: for grace is stronger than sin!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XXXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David’s care of his thoughts.—The consideration of the brevity and +vanity of life, the reverence of God’s judgments, and prayer, are his +bridles of impatience.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, <i>even</i> to Jeduthun. A +Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; I +will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I was dumb with silence: I held my peace, <i>even</i> from good; and my +sorrow was stirred.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: <i>then</i> +spake I with my tongue,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it +<i>is; that</i> I may know how frail I <i>am</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, thou hast made my days <i>as</i> an handbreadth, and mine age <i>is</i> +as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state <i>is</i> +altogether vanity. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely every man walketh in a vain shew; surely they are disquieted in +vain; he heapeth up <i>riches</i>, and knoweth not who shall gather them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And now, L<small>ORD</small>, what wait I for? my hope <i>is</i> in thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the +foolish.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine +hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his +beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man <i>is</i> vanity. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear my prayer, O L<small>ORD</small>, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace +at my tears: for I <i>am</i> a stranger with thee, <i>and</i> a sojourner, as +all my fathers <i>were</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no +more.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a consolatory Psalm, containing also a prayer of the prophet, +in which he prays that his mouth may be bridled, that he might not +break out into blasphemy and murmuring when he sees the wicked to +prosper in the world, and most proudly to despise God and his word, +and to think of nothing but amassing riches, &c.; and when he sees, on +the contrary, that the godly are afflicted with various temptations +without and within, and conflicting both with the world and with the +devil.</p> + +<p>Rather (says he) teach me, O Lord, to know mine end; that is, that +there will be an end to my life at length; that is, teach me to +magnify the future, which does not yet appear. Guard me from that +perilous security of the wicked in which they give themselves up +wholly to this world, and devote themselves to coveting the things +thereof, and to pride and ambition, as if they should live here for +ever. For it is often a great vexation to the godly, and indeed the +prophets themselves complain of it,—that the wicked and the evil +abound in every kind of luxury, wallow in all the pleasures of wine +and feasting, and live their whole lives in security, strangers to +trouble and affliction, while the godly are afflicted, and tempted, +and distressed both from without and from within.</p> + +<p>But the end shows that the godly are happy; and the wicked, with all +their perishable happiness, truly miserable. Hence the prophet saith, +“And now, Lord, what is my expectation, (or what wait I for?)” As if +he had said, shall I be always thus afflicted! Shall I be utterly +overwhelmed? Will these temptations continue to return upon us for +ever? No! (says he) the Lord is my expectation: that is, I shall find +in the end, after all these temptations and death, an eternal life, a +reconciled God, the pardon of all my sins, and even in this world, I +shall not be forsaken. But the wicked, after their short life, will +find nothing but death,—death eternal!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XL.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The benefit of confidence in God.—Obedience is the best +sacrifice.—The sense of David’s evils inflameth his prayer.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I waited patiently for the L<small>ORD</small>; and he inclined unto me, and heard my +cry.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, +and set my feet upon a rock, <i>and</i> established my goings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he hath put a new song in my mouth, <i>even</i> praise unto our God: +many shall see <i>it</i>, and fear, and shall trust in the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> that man that maketh the L<small>ORD</small> his trust, and respecteth +not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many, O L<small>ORD</small> my God, <i>are</i> thy wonderful works <i>which</i> thou hast done, +and thy thoughts <i>which are</i> to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in +order unto thee: <i>if</i> I would declare and speak <i>of them</i>, they are more +than can be numbered.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou +opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book <i>it is</i> written of +me;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law <i>is</i> within my heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have +not refrained my lips, O L<small>ORD</small>, thou knowest.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy +faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy +loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O L<small>ORD</small>: let thy +loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities have +taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more +than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be pleased, O L<small>ORD</small>, to deliver me: O L<small>ORD</small>, make haste to help me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to +destroy it; let them be driven backward, and put to shame, that wish +me evil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, +Aha, aha!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as +love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I <i>am</i> poor and needy: <i>yet</i> the L<small>ORD</small> thinketh upon me: thou <i>art</i> +my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy, and the voice of Christ himself; where +Christ himself says, that he was heard in the midst of his sufferings, +when crying and groaning in the midst of the agony of death. And it is +also a beautiful example and consolation for the whole church, and for +all the members of Christ,—that God will never forsake any of those +that believe in him, when agonizing in the same manner, if they cry +unto him, and call upon him in the midst of the horrible pit and +terrors of death.</p> + +<p>The great prophet David, and others like him, published forth Psalms +of this kind, concerning the greatest and most important things of +Christ’s kingdom and people: for the expectation of the Messiah and of +Christ, was a very important matter among the people of God, and +therefore David makes the person of Christ himself speaking.</p> + +<p>Christ here plainly says, that he is the one and only person who +fulfils the law, and does the will of God. Here he excludes all others +and their works. “In the volume of the book (says he) it is written of +me.” That is, the promise of blessing and grace, that the seed of the +woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and that in the seed of +Abraham all the nations of the earth should be blessed, were +concerning me, &c. Thus he rejects and abrogates the whole law, with +all works, sacrifices, and forms of worship; because, by them, the +will of God is not fulfilled.</p> + +<p>All our works and sacrifices, therefore, are rejected. Christ here +saith, that he is the sole and only one who pleases God, and fulfils +his will. By these words, therefore, he promises the New Testament; +where there is no righteousness of the law, but the righteousness of +faith, preached in the great congregation: that is, in the whole +world, in all nations. There is no preaching of the righteousness of +the law, which only makes men proud pharisees and hypocrites, who have +not their hope fixed in God, or in the promise of grace, but in their +own righteousness, false holiness, and legal hypocrisy.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>God’s care of the poor.—David complaineth of his enemies’ +treachery.—He fleeth to God for succour.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> he that considereth the poor: the L<small>ORD</small> will deliver him +in time of trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> will preserve him, and keep him alive; <i>and</i> he shall be +blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of +his enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt +make all his bed in his sickness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I said, L<small>ORD</small>, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned +against thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine enemies speak evil of me; when shall he die, and his name perish?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And if he come to see <i>me</i>, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth +iniquity to itself; <i>when</i> he goeth abroad, he telleth <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they +devise my hurt.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>An evil disease, <i>say they</i>, cleaveth fast unto him: and <i>now</i> that he +lieth, he shall rise up no more.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my +bread, hath lift up <i>his</i> heel against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou, O L<small>ORD</small>, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may +requite them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not +triumph over me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me +before thy face for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small> God of Israel, from everlasting, and to +everlasting. Amen, and Amen.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy; where, after the manner of the Psalms, +Christ himself speaks, and with a wonderful feeling, complains of his +domestic traitor Judas, and of those cruel dogs which vented their +fury on the poor; by which dogs, he means those that crucified him. He +prays that God would judge his cause, and set him before his face: +that is, that God his father would comfort him in his suffering, and +raise him from the dead; that, being exalted, through the cross and +death, to the right hand of God, he might be glorified with eternal +life and victory.</p> + +<p>This is a great and unspeakable consolation to all the godly; where, +in the fourth verse, the Son saith, “heal my soul, for I have sinned +against thee.” He confesses himself to be a sinner before God his +Father, whereas he was without sin, and no guile was found in his +mouth. Here, therefore, he stands as our priest, as a victim and +sacrifice for sin, bearing and suffering for our sins, as if they were +his; and he bore the guilt of them.</p> + +<p>In the beginning of the Psalm he comprehends the sum of the whole +matter, in a very powerful expression. “Blessed (saith he) are they +who consider the poor and needy:” that is, blessed, yea, eternally +blessed are they, who are not offended at the once weak, crucified, +and condemned Christ, but who believe the Gospel. For the preaching of +the cross is to the Gentiles foolishness, and to the Jews a +stumbling-block. And it is the greatest of all offences to the world +to preach, teach, or confess, that the once poor, crucified, and +condemned Christ, now sits at the right hand of the divine Majesty, +and that he is on high, the Lord of all, both in this world, and that +which is to come. For with this Christ, that people of the Jews were +so offended, and they so ran upon and stumbled on this rock of +offence, that, to this day, they remain cast out and scattered, and +wander about over all the face of the earth, without a priesthood, and +without a kingdom!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David’s zeal to serve God in the temple.—He encourageth his soul to +trust in God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of +Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after +thee, O God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and +appear before God?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say +unto me, Where <i>is</i> thy God?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I remember these <i>things</i>, I pour out my soul in me: for I had +gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with +the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And <i>why</i> art thou disquieted in me? +Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him <i>for</i> the help of his +countenance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee +from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts; all thy waves +and thy billows are gone over me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Yet</i> the L<small>ORD</small> will command his loving-kindness in the day-time, and +in the night his song <i>shall be</i> with me, <i>and</i> my prayer unto the God +of my life.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will say unto God my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I +mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>As</i> with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they +say daily unto me, where <i>is</i> thy God?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within +me; hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, <i>who is</i> the health +of my countenance and my God.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is an ardent prayer to God; evincing an exceeding greatness of +spiritual feeling, and an unutterable groaning of the Spirit. Under +this similitude of a hart, at the beginning of the Psalm, the Psalmist +describes his feelings in the hour of temptation, when he was wholly +immersed in the extreme of distress, and absorbed in tears. For in +that hour of darkness, the God of life, and peace, and light, and +consolation, is not seen; but the sun of all comfort is hidden as it +were behind a cloud. Then the hearts of the thus tempted feel nothing +but an angry God, and a cruel avenger; and Satan increases these +dismal views of misery to a wonderful extent. To these things, +moreover, are often added the blasphemies of those who make derision +of the afflicted, and assail them with the taunt, “Where is now thy +God!”—For the world and the ungodly cannot contain themselves, when +they see the saints in calamities; they cannot refrain from taunting +and deriding them; from aggravating the distresses of these godly +ones, and from exclaiming, in their bitterly-cutting triumph, ‘They +hoped in God that he would deliver them. Where is now their delivering +God? Where is now their Christ they talk so much about? This is just +how such heretics ought to be served.’ For these wicked creatures +judge according to the flesh and blind reason; and imagine, that +affliction is a certain sign of divine anger against the saints. On +the other hand, they boast of their own afflictions, or any slight +adversities which they may meet with, as sufferings for the Lord’s +name sake, and as martyrdoms and sorrows endured for their apostolic +innocence. For those perverse and virulent wretches, those blind +leaders of the blind, though they know, yet will not know, that God +thus chastens his saints, that he may afterwards comfort them; but not +that he may forsake, destroy, or condemn them.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist desires, with the greatest fervency of heart, to come +unto the house of the Lord, and into the congregation of those that +sing and rejoice; to keep holy the sabbath, to celebrate the name of +the Lord, and to see the face of the Lord; that is, he has an ardent +desire to hear the word of the Lord, that he might thereby be lifted +up and refreshed; being well nigh consumed in such a fiery heat of +temptation and distress. The house of the Lord is where the word of +God, and the promise of grace are preached. And by “the face of God,” +he means the presence of God; where God, by his word, reveals himself, +and his will, and grace, and gives the knowledge of them unto men. +This he calls in another place ‘God’s turning, (not his back but) his +face towards us.’</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David praying to be restored to the temple, promiseth to serve God +joyfully.—He encourageth his soul to trust in God.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O +deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou <i>art</i> the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why +go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring +me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, +upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within +me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, <i>who is</i> the health of my +countenance, and my God.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is of the same purport as the preceding; and David uses +almost the same expressions. He desires to go into the house of God in +the light and truth of God: that is, he desires to be comforted, under +his distress and temptation, by the word of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLIV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The church, in memory of former favours, complaineth of their present +evils.—Professing her integrity, she fervently prayeth for succour.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, +Maschil.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, <i>what</i> +work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>How</i> thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst +them; <i>how</i> thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither +did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and +the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Through thee will we push down our enemies: through thy name will we +tread them under that rise up against us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame +that hated us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou hast cast off, and put us to shame; and goest not forth with +our armies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy; and they which hate us +spoil for themselves.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast given us like sheep <i>appointed</i> for meat; and hast scattered +us among the heathen.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase <i>thy wealth</i> +by their price.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to +them that are round about us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among +the people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My confusion <i>is</i> continually before me, and the shame of my face hath +covered me,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of +the enemy and avenger.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have +we dealt falsely in thy covenant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy +way;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered +us with the shadow of death.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands, +to a strange God;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the +heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as +sheep for the slaughter.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Awake, why sleepest thou, O L<small>ORD</small>? arise, cast <i>us</i> not off for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherefore hidest thou thy face, <i>and</i> forgettest our affliction and +our oppression?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the +earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer of the whole people of God; and it is offered up in +the person of all the saints; especially of those under the New +Testament, whom you here find to be complaining that they are cruelly +slaughtered and slain by the wicked nations, by the ungodly men, and +by tyrants. For God delivers his saints into the hands of men, as if +he had rejected them, or utterly forgotten them. Whereas, he glorified +the patriarchs of old, and all those his people from the beginning, by +mighty works and miracles in the sight of the nations that opposed +them. And indeed all the saints maintain, not their own cause, but +God’s; and seek, not their own glory, but his: and yet for this very +just and holy cause, and for no other reason, nor any other crime, +they are thus torn and slaughtered by exile, by the spoiling of their +goods, and, in a word, by death; and are as cruelly treated in the +world, as if they were the most wicked of all men, and a mere set of +vagabonds and murderers.</p> + +<p>In a word, this Psalm is a sighing and groaning of spirit against the +weakness of the flesh; which flesh, even in the saints, murmurs +against God, because he governs the world with such an appearance of +injustice; and is in appearance, an unjust judge, permitting the +saints to be afflicted whom he ought to support and comfort, and +promoting and exalting the wicked whom he ought to overthrow.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The majesty and grace of Christ’s kingdom.—The duty of the church, +and the benefits thereof.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil. +A Song of Loves.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have +made touching the king: my tongue <i>is</i> the pen of a ready writer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy +lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gird thy sword upon <i>thy</i> thigh, O <i>most</i> mighty, with thy glory and +thy majesty.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness +<i>and</i> righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible +things.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thine arrows <i>are</i> sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; <i>whereby</i> +the people fall under thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy throne, O God, <i>is</i> for and ever and ever: the sceptre of thy +kingdom <i>is</i> a right sceptre.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy +God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All thy garments <i>smell</i> of myrrh, and aloes, <i>and</i> cassia, out of the +ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Kings’ daughters <i>were</i> among thy honourable women: upon thy right +hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also +thine own people, and thy father’s house;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he <i>is</i> thy Lord; and +worship thou him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And the daughter of Tyre <i>shall be there</i> with a gift; <i>even</i> the rich +among the people shall intreat thy favour.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The king’s daughter <i>is</i> all glorious within: her clothing <i>is</i> of +wrought gold.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the +virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter +into the king’s palace.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make +princes in all the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore +shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the gospel and kingdom of Christ; and it +describes, in many rich and sweet figures and expressions, the spouse +of Christ, the church. It describes also Christ, going forth in all +his regal pomp; having all royal gifts, a manly and regal form, +suavity and grace of speech, a warrior’s armour, the splendour of +regal dress, and success in war against his enemies, &c.; and also as +possessing all kingly virtues,—righteousness, clemency, &c.</p> + +<p>And moreover that he may set the kingdom of Christ before our eyes in +its sweetest appearance, the Psalmist describes him as having palaces +and houses of ivory; a queen, and her attendant virgins; and sons and +daughters. All these things are to be understood of the spiritual +kingdom of Christ and the church, where Christ is a King, powerful, +wise, just, gracious, and victorious; and moreover, a conqueror +triumphant; and also rejoicing, preserving, comforting and enriching +his own, against sin, the law, and death, &c.</p> + +<p>And David here clearly foretels that the law of the Old Testament +should be abrogated. “Hearken (says he) O daughter, and incline thine +ear, forget also thy father’s house: (here he seems to glance at the +synagogue): so shall the King have pleasure in thy beauty, and thou +shalt worship him;” showing, that there is no true God out of Christ; +and ascribing unto Christ truly divine honour; namely, that of the +first and great precept,—that is, adoration. And in the sixth and +seventh verses, he plainly calls him God: thus making him an eternal +king, the foundation of whose throne is in righteousness: who +justifies all that believe in him, and takes away sin, and destroys +death and hell. And no one can be an eternal king that dies not, but +he that is truly and naturally God!—of which we have spoken at large +elsewhere, in our more full commentary on the 45th Psalm.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The confidence which the church hath in God.—An exhortation to behold +it.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah. A song upon +Alamoth.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though +the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Though</i> the waters thereof roar, <i>and</i> be troubled, <i>though</i> the +mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>There is</i> a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of +God, the holy <i>place</i> of the tabernacle of the most high.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God <i>is</i> in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help +her, <i>and that</i> right early.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the +earth melted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> of hosts <i>is</i> with us; the God of Jacob <i>is</i> our refuge. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Come, behold the works of the L<small>ORD</small>, what desolations he hath made in +the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the +bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the +fire.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be still, and know that I <i>am</i> God: I will be exalted among the +heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> of hosts <i>is</i> with us; the God of Jacob <i>is</i> our refuge. +Selah.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a thanksgiving which the people of Israel sang, at that time, +for their divine blessings, and miraculous deliverances, because God +had powerfully defended Jerusalem, situated in the midst of hostile +nations and enemies, and guarded it against all opposing kings, and +against all the snares and hostile attempts of the surrounding +nations; and had preserved it in peace against all the furious +counsels of war and bloodshed. Hence, after the manner of the +scriptures, David calls all that present flourishing state of his +kingdom’s affairs, the river of God, whose streams should never be +dry; which was but a small rivulet, in comparison of the great streams +and torrents of the sea by which he was surrounded, (that is, by those +immense kingdoms and islands of the nations, and Gentile kings,) which +although they were great, would yet, one day, dry up and disappear, +while the river of God should endure for ever.</p> + +<p>We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and +powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his church and his +word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, +against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the +assaults of the world, the flesh, and sin. So that our little river +remains a living fountain; whilst so many heresies, so many tyrants +and their doctrines, as so many stinking sewers and sinks, are +dispersed, like broken cisterns, and disappear, and are lost for ever.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The nations are exhorted cheerfully to entertain the kingdom of +Christ.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of +Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O clap your hands all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of +triumph.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> most high <i>is</i> terrible; <i>he is</i> a great King over all +the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom +he loved. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God is gone up with a shout, the L<small>ORD</small> with the sound of a trumpet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises unto our King, sing +praises.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For God <i>is</i> the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with +understanding.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his +holiness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The princes of the people are gathered together, <i>even</i> the people of +the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth <i>belong</i> unto God: he +is greatly exalted.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning Christ; describing the manner of his +ascension on high, and showing that he should be King over all. “Sing +praises, sing praises unto our King,” (saith he); thereby shewing, +that this kingdom of Christ should not be one of that kind that stands +in the power of arms, but in the word of praise, and in the singing of +thanksgivings. As if he had said, This king, by the word of the gospel +only, which is the word of praise and thanksgiving, shall destroy all +the power of the adversaries,—the world, and Satan; as the walls of +Jericho fell down by the sound of trumpets only, without sword or +arms!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The ornaments and privileges of the church.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Great <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small> and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, +<i>in</i> the mountain of his holiness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, <i>is</i> mount Zion; +<i>on</i> the sides of the north the city of the great king.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God is known in her palaces for a refuge.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They saw <i>it</i>, <i>and</i> so they marvelled; they were troubled, <i>and</i> +hasted away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Fear took hold upon them there, <i>and</i> pain, as of a woman in travail.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the L<small>ORD</small> of hosts, in +the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We have thought of thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst of thy +temple.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>According to thy name, O God, so <i>is</i> thy praise unto the ends of the +earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of +thy judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell <i>it</i> +to the generation following.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For this God <i>is</i> our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide +<i>even</i> unto death.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a thanksgiving almost like Psalm xlvi. For the Psalmist +praises God, and magnifies and extols his works, because he had so +marvellously defended the city of Jerusalem against the neighbouring +nations, and against kings and tyrants; and because he had often +delivered it when besieged by the most bitter and the most powerful +enemies; while those enemies themselves were driven back in a +wonderful manner, and put to open shame; and because he had saved it +from infinite perils and destructions, in defiance of the very gates +of hell; and had preserved the city, the temple, the word, and the +worship of God.</p> + +<p>But, more especially, David is here celebrating the truth of God;—that +God faithfully fulfils his promise; ‘According to thy name, (saith he) +so is thy glory, and so are thy works unto the ends of the earth:’ +that is, according as thou hast promised us, “I will be your God,” and +accordingly as we have believed that word, so hast thou given us to +experience the fulfilment of it;—thou hast been with us, and delivered +and defended us; our city and our temple stand in the midst of +enemies, as if in the midst of flames, preserved and unhurt.</p> + +<p><i>We</i> sing this Psalm, because God is pleased to preserve his church +and gospel against the roaring and hatred of kings and princes; who +cease not from attacking them by violence and craft with all their +might: and yet, they shall perish and be confounded, and covered with +shame, while the gospel shall remain as it was before, unhurt and +unhindered.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XLIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An earnest persuasion to build the faith of resurrection, not on +worldly power, but on God.—Worldly prosperity is not to be admired.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm for the sons of +Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear this, all <i>ye</i> people; give ear, all <i>ye</i> inhabitants of the +world.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Both low and high, rich and poor together.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart <i>shall +be</i> of understanding.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will open my dark saying upon +the harp.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, <i>when</i> the iniquity of my +heels shall compass me about?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude +of their riches.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>None <i>of them</i> can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a +ransom for him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>(For the redemption of their soul <i>is</i> precious, and it ceaseth for +ever.)</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That he should still live for ever, <i>and</i> not see corruption.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he seeth <i>that</i> wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish +person perish, and leave their wealth to others.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their inward thought <i>is</i>, <i>that</i> their houses <i>shall continue</i> for +ever, <i>and</i> their dwelling-places to all generations: they call +<i>their</i> lands after their own names.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Nevertheless, man <i>being</i> in honour, abideth not: he is like the +beasts <i>that</i> perish.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This their way <i>is</i> their folly: yet their posterity approve their +sayings. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and +the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning: and their +beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for he shall +receive me. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house +is increased.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not +descend after him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though, while he lived, he blessed his soul: (and men will praise thee +when thou doest well to thyself.)</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see +light.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Man <i>that is</i> in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts +<i>that</i> perish.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm that instructs us unto faith, and teaches us to trust +in God against that great god of this world, who is called Mammon. +David here gives a long and striking introduction to the Psalm, that +he may excite and wholly arrest our attention. He here sharply rebukes +all who trust in the riches and wealth of this world; concerning whom +Christ also severely says, “Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have +received your consolation.” Luke vi. 24.</p> + +<p>“The love of money, (saith Paul,) is the root of all evil;” and yet +the whole world leave the true God and worship this idol; and are +actuated more and more with the furious desire of getting wealth. All +men, from the least to the greatest, except those that fear God, are +in pursuit of money. Hence it is, that all the prophets exclaim, “For +from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, every one is +given to covetousness,” Jeremiah vi. 13. And hence also have arisen +all those proverbs and trite sayings of the poets among the Greeks and +Latins. ‘All things give way to money,’—‘money is the first thing to +be sought after; virtue is a secondary consideration.’</p> + +<p>But all such admirers of, and slaves to riches are pointed at and +exposed in this Psalm; as are also all those who trust in their +wealth, nothing of which they can take with them when they die. And +here also true faith is highly extolled; by which we trust in God, who +can deliver us from death, and give us eternal life and salvation. And +death is the time when not only gold, but all creatures put together, +cannot save and deliver a man!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM L.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The majesty of God in the church.—His order to gather saints.—The +pleasure of God is not in ceremonies, but in sincerity of obedience.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The mighty God, <i>even</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, hath spoken, and called the earth +from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour +before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may +judge his people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant +with me by sacrifice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God <i>is</i> judge +himself. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify +against thee: I <i>am</i> God, <i>even</i> thy God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, <i>to +have been</i> continually before me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will take no bullock out of thy house, <i>nor</i> he-goats out of thy +folds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For every beast of the forest <i>is</i> mine, <i>and</i> the cattle upon a +thousand hills.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the +field <i>are</i> mine.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I were hungry I would not tell thee: for the world <i>is</i> mine, and +the fulness thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most high.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou +shalt glorify me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my +statutes, or <i>that</i> thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast +been partaker with adulterers.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother: thou slanderest thine +own mother’s son.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>These <i>things</i> hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest +that I was altogether <i>such an one</i> as thyself: <i>but</i> I will reprove +thee, and set <i>them</i> in order before thine eyes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear <i>you</i> in pieces, +and <i>there be</i> none to deliver.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth <i>his</i> +conversation <i>aright</i> will I shew the salvation of God.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm teaches us, in the teeth of all hypocrites and all the +worship of hypocrites, what is true worship, and which are acceptable +sacrifices in the sight of God. For hypocrites consider their works, +and merits, and sacrifices as of such high value, that they think G<small>OD</small> +ought to acknowledge the benefit of their services; and they imagine +that he has need of them. Whereas, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit +declares with a loud voice by the prophets, what the true worship of +God is; namely, that of the First Commandment: which is, to worship +God, and adore him; and to acknowledge that we receive all things from +his hand, and that all glory is due to him!</p> + +<p>Observe, therefore,—there is here clearly expressed, in the plainest +words, what is the highest worship of God; and what sacrifice is the +most acceptable to him. And we are here briefly told, that the true +way and road to God is, to call upon him in the day of trouble, and +give him thanks for the infinite benefits which we receive from him; +(as the last verse here sings;) for this is truly to “pay our vows +unto God, and to offer unto him thanksgiving,” (as the 14th verse +saith.) These are not those foolish monastic vows, and the like; but +that highest of all vows, which the Decalogue and the First +Commandment require; where it saith, “To-day have ye vowed unto the +Lord your God: he will be your God:” that is, ye are made the people +of God, that ye may have him for your God; and that ye may truly +believe in him, call upon him, and cleave unto him alone. Of this +those foolish hypocrites and self-imagined saints know nothing +whatever.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth for remission of sins, whereof he maketh a deep +confession.—He prayeth for sanctification.—God delighteth not in +sacrifice but in sincerity.—He prayeth for the church.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came +unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness: according +unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin <i>is</i> ever before me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done <i>this</i> evil in thy +sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, <i>and</i> be +clear when thou judgest.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden +<i>part</i> thou shalt make me to know wisdom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be +whiter than snow.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make me to hear joy and gladness; <i>that</i> the bones <i>which</i> thou hast +broken may rejoice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me <i>with thy</i> +free spirit.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Then</i> will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be +converted unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: +<i>and</i> my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give <i>it:</i> thou +delightest not in burnt offering.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sacrifices of God <i>are</i> a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite +heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of +Jerusalem.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with +burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer +bullocks upon thine altar.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This, among all the Psalms, is a signal and golden one. It contains +experiences and feelings truly Davidical; and teaches us what sin is, +what the origin of sin is, and how great and awful an evil the fall of +Adam was. And also, (which is an excellent part of it indeed,) it +shows us how we obtain the remission of sins. For in this Psalm, we +have it clearly expressed, that sin is a great and innate evil, and an +awful depravation and corruption of nature, in all the powers both of +soul and body. Unless, therefore, we are born again by faith in +Christ, and are renewed in spirit and made new creatures of God, the +sense of the loss of God and of eternal life and salvation is so heavy +a burthen, and the power of sin and the sting of death so great, that +the conscience is shaken with unspeakable distress and terror; and the +anguish that takes hold on it drinks up the very marrow, and bruises +and breaks the very inmost bones, until the word of grace and of the +Spirit again raises us up and refreshes us; as David here says, “That +the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.”</p> + +<p>But in hearts that are purified and renewed by the Spirit, there is a +new light shining; there are new motions and spiritual affections; a +sure rest and peace of conscience; a true and full assurance of +salvation; a fervent and lively joy of spirit; a rejoicing in God and +a peace with him; a heart full of thanksgiving, and a patience under +afflictions. Hence those that fear God, those that are born again, if +they are at a point concerning the good will of God towards them, are +those who can rightly teach and instruct others unto godliness. “Then +(says David) will I teach transgressors thy ways;” then will I teach +them to call upon and praise the name of the Lord, and to give thanks +unto him; and in a word, to worship and adore God truly and aright, to +bear patiently the cross and afflictions, and to offer great and +glorious sacrifices; (for that is the way in which he here expresses +himself, calling “a broken and a contrite heart” the favourite +sacrifice of God;) for that is the highest and most excellent worship +of God: and he rejects, in plain words, all sacrifices which are +offered by hypocrites without <i>that</i> sacrifice; which sacrifices of +theirs they consider to be the highest acts of worship.</p> + +<p>In concluding the Psalm, David begs of God that he would be pleased to +build and preserve the city of Jerusalem; that is, the place of the +word and the true worship of God. In the same manner, <i>we</i> ought also +to pray. “Do good unto Zion, O Lord:” that is, ‘O Lord, thou seest the +virulent hatred of hypocrites: Do thou, O Lord, preserve the true +church, and the true worship of God in it;’ that is, the worship of +the First Commandment. Confound all those who boast of their good +works and sacrifices, and who neglect faith towards God, and trample +under foot the First Commandment. But preserve and comfort those who +adore thee in truth, serve thee, and sacrifice unto thee in the +spirit.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, condemning the spitefulness of Doeg, prophesieth his +destruction.—The righteous shall rejoice at it.—David, upon his +confidence in God’s mercy, giveth thanks.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote><small>To the chief Musician, Maschil, <i>A Psalm</i> of David, when Doeg the +Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to +the house of Ahimelech.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of +God <i>endureth</i> continually.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs, like a sharp razor, working +deceitfully.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou lovest evil more than good, <i>and</i> lying rather than to speak +righteousness. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou lovest all devouring words, O <i>thou</i> deceitful tongue.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God shall likewise destroy thee for ever: he shall take thee away, and +pluck thee out of <i>thy</i> dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land +of the living. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteous also shall see, and fear and shall laugh at him:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lo, <i>this is</i> the man <i>that</i> made not God his strength; but trusted in +the abundance of his riches, <i>and</i> strengthened himself in his +wickedness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I <i>am</i> like a green olive-tree in the house of God: I trust in the +mercy of God for ever and ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done <i>it:</i> and I will +wait on thy name; for <i>it is</i> good before thy saints.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation; and the title of it shows plainly what +are its contents. David is here complaining of Doeg who betrayed him, +and who was the cause of much hurt and bloodshed. 1 Sam. xxii.</p> + +<p>This Doeg furnishes a type of all those betrayers and blood-shedding +hypocrites who are in the halls of kings and princes; and who lyingly, +and with hatred, traduce the word of God and the doctrine of truth: of +which stamp there are now numbers rising up on every side, who +irritate and urge on kings and princes to slay the sincere ministers +of the word: such as those in our time, who kill many good men on +account of the sacraments and marriage, and make no end of shedding +the blood of God’s Abels.</p> + +<p>Against the furious cruelty of these men, therefore, this Psalm +comforts the godly; and promises them, that such shall not go +unpunished, but shall fall under those awful curses mentioned in Deut. +xxviii:—that they shall be rooted out of the earth; that their houses +shall be destroyed; and that they shall lose both their bodies and +their estates; but, that those who fear God shall be preserved; that +they shall remain in the house of the Lord; and that they shall +persevere in teaching and hearing the word of God, in defiance of the +devil and all the wicked.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David describeth the corruption of a natural man.—He convinceth the +wicked by the light of their own conscience.—He glorieth in the +salvation of God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil. +<i>A Psalm</i> of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The fool hath said in his heart, <i>There is</i> no God. Corrupt are they, +and have done abominable iniquity: <i>there is</i> none that doeth good.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there +were <i>any</i> that did understand, that did seek God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Every one of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy: +<i>there is</i> none that doeth good, no, not one.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people <i>as</i> +they eat bread: they have not called upon God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There were they in great fear <i>where</i> no fear was; for God hath +scattered the bones of him that encampeth <i>against</i> thee: thou hast +put <i>them</i> to shame, because God hath despised them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that the salvation of Israel <i>were come</i> out of Zion! When God +bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, <i>and</i> +Israel shall be glad.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy like that of Psalm xiv; and it is a Psalm of +instruction. The two Psalms are of the same purport, and contain +almost the same words and expressions. In a word, they both cut at +hypocrites and self-justifiers, who persecute the sound doctrine and +its preachers; and at the close they give a prophetic declaration +concerning the gospel, and the kingdom of Christ which should proceed +out of Zion.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LIV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David, complaining of the Ziphims, prayeth for salvation.—Upon his +confidence in God’s help he promiseth sacrifice.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote><small>To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, <i>A Psalm</i> of David, when +the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with +us.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my +soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, God <i>is</i> mine helper: the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> with them that uphold my +soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will freely sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O L<small>ORD</small>, for +<i>it is</i> good.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he hath delivered me out of all trouble; and mine eye hath seen +<i>his desire</i> upon mine enemies.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a fervent prayer against the persecutors of the word, who lay +plots against the lives of the good, and those that fear God, for the +word of God’s sake; just like king Saul and the people of Ziph, who +lay in wait for the life of David, on account of the name and word of +God, by which Saul was to be dethroned and David made king in his +stead. David, therefore, prays, that the vengeance of God might +overtake such cruelty and malice.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David in his prayer complaineth of his fearful case.—He prayeth +against his enemies, of whose wickedness and treachery he +complaineth.—He comforteth himself in God’s preservation of him, and +confusion of his enemies.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician on +Neginoth, Maschil. <i>A Psalm</i> of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my +supplication.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a +noise;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the +wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My heart is sore pained within me; and the terrors of death are fallen +upon me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath +overwhelmed me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! <i>for then</i> would I fly +away and be at rest.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lo <i>then</i> would I wander far off, <i>and</i> remain in the wilderness. +Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I would hasten my escape from the windy storm <i>and</i> tempest.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Destroy, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>and</i> divide their tongues: for I have seen violence +and strife in the city.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; mischief also +and sorrow <i>are</i> in the midst of it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wickedness <i>is</i> in the midst thereof; deceit and guile depart not from +her streets.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For <i>it was</i> not an enemy <i>that</i> reproached me: then I could have +borne <i>it:</i> neither <i>was it</i> he that hated me <i>that</i> did magnify +<i>himself</i> against me; then I would have hid myself from him;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But <i>it was</i> thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We took sweet counsel together, <i>and</i> walked unto the house of God in +company.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let death seize upon them, <i>and</i> let them go down quick into hell: for +wickedness <i>is</i> in their dwellings, <i>and</i> among them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As for me, I will call upon God; and the L<small>ORD</small> shall save me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud; and he +shall hear my voice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle <i>that was</i> against +me: for there were many with me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God shall hear and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. +Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him; he +hath broken his covenant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>The words</i> of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war <i>was</i> in +his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet <i>were</i> they drawn +swords.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Cast thy burden upon the L<small>ORD</small>, and he shall sustain thee: he shall +never suffer the righteous to be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: +bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I +will trust in thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer: and although it may in the 10th and 11th +verses, be understood of Christ himself, praying against his betrayer +Judas, when he says, “If it had been mine enemy that reproached me,” +&c. yet, it is manifest to me, that it is a general prayer of the +godly against all the craft of insidious and deceitful men, and +against the artful Italian flattery of some persons, who are friends +as far as their tongue goes, but who have one thing on their tongue +and another in their heart, and consider craft and dissimulation in +all things to be the highest wisdom; as if they could deceive God +also!</p> + +<p>They know how to promise, and do promise all things to your face: so +that David justly describes them thus, “Their words are smoother than +oil:” but when you have turned your back, they blacken your character; +and their mouth is more destructive than arrows and coals of fire; and +their tongue is a sharp sword, and a drawn dagger. And this is what +David complains of in verse 12;—that they deceive effectually with +their countenance, their look, and their eyes, and cover, under these +fox-like arts, Satanic bitterness and virulence. They eat and drink +with you, and pretend to be your friends and intimates, (as Judas did +with Christ;) they keep holy days and go to the house of God with you.</p> + +<p>This is the reason, therefore, that David so utterly execrates them, +and says, “Let them be taken out of the way suddenly, and let them +descend into hell alive.” For virulent, outside-show hypocrites, like +these, distress the hearts of those that fear God in a manner that is +beyond description.</p> + +<p>This very judgment which David threatens in this Psalm we see +executed, in our day, upon many tyrants and originators of sects; who +are taken off in a moment. For this execration is prophetic; +foretelling the end of all hypocrites, who will not listen to those +that admonish them in a godly manner, nor regard their advice; as it +is expressed in verse 19, “But they (says David) will not regard; they +are not changed; nor will they fear God; they go on in their course, +till they are taken out of the way suddenly.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LVI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, praying to God in confidence of his word, complaineth of his +enemies.—He professeth his confidence in God’s word, and promiseth to +praise him.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Jonathelem-rechokim, Michtam of David, when +the Philistines took him in Gath.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Be merciful unto me, O God; for man would swallow me up: he fighting +daily oppresseth me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine enemies would daily swallow <i>me</i> up: for <i>they be</i> many that +fight against me, O thou Most High.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In God I will praise his word; in God I have put my trust: I will not +fear what flesh can do unto me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts <i>are</i> against me for +evil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my +steps, when they wait for my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shall they escape by iniquity? in <i>thine</i> anger cast down the people, +O God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: <i>are +they</i> not in thy book?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I cry <i>unto thee</i>, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I +know; for God <i>is</i> for me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In God I will praise <i>his</i> word; in the L<small>ORD</small> will +I praise <i>his</i> word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy vows <i>are</i> upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast delivered my soul from death; <i>wilt</i> not <i>thou deliver</i> +my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the +living?</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a fervent prayer; in which David complains of Saul and the men +of his party, because he was obliged to flee out of the land to the +Philistines. So bitterly and hostilely did Saul and the men of his +conspiracy persecute David, and plot against his life, that he could +be in safety no where. He encourages and supports himself, however, +with a constant and undaunted faith. ‘I will glory (says he) in the +word of God: for I have a command, a declaration, and a promise of God +in my favour: he has declared that Saul shall be dethroned, and that I +shall be king. I will not be afraid what man can do unto me. Let them +gainsay: let Saul and the Saulites oppose and fight against me. Let +them say, and say again, that I shall not be king. If God be for me +what can man do against me?’</p> + +<p><i>We</i> ought also to pray, after the manner of this Psalm, against +tyrants; who unceasingly persecute the word of God and us, and will +never suffer us to be at rest. We, however, have that strong and +Davidical consolation,—that the word of God is for us, though they +unceasingly attack that in us, and corrupt, pervert, and reproach it; +crying out that we are heretics; and arrogating to themselves only, +the appellation of the church.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David in prayer fleeing unto God, complaineth of his dangerous +case.—He encourageth himself to praise God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled +from Saul in the cave.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusted +in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until +<i>these</i> calamities be overpast.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth <i>all things</i> +for me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall send from heaven, and save me <i>from</i> the reproach of him that +would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his +truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul <i>is</i> among lions: <i>and</i> I lie <i>even among</i> them that are set +on fire, <i>even</i> the sons of men, whose teeth <i>are</i> spears and arrows, +and their tongue a sharp sword.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; <i>let</i> thy glory <i>be</i> above +all the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they +have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen +<i>themselves</i>. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give +praise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Awake up, my glory; awake psaltery and harp; I <i>myself</i> will awake +early.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, among the people; I will sing unto thee +among the nations:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thy mercy <i>is</i> great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the +clouds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, <i>let</i> thy glory <i>be</i> above +all the earth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer; in which David again complains concerning +Saul, and those around him; on account of whose plots and snares, he +was compelled to flee into a cave. It is nearly of the same purport as +the Psalm preceding.</p> + +<p><i>We</i> ought to make use of this Psalm also against tyrants, and against +sycophants, and certain powerful ones, about the palaces of kings and +princes; who persecute us on account of the word and name of God, and +persecute our doctrine also; interpreting every thing that we do in +the worst sense; and traducing and hating all that fear God.</p> + +<p>And David here paints forth the cruelty of these characters; “Their +teeth (says he) are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp +sword.” Thanks be to God therefore, that he does not forsake his +people, but makes their enemies fall into the pit which they +themselves have made; so that they are utterly subverted and taken in +their own craftiness!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David reproveth wicked judges, describeth the nature of the wicked, +devoteth them to God’s judgments, whereat the righteous shall +rejoice.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? Do ye judge +uprightly, O ye sons of men?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands +in the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they +be born, speaking lies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their poison <i>is</i> like the poison of a serpent; <i>they</i> are like the +deaf adder <i>that</i> stoppeth her ear;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so +wisely.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth; break out the great teeth of +the young lions, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them melt away as waters <i>which</i> run continually: <i>when</i> he +bendeth <i>his bow to shoot</i> his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As a snail <i>which</i> melteth, let <i>every one of them</i> pass away: <i>like</i> +the untimely birth of a woman, <i>that</i> they may not see the sun.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with +a whirlwind, both living and in <i>his</i> wrath.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash +his feet in the blood of the wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So that a man shall say, verily <i>there is</i> a reward for the righteous: +verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation against those hardened heretics, and +enthusiastic spirits, who pertinaciously defend their own errors, and +stop their ears; and who are so blinded and taken captive, that they +can hear no one; but pursue, with headlong precipitation, their own +designs, and rush on to the accomplishment of them, like a horse at +full speed. And these, as if they would devour the godly, cease not to +threaten them in the most terrifying manner.—David, however, here +makes use of five beautiful similitudes: under which, he represents +their vain attempts, and shows, that those very plots which they lay +for others, fall upon their own heads.</p> + +<p>1. The sudden inundation with which they make their attack, rushes +with such violence and roaring, that it seems as if it would tear up +and carry away every thing before it: and yet it flows by, and +suddenly disappears!</p> + +<p>2. Their arrow, fixed on the bow, threatens certain destruction: but, +in a moment, the bow and arrows are broken together, and the deadly +weapon accomplishes nothing!</p> + +<p>3. The snail puts forth his horns from his shell, as if he were just +going to do some deadly and mighty injury: but those horns prove to be +soft and ineffectual; they do nothing: nor have the power of doing any +hurt whatever.</p> + +<p>4. An imperfect conception, disengaged by abortion, makes the womb of +the mother to extend, as if there were a perfect conception, and as if +something great would at length come forth: but before it is brought +forth, it perishes, and never sees the sun.</p> + +<p>5. You may see a branch of buck-thorn, (which is the most prickly kind +of thorn,) filled with young sharp points and prickles, and seeming as +if it would one day tear many in pieces at once, and maim persons on +every side of it; but, before the prickles are fully ripe and strong, +the whole bush is, perhaps, cut down by the woodman, and he burns it +in the fire, and reduces it to ashes!</p> + +<p>So, just according to these similitudes, those enemies of God and +truth, plan, plot, and breathe out dreadful things; but like a mighty +flame, where there is no more fuel left to feed it, their fury ends in +nothing!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth to be delivered from his enemies.—He complaineth of +their cruelty.—He trusteth in God.—He prayeth against them.—He +praiseth God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, +and they watched the house to kill him.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise +up against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; the mighty are gathered against +me; not <i>for</i> my transgression, nor <i>for</i> my sin, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They run and prepare themselves without <i>my</i> fault: awake to help me, +and behold.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou, therefore, O L<small>ORD</small> God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to +visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. +Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round +about the city.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, they belch out with their mouth; swords <i>are</i> in their lips; +for who, <i>say they</i>, doth hear?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou, O L<small>ORD</small>, shalt laugh at them: thou shalt have all the heathen +in derision.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Because of</i> his strength will I wait upon thee: for God <i>is</i> my +defence.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The God of my mercy shall prevent me; God shall let me see <i>my desire</i> +upon my enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and +bring them down, O L<small>ORD</small> our shield.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>For</i> the sin of their mouth, <i>and</i> the words of their lips, let them +even be taken in their pride; and for cursing and lying <i>which</i> they +speak.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Consume <i>them</i> in wrath, consume <i>them</i>, that they <i>may</i> not <i>be;</i> and +let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. +Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And at evening let them return, <i>and</i> let them make a noise like a +dog, and go round about the city.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge, if they be not +satisfied.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in +the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of +my trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Unto thee, O my strength, I will sing: for God <i>is</i> my defence, <i>and</i> +the God of my mercy.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer; and may be very properly understood as offered +up in the person of Christ, complaining of, and prophecying concerning +the Jews; on whom, on account of their denial of Christ, and their +rejection of the gospel, the awful judgments of God should fall; but +yet, not so as to destroy the whole nation entirely; but, in such a +manner, as to make of them an example to all future nations;—that they +should be scattered abroad as exiles, and left vagabonds among all +nations; and should be punished by being given up to blindness, and +maddened fury; so as not to be able to teach anything, or say +anything, but blasphemies against Christ. And this we see fulfilled in +them in reality: for all their books and commentaries are replete with +the most bitter reproaches and blasphemies against Christ and his +gospel. And, for this their wickedness, they suffer dreadful and +unceasing punishments: for they ‘go about the city like hungry dogs,’ +seeking food, and finding it not.</p> + +<p>The meaning of this prophecy is, therefore, that at the end, after the +times of the apostles, the Jews should be left as exiles, should be +banished from their own land, should wander about as outcasts, should +be oppressed under foreign jurisdictions, should be driven out from +one country to another, and should be cast out without any certain +dwelling-place; and that they should seek out any corner of the world, +where they might collect together again the wrecks and remains of +their kingdom, and endeavour to find out another one to lead them, but +should be frustrated in every attempt. And their exile and dispersion +shall remain unfinished until the end appointed: till then, they shall +remain and waste away like famished dogs, and run and smell about +round the cities, and gape like dogs, but shall not be filled: and +they shall perish without a king, and without a kingdom.</p> + +<p>But with respect to the history of this Psalm, it may rightly be +understood as referring to David, praying against the heirs of Saul +and the Saulites; who, being at length stripped of their kingdom, +wandered about like yawning and hungry dogs, ejected from their +kingdom, and forsaken and held in contempt, until they all utterly +perished. For God declared that the house of Saul should not be raised +up; though the posterity of Saul greatly desired his kingdom.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, complaining to God of former judgment,—now, upon better hope, +prayeth for deliverance.—Comforting himself in God’s promises, he +craveth that help whereon he trusteth.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote><small>To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth, Michtam of David, to teach; +when he strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, when Joab +returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been +displeased; O turn thyself to us again.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the +breaches thereof; for it shaketh.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink +the wine of astonishment.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast given a banner to them that feared thee, that it may be +displayed because of the truth. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That thy beloved may be delivered; save <i>with</i> thy right hand and hear +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide +Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gilead <i>is</i> mine, and Manasseh <i>is</i> mine; Ephraim also <i>is</i> the strength +of mine head; Judah <i>is</i> my lawgiver;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Moab <i>is</i> my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, +triumph thou because of me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who will bring me <i>into</i> the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Wilt</i> not thou, O God, <i>which</i> hadst cast us off? and <i>thou</i>, O God, +<i>which</i> didst not go out with our armies?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give us help from trouble: for vain <i>is</i> the help of man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Through God we shall do valiantly: for he <i>it is that</i> shall tread +down our enemies.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a signal thanksgiving. David gives thanks for the happy state +of his kingdom, in which religion and political government flourished +and prospered; for, in these two things, well-ordered, consist all +things divine and human. Before the time of David, in the days of +Saul, all things were in disorder, and the kingdom was in a declining +state; as the former verses of the Psalm show. The Philistines had +greatly afflicted the Israelites: so much so that even the ark of the +Lord was despised and profaned.</p> + +<p>Again, in the reign of Saul, all things were carried on with injury, +oppression, and wickedness: which is always the case, when God +forsakes magistrates, and suffers them to go on in their own ways. And +the example of David, who was obliged to have recourse to such +various, wise, and cautious means for safety, shows that the palace of +Saul was full of Ahithophels, and of all such pests of religion and +good government.</p> + +<p>But, says David, “Thou, O Lord, hast given a sign to them that feared +thee, that they may display it, and may believe and be assured, that +thou art present with them.” For God had given to his own a sign, and +had left it to them; by which, all those that believed in the grace of +God, might be comforted; namely, the ark of the covenant and the +mercy-seat; which God had delivered, by signal miracles, out of the +hand of the Philistines. For God had promised and declared, that he +would hear all those that called upon him before this ark, and this +mercy-seat; and that he would there vouchsafe his presence.</p> + +<p>At the end of the Psalm, he enumerates all his countries and his +people; and, in a very striking and eminent way, extols the true +worship of God, the true religion. “God (saith he) speaks in his +holiness (or sanctuary); I will rejoice:” that is, God is present in +my kingdom by his word, which is there preached: in this I will +rejoice.</p> + +<p>He enumerates, in order, these countries: Succoth, Shechem, Gilead, +Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah, Moab, Philistia. And, at the end, he +confesses, that, to defend and protect all these, by a good +government, and to ensure them victory against all their +enemies,—against Edom and Philistia, (that is to carry on war and to extend +dominions, successfully,) is not in the power of human wisdom or human +strength; “For vain (saith he) is the help of man. All successful +valour and victory are from God.” Why he does not mention by name more +countries than these nine, it belongs to a full commentary to explain; +the narrow limits, therefore, of our present summary, will not allow +us to enter upon that explanation.</p> + +<p>We may sing this Psalm to the honour of God also, because in the +church of Christ, God is continually making new orchards and gardens; +and daily increasing the number of its churches and parishes; in which +the word of God is preached; in which the sacraments are administered +in a godly manner; and in which there are various gifts of the Holy +Spirit.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David fleeth to God upon his former experience.—He voweth perpetual +service unto him, because of his promises.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Neginah. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is +overwhelmed; lead me to the rock <i>that</i> is higher than I.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast been a shelter for me, <i>and</i> a strong tower from the +enemy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever; I will trust in the covert of +thy wings. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given <i>me</i> the heritage +of those that fear thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou wilt prolong the king’s life; <i>and</i> his years as many +generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall abide before God for ever: O prepare mercy and truth, <i>which</i> +may preserve him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform +my vows.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer against the enemies of the people of God, and +especially also for magistrates, and for the king—that God would +increase faith in him, and further him in the knowledge of his holy +name and word; that he may walk in faith and in the fear of God; that +his government may be happy and endure; and that religion and good +government may not be injured and distracted by seditions and wars. +For Solomon, in his Proverbs, says, “That for the sins of the people, +God changes kings and kingdoms.” But where there are many kings, +there, (according to the manner of all human vicissitudes,) what one +builds up, another casts down: as the proverb goes, “A new king, a new +law,”—all changes in a state are dangerous: happy is that kingdom, +therefore, which, being once well constituted, is long preserved in +the same state.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David professing his confidence in God discourageth his enemies.—In +the same confidence he encourageth the godly.—No trust is to be put in +worldly things.—Power and mercy belong to God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him <i>cometh</i> my salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He only <i>is</i> my rock and my salvation; <i>he is</i> my defence; I shall not +be greatly moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How long will ye imagine mischief against a man? ye shall be slain all +of you: as a bowing wall <i>shall ye be, and as</i> a tottering fence.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They only consult to cast <i>him</i> down from his excellency: they delight +in lies: they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation <i>is</i> from him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He only <i>is</i> my rock and my salvation: <i>he is</i> my defence; I shall not +be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In God <i>is</i> my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, <i>and</i> +my refuge, <i>is</i> in God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: +God <i>is</i> a refuge for us. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely men of low degree <i>are</i> vanity, <i>and</i> men of high degree <i>are</i> +a lie: to be laid in the balance, they <i>are</i> altogether <i>lighter</i> than +vanity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches +increase, set not your heart <i>upon them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power <i>belongeth</i> +unto God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Also unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>belongeth</i> mercy: for thou renderest to every +man according to his work.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm contains most excellent doctrine: it greatly exalts the +dignity of faith, showing how firm a safeguard faith in God is, and +what a strong defence it is against all the evils of life. On the +other hand, the Psalmist shows the vanity of all confidence in +men;—that nothing is more vain, or more fallacious than to trust in man. +‘God (says he) is my rock, my strength, and my defence: God is my +hope, my salvation, my strength, my glory, my life, and my trust. God +is my safe protection. God is my faithful helper; who never deceives +me. Therefore, vain are the sons of men. The sons of men are all +liars:’ that is, all human things are deceiving, uncertain, and cannot +be held fast.</p> + +<p>Many are to be found, who trust in the favour of kings and princes; +and on that account, they are puffed up with pride and insolence, and +oppress others with the more confidence; and especially if they see +their wall bowing down and giving way; that is, if they see a man +declining in his affairs, who was once in prosperity; or if they see +him not protected by wealth and influence against injury: such an one +as this, they endeavour to overthrow wholly; and to that end, +ingratiate themselves with the powerful, and wind themselves into +their affections, on whose favour they depend; as on a propitious +deity.</p> + +<p>But such see not how fallacious the favour of men is, and how variable +and uncertain their wills are; in a word, they see not that “vain is +the help of man!” Nor will they believe it to be vain, until they find +it out by experience, and are brought to lament their error; as Cicero +and many other wise men have done. Cicero exclaims with respect to +Octavius, ‘O how vain was all my reputation for being a wise man, &c.! +O how far was I from being wise indeed; though I sometimes evinced +that wisdom which was esteemed to be such; but in vain!’ Thus writes +he in his epistle to Octavius.—Therefore the sum of all religion is +‘Trust in God and injure not thy neighbour!’ So shalt thou rightly +conduct thyself before both God and men!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David’s thirst for God.—His manner of blessing God.—His confidence of +his enemies’ destruction, and his own safety.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O God, thou <i>art</i> my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth +for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where +no water is;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To see thy power and thy glory, so <i>as</i> I have seen thee in the +sanctuary.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because thy loving-kindness <i>is</i> better than life, my lips shall +praise thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy +name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul shall be satisfied as <i>with</i> marrow and fatness; and my mouth +shall praise <i>thee</i> with joyful lips:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I remember thee upon my bed, <i>and</i> meditate on thee in the +<i>night</i> watches.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings +will I rejoice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But those <i>that</i> seek my soul, to destroy <i>it</i>, shall go into the +lower parts of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him +shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer containing the deep feelings of an afflicted heart, +thirsting after the word of God, which is the word of consolation! +David called thus upon God, when he fled from the face of Saul, and +lay hid in the wilderness of Judah. “My soul thirsteth for thee; my +flesh longeth for thee, that I may see thee in thy sanctuary.” O how +fervently does he desire to be present in the tabernacle, and before +the mercy-seat in the sanctuary! And to hear the word of God, in the +assembly of those who there truly worshipped him? He complains, also, +bitterly against the Saulites; who so hostilely lay in wait for his +life, that he could be in safety no where; and was compelled to be +away from the place of the worship of God; even away from the +sanctuary.—Notwithstanding all this, however, he raises himself up +with a holy firmness, and magnanimity, and glories in being king, +depending on the choice and promise of God; by which he comforts and +sustains himself during the time of that most miserable flight and +calamity.</p> + +<p>This Psalm may be used by those who are under the oppression of +tyrants, who feel a hungering and thirsting after the word of God, and +who can, under their calamity, glory in being the sons and heirs of +God, because they have the knowledge of Christ, and love the word; and +who can persevere in this confidence, until the impious Saul be +destroyed, and David exalted; that is, until God raise up and comfort +those that fear him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth for deliverance, complaining of his enemies.—He +promiseth himself to see such an evident destruction of his enemies, +as the righteous shall rejoice at it.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the +enemy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection +of the workers of iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who whet their tongue like a sword, <i>and</i> bend <i>their bows to shoot</i> +their arrows, <i>even</i> bitter words;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot +at him, and fear not.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They encourage themselves <i>in</i> an evil matter; they commune of laying +snares privily; they say, Who shall see them?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both +the inward <i>thought</i> of every one <i>of them</i>, and the heart, <i>is</i> deep.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But God shall shoot at them <i>with</i> an arrow; suddenly shall they be +wounded.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves; all that +see them shall flee away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God: for they +shall wisely consider of his doing.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteous shall be glad in the L<small>ORD</small>, and shall trust in him; and +all the upright in heart shall glory.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a most ardent prayer, full of the feelings of a heart under +great straits, by reason of the unceasing and infinite malice of the +devil, the perfidy of men, and the ingratitude of the world.</p> + +<p>David here cries unto God, on account of having experienced so much +treachery, even from those of his own household, (as always is the +case, in the cause of religion). He cries to the Lord against his +betrayers and his most virulent slanderers,—those vipers, who, by +wicked speeches, and all the arts of perfidy and malice, did not cease +to plot against him. Of this base gang were his own son Absalom, +Ahithophel, and others like them; and especially many in the court of +Saul; Doeg, &c.</p> + +<p>He continues, however, perseveringly to comfort and console +himself;—that, by the just judgment of God, these same enemies shall bring evil +upon their own heads; and that those very base and viperous tongues, +which now cannot rest nor cease to slander, shall only wound +themselves; as, in the end, it happened unto Absalom, Ahithophel, and +Doeg.</p> + +<p>In the same way also, we ought to pray against all those vipers, our +enemies, in the halls of kings, bishops, and princes: who attack us +with satanic craft and hatred, and with all the arts of wickedness. +But they shall fall themselves into the snares which they have laid, +(as we have seen it exemplified in numberless instances;) and they +shall only plan mischief which shall fall upon their own heads; that +men may openly behold and see the works of God, and acknowledge that +God himself has visited them.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David praiseth God for his grace.—The blessedness of God’s chosen by +reason of benefits.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm and Song of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion: and unto thee shall the vow +be performed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Iniquities prevail against me: <i>as for</i> our transgressions, thou shalt +purge them away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is the man whom</i> thou choosest, and causest to approach <i>unto +thee, that</i> he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the +goodness of thy house, <i>even</i> of thy holy temple.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>By</i> terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of +our salvation; <i>who art</i> the confidence of all the ends of the earth, +and of them that are afar off <i>upon</i> the sea:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; <i>being</i> girded with +power:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and +the tumult of the people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid of thy tokens: +thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it +with the river of God, <i>which is</i> full of water: thou preparest them +corn, when thou hast so provided for it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; thou settlest the furrows +thereof; thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing +thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They drop <i>upon</i> the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills +rejoice on every side.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered +over with corn: they shout for joy, they also sing.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a remarkable Psalm of thanksgiving; (and all productions of +this kind were formed by the prophet out of the First Commandment,) +wherein thanks are rendered unto God, because he preserves among his +people (to whom he has given his word against Satan, heretics, and all +adversaries) the true religion, and the true worship of God; and +because he preserves also political peace, and guards the state from +all seditions, wars and tumults; and dispels all the storms of the +counsels of war, slaughter and bloodshed. For war is nothing less than +a horrible storm and tempest, which hurls into confusion all things +divine and human; and throws them into a perturbation, like as when +the waves of the sea rage with violence.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist gives thanks to God that he preserves peace;—(in which +one thing are contained all the treasures of good;) that he gives rain +from heaven and fruitful seasons; and that he crowns the year with his +goodness: that is, that during the revolution of the year, he +accomplishes and performs, as it were, a certain round of divine +blessing and goodness. For, in the spring, there first appear the +blossoms; and then, shortly after, the strawberries and cherries; and +then, ere long, plums, apples, and berries of various juice and +virtue; (to say nothing about the perpetual verdure of the herbs which +flourishes all the while, and is continually revived with fresh +supplies of dew). To these we are to add, the infinite variety of +herbs and odours. And then, at the time of harvest, our barns are +filled with wheat, rye, barley, and corn, and grain of every kind. In +the autumn, our presses overflow with wine of an infinite variety of +taste and fragrance, and our vats are filled to the brim. Thus the +Lord fills the whole revolution of the year, and every part of it, +with his overflowing and infinite goodness: and indeed every single +fruit is, as it were, a fund, and a world of the goodness of God.</p> + +<p>But how few are there, in general, who think about these numberless +and valuable blessings, and render thanks unto God for them? Alas! we +have innumerable examples of the impious manner in which the noble, +the powerful, and the rich, have abused the saving doctrine of faith +and Christian liberty, and also that peace which God has hitherto +miraculously preserved to us:—we have numberless examples, I say, of +the manner in which they have abused these great blessings, to their +own lusts, as Sodom and Gomorrah did:—but they shall be visited with +Sodom and Gomorrah’s judgment.</p> + +<p>You see, therefore, that those in the kingdom of David, and among the +people of Israel who composed these Psalms, were excellent and great +men. For these are spiritual and truly divine poems. No poems ever +equalled these. No poets, not even Homer himself, ever equalled these +poets, who thus speak of God, his works, and his creatures. These +Psalms contain the greatest and most weighty things, in a marvellous +brevity of expression!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David exhorteth to praise God, to observe his great works, to bless +him for his gracious benefits.—He voweth for himself religious service +to God.—He declareth God’s special goodness to himself.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, a Song <i>or</i> Psalm.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing forth the honour of his name; make his praise glorious.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Say unto God, How terrible <i>art thou in</i> thy works! through the +greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto +thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall +sing to thy name. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Come and see the works of God <i>he is</i> terrible <i>in his</i> doing toward +the children of men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He turned the sea into <i>dry land:</i> they went through the flood on +foot: there did we rejoice in him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not +the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be +heard;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be +moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is +tried.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our +loins.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads: we went through fire and +through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy <i>place</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my +vows,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in +trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will offer unto thee burnt-sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense +of rams: I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Come <i>and</i> hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath +done for my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I regard iniquity in my heart, the L<small>ORD</small> will not hear <i>me:</i></blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>But</i> verily God hath heard <i>me;</i> he hath attended to the voice of my +prayer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy +from me.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a general thanksgiving, for God’s having rescued and delivered +his people so often out of the hands of their enemies, and out of the +very jaws of death itself; as he did at the Red Sea. The Books of +Judges and Kings are full of these deliverances.</p> + +<p>These deliverances are no less great and wonderful, at this day, in +the church, when God delivers those that fear him out of temptations, +both internal and external. For Satan, of whom that earthly Pharaoh +was so especial a type, being inflamed with so horrible a desire of +distressing and destroying, daily persecutes the church: and he would, +if he could, so harm every single one of the godly, and so beset them +on every side, that they should see nothing but death, and an angry +God: out of all these things, however, God delivers his own.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>A prayer for the enlargement of God’s kingdom, to the joy of the +people, and the increase of God’s blessings.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician on Neginoth, a Psalm <i>or</i> Song.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>God be merciful unto us, and bless us; <i>and</i> cause his face to shine +upon us. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all +nations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy; for thou shalt judge the +people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Then</i> shall the earth yield her increase; <i>and</i> God, even our God, +shall bless us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ; foretelling, that +it should be a spiritual kingdom, in which grace and the remission of +sins should be proclaimed, not only in Judea, but throughout all +nations. “Let the people praise thee, O God, yea let all the people +praise thee; for thou judgest the people righteously, &c.” That is, +thou reignest, by the Gospel, throughout all nations: thou judgest +all: (that is, all sinners in the hypocrisy of nature,) that they may +be brought to give thanks unto thee for thy mercy, and may rejoice, +and praise the blessings of the gospel.</p> + +<p>This sacrifice of praise, this offering of thanks, is the highest +worship of God, and is a sacrifice truly acceptable unto him, (as we +have continually observed;) for David does not here say, ‘The nations +shall become proselytes, and shall be circumcised, and shall flock to +Jerusalem:’ but “The nations shall remain uncircumcised, and shall, +nevertheless, sing praises unto God, and shall laud and magnify him:” +that is, the gospel shall be preached among all nations, and the +kingdom of Christ shall arise, the kingdom of grace and of the mercy +of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>A prayer at the removing of the ark.—An exhortation to praise God for +his mercies, for his care of the church, for his great works.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm <i>or</i> Song of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate +him flee before him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As smoke is driven away, <i>so</i> drive <i>them</i> away: as wax melteth before +the fire, <i>so</i> let the wicked perish in the presence of God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But let the righteous be glad: let them rejoice before God; yea, let +them exceedingly rejoice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon +the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, <i>is</i> God in his +holy habitation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are +bound with chains; but the rebellious dwell in a dry <i>land</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst +march through the wilderness; Selah:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: +<i>even</i> Sinai itself <i>was moved</i> at the presence of God, the God of +Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm +thine inheritance, when it was weary.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy +goodness for the poor.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> gave the word: great <i>was</i> the company of those that +published it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Kings of armies did flee apace; and she that tarried at home divided +the spoil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though ye have lien among the pots, <i>yet shall ye be as</i> the wings of +a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was <i>white</i> as snow in +Salmon.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The hill of God <i>is as</i> the hill of Bashan; an high hill, <i>as</i> the +hill of Bashan.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Why leap ye, ye high hills? <i>this is</i> the hill <i>which</i> God desireth to +dwell in; yea, the L<small>ORD</small> will dwell <i>in it</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The chariots of God <i>are</i> twenty thousand, <i>even</i> thousands of angels; +the Lord <i>is</i> among them <i>as in</i> Sinai, in the holy <i>place</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast +received gifts for men; yea, <i>for</i> the rebellious also, that the L<small>ORD</small> +God might dwell <i>among them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, <i>who</i> daily loadeth us <i>with benefits, even</i> +the God of our salvation. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>He that is</i> our God <i>is</i> the God of salvation; and unto God the L<small>ORD</small> +<i>belong</i> the issues from death.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But God shall wound the head of his enemies, <i>and</i> the hairy scalp of +such a one as goeth on still in his trespasses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> said, I will bring again from Bashan; I will bring <i>my +people</i> again from the depths of the sea:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of <i>thine</i> enemies, <i>and</i> the +tongue of thy dogs in the same.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have seen thy goings, O G<small>OD</small>; <i>even</i> the goings of my God, my +King, in the sanctuary.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The singers went before, the players on instruments <i>followed</i> after; +among <i>them were</i> the damsels playing with timbrels.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless ye God in the congregations, <i>even</i> the L<small>ORD</small> from the fountain +of Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There <i>is</i> little Benjamin <i>with</i> their ruler, the princes of Judah +<i>and</i> their council, the princes of Zebulun, <i>and</i> the princes of +Naphtali.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which +thou hast wrought for us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto +thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the +calves of the people, <i>till every one</i> submit himself with pieces of +silver: scatter thou the people <i>that</i> delight in war.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her +hands unto God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the L<small>ORD</small>; +Selah:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him that rideth upon the heaven of heavens <i>which were</i> of old: lo, +he doth send out his voice, <i>and that</i> a mighty voice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency <i>is</i> over Israel, and his +strength <i>is</i> in the clouds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, <i>thou art</i> terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel +<i>is</i> he that giveth strength and power unto <i>his</i> people. Blessed <i>be</i> +God.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is, in the Latin, most obscurely translated; so much so, +that this one Psalm may well put us in remembrance of what we are +indebted unto God, for the great light which he has given us in this +our day; in having blessed us with the study of languages, and with +good books and instructors. Yet, in return for this universal, great, +and unspeakable gift, through the unceasing revilings of Satan, God +hears nothing but, ‘O this Lutheran poison! O this Lutheran +heresy!’—The world shall suffer heavy punishment for the contempt of the +blessing of this great and merciful light!</p> + +<p>In the former Latin translation of this Psalm there were the most +monstrous renderings; such as ‘<i>Rex vir tutum dilecti dilecti.—Speciei +domus dividere spolia.—Si dormiatis inter medios cleros.—Nives +dealbabuntur in Salmon.—Mons Dei, mons pinguis, mons +coæquatus.—Arundinis increpa feras. Congregatio taurorum in vaccis populorum,’ +&c.</i></p> + +<p>And how much of the same obscurity was there in Hosea, and the like +difficult books? What, then, have <i>they</i> profited the church, who, by +a sort of madness, and from a hatred of, and longing desire to, +suppress the light of the gospel, have all along condemned not only +all pious studies, but all useful learning and godliness! But how easy +is it to sit down and condemn all things, and, as it were, to spit at +the sun that enlightens all things! The truly learned and godly know, +however, how arduous it is to imitate the laborious endeavours of +those who engage in the work of translations. But let us proceed to +speak upon the Psalm.—</p> + +<p>This Psalm is a signal prophecy concerning Christ; a prophecy more +animated and exalted, than usual, in fervency of spirit; and, as it +were, exulting in the Holy Ghost; setting before us a view of the +church, and those things which are to take place under the New +Testament; and all this is done with a representation so clear and +expressive, and with every thing depicted in that exact order, that it +seems to be, not a prediction of things to come, but a description of +things passing before our eyes. The Holy Ghost foretels the +resurrection and ascension of Christ, the revelation of the Holy +Spirit from heaven, and the mission of the Apostles: he describes, I +say, the whole of this spiritual kingdom: this kingdom of grace and +remission of sins, in which Christ should be preached as the true God, +and as the Saviour and deliverer from death.</p> + +<p>He shows also, that the kingdom and priesthood of the Jews was to be +abolished, and that a new and spiritual kingdom was to be erected; +which should stand, not in human strength, nor in many thousands of +horse and foot, but in the ministry and power of the word!—that it +should be a kingdom, in which the Lord should give the word unto those +who should preach it, in much power; by which the grace of Christ, and +the remission of sins by Christ, should be preached, and not the law +of Moses.</p> + +<p>He calls the apostles, “kings and heads of armies;” because, by the +gospel and the ministry of the word, they continually attack the +kingdom of the devil and the gates of hell. For what are all the +sermons and exhortations of the apostles, but the most terrible +battles and conflicts against sin, death, the devil, hell, and all the +righteousness and wisdom of the world?</p> + +<p>He also calls them “high hills, rich hills, and the inheritance of +God;” and “chariots of the Lord of many thousands;” and also, “the +multitude of them that preach good tidings, and sing, and play upon +instruments;” because, the apostles and ministers of the word, by +preaching the joyful gospel and the word of grace, continually praise, +sing of, and celebrate the immense benefits of Christ, and the mercy +of God. Thus, throughout the whole Psalm, the fervent prophet exulting +in the Holy Ghost, describes, in a most sweet song, the whole kingdom +of Christ!</p> + +<p>In the end, he prays that God would be pleased to render the church +more flourishing, and to give his blessing and a happy success to this +kingdom. And indeed, the prophet felt his heart moved, and was +peculiarly uplifted and fervent in spirit, when he composed this +divine and heavenly psalm concerning the kingdom of Christ.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David complaineth of his affliction.—He prayeth for deliverance.—He +devoteth his enemies to destruction.—He praiseth God with +thanksgiving.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto <i>my</i> soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I sink in deep mire, where <i>there is</i> no standing: I am come into deep +waters, where the floods overflow me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I +wait for my God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine +head: they that would destroy me, <i>being</i> mine enemies wrongfully, are +mighty: then I restored <i>that</i> which I took not away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord G<small>OD</small> of hosts, be ashamed for my +sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of +Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my +face.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s +children.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of +them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I wept, <i>and chastened</i> my soul with fasting, that was to my +reproach.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I <i>was</i> the song of +the drunkards.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But as for me, my prayer <i>is</i> unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>in</i> an acceptable +time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me: in the truth of +thy salvation,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered +from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me +up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear me, O L<small>ORD</small>; for thy loving-kindness <i>is</i> good: turn unto me +according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble; hear me +speedily.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Draw nigh unto my soul, <i>and</i> redeem it: deliver me, because of mine +enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine +adversaries <i>are</i> all before thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness: and I +looked <i>for some</i> to take pity, but <i>there was</i> none; and for +comforters, but I found none.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me +vinegar to drink.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let their table become a snare before them: and <i>that which should +have been</i> for <i>their</i> welfare, <i>let it become</i> a trap.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins +continually to shake.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take +hold of them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let their habitation be desolate; <i>and</i> let none dwell in their tents.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they persecute <i>him</i> whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the +grief of those whom thou hast wounded.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Add iniquity unto their iniquity; and let them not come into thy +righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written +with the righteous.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I <i>am</i> poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on +high.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with +thanksgiving.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>This</i> also shall please the L<small>ORD</small> better than an ox <i>or</i> bullock that +hath horns and hoofs.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The humble shall see <i>this, and</i> be glad: and your heart shall live +that seek God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that +moveth therein:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For God will save Sion, and will build the cities of Judah; that they +may dwell there, and have it in possession.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The seed also of his servants shall inherit it; and they that love his +name shall dwell therein.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer full of those most deep and spiritual feelings +that were experienced in the person of Christ our Lord. In the +beginning of the Psalm, in the first three verses, with what a +fervency and weight of words does the Psalmist describe those great +terrors of death and hell which Christ undertook and endured, for our +sins. “Save me now, O Lord,” saith he, “for the waters overflow me, I +sink into the depth of the mire: I have now no where to stand, nothing +whereon to set my foot, I sink into the abyss of the sea, and the +floods overflow me.” By all which figures and expressions he shadows +forth, with all his powers, that unspeakable agony of Christ, which he +endured for our sins, when groaning under the infinite weight of the +wrath of God.</p> + +<p>In the 7th verse Christ confesses himself as bearing our sins, and +complains of the Jews, who crucify him. “They gave me,” saith he, +“gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink:” so +expressively and circumstantially does the prophet foretel the +sufferings of Christ! And then he speaks, with the same clearness, +concerning the Jews who should be blinded, and their kingdom and +priesthood which should be destroyed, as also it was fulfilled; so +that now we see the accomplishment of these things, and experience has +set them plainly before our eyes.</p> + +<p>In the end of the Psalm the prophet shows that the law should be +abolished, and that a new worship should be instituted without the law +and circumcision: “I will praise the name of the Lord,” saith he, +“with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall +please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that hath horns and +hoofs.” By these words he shews that the law should be abrogated with +the whole of that splendidly ceremonious worship, the boasted pride of +circumcision, the sabbaths, and the sacrifices; and that the worship +of the New Testament should be established in its stead; namely, the +sacrifice of praise and the preaching of the gospel; for it is by +faith in Christ, and obedience to the gospel that we attain unto the +true knowledge of God, and it is by truly keeping the first +commandment that God is truly worshipped; which, as it is written, +(Mark xii. 33.) is “more than all whole burnt offerings and +sacrifices.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David soliciteth God to the speedy destruction of the wicked, and +preservation of the godly.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them +be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, +aha.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such +as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I <i>am</i> poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou <i>art</i> my +help and my deliverer; O L<small>ORD</small>, make no tarrying.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer against the persecutors and enemies of the +church and of the godly: for such instruments of the devil cease not +to plot against the good, and those that fear God, with all possible +machinations of craft, and with all the bitterness of Cain; and, like +Satan himself, they burn with an insatiable desire and determination +to destroy the church; nay, more than this, they insult the miseries +and calamities of the saints.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, in confidence of faith, and experience of God’s favour, +prayeth both for himself, and against the enemies of his soul.—He +promiseth constancy.—He prayeth for perseverance.—He praiseth God, and +promiseth to do it cheerfully.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>In thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine +ear unto me, and save me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou +hast given commandment to save me; for thou <i>art</i> my rock and my +fortress.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand +of the unrighteous and cruel man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou <i>art</i> my hope, O Lord G<small>OD</small>: <i>thou art</i> my trust from my youth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me +out of my mother’s bowels: my praise <i>shall be</i> continually of thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am as a wonder unto many: but thou <i>art</i> my strong refuge.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my mouth be filled <i>with</i> thy praise <i>and with</i> thy honour all the +day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my +strength faileth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul +take counsel together,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for <i>there is</i> +none to deliver <i>him</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste for my help.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be confounded <i>and</i> consumed that are adversaries to my soul; +let them be covered <i>with</i> reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I will hope continually, and yet will praise thee more and more.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness <i>and</i> thy salvation all the +day; for I know not the numbers <i>thereof</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will go in the strength of the Lord G<small>OD</small>; I will make mention of thy +righteousness, <i>even</i> of thine only.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared +thy wondrous works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I +have shewed thy strength unto <i>this</i> generation, <i>and</i> thy power to +every one <i>that</i> is to come.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy righteousness also, O God, <i>is</i> very high, who hast done great +things: O God, who <i>is</i> like unto thee!</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Thou</i>, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me +again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will also praise thee with the psaltery, <i>even</i> thy truth, O my God: +unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, +which thou hast redeemed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for +they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my +hurt.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a general prayer; which, I think, may be very properly +used in the person of the whole church against all her enemies and +persecutors who are now or ever shall be, unto the end. “Forsake me +not,” saith he, “in the time of mine old age,” &c. and although this +may more especially apply to the prophet himself, as praying for +divine protection under his infinite temptations; yet the words may be +appropriately applied to the last times, and to the close of the +church militant before the last day. For the church has her old age +also: and Christ himself and his apostles have foretold, “That in the +latter days perilous times shall come:” as Daniel also prophesied, +that the truth should be persecuted and iniquity should abound: and +this we have experienced under Mahomet, and the Pope, to our infinite +peril and sorrow.</p> + +<p>Hence, in verses 15–17, the prophet foretells the justice and +righteousness of God. “My mouth (saith he) shall show forth thy +righteousness. O God thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto +have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and +grey-headed, &c.” This prophecy may be of singular use to us, and +apply to us very appropriately: because God has, as it were, brought +us back out of hell, and from the depths of the earth, and has made +the light of his word to shine again, by which our consciences have a +firm and eternal consolation. These our times are like the times of +Elias and Enoch: for they commonly say of us, ‘These men will subvert +antichrist, and restore all things!’</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David, praying for Solomon, sheweth the goodness and glory of his, in +type, and in truth, of Christ’s kingdom.—He blesseth God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm for Solomon.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the +king’s son.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with +judgment.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, +by righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of +the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout +all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers <i>that</i> +water the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In his days shall the righteous flourish: and abundance of peace so +long as the moon endureth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto +the ends of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his +enemies shall lick the dust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings +of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve +him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and +<i>him</i> that hath no helper.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the +needy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious +shall their blood be in his sight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: +prayer also shall be made for him continually: <i>and</i> daily shall he be +praised.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the +mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and <i>they</i> of +the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as +the sun: and <i>men</i> shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him +blessed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small> God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous +things.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And blessed <i>be</i> his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth +be filled <i>with</i> his glory; Amen, and Amen.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a most remarkable prophecy concerning Christ and his kingdom, +to be spread throughout the whole world, over all kingdoms, and the +isles of the sea: which should not be a kingdom of death, sin, and +judgment, but a kingdom of grace, righteousness, peace, and joy.—But +the life, the victory, the peace, and the glory of the church shall be +hidden; they shall be hidden in God; and the saints in this world +shall endure the most bitter hatred of the world, and its +persecutions; they shall shed their blood for Christ; nevertheless, +that blood shall be precious in the sight of the Lord, and he shall +require it.</p> + +<p>This Psalm also, verse 15, declares that the old worship of the law of +Moses should be abrogated, and a new worship set up, which should +consist in prayer and the giving of thanks. “Prayer shall be made unto +him (saith he) continually, and daily shall he be praised.” For the +sacrifice of praise and the preaching of the gospel, is the daily +sacrifice, and the highest worship of the New Testament. Here you hear +nothing of circumcision, or the law of Moses, as that which the +nations should receive. It saith that the kings of nations and nations +themselves shall endure and shall praise this king. Therefore, this +king, Christ, is truly and properly God. For prayer is the worship of +the first and greatest commandment, and is due to God alone; for he +alone can deliver from death and every affliction.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet, prevailing in a temptation, sheweth the occasion +thereof, the prosperity of the wicked.—The wound given thereby, +diffidence.—The victory over it, knowledge of God’s purpose, in +destroying of the wicked, and sustaining the righteous.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Truly God <i>is</i> good to Israel, <i>even</i> to such as are of a clean +heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh +slipped.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I was envious at the foolish, <i>when</i> I saw the prosperity of the +wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For <i>there are</i> no bands in their death; but their strength <i>is</i> firm.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They <i>are</i> not in trouble <i>as other</i> men; neither are they plagued +like <i>other</i> men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth +them <i>as</i> a garment.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could +wish.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They are corrupt, and speak wickedly <i>concerning</i> oppression: they +speak loftily.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They set their mouth against the heavens; and their tongue walketh +through the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore his people return hither; and waters of a full <i>cup</i> are +wrung out to them:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the Most +High?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, these <i>are</i> the ungodly who prosper in the world; they +increase <i>in</i> riches.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in +innocency.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend <i>against</i> the +generation of thy children.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I thought to know this, it <i>was</i> too painful for me,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Until I went into the sanctuary of God; <i>then</i> understood I their end.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down +into destruction.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How are they <i>brought</i> into desolation, as in a moment? they are +utterly consumed with terrors.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As a dream when <i>one</i> awaketh; <i>so</i>, O L<small>ORD</small>, when thou awakest, thou +shalt despise their image.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So foolish <i>was</i> I and ignorant; I was <i>as</i> a beast before thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Nevertheless, I <i>am</i> continually with thee; thou hast holden <i>me</i> by +my right hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me <i>to</i> +glory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whom have I heaven <i>but thee?</i> and <i>there is</i> none upon earth <i>that</i> I +desire beside thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My flesh and my heart faileth: <i>but</i> God is the strength of my heart, +and my portion for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou hast destroyed +all them that go a whoring from thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But <i>it is</i> good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in +the Lord G<small>OD</small>, that I may declare all thy works.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm that instructs us against that great offence and +stumbling-block concerning which all the prophets have complained; +namely, that the wicked flourish in the world, enjoy prosperity, and +increase in abundance, while the godly suffer cold and hunger, and are +afflicted, and spit upon, and despised, and condemned; and that God +seems to be against and to neglect the latter, and to regard, support +and give success to the former. And this outside appearance of the +false church has, moreover, a great influence with, and excites the +admiration of, the world around. Whatever these hypocrites do or say, +they boast with great confidence, is pious, holy and divine: on the +other hand, they consider the lives of the godly to be ungodly, and +their doctrine erroneous. This offence has existed, and has exercised +and vexed the godly from the very beginning of the church.</p> + +<p>“So foolish was I,” saith Asaph, (v. 22.) that is, I was accounted +ungodly, a heretic, and a despiser of God. But these temptations, +saith he, remain until I cast away all my own cogitations about this +offence, and go into the sanctuary: that is, until I hear or read the +word, and find what God saith concerning the ungodly; and until I look +into the histories and behold the judgments of God, which have been +since the foundation of the world. There I find what God threatens in +his First Commandment: and how he has fulfilled this judgment and +executed it, even from Cain; by which all the ungodly are overthrown +and overwhelmed on a sudden: for they build upon slippery places and +upon the sand, but the godly build upon a rock.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet complaineth of the desolation of the sanctuary.—He moveth +God to help in consideration of his power, of his reproachful enemies, +of his children, and of his covenant.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>Maschil of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O God, why hast thou cast <i>us</i> off for ever? <i>why</i> doth thine anger +smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember thy congregation, <i>which</i> thou hast purchased of old; the rod +of thine inheritance, <i>which</i> thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, +wherein thou hast dwelt.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; <i>even</i> all <i>that</i> the +enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up +their ensigns <i>for</i> signs.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>A man</i> was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick +trees.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and +hammers.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled <i>by casting +down</i> the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have +burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We see not our signs: <i>there is</i> no more any prophet: neither <i>is +there</i> among us any that knoweth how long.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy +blaspheme thy name for ever?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck <i>it</i> out of +thy bosom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For God <i>is</i> my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the +earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of +the dragons in the waters.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, <i>and</i> gavest him <i>to +be</i> meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty +rivers.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The day <i>is</i> thine, the night also <i>is</i> thine; thou hast prepared the +light and the sun.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and +winter.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember this, <i>that</i> the enemy hath reproached, O L<small>ORD</small>, and <i>that</i> +the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude <i>of the +wicked:</i> forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are +full of the habitations of cruelty.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise +thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man +reproacheth thee daily.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise +up against thee increaseth continually.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer against the enemies who were then laying waste +Jerusalem, the sanctuary, all the holy places of assembly and of the +worship of God in the land, and even the national cities themselves; +uttering at the same time blasphemies against God, as if he were not +able to succour and defend his people.</p> + +<p>It seems also to be a prophecy of the future, and a prayer against +that future devastation which was wrought by those cruel enemies, the +Chaldeans, and by Antiochus Epiphanes; for it was on these two +occasions only that the temple and the city of Jerusalem were +destroyed, with such cruelty as is here depicted.</p> + +<p>We also use this Psalm against the Turk and Mahomet; and also against +our Antiochus, the pope; who destroys daily the true church and the +preaching of the word of God, daily despoils and scatters all sacred +and divine things, and every where stirs up and diffuses abroad the +poison of the devil and every abomination.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet praiseth God.—He promiseth to judge uprightly.—He +rebuketh the proud by consideration of God’s providence.—He praiseth +God, and promiseth to execute justice.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, a Psalm <i>or</i> Song of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, <i>unto thee</i> do we give thanks; +for <i>that</i> thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the +pillars of it. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not +up the horn:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lift not up your horn on high: speak <i>not with</i> a stiff neck.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For promotion <i>cometh</i> neither from the east, nor from the west, nor +from the south.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But God <i>is</i> the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For in the hand of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>there is</i> a cup, and the wine is red: it +is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs +thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring <i>them</i> out, <i>and</i> +drink <i>them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; <i>but</i> the horns of +the righteous shall be exalted.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation against all turbulent and hardened +hypocrites, who boast of their church and their name, and despise +alike all threatenings, and all exhortations; ever speaking like those +arrogant hypocrites in Psalm xii: “Who shall teach us?” “Who is Lord +over us?” As if they should say, the power is ours, and the authority +is ours, and he that does not listen to, and obey us, let him be +accursed.</p> + +<p>In like manner also now, our bishops are secure; and, from the +‘Council of Worms’ to this day, are deaf to all entreaties, and +insensible to all tears. And equally deaf also are most kings and +princes and fanatical spirits; who are so confident in themselves and +in their own imaginations, that they seem to think that God himself +could not overthrow them or cast them down.</p> + +<p>This Psalm admonishes us, the people of God, to know and acknowledge, +that there is a God who will surely judge all iniquity, if we do but +wait his time. For he is the Lord who maketh the mountains to tremble, +and who appeared on Mount Sinai with such terrible majesty. He, +according to the word of his First Commandment, visits the wicked in +his own appointed time, and yet preserves the pillars of the earth; +that is, the godly and the righteous; who bear up and sustain this +world upon their shoulders as it were: in the same way as the Apostle +Paul calls the church the “pillar and ground of the truth.” Thus, God +preserved the righteous and innocent Lot when he overthrew Sodom: and +thus he preserved also the believing Jews and the Apostles when he +destroyed Jerusalem, and overthrew the whole nation and kingdom: for +he knows, when he destroys any nation, how to preserve his own.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>A declaration of God’s majesty in the church.—An exhortation to serve +him reverently.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician on Neginoth. A Psalm <i>or</i> Song of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>In Judah <i>is</i> God known; his name <i>is</i> great in Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and +the battle. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> more glorious <i>and</i> excellent than the mountains of prey.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of +the men of might have found their hands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast +into a dead sleep.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou, <i>even</i> thou, <i>art</i> to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight +when once thou art angry?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, +and was still,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath +shalt thou restrain.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Vow, and pay unto the L<small>ORD</small> your God: let all that be round about him +bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall cut off the spirit of princes: <i>he is</i> terrible to the kings +of the earth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and of the same subject-matter as +Psalm xlvi. It gives thanks unto God for preserving his word and +worship in Jerusalem; and shows that it is he who, by marvellous deeds +and wonders, protects and defends his people against all kings and +tyrants; such as Sennacherib. For the Lord, the Divine Majesty, is a +wonderful “Man of war”; who has the hearts and spirits of kings in his +hand, and who can fill the enemies with fear, and break their minds +and spirits, whenever he pleases, with a single nod of his will.</p> + +<p>In this manner does God fight for his church against tyrants and +erroneous enemies. In the very midst of the course of their fury and +their hostile roaring, he brings down and breaks their spirits with +fear: and it is a terrible thing to kick and fight against him, who +can, in a moment, take away that which is the chief thing in +battle—the spirit of a man! Satan himself, who makes war against the +righteous with such unceasing rage, with such horrible desire to +destroy, and with such confidence in his might, is cast down in his +spirit, in a moment, by a repulse of the shield of faith, and falls +back and is undone: how much more then shall a mortal man!</p> + +<p>This verse, therefore, wherein the Psalmist says, “He shall cut off +the spirit of princes,” ought greatly to comfort us; for thereby we +may know, that we cannot be conquered or oppressed, but as God wills; +seeing we have that Warrior for our Captain, who holds in his hand the +hearts and spirits of our enemies; and who, without any arms or +weapons of men, can lay our adversaries prostrate in a moment, by +striking their spirits with fear!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The psalmist sheweth what fierce combat he had with diffidence.—The +victory which he had by consideration of God’s great and gracious +works.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I cried unto God with my voice, <i>even</i> unto God with my voice; and he +gave ear unto me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the day of my trouble I sought the L<small>ORD</small>: my sore ran in the night, +and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was +overwhelmed. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own +heart: and my spirit made diligent search.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Will the L<small>ORD</small> cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth <i>his</i> promise fail for +evermore?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender +mercies? Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And I said, This <i>is</i> my infirmity: <i>but I will remember</i> the years of +the right hand of the Most High.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will remember the works of the L<small>ORD</small>: surely I will remember thy +wonders of old.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy way, O God, <i>is</i> in the sanctuary: who <i>is so</i> great a God as +<i>our</i> God!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength +among the people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast with <i>thine</i> arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and +Joseph. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: they were afraid: the +depths also were troubled.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows +also went abroad.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of thy thunder <i>was</i> in the heaven: the lightnings lightened +the world: the earth trembled and shook.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy way <i>is</i> in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy +footsteps are not known.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm contains a blessed doctrine: the Psalmist puts forth +himself as an example: and the whole is for the consolation of the +godly: for the Psalmist describes the unspeakable anguish and sorrow +of a heart alarmed at the wrath of God and sin: and he says, verse 4, +that he was so overwhelmed with these terrors and sorrows, that he +could neither sleep nor speak. And in verses 7–10, he, as it were, +repeats all these his feelings of sorrow and dread, saying, “Will God +forget to be merciful? Doth his promise fail for evermore”?</p> + +<p>But here, as the Psalm saith, lies the greatest and best of all +consolations,—you will at once find comfort and deliverance if, +casting away from your mind (if you can by any means do it,) all these +apprehensions of evils and sorrows, (by which indeed you are +distressed in vain,) you turn to the word and works of God, and to the +histories of God’s doings and dealings from the beginning of the +world: for you will there find that the works and doings of God from +the beginning have been these,—to be merciful to and to save and help +the sorrowful, the distressed, the destitute, and the afflicted; and +to visit, in vengeance, the secure, the proud, the despisers, and the +wicked, in the same way as he delivered the Israelites, and destroyed +the Egyptians. Hence it is that David says, “Thy way, O God, is in the +deep,” and “in the sea:” for God saves in the midst of death and of +destruction, when despair is on every side.</p> + +<p>Learn this, my Christian brother! This Psalm thus sets forth to us God +and the ways of God: that is, how he works, and what he does, in his +church and in the saints: and all this is thus written, that we should +not despair in perils and afflictions, when we are beyond the reach of +all human help: but that rather, casting away all our own +apprehensions and distressing thoughts, we should, at, and from that +time, begin to trust in God, and to trust in him more and more, +waiting for his help.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>An exhortation both to learn and to preach the law of God.—The story +of God’s wrath against the incredulous and disobedient.—The Israelites +being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>Maschil of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Give ear, O my people, <i>to</i> my law: incline your ears to the words of +my mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We will not hide <i>them</i> from their children, shewing to the generation +to come the praises of the L<small>ORD</small>, and his strength, and his wonderful +works that he hath done.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in +Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them +known to their children;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That the generation to come might know <i>them, even</i> the children +<i>which</i> should be born, <i>who</i> should arise and declare <i>them</i> to their +children:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of +God; but keep his commandments:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious +generation; a generation <i>that</i> set not their heart aright, and whose +spirit was not stedfast with God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The children of Ephraim, <i>being</i> armed, <i>and</i> carrying bows, turned +back in the day of battle.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of +Egypt, <i>in</i> the field of Zoan.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the +waters to stand as an heap.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with +a light of fire.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave <i>them</i> drink as <i>out +of</i> the great depths.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down +like rivers.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they sinned yet more against him, by provoking the Most High in +the wilderness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish a table in the +wilderness?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams +overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his +people?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore the L<small>ORD</small> heard <i>this</i>, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled +against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of +heaven,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the +corn of heaven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven; and by his power he +brought in the south wind.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as +the sand of the sea;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he let <i>it</i> fall in the midst of their camp, round about their +habitations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So they did eat and were well filled: for he gave them their own +desire;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They were not estranged from their lust: but while their meat <i>was</i> +yet in their mouths,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and +smote down the chosen <i>men</i> of Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous +works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in +trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and +inquired early after God:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they remembered that God <i>was</i> their Rock, and the high God their +Redeemer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto +him with their tongues:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in +his covenant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But he, <i>being</i> full of compassion, forgave <i>their</i> iniquity, and +destroyed <i>them</i> not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and +did not stir up all his wrath:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he remembered that they <i>were but</i> flesh; a wind that passeth +away, and cometh not again.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, <i>and</i> grieve him in +the desert!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of +Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They remembered not his hand, <i>nor</i> the day when he delivered them +from the enemy:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of +Zoan:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they +could not drink.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and +frogs, which destroyed them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour +unto the locust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with +frost.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot +thunderbolts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, +and trouble, by sending evil angels <i>among them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but +gave their life over to the pestilence;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of <i>their</i> strength +in the tabernacles of Ham:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the +wilderness like a flock.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea +overwhelmed their enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, <i>even to</i> this +mountain, <i>which</i> his right hand had purchased.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an +inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their +tents.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his +testimonies:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were +turned aside like a deceitful bow.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him +to jealousy with their graven images.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When God heard <i>this</i>, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent <i>which</i> he +placed among men;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the +enemy’s hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his +inheritance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to +marriage.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then the L<small>ORD</small> awaked as one out of sleep, <i>and</i> like a mighty man that +shouteth by reason of wine.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: he put them to a +perpetual reproach.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe +of Ephraim:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he built his sanctuary like high <i>palaces</i>, like +the earth which he hath established for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>From following the ewes great with young he brought him, to feed Jacob +his people, and Israel his inheritance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided +them by the skilfulness of his hands.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm, by a glorious instruction, in a long recital of the acts +of the children of Israel as examples, from the departure out of Egypt +down to David, teaches us to believe and trust in God: showing us, how +“very present” God always was to those who believed in him, in all +their perils, and even in the midst of death. And, on the other hand, +it shows us, how surely and terribly God always visited those who +despised his word and departed from him.</p> + +<p>For, according to the words of the first commandment, God has, from +the beginning, wrought, not only in his own people, but in the +Gentiles also; and so he will work down to the world’s end; showing +mercy to those that love him, and visiting in judgment those that hate +him.</p> + +<p>And although the world despises, more unconcernedly than all things +else, the threatenings of God and his promises also; yet, +nevertheless, God still goes on working, according to the words of his +first commandment; and that commandment still prevails over all the +kingdoms of the earth; laying prostrate kings, overturning kingdoms, +uprooting families, and blotting out mighty names. And, on the other +hand, the same commandment still and ever goes on, preserving those in +the church of God who love him; lifting up them that are down; +succouring the oppressed; feeding the poor, the captives, and the +exiles; loosing those that are in prison; raising the dead; and +bringing salvation.</p> + +<p>The hardened and unbelieving world do not believe God: nevertheless, +this first commandment goes on thus according to the word which it +contains, to accomplish God’s will, in things private, and in things +public, in this present age, and throughout all the ages to come.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The psalmist complaineth of the desolation of Jerusalem.—He prayeth +for deliverance, and promiseth thankfulness.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple +have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The dead bodies of thy servants have they given <i>to be</i> meat unto the +fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the +earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and +<i>there was</i> none to bury <i>them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to +them that are round about us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How long, L<small>ORD</small>? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn +like fire?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon +the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies +speedily prevent us; for we are brought very low.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; and +deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherefore should the heathen say, Where <i>is</i> their God? let him be +known among the heathen in our sight, <i>by</i> the revenging of the blood +of thy servants <i>which is</i> shed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the +greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And render unto our neighbours seven-fold into their bosom their +reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for +ever; we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer to God against that future national +destruction, which was wrought by the Chaldeans and Antiochus +Epiphanes; it is of the same subject-matter as Psalm lxxiv, and +therefore it may be set forth by the explication there given. Isaiah +has the same prayer against future devastations, chap. 63.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The psalmist in his prayer complaineth of the miseries of the +church.—God’s former favours are turned into judgments.—He prayeth for +deliverance.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; +thou that dwellest <i>between</i> the cherubims, shine forth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and +come <i>and</i> save us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be +saved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of +thy people?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to +drink in great measure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours; and our enemies laugh +among themselves.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we +shall be saved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, +and planted it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou preparedst <i>room</i> before it, and didst cause it to take deep +root, and it filled the land.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof +<i>were like</i> the goodly cedars.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Why hast thou <i>then</i> broken down her hedges, so that all they which +pass by the way do pluck her?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the +field doth devour it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and +behold, and visit this vine;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch +<i>that</i> thou madest strong for thyself.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> burned with fire; <i>it is</i> cut down: they perish at the rebuke +of thy countenance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man +<i>whom</i> thou madest strong for thyself.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon +thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn us again, O L<small>ORD</small> God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we +shall be saved.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer against those most bitter and daily enemies, the +neighbouring Philistines, Syrians, Moabites, Edomites, &c.: for +Jerusalem was situated in the midst of these nations, all enemies, on +every side.</p> + +<p>This Psalm is appropriate for <i>us</i> against bishops, and monks, and +priests, who hate us more bitterly than any Edomite or any Cain. The +fathers used this Psalm (such was the state of the church then) +against her error-broaching enemies.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>An exhortation to a solemn praising of God.—God challengeth that duty +by reason of his benefits.—God exhorting to obedience; complaineth of +their disobedience, which proveth their own hurt.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of +Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the +psaltery.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our +solemn feast day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For this <i>was</i> a statute for Israel, <i>and</i> a law of the God of Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This he ordained in Joseph <i>for</i> a testimony, when he went out through +the land of Egypt: <i>where</i> I heard a language <i>that</i> I understood not.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from +the pots.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the +secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. +Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt +hearken unto me;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any +strange god.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: +open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: <i>and</i> they walked in +their own counsels.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, <i>and</i> Israel had walked in my +ways!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against +their adversaries.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but +their time should have endured for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with +honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is the form of a prayer and a solemn song for the people of the +Jews, which was sung yearly at the feast of tabernacles, to admonish +that people, and to keep them in the true worship of God; namely, that +of the first commandment. This Psalm, therefore, like the prophets, in +all their great instructions, holds forth and enforces the very words +of the first commandment, “I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none +other gods but me:” that is, thou shalt hold me as thy God, thou shalt +cleave unto me, thou shalt trust alone in me; thou shalt not worship, +thou shalt not call upon, any other God.</p> + +<p>But here the whole world lieth in wickedness, the whole is unclean, +the whole is the kingdom of the devil. Not only were the people of the +Jews in this state of transgression against the first commandment, but +all nations, and all religions, and all worshippers, from the +beginning of the world; and they will be the same down to the end of +the world. The Israelites were indeed the people of God; they had the +prophets, and the godly priests and Levites, continually enforcing on +them this great and highest worship of the first commandment in all +their preachings: and yet they fell away from this worship. Their +mouth ought to have been full of God and the praise of God, but it was +full of idolatry, and of idolatrous doctrines and abominations.</p> + +<p>Here is the perverseness of the world: they will admire, they will +take up with, they will profess, all other kinds of worship, all other +forms and kinds of religions and hypocrisies, and they will multiply +and adorn them: but they will trample that very glorious worship of +the first commandment under foot: <i>that</i> worship the devil cannot +bear; <i>that</i> worship he works to extinguish by all the ways and means +in his power.</p> + +<p>And in the church of God, under the New Testament, this Psalm teaches +us the righteousness of faith and of Christ; that we ought to set +Christ and his righteousness before and above all works: for our mouth +ought to be full of Christ. But we, like the Jews, turn aside to other +gods, embracing sometimes these and sometimes those sayings and +traditions, each one following the idol imaginations and thoughts of +his own heart.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The psalmist having exhorted the judges, and reproved their +negligence, prayeth God to judge.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>God standeth in the congregation of the mighty: he judgeth among the +gods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? +Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver the poor and needy: rid <i>them</i> out of the hand of the wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: +all the foundations of the earth are out of course.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have said, Ye <i>are</i> gods; and all of you <i>are</i> children of the Most +High.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation against tyrants, and wicked kings and +magistrates, who oppressed the destitute, the fatherless, and the +widows. I have given a full commentary on this Psalm, which is now in +public; therefore I need not say more upon it here.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>A complaint to God of the enemies’ conspiracies.—A prayer against +them that oppress the church.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song or Psalm of Asaph.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O +God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; and they that hate thee have +lifted up the head.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted +against thy hidden ones.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from <i>being</i> a nation; +that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they have consulted together with one consent; they are +confederate against thee:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab and the +Hagarenes;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines, with the inhabitants of +Tyre;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. +Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Do unto them as <i>unto</i> the Midianites; as <i>to</i> Sisera, as <i>to</i> Jabin, +at the brook of Kison;</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Which</i> perished at En-dor: they became <i>as</i> dung for the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb; yea, all their princes as +Zebah and as Zalmunna:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on +fire,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy +storm.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to +shame, and perish:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That <i>men</i> may know that thou, whose name alone <i>is</i> JEHOVAH, <i>art</i> +the Most High over all the earth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer of the same nature as Psalm lxxx. as the same +mentioned names of the same nation show, who were bitter enemies unto +Israel. The same explanation, therefore, will suffice.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet longing for the communion of the sanctuary, sheweth how +blessed they are that dwell therein.—He prayeth to be restored unto +it.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm for the sons of Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>How amiable <i>are</i> thy tabernacles, O L<small>ORD</small> of hosts!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the L<small>ORD</small>; my +heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for +herself, where she may lay her young, <i>even</i> thine altars, O L<small>ORD</small> of +hosts, my King, and my God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>are</i> they that dwell in thy house: they will be still +praising thee. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> the man whose strength <i>is</i> in thee; in whose heart <i>are</i> +the ways <i>of them:</i></blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Who</i> passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well: the rain +also filleth the pools.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They go from strength to strength; <i>every one of them</i> in Zion +appeareth before God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For a day in thy courts <i>is</i> better than a thousand. I had rather be a +door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of +wickedness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> God <i>is</i> a sun and shield: the L<small>ORD</small> will give grace and +glory: no good <i>thing</i> will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> of hosts, blessed <i>is</i> the man that trusteth in thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation, which breaks forth into the most sweet +and powerful expressions, in praise and love of the ministry of the +word. “Blessed are they (says David) that dwell in thy house:” that +is, they alone are truly blessed, and rest on a sure and eternal +consolation, who dwell in thy house and in thy tabernacle: that is, in +the place where thy word is taught and heard. For such, as the Apostle +saith, (1 Cor. i.) “are increased in all good, and enriched in all +wisdom and all knowledge, and with every good gift, so that they can +want nothing.” They have all riches.</p> + +<p>Wherefore let the world have their rich ones, their powerful ones, and +their wise ones, and their consolations in this world; let them trust +and glory in their wisdom, their might, their wealth, and their +possessions,—my heart triumphs in the living God; that is, I rejoice, +and triumph, and glory, with all my heart, that I know God in his +word, and that I am of his true church. And I would rather cleave and +hold to this poor despised flock of God’s people, to his church of +poor afflicted ones, who call upon God in truth; I would rather cleave +to them, and hover over them, as a bird over her young in the nest, +than live in the most splendid palace of all earthly kings. I had +rather sit at the door of the house of the Lord; that is, occupy the +lowest place among the people of God, despised and disregarded by the +world, than be loaded with all the dainties and riches of the +universe, and not belong to the assembly of them that hear, and love, +and know the word of God.</p> + +<p>This Psalm, therefore, exhorts us rather to suffer ourselves to be +torn away from all the riches, honours, consolations and pleasures of +the world, than from the house of God. For no riches, nor even +kingdoms, can deliver us from sin or death, or from the kingdom of the +devil; nor can they overcome, in our hearts, the terrors of hell or of +the judgment of God. But God gives, by his word, grace and victory +over all these. “He is a sun and a shield” that is, in all darkness +and in all afflictions, of every kind, the word of God is a joyful +light, a sure consolation, a firm bulwark, and an invincible armour +against the violent assault of the devil and of sin: neither of which +can the riches or the wisdom of this world vanquish. He, therefore, +that hath the word of God hath every thing: he that hath not the word +of God hath nothing. O blessed, eternally blessed are they, who thus +love and value the word of God! but where are they! how few such are +there to be found! for the world is full of mockers and despisers!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The Psalmist, out of the experience of former mercies, prayeth for +the continuance thereof.—He promiseth to wait thereon, out of +confidence of God’s goodness.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm to the sons of Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back +the captivity of Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all +their sin. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned <i>thyself</i> from +the fierceness of thine anger.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger towards us to +cease.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to +all generations?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shew us thy mercy, O L<small>ORD</small>, and grant us thy salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will hear what God the L<small>ORD</small> will speak: for he will speak peace unto +his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely his salvation <i>is</i> nigh them that fear him; that glory may +dwell in our land.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed +<i>each other</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down +from heaven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, the L<small>ORD</small> shall give <i>that which is</i> good: and our land shall +yield her increase.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set <i>us</i> in the way of +his steps.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer containing the feelings of a heart that fears +God; and it persuades, in the most impressive words, such an one, not +to dread God’s anger. For those who fear God, are not like the +despisers and Epicureans, who are secure and care for nothing that +happens; but when calamities fall upon godly men, their first and main +concern is to turn to God that smites them, and to make anew their +peace with him.</p> + +<p>The anger wherewith God chastised his people, at this time, was this: +he had taken away from them, for a time, the word; he had diminished +the number of those that preached it in truth, and had made few the +true prophets, priests and Levites. In addition to which, the peace of +the nation was broken by seditions; and many evils prevailed in the +state and among the rulers thereof. And this was not all: there came +on also the dread and expectation of war, and the want of the +necessary provisions of life: for these calamities generally follow, +one after the other, when God, according to the first commandment, +visits the iniquities of a people.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist, therefore, prays that God would be pleased again to +preserve the church, and also the nation; again to restore the real +ministers of the word, who preached it in truth, and by whom alone God +truly speaks unto men.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist, therefore, breaks forth with a wonderful burden of +heart, as if he had said, ‘O that I might again hear the Lord truly +speaking! O that the word of God were again truly preached, lest even +the godly should be “turned to folly”’ (or ignorance; that is, lest +they should be so broken down and utterly worn out, by the greatness +of their afflictions, as not to know what to do.) ‘O that both the +worship of God, and the prosperity of our nation, may be restored, and +that peace, and concord, and truth, and justice, may flourish among +us! that the fruits of the earth, and the produce of the fields and of +the vineyards may be blessed; that we may lead a godly life in this +our day, and, as St. Paul saith, may “look for the glorious appearing +of the great God!”’</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David strengtheneth his prayer by the conscience of his religion,—by +the goodness and power of God.—He desireth the continuance of former +grace.—Complaining of the proud he craveth some token of God’s +goodness.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Prayer of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Bow down thine ear, O L<small>ORD</small>, hear me; for I <i>am</i> poor and needy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Preserve my soul, for I <i>am</i> holy: O thou my God, save thy servant +that trusteth in thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be merciful unto me, O L<small>ORD</small>: for I cry unto thee daily.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, do I lift up +my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou, L<small>ORD</small>, <i>art</i> good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in +mercy unto all them that call upon thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give ear, O L<small>ORD</small>, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my +supplications.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Among the gods <i>there is</i> none like unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>; neither <i>are +there any works</i> like unto thy works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O +L<small>ORD</small>; and shall glorify thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou <i>art</i> great, and doest wondrous things, thou <i>art</i> God alone.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Teach me thy way, O L<small>ORD</small>; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to +fear thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee, O L<small>ORD</small> my God, with all my heart; and I will +glorify thy name for evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For great <i>is</i> thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul +from the lowest hell.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent +<i>men</i> have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>art</i> a God full of compassion, and gracious; +long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength unto thy +servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see <i>it</i>, and be +ashamed; because thou, L<small>ORD</small>, hast holpen me, and comforted me.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a supplication, and, as the title shows, a prayer of +David: and here you may see that prayer is the highest exercise of +faith, and the highest worship of God. Every one knows with what +destroying calamities that great man David, that “man after God’s own +heart,” was surrounded; and yet you may see, in the book of Kings, +that, in his deepest straits and most calamitous afflictions, he calls +upon God with all the ardour of his heart against his enemies, Saul, +his son Absalom, &c. those instruments of the devil, who so heavily +afflicted him.</p> + +<p>Behold what an example of prayer for us to follow, this great, this +most spiritual man, gives us in the 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th verses. +See how fixedly he has before his eyes the first commandment. “O God,” +saith he, “who is like unto thee among the gods?” who doeth works like +unto thy works? “Thou art great and doest wonderful works; thou art +God alone. Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, +long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and in truth, unto all that call +upon thee.”</p> + +<p>Behold here how he calls up and sharpens, as it were, his faith, at a +view of the mercy of God! so that, apprehending that mercy and the +promise, he goes forth on the assurance, that God is not only powerful +and great, and invincible against all the assaults of the devil and of +the world, and against all creatures; but that he is also ever present +unto the godly, and ever merciful to those that call upon him, and +believe in him. And thus, <i>we</i> also ought to apprehend the word of the +divine promise of mercy, and cast out of our hearts all doubt, that we +may be enabled to call upon him without misgiving.</p> + +<p>At the end David prays, “Show me a token for good.” God sometimes +permits the wicked to glory for a while, as if they certainly should +soon devour the saints, and those that fear him. But God never finally +forsakes his people: for here, in the church below, he often delivers +the godly, who fear him, out of the greatest perils; yea, out of the +very jaws of death; and plainly proves that he is ever present and +near his own: for their deliverances plainly show the hand of God. It +is for such a token, or sign, as this, that David here prays.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The nature and glory of the church.—The increase, honour, and comfort +of the members thereof.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>His foundation <i>is</i> in the holy mountains.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of +Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold +Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this <i>man</i> was born there.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and +the highest himself shall establish her.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall count, when he writeth up the people, <i>that</i> this <i>man</i> +was born there. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As well the singers as the players on instruments <i>shall be there:</i> +all my springs <i>are</i> in thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ and the church, in +times to come. The Psalmist, after the manner of the prophets, sets +before us the future Jerusalem and the future Zion, as if represented +in a painting before our eyes: the boundaries of which should be those +of the world itself, reaching from east to west, and from north to +south; and in which church there should be born men of every nation, +kingdom, tribe, and tongue,—Ethiopians, Egyptians, Babylonians, +Tyrians, Philistines, &c. and that these should be born in this +church, not by a natural birth, but by the word of the gospel.</p> + +<p>“Great, excellent, and glorious things shall be spoken and preached in +thee, O city of God!” For the gospel is a great and glorious doctrine, +the highest of all doctrines, even the word of salvation; hence, as +Paul saith, (Phil. i. 10.) the gospel contains, in comparison with the +law, “the things that are excellent.” For by the gospel is given to us +the knowledge of the counsel and will of God; in what manner God is +pacified; how we are delivered from sin, from the power of the devil, +and from eternal death; which things neither the law, nor any human +philosophy, could teach.</p> + +<p>In the last verse also, the Psalm most beautifully sets forth what the +highest worship, under the New Testament, should be. “There shall be +in thee, (saith the Psalmist,) as the harmonious concert of those +playing on instruments;” that is, it is not Moses, or the law, that +shall be taught in that city; but the sweet and joyful message of the +gospel shall be preached by the ministry of the word, even grace and +the remission of sins by Jesus Christ.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>A prayer containing a grievous complaint.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote><small>A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon +Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> God of my salvation, I have cried day <i>and</i> +night before thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the +grave.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man <i>that +hath</i> no strength:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou +rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted <i>me</i> with all +thy waves. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an +abomination unto them: <i>I am</i> shut up, and I cannot come forth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: L<small>ORD</small>, I have called daily +upon thee; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise <i>and</i> praise +thee? Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? <i>or</i> thy +faithfulness in destruction?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the +land of forgetfulness?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But unto thee have I cried, O L<small>ORD</small>; and in the morning shall my prayer +prevent thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, why castest thou off my soul? <i>why</i> hidest thou thy face from +me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> afflicted and ready to die from <i>my</i> youth up: <i>while</i> I suffer +thy terrors I am distracted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They came round about me daily like water, they compassed me about +together.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, <i>and</i> mine acquaintance +into darkness.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer, as in the person of Christ and of all the saints. It +contains those mighty feelings and conflicts of heart, which no +mortals but those who experience them, can either describe or +conceive; I mean those pangs and pains, and that heavy sorrow of +spirit, (above all natural distress of body or of mind, and above all +natural fear and dread,) when the heart is filled with a sense of the +majesty and anger of God, and is alarmed at the nature and end of sin; +while God also, as yet, holds off all consolation; and the soul is +shaken in the midst of darkness and terror, and, as Christ saith +himself, “sifted by the devil like wheat in a sieve;” while the +malicious Satan craftily augments the soul’s views of the anger of +God, and drives out of sight all hope of mercy and grace.</p> + +<p>David here calls these unspeakable terrors of soul, “hell,” +“darkness,” “the shadow of death.” “Thou hast cast me (saith he) into +the lowest pit, into darkness and the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon +me; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.” And rightly does +David describe these pains and terrors by the terms, “death,” “hell,” +&c. because this anguish of soul is of the very nature, and power, and +poison, and sting of hell and death; for no sooner is the darkness +dispersed, by some shining in of divine consolation, than death is no +longer death, but we die gladly. And indeed, where such fears and +terrors of mind abound and continue, they extend to the body, bring on +a paleness and emaciation, and affect the whole man. Paul calls them +the “buffetting of Satan,” and “thorns in the flesh;” which has +reference to a custom in certain nations of punishing criminals by +transfixing their bodies with a certain sharp pointed conical +instrument, in the shape of a thorn; and mocking and deriding them in +their suffering. And just thus it is that the nations of the world +contemptuously call Christ ‘that crucified fellow,’ and the Jews, +‘That fellow that was hanged.’ For the world, in their malice, not +only persecute Christ, but also deride and mock his sufferings, and +the sufferings of his members. And hence it is David complains thus in +this Psalm, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine +acquaintance into darkness.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM LXXXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The psalmist praiseth God for his covenant, for his wonderful power, +for the care of his church, for his favour to the kingdom of +David.—Then complaining of contrary events, he expostulateth, prayeth, and +blesseth God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will sing of the mercies of the L<small>ORD</small> for ever: with my mouth will I +make known thy faithfulness to all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness +shalt thou establish in the very heavens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my +servant,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all +generations. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O L<small>ORD</small>: thy faithfulness +also in the congregation of the saints.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For who in the heaven can be compared unto the L<small>ORD</small>? <i>who</i> among the +sons of the mighty can be likened unto the L<small>ORD</small>?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be +had in reverence of all <i>them that are</i> about him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> God of hosts, who <i>is</i> a strong L<small>ORD</small> like unto thee? or to thy +faithfulness round about thee?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou +stillest them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast +scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The heavens <i>are</i> thine, the earth also <i>is</i> thine: <i>as for</i> the world +and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall +rejoice in thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, <i>and</i> high is thy right +hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Justice and judgment <i>are</i> the habitation of thy throne: mercy and +truth shall go before thy face.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O +L<small>ORD</small>, in the light of thy countenance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness +shall they be exalted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou <i>art</i> the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn +shall be exalted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> our defence; and the Holy One of Israel <i>is</i> our +king.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid +help upon <i>one that is</i> mighty; I have exalted <i>one</i> chosen out of the +people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen +him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict +him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that +hate him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But my faithfulness and my mercy <i>shall be</i> with him; and in my name +shall his horn be exalted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall cry unto me, Thou <i>art</i> my Father, my God, and the Rock of my +salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Also I will make him <i>my</i> first-born, higher than the kings of the +earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand +fast with him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His seed also will I make to <i>endure</i> for ever, and his throne as the +days of heaven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity +with stripes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor +suffer my faithfulness to fail.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of +my lips.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>It shall be established for ever as the moon, and <i>as</i> a faithful +witness in heaven. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine +anointed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned +his crown, <i>by casting it</i> to the ground.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong +holds to ruin.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his +neighbours.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all +his enemies to rejoice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to +stand in the battle.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the +ground.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with +shame. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How long, L<small>ORD</small>? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn +like fire?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in +vain!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What man <i>is he that</i> liveth, and shall not see death? shall he +deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, where <i>are</i> thy former loving-kindnesses, <i>which</i> thou swarest +unto David in thy truth?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember, L<small>ORD</small>, the reproach of thy servants; <i>how</i> I do bear in my +bosom <i>the reproach of</i> all the mighty people;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O L<small>ORD</small>; wherewith they have +reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small> for evermore. Amen, and amen.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a remarkable prophecy concerning Christ and his kingdom; he +speaks of the church or kingdom of Christ, as a “kingdom in the +heavens;” in the same manner as Christ himself calls it “the kingdom +of heaven.” And though this spiritual kingdom of Christ is here upon +earth, yet the Psalmist gloriously describes it as being “in the +heavens.”</p> + +<p>The Psalmist, indeed, here apprehends the promise made to David +concerning Christ; and, opening that promise in a wonderful manner, he +describes the riches of this spiritual kingdom. He enforces the +everlasting firmness and sureness of that promise; and, taking a stand +of heavenly meditation therein, he dwells upon the effectual power of +that promise against all the violence of sin, and the malice and +accusation of the devil; and here the Psalmist takes up his divine +abode; here he fixes his standing; as the apostle hath it, “by faith +ye stand:” and he says that this truth of God, this his promise was +prepared from everlasting, built up in the fulfilment of God’s purpose +of mercy, and firm, and “established in the heavens.”</p> + +<p>“Thy faithfulness and truth,” (says the Psalmist,) “are established in +the heavens;” that is, a heavenly righteousness is preached by the +gospel, which is not placed in us, or in any worthiness or merit of +ours; but is out of us, and is the righteousness of Christ, and is +imputed, for Christ’s sake, unto all that believe in him: and hence, +the promised riches of this kingdom are the gift of the Spirit, and +the remission of sins, with all other spiritual blessings: all which +are not offered unto us on any condition of the law, or of our works +or our merit, but are given unto us freely of God. Salvation, +therefore, is not a matter conditional on our works, but freely given +unto us for Christ’s sake; that thus all doubting and uncertainty may +be taken from our souls; and that we may safely rest, entirely and +only on the immutable and immoveable certainty of this truth and +promise of God.</p> + +<p>The temporal kingdom of the Jews was promised to that people, on +condition of a law given to them; that, if they kept that law, +nationally, as a people, if they were therein good and obedient, they +should be preserved and blessed. And, in the same way also, all the +kingdoms of the world are given to their people under a like condition +of a law, and, as long as they are good and obedient, God preserves +them. But the immense and glorious riches of this spiritual kingdom, +the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Spirit, victory over death +and the devil, &c. are promised and held forth without any condition +of a law; and, in a word, the remission of sins is promised, freely, +not only to those who have done nothing to deserve it, but to those +who have done everything to forfeit it. This is a throne, therefore, +not of angry and destroying majesty, but of grace alone; and being +founded, not on the basis of our good works and merits, but on the +rock of the sure and everlasting truth of God, it affords a great and +marvellous consolation to the afflicted consciences of sinners.</p> + +<p>After, however, the prophetic Psalmist has described the flower and +glory of this kingdom and church of Christ, he deplores, on the other +hand, from verse 39, in the most powerful expressions, the desolations +and destructions of it: saying, that it shall come to pass that this +kingdom, like as the apostle has also foretold, shall be so disturbed +and torn to pieces by antichrist, that it shall seem as if God had +wholly forgotten his promise unto it; nay, as if, contrary to the word +of his promise, he did nothing but show his wrath against this +kingdom.</p> + +<p>All these things, however, are written for a consolation unto the +godly; and especially unto us who, in these last times, have witnessed +such abominations of papacy; these things, I say, are written for our +comfort and consolation; that we should not be broken-spirited, or +terrified, at the multitude and diversity of offences; nor be driven +to despair, though wickedness should have the dominion for a time, and +though Satan should, as it were, so subvert all things human and +divine, that there should seem to be no church of Christ at all, no +remains of the kingdom of Christ upon earth. For if you look at the +abomination of the Pope, and of Mahomet, which have spread themselves +over the whole world, no other appearance is presented than that there +is not a vestige of the true church remaining: and yet, it is not +wholly blotted or rooted out from the earth; for, under the reign of +each abomination and tyranny, there has ever existed a true church of +Christ, although greatly despised and greatly oppressed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XC.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>Moses, setting forth God’s providence, complaineth of human +fragility, divine chastisements, and brevity of life.—He prayeth for +the knowledge and sensible experience of God’s good providence.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A prayer of Moses, the Man of God.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the +earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou <i>art</i> +God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of +men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For a thousand years in thy sight <i>are but</i> as yesterday when it is +past, and <i>as</i> a watch in the night.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are <i>as</i> a sleep: in the +morning <i>they are</i> like grass <i>which</i> groweth up.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is +cut down, and withereth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret <i>sins</i> in the +light of thy countenance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a +tale <i>that is told</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The days of our years <i>are</i> threescore years and ten; and if by reason +of strength <i>they be</i> fourscore years, yet <i>is</i> their strength labour +and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, <i>so +is</i> thy wrath.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So teach <i>us</i> to number our days, that we may apply <i>our</i> hearts unto +wisdom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Return, O L<small>ORD</small>, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy +servants.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all +our days.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make us glad according to the days <i>wherein</i> thou hast afflicted us, +<i>and</i> the years <i>wherein</i> we have seen evil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their +children.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And let the beauty of the L<small>ORD</small> our God be upon us: and establish thou +the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish +thou it.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm contains a very great and important doctrine; in which +Moses teaches what is the origin and cause of that death to which the +whole human race is subject, and the reason why so horrible a +punishment was inflicted on the whole race of mortals: the Psalmist +saith, it was on account of sin: and the guilt and desert of sin are +greater than can be conceived by the human mind, unless God touch the +heart with a knowledge of it; and yet, in this sin and guilt, and +under this wrath, all the sons of Adam are born.</p> + +<p>Moses here opens widely this punishment of sin, and this horrible +misery; setting forth the proof of it in the shortness and uncertainty +of human life; which life, in addition to this its shortness and +uncertainty, is subject also to all kinds of calamity: and, in verse +11, Moses saith that this very unspeakable misery—death, and all other +human calamities, as parts of that death, tend, or should lead us, to +seek the grace and mercy of God, who alone can deliver us from all +these evils,—sin, the slavery of the devil, and death. Hence all the +calamities and afflictions of life, and even death itself, the +punishment of sin, work together for good unto the elect, and unto +those that fear God; that they may, by all things, be humbled, broken +down, and crucified, and so, thirst after grace.</p> + +<p>“So teach us that we must die,” says Moses, “that we may become wise:” +that is, that we may learn to know God and his will aright; for this +is what Moses calls “becoming wise.” The wicked, and fools, who are +not exercised with afflictions, who number not their days, nor think +of death, nor meditate on the misery of life, but remain unexperienced +and ignorant of all spiritual things, and are wrapped up in their own +hypocrisy, never rightly know God, nor truly seek his help and mercy.</p> + +<p>Moses then closes his Psalm with a divinely concluding prayer, “Let +thy work appear unto thy servants,” or “Show us thy work, O Lord.” +Here, by the work of God, he means deliverance from sin and death; +and, in a word, all that deliverance that our fathers expected from +that blessed seed, which we have revealed to us in Christ. And again, +saith Moses, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy:” and he twice +repeats, “Prosper thou the works of our hands:” that is, for the time +that we live, direct and prosper thou our whole life: preserve thy +true religion and the good government of our nation: guard us from +heresies, errors, wars, seditions, and all such evils. This Psalm, +therefore, is a short but a most spiritual prayer.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The state of the godly.—Their safety.—Their habitation.—Their +servants.—Their friends; with the effects of them all.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide +under the shadow of the Almighty.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will say of the L<small>ORD</small>, <i>He is</i> my refuge, and my fortress: my God; in +him will I trust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, <i>and</i> from +the noisome pestilence.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou +trust; his truth <i>shall be thy</i> shield and buckler.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, <i>nor</i> for the arrow +<i>that</i> flieth by day,</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Nor</i> for the pestilence <i>that</i> walketh in darkness, <i>nor</i> for the +destruction <i>that</i> wasteth at noon-day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; +<i>but</i> it shall not come nigh thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the +wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because thou hast made the L<small>ORD</small>, <i>which is</i> my refuge, <i>even</i> the Most +High, thy habitation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh +thy dwelling.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy +ways.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall bear thee up in <i>their</i> hands, lest thou dash thy foot +against a stone.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the +dragon shall thou trample under feet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I +will set him on high, because he hath known my name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I <i>will be</i> with him in +trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a most distinguished jewel among all the Psalms of +consolation. The Psalmist highly exalts faith in God, and shews that +it is an invincible strength against all evils, and against all the +gates of hell.</p> + +<p>At the very outset, the Psalmist says, “He that dwelleth in the secret +place of the Most High, abideth under the shadow of the Almighty;” and +such an one shall say unto the Lord, “Thou art my confidence, my +protection, my fortress and my God,” that is, he that believeth and +trusteth in God, and rests in his protection,—he shall find, though +shaken on every side, by the devil, by sin, by the world, and by +various and endless temptations, that the godly are proof and +invincible against all these evils; that God is most high over all; +that he is Omnipotent; and, in a word, that “greater is he that is in +us than he that is in the world.”</p> + +<p>Towards the conclusion, this Psalm contains, accumulated together, +eight or nine promises of grace, which the Psalmist drew out of the +first commandment, as out of a fountain. This Psalm, therefore, ought +to be set before afflicted souls. 1. The Psalmist says “Because he +hath hoped in me, therefore will I deliver him.” 2. “I will set him on +high.” 3. “Because he hath called upon me, I will hear him.” 4. “I +will be with him in trouble.” 5. “I will deliver him.” 6. “I will set +him on high, or glorify him.” 7. “With long life will I satisfy him.” +8. “I will show him my salvation:” that is, that I am “mighty to +save!”</p> + +<p>And this also is the second Psalm wherein angels are proclaimed as our +watchful guardians and protectors: which is a truth very greatly +consoling to the really godly, who know with what fury Satan +unceasingly assaults the church, and all the saints. This Psalm +enumerates four kinds of evils and afflictions, which are to be +endured by the saints and those that fear God:</p> + +<blockquote>1. “Mighty fear,”—“terror by night.” The scripture frequently +represents temptations and afflictions under the figures of darkness +and night; and consolations under the figurative descriptions of light +and day. The Psalmist, therefore, here sets forth all those horrible +instances of hatred, that Cain-like purpose to destroy, (which is ever +secretly bound up in the hearts of pharisaic religionists) all those +malicious threats, those hostile traps and snares, those created +perils, those injuries, and all those other terrible oppositions which +Satan ever raises up against the word of God, by nightly fear, or +“terror by night.”</blockquote> + +<blockquote>2. “The arrow that flieth by day.” By which are meant to be described +all those open clamours, reproaches, execrations, and blasphemies, by +which tyrants and hypocrites openly attack and condemn the word of +God, and the doctrine of Christ. Of this kind are the pope’s bulls, +(and truly they are bulls!) and also, the edicts of kings and princes, +the virulent and blasphemous books of erroneous disputers, and the +writings of erroneous and visionary men, such as the anabaptists, and +the like.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>3. “The pestilence that creepeth (or walketh) in darkness.” These are +the deceits, the crafts, and the artifices of the papists; and the +leagues, the covert conspiracies, the secret counsels, by which those +enemies consult and plan among themselves in their private conclaves: +which clandestine machinations they think they can keep hidden, even +from the eyes of God himself; and by all which diabolical means, they +plot to destroy and root out the godly and all doctrine that is truly +good and saving.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>4. “The disease (or contagion, or destruction) that wasteth at noon +day.” This is the work of open persecution; whereby these holy Cains, +in their unheard-of cruelty and tyranny, shed the blood of the Abels, +drive into exile the godly, plunder their substance, and slaughter +them by every cruelty of torture; thereby attempting to lay the true +church utterly waste, and to leave not a vestige of the true word +remaining.</blockquote> + +<p>This is my view of the Psalm. I know that St. Bernard gives other +interpretations. Let others, therefore, if they can, put forth a +better explication than I have done: that my view is simple, and +agreeable to the mind and spirit of the prophets, is self-manifest, +and proved by experience: for we see and experience daily, that the +saints of God are attacked and exercised by these four afflictions for +the word’s sake, by means of the devil and by the world. The Holy +Spirit, therefore, by this Psalm, revives and strengthens our faith; +and by the cluster of promises at the end of the Psalm, the same Holy +Spirit quickens and refreshes our hearts with consolation: this Psalm +therefore ought to be most acceptable to all the saints.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The prophet exhorteth to praise God, for his great works, for his +judgments on the wicked, and for his goodness to the godly.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>It <i>is a</i> good <i>thing</i> to give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>, and to sing +praises unto thy name, O Most High:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness +every night,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltry; upon the harp +with a solemn sound.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou, L<small>ORD</small>, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in +the works of thy hands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, how great are thy works! <i>and</i> thy thoughts are very deep.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of +iniquity do flourish; <i>it is</i> that they shall be destroyed for ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou, L<small>ORD</small>, <i>art most</i> high for evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For, lo, thine enemies, O L<small>ORD</small>, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; +all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But my horn shalt thou exalt like <i>the horn of</i> an unicorn: I shall be +anointed with fresh oil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eye also shall see <i>my desire</i> on mine enemies; <i>and</i> mine ears +shall hear <i>my desire</i> of the wicked that rise up against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a +cedar in Lebanon.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Those that be planted in the house of the L<small>ORD</small> shall flourish in the +courts of our God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and +flourishing;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To shew that the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> upright; <i>he is</i> my rock, and <i>there is</i> no +unrighteousness in him.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a consolatory Psalm. The first six verses are full of the most +sweet experiences of a heart rejoicing and triumphing in that +incomparable treasure—a knowledge of the true and sure word of God, +and of the promises of grace in Christ. It is the same rejoicing of +heart as that of the apostle, when he, exulting in the Spirit, saith, +“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”</p> + +<p>At the very opening of the Psalm, the Psalmist saith, “O how +excellent, how sweet a thing is it to give thanks unto the Lord, and +to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High!” that is, O what is +sweeter than to know God aright by his word, and by true faith; to +acknowledge his infinite mercies; to give thanks unto him joyfully and +adoringly, with every cord and string of our hearts; to proclaim and +praise him unceasingly with a full heart and a full mouth; to triumph +in his goodness; and to offer him the full sacrifice of thanksgiving! +in a word, to worship him with that all high and all-true worship of +the first commandment, which requires for its high worship, above all +things, true faith, and such joyful exercises of faith as these; as if +the Psalmist had said, ‘How precious is that worship of God! How +acceptable unto God, how grateful in his sight, and in the sight of +angels too, are all such sabbaths, such sacrifices as these! Though we +saints, all the while, are said, by the world, to know nothing about +worshipping God!’</p> + +<p>All these glorious things are pointed by the Psalmist against false +saints and hypocrites; who honour God (as they think) with cold hearts +and lips, and tread all the while that high worship of the first +commandment under foot; and yet make a great show of the name of +church among them, and flourish in the sight of the world, and display +much wealth and much power and greatness. But though they greatly +flourish and prosper thus for a time; yet they at length perish and go +to destruction: and, according to the word of Paul, “Their folly is +made manifest unto all.”</p> + +<p>But the godly and the saints, though thus exercised and broken with +afflictions, flourish, nevertheless, like palm-trees, in the house of +the Lord, and will flourish for evermore! Neither time, nor age, nor +sorrow of mind, nor any afflictions, nor death itself, can root them +out, or hurt them! But, both living and dying, and even in death +itself, they live and bring forth fruit through the word of God, as +Paul saith, “<i>No creature</i> can separate them!” But fools, that is, the +wicked and epicureans of this world, regard not these things, they +will not hear or endure them; and of this sort we may see thousands of +atheistical men in our day.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The majesty, power, and holiness of Christ’s kingdom.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> reigneth; he is clothed with majesty: the L<small>ORD</small> is clothed +with strength, <i>wherewith</i> he hath girded himself: the world also is +established, that it cannot be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy throne <i>is</i> established of old: thou <i>art</i> from everlasting.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The floods have lifted up, O L<small>ORD</small>, the floods have lifted up their +voice; the floods lift up their waves.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> on high <i>is</i> mightier than the noise of many waters, <i>yea, +than</i> the mighty waves of the sea.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O L<small>ORD</small>, +for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the spread of the kingdom of Christ, as +far and wide as the earth is extended, and its establishment for ever. +But against this kingdom, as the Psalmist saith, the “waves” and +“mighty waters” will swell and lift up themselves; that is, the +kingdoms and peoples of the world will roar against the Lord and +against his Anointed; and will rage against the godly with sword and +fire; but they shall not prevail: for, as Daniel saith, “this kingdom +shall break in pieces all other kingdoms beneath it, and shall stand +for ever.”—Daniel ii. 44.</p> + +<p>But thy kingdom shall be established in no other way than by the word +of the gospel. It shall not stand by the force of arms, nor by +external pomp, or glory, before the world; but it shall be husbanded, +and shall be increased and adorned, by the ministry of the word of the +gospel. This is the “holiness,” (namely the ministry of the word) that +shall “become,” or “adorn,” the house of the Lord. For this true and +high worship of God which is in the kingdom of Christ, takes the place +of all sacrifices and of all oblations, candlesticks, and the like; +and the preaching of the word, and the giving of thanks, are instead +of all external representations of mercy: hence Paul saith, that the +Old Testament is done away by this New Testament worship.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet, calling for justice, complaineth of tyranny and +impiety.—He teacheth God’s providence.—He sheweth the blessedness of +affliction.—God is the defender of the afflicted.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small> God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance +belongeth, shew thyself.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the +proud.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>How long</i> shall they utter <i>and</i> speak hard things? <i>and</i> all the +workers of iniquity boast themselves?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They break in pieces thy people, O L<small>ORD</small>, and afflict thine heritage:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yet they say, The L<small>ORD</small> shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob +regard <i>it</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, <i>ye</i> fools, when will ye +be wise?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, +shall he not see?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth +man knowledge, <i>shall not he know?</i></blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> knoweth the thoughts of man, that they <i>are</i> vanity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> the man whom thou chastenest, O L<small>ORD</small>, and teachest him +out of thy law;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the +pit be digged for the wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his +inheritance:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in +heart shall follow it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? <i>or</i> who will stand up +for me against the workers of iniquity?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Unless the L<small>ORD</small> <i>had been</i> my help, my soul had almost dwelt in +silence.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O L<small>ORD</small>, held me up.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my +soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth +mischief by a law?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and +condemn the innocent blood.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the L<small>ORD</small> is my defence; and my God <i>is</i> the rock of my refuge.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them +off in their own wickedness; <i>yea</i>, the L<small>ORD</small> our God shall cut them +off.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a general but a most fervent prayer, filled with the feelings +of an afflicted and sorrowful heart, grieving that the blood of the +Abels should be shed and drank up, with such iniquity and cruelty, by +Cainish hypocrites.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist complains, (as I consider it,) not of hostile nations, +but of those domestic hypocrites and enemies, who will have it to +appear that they, yea, that they alone, are the people of God; that +is, the Psalmist complains of the wicked kings, and princes, and +priests, and prophets, among the people of Israel. It is to these the +Psalmist turns, in this apostrophe, “Understand, ye brutish among the +people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?” He calls these +characters “fools;” that is, ignorant and impious despisers of God; +because they taught and ruled the people without knowledge, and +wickedly.</p> + +<p>In a word, the Psalmist here directs his word against all who +persecuted the true prophets, and their disciples and followers, and +slew them with Cainish hatred, and nevertheless boasted all the while +in God, and the name of God; who (they said) had given them power, and +made, and defended, and protected them, as magistrates and priests; +but who did not regard heretics, who seditiously resisted <i>them</i> that +were the princes and magistrates of the people of God. And many such +things they continued to say.</p> + +<p>Now, against all such the prophet burns with zeal; and (with a certain +zealous mimicry, as it were,) imitates their own words and +expressions; saying, (that is, meaning that they say,) “The Lord shall +not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” And it is thus +that the papists say, in their security, ‘Do you think God regards +these heretics! No! he regards us: he has respect unto us, the +catholic church, whom we certainly represent in the world.’ Against +such as these, the prophet burns with the rage of zeal; and against +such he prays, and begs of God, that there may be enough to stand +forward for the truth.</p> + +<p>But, in the 16th verse, the Psalmist, on the other hand, strikes at +the perfidious deceitfulness of the world: “Who (saith he) is on my +side? Who will rise up for me against the evil doers?” As if he had +said, ‘I know the world careth nothing about this: the blood of God’s +Abels is shed, and no one regardeth it. But (continues the holy +Psalmist) this is my sure and eternal consolation, that the cause +which I love and espouse is the right cause; nay, the cause of God, +and not my cause: and I know in whom I have believed.’ I am assured, +saith the Psalmist, (verse 20,) that the “seat of the scornful,” and +the “counsel of the ungodly,” cleave not, and belong not, unto thee: +that is, I am sure that thou, O God, approvest not any impious or +blasphemous doctrine. I am sure that thou requirest and demandest the +blood, (and every drop of that blood,) and the tears, of the Abels, at +the hands of their persecutors; and that thou wilt keep, and fulfil, +and glorify thy word, even in the midst of the death of thy saints; +and that thou wilt revenge all blasphemy and wickedness against thee +and them.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God for his greatness, and for his goodness, +and not to tempt him.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O come, let us sing unto the L<small>ORD</small>; let us make a joyful noise to the +rock of our salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful +noise unto him with psalms.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> a great God, and a great King above all gods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In his hand <i>are</i> the deep places of the earth; the strength of the +hills is his also.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sea <i>is</i> his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry <i>land</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the L<small>ORD</small> our +Maker.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he <i>is</i> our God; and we <i>are</i> the people of his pasture, and the +sheep of his hand. To-day, if ye will hear his voice,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, <i>and</i> as <i>in</i> the day of +temptation in the wilderness:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Forty years long was I grieved with <i>this</i> generation, and said, It +<i>is</i> a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my +ways:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my +rest.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, and its contents are fully +and learnedly explained in the Apostle’s epistle to the Hebrews. It +prophecies concerning the time of the New Testament, and sets forth +the lovely and sweet voice of the gospel. In a word, the Psalmist +instructs us in, and allures us to, the knowledge of the riches of the +grace of God; which riches were known to our fathers as well as unto +us, in the promised seed—Christ.</p> + +<p>‘Come (saith the Psalmist) and let us rejoice in the Lord. Come ye +that are afar off and ye that are near, and let us exult in the Lord; +let us triumph in the God of such salvation:’ that is, Come and let us +rejoice with the whole triumph of our hearts, in that infinite benefit +and mercy—the granted grace of Christ! Since we have such promises, +let us not neglect such great salvation. For to believe in the promise +of grace, contrary to all the objections of conscience, the +temptations of Satan, and the fears of the heart, is the true worship +of God!</p> + +<p>In a word, the Psalmist warns against unbelief. “Harden not your +hearts (says he) as ye did at Massah and Meribah in the desert: your +fathers, on account of their unbelief, entered not into the holy land +of promise.”</p> + +<p>The whole of this Psalm is to be referred to Christ: for he is that +blessed God in whom we ought to rejoice, and whom the Psalmist would +have to be known. He is our Shepherd, and we are the sheep of his +pasture. He is that God, whom our fathers tempted in the desert, as +Paul saith, (1 Cor. x.) It was he who took out of the way the law, and +abolished all the ceremonial worship of the Old Testament. He will no +longer have the worship established by Moses; but he will have faith +in the gospel, the preaching of the remission of sins, and that one +true offering—praise, instead of the whole Levitical worship.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God,—for his greatness,—for his kingdom,—for +his general judgment.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O sing unto the L<small>ORD</small> a new song: sing unto the L<small>ORD</small>, +all the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto the L<small>ORD</small>, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day +to day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> great, and greatly to be praised: he <i>is</i> to be +feared above all gods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For all the gods of the nations <i>are</i> idols: but the L<small>ORD</small> made the +heavens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Honour and majesty <i>are</i> before him: strength and beauty <i>are</i> in his +sanctuary.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give unto the L<small>ORD</small>, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the L<small>ORD</small> +glory and strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give unto the L<small>ORD</small> the glory <i>due unto</i> his name: bring an offering, +and come into his courts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O worship the L<small>ORD</small> in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the +earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Say among the heathen <i>that</i> the L<small>ORD</small> reigneth: the world also shall +be established that it shall not be moved; he shall judge the people +righteously.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, +and the fulness thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the field be joyful, and all that <i>is</i> therein: then shall all the +trees of the wood rejoice</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Before the L<small>ORD</small>: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he +shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his +truth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ, and the spreading +of the gospel over the whole world and before every creature; which +gospel will be a word of joy and thanksgiving, of peace, of rejoicing, +and of a continued sacrifice of praise: as the clear text of the Psalm +of itself plainly shows.</p> + +<p>Here, commandment is given to all nations, kingdoms, peoples, woods, +rivers, fountains, trees, &c. that they should praise and magnify the +Lord, and celebrate his name with rejoicing, because he judgeth the +world in righteousness and in truth: that is, because, through Christ, +the promised seed, he delivers, and will deliver the people from sin, +from the power of the devil, from the wrath of God, and from eternal +death: and because, instead of the kingdom of death and of darkness, +he sets up the kingdom of light, of the remission of sins, and of +eternal life, before all men.</p> + +<p>This is that most joyful shout of victory, that peculiar song, that +most sweet note of the New Testament, concerning the kingdom and grace +of Christ; in which kingdom there are born new men and new creatures; +not by the law or by the works of Moses, but by faith, by the Spirit +of God through Christ, so that each believer is a new creature and a +marvellous work of God; and all believers daily do marvellous works +and are marvellous monuments, in that they continue in spiritual life, +and are finally conquerors over the mighty powers of sin and the +devil; hence it is that David says, verse 1. “Declare his wonders +among all people.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCVII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The majesty of God’s kingdom.—The church rejoiceth at God’s judgments +upon idolaters.—An exhortation to godliness and gladness.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles +be glad <i>thereof</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Clouds and darkness <i>are</i> round about him: righteousness and judgment +<i>are</i> the habitation of his throne.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw and trembled.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The hills melted like wax at the presence of the L<small>ORD</small>, at the presence +of the L<small>ORD</small> of the whole earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his +glory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Confounded be all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves +of idols: worship him, all <i>ye</i> gods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced, because +of thy judgments, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou, L<small>ORD</small>, <i>art</i> high above all the earth: thou art exalted far +above all gods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye that love the L<small>ORD</small>, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his +saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in +heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Rejoice in the L<small>ORD</small>, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance +of his holiness.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This also, like the preceding, is a prophecy concerning Christ and his +kingdom; and the sum of it is to proclaim, that Christ establishes and +strengthens his spiritual kingdom by the gospel; wherein he preaches +repentance, and whereby his lightnings and thunders terrify the whole +world, and cause the mountains to melt like wax before the fire of his +face: that is, by the gospel he condemns, casts down, and humbles all +human righteousness, human wisdom, and human patience, throughout the +world, and brings down every thing that is high and lifted up; as +Isaiah saith, chapter 3, “And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that +day.” For Christ alone is our “righteousness, our sanctification, and +our redemption,” and that by the counsel of God, as it is written, +“There is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, +but Jesus Christ and him crucified.”</p> + +<p>Together also with these enemies of the gospel and these mountains of +the world, the ceremonial kingdom of the Jews perisheth, and all the +outward worship of the law, and, indeed, every thing that is not in +Christ. For he (as the apostle Paul saith, Col. i.) “in all things +hath the pre-eminence.” And again, “For there is one Mediator between +God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.” And so also, in Daniel, The stone +cut out of the mountain filled the world, and broke in pieces all +other kingdoms.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The Psalmist exhorteth the Jews, the Gentiles, and all the creatures +to praise God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O sing unto the L<small>ORD</small> a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: +his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he +openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: +all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make a joyful noise unto the L<small>ORD</small>, all the earth: make a loud noise, +and rejoice, and sing praise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto the L<small>ORD</small> with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a +psalm.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the L<small>ORD</small>, +the King.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that +dwell therein.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the floods clap <i>their</i> hands; let the hills be joyful together</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Before the L<small>ORD</small>; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness +shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This again is a prophecy concerning the preaching of Christ and the +spread of his kingdom, and it is of the same subject as the two +preceding Psalms; it calls upon us to rejoice in God, to triumph, to +give thanks, and to praise God for that great salvation: that is, to +preach the remission of sins, and those riches of grace which are by +Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>In this Psalm you again have set before you what is the highest +worship of God, namely, that of the New Testament; which standeth not +in the offering of thanks in Jerusalem, but in knowing Christ,—that +King who ruleth the people in righteousness; who is himself righteous, +and who maketh the people righteous throughout the world; and who +alone delivereth them from sin, from death, and from the power of the +devil; and doeth it all without any merit of theirs.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM XCIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet, setting forth the kingdom of God in Zion,—exhorteth +all, by the example of forefathers, to worship God at his holy hill.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth <i>between</i> the +cherubims; let the earth be moved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> great in Zion; and he <i>is</i> high above all +the people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them praise thy great and terrible name; <i>for</i> it <i>is</i> holy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, +thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Exalt ye the L<small>ORD</small> our God, and worship at his footstool; <i>for</i> he <i>is</i> +holy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call +upon his name; they called upon the L<small>ORD</small>, and he answered them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, +and the ordinance <i>that</i> he gave them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou answeredst them, O L<small>ORD</small> our God: thou wast a God that forgavest +them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Exalt the L<small>ORD</small> our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the L<small>ORD</small> our +God <i>is</i> holy.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a Psalm of blessed doctrine. It exhorts the people of +God to preserve sacredly that true worship of the first commandment, +the praising of God alone, and the continuing in the faith of him, +although the nations on all sides and the whole world should roar +against that people who glory in being the people of God, and who know +that God is to be found no where but in this and that corner of the +earth, in that tabernacle, in that sanctuary, and at that mercy-seat, +where the word and the promise of God are preached. And the Psalm +shows that this true people of God are exposed to the most bitter +hatred of the world and of the devil, and to afflictions of every +kind.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist mentions, by name, Moses, and Aaron, and Samuel; those +best of men among the people of God, who endured great afflictions, +both inward and outward, for the sake of the name and the word of God. +The Psalmist shows, however, (as is set forth verses 4 and 5.) and +teaches this people of God, that the highest worship of God is not +placed in ceremonial sacrifices: therefore he says, “Let them praise +thy great and terrible name, for it is holy.” “In this kingdom of God, +(says the Psalmist,) justice and judgment are loved.” “Thou +justifiest,” says he, “thy people;” that is, thou deliverest from sin +and death, and extendest unto them the remission of their sins.</p> + +<p>And unto us, who are in and of the church of God, the present Psalm is +a glorious prophecy of Christ, who governs and rules this church, the +true Zion, in the Spirit, throughout the whole world, wheresoever she +is. The holy Psalmist shews us, that Christ, sitting at the right hand +of the Majesty in the heavens, is there continually as our Sacrificer +and our Sacrifice. And he testifies that the whole world rages and +roars against this people and church of God, and kills the saints, and +loads them with all manner of afflictions, on account of their +profession and worship of Christ.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM C.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God cheerfully, for his greatness and for +his power.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of Praise.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Make a joyful noise unto the L<small>ORD</small>, all ye lands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Serve the L<small>ORD</small> with gladness; come before his presence with singing.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Know ye that the L<small>ORD</small> he <i>is</i> God: <i>it is</i> he <i>that</i> hath made us, and +not we ourselves: <i>we are</i> his people, and the sheep of his pasture.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, <i>and</i> into his courts with +praise: be thankful unto him, <i>and</i> bless his name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> good, his mercy <i>is</i> everlasting; and his truth +<i>endureth</i> to all generations.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm again is a prophecy concerning Christ. It calls upon all to +rejoice, to triumph, and to give thanks; to enter his gates with +thanksgiving, and his courts and sanctuary with praise: because, by +the gospel and the preaching of the remission of sins, that kingdom of +Christ is established and strengthened, which shall remain and stand +for ever: and for the setting-up of which kingdom thanks are for ever +to be given.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David maketh a vow and profession of godliness.</i> +</small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, will I sing.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O! when wilt thou come +unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them +that turn aside, <i>it</i> shall not cleave to me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A froward heart shall depart from me; I will not know a wicked +<i>person</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that +hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eyes <i>shall be</i> upon the faithful of the land, that they may +dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that +telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will early destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off +all wicked doers from the city of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm contains a most solemn and necessary doctrine: and David +puts forth himself, so great a king, as an example. He teaches that +impious members and courtiers ought not to be borne with by any godly +magistrate or prince. He recounts also the iniquities, by which those +who are in the courts of kings and princes, more especially harm the +state and the church. He shews that they do the greatest evil when +they are given to sin or to false doctrine; and when they injure the +causes of good men by their hatred of them.</p> + +<p>In the opening of the Psalm David says, “I will sing of mercy and of +judgment:” that is as if he had said, ‘I will sing that God most +certainly, according to the word of the first commandment, visits the +godly with mercy, and the ungodly with judgment, at all times.’ Of +this visiting mercy David was himself an example, seeing that he had +been so many times delivered from the very claws and jaws of the +devil. And of the divine visitations of judgment, Absalom, Ahithophel, +Joab, and others, were examples. And every king and magistrate, who +sets himself to defend the true religion, and to do good to his +nation, is at once exposed to the hatred of all men, even of his own +family and court: which is plainly seen in the case of Absalom, +Ahithophel, and other persecutors of David.</p> + +<p>Hence it is that David, having so often experienced God’s fulfilment +of the word of his first commandment, sings in all places and at all +times, ‘that God is God over all, exercising mercy and judgment.’ And +it is with God alone that a kingdom and commonwealth can be rightly +governed: for where God is not, there all things are scattered and in +confusion, and neither families are subject to their heads, nor +citizens to their rulers.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The prophet in his prayer maketh a grievous complaint.—He taketh +comfort in the eternity and mercy of God.—The mercies of God are to be +recorded.—He sustaineth his weakness by the unchangeableness of God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his +complaint before the L<small>ORD</small>.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear my prayer, O L<small>ORD</small>, and let my cry come unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hide not thy face from me in the day <i>when</i> I am in trouble; incline +thine ear unto me: in the day <i>when</i> I call, answer me speedily.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an +hearth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat +my bread.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine enemies reproach me all the day; <i>and</i> they that are mad against +me are sworn against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me +up, and cast me down.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My days <i>are</i> like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like +grass.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou, O L<small>ORD</small>, shalt endure for ever, and thy remembrance unto all +generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou shalt arise, <i>and</i> have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour +her, yea, the set time, is come.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust +thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So the heathen shall fear the name of the L<small>ORD</small>, and all the kings of +the earth thy glory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When the L<small>ORD</small> shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their +prayer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which +shall be created shall praise the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven +did the L<small>ORD</small> behold the earth;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that are +appointed to death;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To declare the name of the L<small>ORD</small> in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; thy years +<i>are</i> throughout all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens +<i>are</i> the work of thy hands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax +old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they +shall be changed:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But thou <i>art</i> the same, and thy years shall have no end.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be +established before thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer of an afflicted and tempted heart, miserably +sighing and praying for deliverance and the coming of the kingdom of +God. And indeed the whole sum and substance of this Psalm is, “Thy +kingdom come.”</p> + +<p>This Psalm may be used as a general prayer. It was used especially by +the fathers under the law: who being most spiritual men, and knowing +the infinite weight of sin, and the kingdom of death, longed for the +coming and revelation of Christ, the kingdom of grace, and the +blessing promised.</p> + +<p>“Have mercy upon Zion (saith the Psalmist) for the time to have mercy +upon her is come.” For thy servants (saith he) long for her to be +built up again, and for the stones and cement to be made ready: that +is, they long for that grace and that blessing to be revealed unto all +nations, and to be preached in all kingdoms; that those who are +captives and in chains under the power of the devil and of sin, and +who are the sons of wrath and death, may be delivered; and that there +may flow together into the true Zion, the church of God, those out of +all nations and kingdoms, who may magnify the name of the Lord, and +may preach and hear the gospel, and that all the rigid demands and +ceremonies of the law, and the whole of the Old Testament +dispensation, may cease. For out of and without Christ there is +nothing but the kingdom of sin and death: that is, a continual misery +and distress in this life, by various and hard temptations of the +devil and the world: and also a shortness of life itself, and that +life changeable and uncertain, full of sorrow and full of death; which +life the godly consider it a “gain” to have shortened and finished: as +the apostle saith, “to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”</p> + +<p>But amidst all this misery, in Christ is consolation and eternal life; +for he is before every creature; he created the heaven and the earth, +and by him all things consist; and he also, in the regeneration, will +renew the heavens and the earth. Hence he is independent of and above +all time and years, and of his years there is no end. He now dies no +more, death hath no more dominion over him. For this kingdom of life +and of salvation (saith the Psalmist) we pray and long. May this +kingdom come. Amen.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to bless God for his mercy, and for the constancy +thereof.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, O my soul; and all that is within me, <i>bless</i> his holy +name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving +kindness and tender mercies;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who satisfieth thy mouth with good <i>things; so that</i> thy youth is +renewed like the eagle’s.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> executeth righteousness and judgment for all <i>that are</i> +oppressed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of +Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in +mercy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He will not alway chide; neither will he keep <i>his anger</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to +our iniquities.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For as the heaven is high above the earth, <i>so</i> great is his mercy +toward them that fear him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As far as the east is from the west, <i>so</i> far hath he removed our +transgressions from us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Like as a father pitieth <i>his</i> children, <i>so</i> the L<small>ORD</small> pitieth them +that fear him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we <i>are</i> dust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>As for</i> man, his days <i>are</i> as grass; as a flower of the field, so he +flourisheth:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof +shall know it no more.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But the mercy of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> from everlasting to everlasting upon +them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his +commandments to do them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom +ruleth over all.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his +commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless ye the L<small>ORD</small>, all <i>ye</i> his hosts; <i>ye</i> ministers of his that do +his pleasure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, all his works, in all places of his dominion: bless +the L<small>ORD</small>, O my soul.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a glorious Psalm, and full of the most ardent feelings and +exercises of faith, and of a believing heart, a heart acknowledging +the infinite mercies of God, both temporal and spiritual. “Bless the +Lord (saith the Psalmist), O my soul,” &c. The Psalmist embraces, in +the first three verses, six kinds of divine mercies and benefits, for +which he exhorts all the godly to give praise unto God with their +whole heart, and to celebrate his great and holy name.</p> + +<p>The first kind of mercy enumerated is the remission of all our sins in +Christ, and for Christ’s sake, our only Mediator and High-priest: who +by himself sustained the just and infinite wrath of God, which burned +against our sins: who offered himself a sacrifice to God for them; by +which offering he reconciled unto us the Eternal Father, and now +pleads for us with an unceasing and prevailing intercession.</p> + +<p>The second kind of mercy is the healing of those manifold, and by no +means light infirmities, which shall remain in the flesh of the +saints, as long as they live in this world: all which remnant of sins +God, for Christ’s sake, imputeth not unto them that believe: nor does +he only cover those sins by not imputing them, but he moreover purges +them away, by the gift of his Holy Spirit.</p> + +<p>The third kind of mercy is a continual and daily protection and +defence against all the dangers of death, into numbers of which we +continually fall; and into more and greater of which we should fall by +fire, by water, by sword, by pestilence, and other means of +destruction, and be destroyed by them on account of the deserts of our +sins, if God did not in his mercy prevent and save and preserve our +lives.</p> + +<p>The fourth kind of mercy is a manifold dispensation of the grace of +God, wherewith he covers and defends us with a shield, and crowns us, +giving us the Holy Spirit, and strengthening our minds with the true +doctrine against all doubts, and with true consolation in all perils +and evils; and bestowing on the godly many and various gifts.</p> + +<p>The fifth kind of mercy is that boldness wherewith by the aid and +urgency of the Holy Spirit, we fearlessly preach before the world +these great mercies of God toward us: whereby many others also may +learn to acknowledge and lay hold of the goodness of God in Christ, +and, embracing it themselves in the true faith, may, with us, magnify +and call upon God.</p> + +<p>The sixth kind of mercy is the restoration of our depraved nature by +Christ into the image of God; into which image we being renewed by the +Holy Ghost, begin with full purpose of heart to obey God; and so +continue, until, being made perfect in the life to come, we may be +able to render a full obedience with our whole unimpeded powers.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist, therefore, first renders thanks to God for his spiritual +benefits; and then he from his heart thanks God for bestowing +blessings of every kind,—peace, good magistrates, good laws, good +wives, good children, the fruits of the earth, and all needful +provision. The Psalmist sets forth God as a most kind Father towards +us (who are nothing but a loathsome sore, full of sin) and as not +dealing with us according to our sins, but treating and protecting us, +according to his infinite grace and mercy, as dear children: yet so +that he will have us to keep his covenant and his counsel: that is, to +believe in him, to fear him, and to have him for our God. For if we +trust in our own works or righteousnesses, we thereby immediately +break his covenant, and walk not in his counsel, and follow strange +gods, and thus sin against the First Commandment.</p> + +<p>Now this fulfilling of the law, and keeping the covenant of God, is in +and through Christ alone, who was then promised to the fathers, but +now in these last days has been given unto us; and manifested; whose +kingdom shall rule over all.</p> + +<p>At the end of the Psalm, when the Psalmist calls upon the angels and +the hosts of God, the powers and the dominions, to praise and magnify +him, he means Christ and the church and the apostles who cause his +word to be heard. For all our salvation is in Christ, and there is no +grace out of Christ; who is preached by the angels; that is, by the +apostles.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>A meditation upon the mighty power, and wonderful providence of +God.—God’s glory is eternal.—The prophet voweth perpetually to praise God.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, O my soul. O L<small>ORD</small> my God, thou art very great; thou +art clothed with honour and majesty:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who coverest <i>thyself</i> with light as <i>with</i> a garment; who stretchest +out the heavens like a curtain;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the +clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire;</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Who</i> laid the foundations of the earth, <i>that</i> it should not be +removed for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou coveredst it with the deep as <i>with</i> a garment; the waters stood +above the mountains.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>At thy rebuke they fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys, unto the +place which thou hast founded for them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not +again to cover the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sendeth the springs into the valleys, <i>which</i> run among the hills.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench +their thirst.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, <i>which</i> +sing among the branches.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with +the fruit of thy works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service +of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And wine <i>that</i> maketh glad the heart of man, <i>and</i> oil to make <i>his</i> +face to shine, and bread <i>which</i> strengthened man’s heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The trees of the L<small>ORD</small> are full <i>of sap:</i> the cedars of Lebanon, which +he hath planted;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Where the birds make their nests: <i>as for</i> the stork, the fir-trees +<i>are</i> her house.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The high hills <i>are</i> a refuge for the wild goats, <i>and</i> the rocks for +the conies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the +forest do creep <i>forth</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in +their dens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour, until the evening.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: +the earth is full of thy riches;</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>So is</i> this great and wide sea, wherein <i>are</i> things creeping +innumerable, both small and great beasts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There go the ships; <i>there is</i> that leviathan, <i>whom</i> thou hast made +to play therein.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>These wait all upon thee, that them mayest give <i>them</i> their meat in +due season.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>That</i> thou givest them, they gather; thou openest thine hand, they +are filled with good.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their +breath, they die, and return to their dust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the +face of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The glory of the L<small>ORD</small> shall endure for ever: the L<small>ORD</small> shall rejoice in +his works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and +they smoke.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will sing unto the L<small>ORD</small> as long as I live; I will sing praise to my +God while I have my being.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no +more. Bless thou the L<small>ORD</small>, O my soul. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a most spiritual song and a Psalm of glory to God. It is drawn +out of the First Commandment: and with a grand enumeration of all the +creatures of God, it sets forth and exalts the whole work of creation. +By this recounting of the works of creation the Psalmist’s design is +to show, that all the creatures, whether those in the heavens, those +in the earth, or those in the sea, are monuments of the goodness of +God. And what orator or what poet ever has existed, or ever will +exist, with an eloquence adequate to describe the infinite use and +benefits of even one creature of God. If any one of those creatures +were gifted with speech, so as to declare its own nature and value, it +would praise God with a thousand tongues. Not only, therefore, the +whole of God’s works together, as one glorious universe, but each one +creature, if you would explain its nature and use, exceeds all the +eloquence of men and angels.</p> + +<p>What philosopher or sage could even open or utter the extent of the +use and blessings of common light, in which we live? What one of them +could ever explain what that is which we call light, in which we all +breathe, all are nourished, and all live; by which the night and +darkness are dispelled in one short moment; by which the whole +creation is rendered visible, and as it were, recreated; and by which +all creatures, from out of one same obscure darkness, receive each +their proper hues and colours?</p> + +<p>Who, again, can recount the benefit and blessings of that one creature +the sun? and then those of the moon? Who can enumerate the blessings +of fire, of water, of fountains and springs? If one creature were +deprived for one short hour of the blessings of fire or of water, you +would in a moment see the wide and infinite benefit of one of those +creatures of God.</p> + +<p>But alas! who can even touch one of these creatures with anything like +a due comment or reflection! And yet, when heathen men have +contemplated the whole universe of creatures so diligently, (as we see +it done in Cicero’s second book ‘De Natura Deorum;’) and have thence +gathered and concluded that there exists some eternal Deity who +created and who governs all these things; it would be a shame in one +professing the fear and worship of that God, to be cold and not +affected with these same things, and not to meditate and reflect upon +them.</p> + +<p>This Psalm, therefore, is a Psalm of thanksgiving for all the +creatures which God has created, whether in the heavens, in the earth, +or in the sea; and a rendering of thanks unto God also, that he hath +made a covenant with the day and the night, and hath given laws to the +heaven and the earth; laws so certain that they cannot be moved, but +continue in their appointed order. The moon, saith the Psalmist, +distinguished the seasons; the sun knoweth his going down; the day +cometh, and also the night; the summer returns at its appointed time, +and the winter also in its season. Thou fillest, saith he, that +immense space of the heaven with light: thou stretchest out the heaven +itself like a curtain, which resteth not on any beams or columns: and +thou suspendest the mighty range of clouds, at thy word, like a +glorious canopy. The winds rise, and blow over and blow through all +things, having neither wings nor feathers. And the angels whom thou +sendest forth, saith he, fulfil their commands like the winds, and +like a “flame of fire.”</p> + +<p>Hence the prophet, as you see, has all these things depicted in his +mind, and his faith is kindled by a meditation on this wonderful and +ineffable work of creation. But, alas! how few, how very few, are +there who thus look into, meditate on, and admire these created +things? Here, therefore, with a view to reprove both the indolence and +the wickedness of certain characters, I cannot help transcribing the +words of Cicero, a heathen, who cites another heathen, Aristotle: +‘Aristotle,’ says Cicero, ‘has most greatly and beautifully spoken +thus. “If there could be men, who had lived under the earth in grand +and noble habitations; habitations adorned with paintings and works of +art, and with all those embellishments which ornament the houses of +those who are now accounted wealthy and happy; and if it could so be +that such subterranean inhabitants had never been above ground, but +had heard by fame and report that there was a certain Deity, and a +certain Almighty power of that Deity; and then if it could so be, +that, at a certain time, the doors of the earth’s surface should be +thrown open, and they should come forth from their subterranean +abysses into these above-ground regions which we inhabit:—when such +men beheld, on a sudden, the earth, the sea, and the heavens; when +they saw the expanded grandeur of the clouds, and felt the mighty +power of the winds; when they looked up to the sun and beheld his +glorious magnitude and his beauty, and knew something of his influence +and efficacy in all creation,—that it is he, who, by diffusing his +light through the whole heaven, makes the day; and when such mortals, +newly admitted on earth, should see by the departure of the sun the +whole creation veiled in the darkness of night, while the whole heaven +was studded and bespangled with stars; and when they saw and +understood the various degrees of the light of the moon, and the +increasings and decreasings of that heavenly body; and the various +risings and settings of all the celestial luminaries; and, finally, +when such astonished and contemplating strangers on the earth’s +surface should know the appointed and never-erring and never-varying +courses and revolutions of all these glorious creatures,—they would, +with one voice, confess that there was a God, and that all these +creatures were the works of that God! But our minds, by daily use, +become insensible to these things; and as we daily see all these +creatures we inquire not their nature, nor wonder at their glory: as +if the novelty of such things, and not their greatness and glory, is +that which should lead us to meditate on their natures, and the ends +of their creation.”’ Thus far Cicero, the heathen! I shall perhaps be +deemed by some a silly man for bringing forth these things out of the +books of a heathen! Let those that would fear God, then, remember what +is required of them!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>An exhortation to praise God, and to seek out his works.—The story of +God’s providence over Abraham,—over Joseph,—over Jacob, in Egypt,—over +Moses delivering the Israelites,—over the Israelites brought out of +Egypt, fed in the wilderness, and planted in Canaan.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>; call upon his name: make known his deeds +among the people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>; call upon his name: make known his deeds +among the people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous +works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Seek the L<small>ORD</small>, and his strength: seek his face evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the +judgments of his mouth;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small> our God: his judgments <i>are</i> in all the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word <i>which</i> he +commanded to a thousand generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which <i>covenant</i> he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, <i>and</i> to Israel <i>for</i> an +everlasting covenant:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your +inheritance:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When there were <i>but</i> a few men in number: yea, very few, and +strangers in it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When they went from one nation to another, from <i>one</i> kingdom to +another people;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their +sakes;</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Saying</i>, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Moreover, he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole +staff of bread.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent a man before them, <i>even</i> Joseph, <i>who</i> was sold for a +servant:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Until the time that his word came: the word of the L<small>ORD</small> tried him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The king sent and loosed him: <i>even</i> the ruler of the people, and let +him go free.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their +enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his +servants.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent Moses his servant; <i>and</i> Aaron whom he had chosen.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their +kings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, <i>and</i> lice in all +their coasts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He gave them hail for rain, <i>and</i> flaming fire in their land.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He smote their vines also and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of +their coasts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without +number,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of +their ground.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He smote also all the first-born in their land, the chief of all their +strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and <i>there was</i> not +one feeble <i>person</i> among their tribes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon +them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>The people</i> asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the +bread of heaven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry +places <i>like</i> a river.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he remembered his holy promise, <i>and</i> Abraham his servant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he brought forth his people with joy, <i>and</i> his chosen with +gladness:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited the labour +of the people;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of particular thanksgiving; and a song especially +adapted to the people of the Jews; that in the use of this Psalm they +might render thanks unto God for all those, his wonderful works, which +he wrought from Abraham down to the time when they were led into the +promised land of Canaan. And the Psalmist, having recounted all these +glorious works in their order, concludes with that word of Moses, +(Deut. ix.) “That God did not do all these mighty works on account of +any righteousness or merit of theirs, but because of the covenant and +the promise which he had made with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and +Jacob:” for how righteous they were and what they deserved at the hand +of God, is sung in the Psalm following.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CVI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The Psalmist exhorteth to praise God.—He prayeth for pardon of sin, +as God did with the fathers.—The story of the people’s rebellion, and +God’s mercy.—He concludeth with prayer and praise.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>; for <i>he is</i> good: for +his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who can utter the mighty acts of the L<small>ORD</small>? <i>who</i> can shew forth all +his praise?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>are</i> they that keep judgment, <i>and</i> he that doeth +righteousness at all times.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember me, O L<small>ORD</small>, with the favour <i>that thou bearest unto</i> thy +people: O visit me with thy salvation;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the +gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have +done wickedly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not +the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked <i>him</i> at the sea, <i>even</i> at +the Red Sea.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his +mighty power to be known.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them +through the depths, as through the wilderness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he saved them from the hand of him that hated <i>them</i>, and redeemed +them from the hand of the enemy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the +desert.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They envied Moses also in the camp, <i>and</i> Aaron the saint of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of +Abiram.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the +wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth +grass.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wondrous works in the land of Ham, <i>and</i> terrible things by the Red +Sea.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen +stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should +destroy <i>them</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, they despised the pleasant land; they believed not his word;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But murmured in their tents, <i>and</i> hearkened not unto the voice of the +L<small>ORD</small>:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the +wilderness:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in +the lands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of +the dead.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thus they provoked <i>him</i> to anger with their inventions; and the +plague brake in upon them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and <i>so</i> the plague was +stayed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And that was counted unto him for righteousness, unto all generations +for evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They angered <i>him</i> also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill +with Moses for their sakes:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with +his lips.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the L<small>ORD</small> commanded +them:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they served their idols; which were a snare unto them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And shed innocent blood, <i>even</i> the blood of their sons, and of their +daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land +was polluted with blood.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with +their own inventions.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore was the wrath of the L<small>ORD</small> kindled against his people, +insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated +them ruled over them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into +subjection under their hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many times did he deliver them: but they provoked <i>him</i> with their +counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the +multitude of his mercies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them +captives.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Save us, O L<small>ORD</small> our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give +thanks unto thy holy name, <i>and</i> to triumph in thy praise.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small> God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: +and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of acknowledgment, of confession, and of thanksgiving. +The Psalmist confesses all those sins of murmuring and unbelief, and +those other numerous transgressions against the first commandment, by +which the people of Israel provoked God, and rendered themselves +utterly unworthy of all his mercies.</p> + +<p>At the conclusion of the Psalm, therefore, the Psalmist proclaims the +exceeding greatness of the divine mercy of God; whereby he continued +mindful of his counsel and his covenant, and did not pour forth all +his wrath, but was merciful to them for his own name’s sake. As Moses +saith also, (Deut. ix.) “Know ye, that not for your righteousness doth +the Lord God give unto you this good land: for ye are a stiff-necked +people.” Therefore as the Israelites, the whole of that people of God, +could glory in nothing, but that they were saved by the mercy and +grace of God; so also we cannot glory in any work or merit of our own, +but in the mercy of God only!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CVII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The psalmist exhorteth the redeemed, in praising God, to observe his +manifold providence, over travellers, over captives, over sick men, +over seamen, and in divers varieties of life.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>, for <i>he is</i> good: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the redeemed of the L<small>ORD</small> say <i>so</i>, whom he hath redeemed from the +hand of the enemy;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, +from the north, and from the south.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city +to dwell in.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then they cried unto the L<small>ORD</small> in their trouble, <i>and</i> he delivered +them out of their distresses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city +of habitation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that <i>men</i> would praise the L<small>ORD</small> <i>for</i> his goodness, and <i>for</i> his +wonderful works to the children of men!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with +goodness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, <i>being</i> bound in +affliction and iron;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the +counsel of the Most High:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore he brought down their heart with labour: they fell down, and +<i>there was</i> none to help.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then they cried unto the L<small>ORD</small> in their trouble, <i>and</i> he saved them +out of their distresses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake +their bands in sunder.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that <i>men</i> would praise the L<small>ORD</small> <i>for</i> his goodness, and <i>for</i> his +wonderful works to the children of men!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in +sunder.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their +iniquities, are afflicted:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the +gates of death.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then they cry unto the L<small>ORD</small> in their trouble; and he saveth them out +of their distresses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent his word and healed them, and delivered <i>them</i> from their +destructions.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that <i>men</i> would praise the L<small>ORD</small> <i>for</i> his goodness, and <i>for</i> his +wonderful works to the children of men!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his +works with rejoicing.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great +waters;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>These see the works of the L<small>ORD</small>, and his wonders in the deep.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the +waves thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their +soul is melted because of trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their +wit’s end.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then they cry unto the L<small>ORD</small> in their trouble, and he bringeth them out +of their distresses.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto +their desired haven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Oh that <i>men</i> would praise the L<small>ORD</small> <i>for</i> his goodness, and <i>for</i> his +wonderful works to the children of men!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise +him in the assembly of the elders.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry +ground;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell +therein.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into +water-springs.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city +for habitation;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of +increase.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and +suffereth not their cattle to decrease.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Again, they are minished, and brought low, through oppression, +affliction, and sorrow.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the +wilderness, <i>where there is</i> no way.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh <i>him</i> +families like a flock.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteous shall see <i>it</i>, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop +her mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whoso <i>is</i> wise, and will observe these <i>things</i>, even they shall +understand the loving-kindness of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in general; rendering praise for that +infinite and incomparable mercy and goodness of God, wherewith he +daily helps and succours all men, both the righteous and the wicked, +under the various calamities of life, and defends them against the +Devil: preserving also the public peace, giving healthfulness of air +and climate, and blessing the earth to the springing of its +productions; as Paul saith, 2 Tim. ii. “Who is the Saviour of all men, +especially of them that believe.”</p> + +<p>In the fourth verse, where the Psalmist says, “They wandered in the +wilderness in a solitary way,” he refers to all kinds of calamities; +and especially to the afflictions of those who are oppressed with +poverty, who are exiles, and deserted, and wandering without any +certain dwelling-place.</p> + +<p>In the ninth verse by those “sitting in darkness,” &c. he means those +throughout the whole world, who on account of their own crimes, or for +other causes, are held in bonds and in prisons, and who are sometimes +delivered by the interposition and help of God himself.</p> + +<p>Then again, verse 6, he refers to those who live wickedly and fear not +God; on whom God sends diseases and distresses to punish them; of whom +some, although they call not upon God, are delivered by his pure mercy +alone.</p> + +<p>In verse 22, he speaks of those who are in perils on the seas, and +there enduring storms and shipwrecks; under which calamities God often +delivers wicked sailors, and preserves them from shipwreck and death, +and from the power of the Devil, by his mere goodness and mercy.</p> + +<p>Verse 32 has reference to those fields and vineyards that are visited +with barrenness or any other calamity; unto whom God gives rain and +fruitfulness, not according to their merits, but of his abounding +mercy, whereby he sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust.</p> + +<p>Verse 38 applies to those who are oppressed by the Turk or any other +tyrants, or by wars and seditions, and whose all in this world is in +peril; unto whom God often, on a sudden, gives peace and quietness, as +he calmeth the waves of the sea.</p> + +<p>This Psalm, therefore, shows that all salvation is to be sought and +expected from God alone; who will never forsake his people, or his +church, or those that trust in him; and that he often bestows these +benefits on the Turks, and on the openly impious and profane; even +when they are seeking all these great blessings from their idols of +wood and stone. And we who profess the name of Christ also, not at all +unlike the Turks, leave God our true and only Saviour and implore the +help of saints. Hence St. Leonard is worshipped as the liberator of +the imprisoned; St. Sebastian is invoked by those who are in dread of +pestilence; St. George is the protecting saint of military troops of +horse and foot; St. Erasmus is said to bless with riches those that +call upon him; St. Christopher is openly worshipped as the god of land +and sea; and his image is affixed to all doors of temples, and to all +prows of ships, and adored by all sailors. And thus we have divided +the glory of God and of his saving mercies, which is due to him alone, +unto saints set up by idolatrous men; just in the same way as the +heathens gave to their gods the attributes and functions which belong +to God only. This Psalm, however, rightly ascribes all the glory to +God alone.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David encourageth himself to praise God.—He prayeth for God’s +assistance according to his promise.—His confidence in God’s help.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>A Song or Psalm of David.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my +glory.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Awake, psaltery and harp; I <i>myself</i> will awake early.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, among the people; and I will sing praises +unto thee among the nations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth <i>reacheth</i> +unto the clouds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; and thy glory above all the +earth:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That thy beloved may be delivered, save <i>with</i> thy right hand, and +answer me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God hath spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice; I will divide +Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gilead <i>is</i> mine; Manasseh <i>is</i> mine; Ephraim also <i>is</i> the strength +of mine head; Judah <i>is</i> my law-giver;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Moab <i>is</i> my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over +Philistia will I triumph.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Wilt</i> not <i>thou</i>, O God, <i>who</i> hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O +God, go forth with our hosts?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give us help from trouble: for vain <i>is</i> the help of man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Through God we shall do valiantly: for he <i>it is that</i> shall tread +down our enemies.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving of the same substance, and almost in +the same words as Psalm lx.; wherein the Psalmist gives thanks for the +happy state of his kingdom, for the establishment of the true religion +and good government, and for the increase of his dominions.</p> + +<p>The first verses of the Psalm, however, refer to the kingdom of +Christ. David prays that God would be pleased to set up this kingdom +of Christ in all nations; that thus the kingdom and dominion of David +may be extended far and wide throughout all nations, according to the +promise. For this temporal kingdom of David was confined within very +narrow limits in comparison with the whole world, and was a kingdom +not likely to be extended over all the nations and people of the +earth; and yet this kingdom God promised to enlarge and extend, as in +Isaiah, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall +stand for an ensign of the people,” Isa. xi. 10. And again, chapter +ix. 7, “Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it +and to establish it for ever.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David, complaining of his slanderous enemies, under the person of +Judas devoteth them.—He sheweth their sin.—Complaining of his own +misery, he prayeth for help.—He promiseth thankfulness.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened +against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against +me without a cause.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For my love they are my adversaries: but I <i>give myself unto</i> prayer.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer +become sin.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let his days be few; <i>and</i> let another take his office.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek +<i>their bread</i> also out of their desolate places.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the extortioner catch all that he hath: and let the strangers +spoil his labour.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any +to favour his fatherless children.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let his posterity be cut off; <i>and</i> in the generation following let +their name be blotted out.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the L<small>ORD</small>; and let +not the sin of his mother be blotted out.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be before the L<small>ORD</small> continually, that he may cut off the +memory of them from the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor +and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in +blessing, so let it be far from him.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it +come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let it be unto him as the garment <i>which</i> covereth him, and for a +girdle wherewith he is girded continually.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Let</i> this <i>be</i> the reward of mine adversaries from the L<small>ORD</small>, and of +them that speak evil against my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But do thou for me, O G<small>OD</small> the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy +mercy <i>is</i> good, deliver thou me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I <i>am</i> poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down +as the locust.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I became also a reproach unto them: <i>when</i> they looked upon me they +shaked their heads.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Help me, O L<small>ORD</small> my God: O save me according to thy mercy:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That they may know that this <i>is</i> thy hand; <i>that</i> thou, L<small>ORD</small>, hast +done it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; +but let thy servant rejoice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover +themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will greatly praise the L<small>ORD</small> with my mouth; yea, I will praise him +among the multitude.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save <i>him</i> from +those that condemn his soul.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>Certain hypocrites of monks are accustomed to use this Psalm, +(generally known by the name of ‘The God of praise,’) as a sort of +incantation: and they say that, to a certainty, against what person +soever they babble and sing out the terrible words of this Psalm; that +man is at once death-struck, and never lives a year afterwards.</p> + +<p>This Psalm, however, is most certainly full of the complaints, tears, +and groans of the godly against these very hypocrites themselves. It +may be very properly considered as used in the person of Christ, +deeply complaining against his betrayers the Jews, and against the +cruelty of the Jews, which was not satisfied, even after the shedding +of his innocent blood.</p> + +<p>Like unto Judas Iscariot, and unto all the Jews, are pharisaical +saints and hypocrites, of all nations and ages; of whom Christ doth +not say in vain, that they are guilty of all the blood that has been +shed from Abel downwards. For so great and bitter is the terribleness +and fury of their virulent and Satanic hatred, that they cannot rest +satisfied with the shedding of the blood of Abel and all the saints +from the beginning of the world, but must hang Christ himself on the +cross; and that is not all, they must (as the Psalmist saith, ver. +22.) wag their heads at him, and insult and mock his sufferings; “If +he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross.”</p> + +<p>Concerning these wretches, David says, (ver. 2.) “They have opened +their blaspheming mouth against me:” for the raving fury of such +hypocrites is incredible. And again he says, “For my love they are my +adversaries, but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me +evil for good, and hatred for my love.” And again, “They fight against +me without a cause.”</p> + +<p>These are the true and real colours of these hypocrites who pretend to +be in the truth. We have here pourtrayed not only the Cainish +countenances of these Iscariots, but their pharisaic and virulent +hearts themselves; which are now become organs and instruments of the +devil. And we have also here depicted their thoughts, their furious +purposes of injuring and harming, by which the minds of such are +incessantly actuated. For these embittered wretches knowingly and +purposely, and against the light of their own consciences, fight +against and deny the known truth; and, as Stephen says, cease not to +resist the Holy Ghost. And although they are convinced by natural +reason, by the Scriptures, and by their natural understanding, they +still reject and fight against God and Christ, and harden themselves +in the denial of the truth. And finally, “They delight not in +blessing;” but refuse and cast from them God and his Christ.</p> + +<p>In addition to all this, they “render evil for good.” The ingratitude +of these hypocrites and of the world surely is enough, in not +returning any thing for all that good which is offered to them by God +himself, and by the saints in his name: but they rest not here; they +render, for all this good, hatred and cursing, and a purpose to injure +and to destroy: which is manifestly not human, but Satanic cruelty.</p> + +<p>But we, the people of God, are hereby admonished throughout all times +and ages of the church that, whenever God is pleased to reveal his +word, and Christ is preached, so surely will the church have her +Judases: that is, so surely will she have her enemies and her +hypocrites; who, though they boast of the name of being the church of +God, will prove themselves “vipers.”</p> + +<p>To set forth, therefore, the terrible judgments that shall fall on +those, who thus, with cruelty and without mercy, rage against the +people of God, the Psalmist shows (ver. 16.) that God will, to +recompense their iniquity, direct his fury also against them, who thus +mercilessly oppress “his poor,” and will pour out all his wrath upon +them: and that, as these hypocrites so confidently despised God and +his saints; and as, though covered with the shed blood, and bathed +with the tears of so many saints, they still laughed at their +calamities, as if they really sought cursing and not blessing; so, +that cursing shall flow in upon them like a river.</p> + +<p>And again (saith David) they have cast away the word of God from them, +and have rejected and despised the offered salvation, therefore all +consolation and salvation shall depart from them, and no more be +brought near unto them, neither now nor to all eternity. On the other +hand, as they loved cursing, they shall be clothed with it as with a +girdle; it shall enter like water into their bowels, and like oil into +their bones: and they shall bear about with them, like Cain, +everlasting fears and terrors, and shall be tormented unceasingly with +the stings of their wickedness and sin; and they shall moreover be +exiles, deserted outcasts, vagabonds, and held in contempt of all, as +the Jews now are, exhibiting an awful fulfilment of the judgments +herein denounced.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The kingdom, the priesthood, the conquest, and the passion of +Christ.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make +thine enemies thy footstool.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in +the midst of thine enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy people <i>shall be</i> willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties +of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy +youth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou <i>art</i> a priest for ever +after the order of Melchizedek.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of +his wrath.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill <i>the places</i> with the +dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the +head.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a peculiar and glorious prophecy concerning the kingdom of +Christ. This Psalm is cited by Christ himself, Matt. xxii. and he +applies it to his own kingdom and priesthood. It speaks gloriously of +Christ sitting at the right hand of the Majesty in the heaven, and as +being the son and the seed of David, according to the flesh, and also +David’s Lord and God, the Creator and the Maker of all things, all +power being given unto him in heaven and in earth: as the apostle also +saith, “Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and +declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of +holiness.” Rom. i. 3.</p> + +<p>Christ cites this Psalm, (which, as we have said, is a very glorious +one) to confound the Pharisees. Indeed there is not a Psalm like it in +the whole scripture; and it ought to be very dear unto the church; +seeing that it confirms that great article of faith—Christ’s sitting +at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. For Christ is here +declared to be a King and Priest; sitting at God’s right hand, not +only as truly man, but also as properly God; the Propitiator and +Mediator between God and men; the Omnipotent and the Eternal!</p> + +<p>Christ is no where, throughout all the books of the prophets, and of +the whole scripture, so plainly and clearly declared to be “a Priest,” +and so “a Priest for ever,” who alone did, and alone could abrogate +the Aaronic and Levitical priesthood; and who is, and ever will be an +eternal propitiation and reconciliation for us; as is most +beautifully, most fully, and with a wonderful power of the Holy +Spirit, opened by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews.</p> + +<p>Hence, this heavenly and golden Psalm has a blessed author (David) and +a glorious interpreter (Christ.) And all the apostles, all godly +consciences, and all who are not utterly unacquainted with the +temptations of sin, and of Satan, know how great and firm a +consolation it is against all the violent attacks of the devil, to be +able to see Christ as our High Priest. Hence it is that Paul breaks +forth into those great words, “If God be for us, who can be against +us! Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea, rather +that is risen again; who is even at the right hand of God; who also +maketh intercession for us.” Rom. viii. 31–34.</p> + +<p>It is, therefore, of infinite benefit to the universal church of +Christ, that the glorious things of this Psalm, the remission of sins, +and the reconciliation of God toward us, which are brought in unto us +by the priesthood of Christ, and which are infinite and eternal, are +most carefully and most fully explained to us in the epistle to the +Hebrews; and that such glorious doctrines of the truth concerning the +priesthood of Christ are always present, and ready to our hands.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The Psalmist by his example inciteth others to praise God for his +glorious and gracious works.—The fear of God breedeth true wisdom.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. I will praise the L<small>ORD</small> with <i>my</i> whole heart, in +the assembly of the upright, and <i>in</i> the congregation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The works of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>are</i> great, sought out of all them that have +pleasure therein.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His work <i>is</i> honourable and glorious; and his righteousness endureth +for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> +gracious and full of compassion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of +his covenant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give +them the heritage of the heathen.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The works of his hands <i>are</i> verity and judgment; all his commandments +<i>are</i> sure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They stand fast for ever and ever, <i>and are</i> done in truth and +uprightness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for +ever: holy and reverend <i>is</i> his name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The fear of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> the beginning of wisdom: a good +understanding have all they that do <i>his commandments:</i> his praise +endureth for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and a song for the people of Israel, +to be sung at the feast of the passover, or at the eating of the +paschal Lamb. For by this short song the people were instructed to +give thanks, and to magnify and praise God for those great and +glorious works of his,—the leading them out of Egypt at the first; and +also, for giving them a good and divine government, for the priesthood +he established, for the law he gave them, and for appointing the +preaching of his word; for their feasts and for their Sabbaths, for +public peace and a good administration of the laws, and, in a word, +for all his infinite mercies: all which I have more fully opened in my +more extended commentary on this Psalm.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>Godliness hath the promises of this life, and of the life to +come.—The prosperity of the godly shall be an eyesore to the wicked.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. Blessed <i>is</i> the man <i>that</i> feareth the L<small>ORD</small>, +<i>that</i> delighteth greatly in his commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright +shall be blessed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wealth and riches <i>shall be</i> in his house: and his righteousness +endureth for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: <i>he is</i> +gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with +discretion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in +everlasting remembrance.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting +in the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His heart <i>is</i> established, he shall not be afraid, until he see <i>his +desire</i> upon his enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness +endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked shall see <i>it</i>, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his +teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation for those that fear God: in which those +that truly fear him are encouraged and praised in their Christian +conversation: “Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord,” saith the +Psalmist. As if he had said, The people of God appear to them to be of +all men the most miserable; and both their life and their doctrine are +condemned by the world, and by those tongues which the devil raises up +and uses for the work. All things in the saints make them appear to +the world, as if they were left and forsaken, and deserted of God, and +as if they, and their posterity, and all like them, must surely +perish. And then again, their lives and conversations, (though they +render most essential services, both to their nation and to the +church, and though they conduct themselves blamelessly before God and +man,) are, by the malice of the devil, represented as most abominable, +and they themselves are looked upon as the contempt and off-scouring +of the earth.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, all hypocrites in the world are lauded as the +saints of God. “But,” as the wise man saith, “better is the little in +the house of the righteous, than the great revenues of the wicked.” In +the midst of all this false representation, however, the righteous, +standing fast in all these their afflictions, and steadily trusting in +God, are delivered and saved, and gain blessed consolation, while the +wicked perish on every side. “To the upright,” saith the Psalmist, +“there ariseth light in darkness.” Here, according to the general +language of the scriptures, he calleth consolation, light; and +temptation, darkness.</p> + +<p>And, then, in the end of the Psalm, that noble and unsubdued +steadiness of faith is greatly praised: which, in such mighty +struggles, and in such agonizing conflicts, is yet unwearied and +unyielding, resting in the promise of God; and which, though +contending with such mighty waves, is yet enabled to sing with Paul, +“Thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” “He +shall not be afraid of evil tidings,” saith the Psalmist, “his heart +is fixed, trusting in the Lord: his heart is established, he shall not +be afraid until he see his desire upon his enemies.” verse 7, 8. For +unless there were in us divine strength communicated by Christ, it +would be impossible that we could stand against such numerous and +mighty assaults of temptation.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God for his excellency,—for his mercy.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the L<small>ORD</small>, praise the name +of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed be the name of the L<small>ORD</small> from this time forth and for evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the L<small>ORD’S</small> +name <i>is</i> to be praised.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> high above all nations, <i>and</i> his glory above the +heavens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who <i>is</i> like unto the L<small>ORD</small> our God, who dwelleth on high,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who humbleth <i>himself</i> to behold <i>the things that are</i> in heaven, and +in the earth!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, <i>and</i> lifteth the needy out of +the dunghill;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That he may set <i>him</i> with princes, <i>even</i> with the princes of his +people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh the barren woman to keep house, <i>and to be</i> a joyful mother +of children. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a most conspicuous and most blessed prophecy of the kingdom of +Christ, and of its extension from the rising unto the setting of the +sun throughout all the kingdoms of the earth: it calls upon all +nations to laud and magnify God, and to proclaim the riches of his +grace; that is, the remission of sins for Christ’s sake. For Christ is +the God of the humble, the God of the afflicted, and the God of those +that call upon him and that cry unto him; he is an altogether loving +and lovely Saviour and God, who sitteth at the right hand of the +Majesty on high, and loves and has respect unto the humble, the +afflicted, the oppressed, and the trembling and contrite in heart.</p> + +<p>The peculiar and express office of Christ, and the work of the kingdom +of Christ is to bring down the proud, to put to shame the wise, and to +condemn hypocrites and false saints: and, on the other side, to raise +up and exalt the humble, to enlighten and instruct fools, to sanctify +unclean sinners, to make fruitful the barren, to comfort the +fatherless; that is, those who are in any way afflicted or distressed.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation, by the example of the dumb creatures, to fear God in +his church.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of +strange language,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Judah was his sanctuary, <i>and</i> Israel his dominion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sea saw <i>it</i>, and fled; Jordan was driven back.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The mountains skipped like rams, <i>and</i> the little hills like lambs,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What <i>ailed</i> thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, <i>that</i> +thou wast driven back?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye mountains, <i>that</i> ye skipped like rams; <i>and</i> ye little hills like +lambs?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the L<small>ORD</small>, at the presence of +the God of Jacob;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which turned the rock <i>into</i> a standing water, the flint into a +fountain of waters.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and a song for the people of Israel, +to praise God while celebrating the feast of the passover; to magnify +him for bringing them with a high hand out of Egypt, through the Red +Sea, through the desert, over mountains, and through Jordan, into the +land of promise. We use this Psalm to give thanks unto Christ, who +delivered us from the kingdom of darkness, and translated us into the +kingdom of light, even into his own kingdom, the kingdom of God’s dear +Son, and led us forth into eternal life.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>Because God is truly glorious, and idols are vanity, he exhorteth to +confidence in God.—God is to be blessed for his blessings.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Not unto us, O L<small>ORD</small>, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for +thy mercy, <i>and</i> for thy truth’s sake.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherefore should the heathen say, Where <i>is</i> now their God?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But our God <i>is</i> in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath +pleased.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their idols <i>are</i> silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see +not;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell +not;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk +not; neither speak they through their throat.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that make them are like unto them; <i>so is</i> every one that +trusteth in them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O Israel, trust thou in the L<small>ORD</small>; he <i>is</i> their help and their shield.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O house of Aaron, trust in the L<small>ORD</small>; he <i>is</i> their help and their +shield.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye that fear the L<small>ORD</small>, trust in the L<small>ORD</small>; he <i>is</i> their help and their +shield.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath been mindful of us; he will bless <i>us:</i> he will bless +the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He will bless them that fear the L<small>ORD</small>, <i>both</i> small and great.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall increase you more and more, you and your children.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye <i>are</i> blessed of the L<small>ORD</small> which made heaven and earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The heaven, <i>even</i> the heavens, <i>are</i> the L<small>ORD’S</small>: but the earth hath +he given to the children of men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The dead praise not the L<small>ORD</small>, neither any that go down into silence.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But we will bless the L<small>ORD</small> from this time forth and for evermore. +Praise the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a glorious Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the God of Israel is +praised, as being the one, only, true, living God, the Saviour of all +men, and especially of them that believe; and wherein also, all the +other gods of the nations, who can save neither themselves nor others, +are confessed, in the true faith, to be dumb idols.</p> + +<p>Wherefore the Psalmist, in the first verse, saith “Not unto us, O +Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory.” As if he had +said, ‘Look not upon us, O Lord, to see how good or how righteous we +are, for if thou do this, thou wilt never help us, thou wilt never +save us; we shall remain a people without salvation, and without God, +like all the nations around us; or we shall ever be at an uncertainty +whether we shall be saved or not. But look, O our God, at thy holy +word, and at the glory of thine own name,—that thou callest thyself +our God; and that thou art the true and the living God, with whom is +mercy, and with whom is plenteous redemption. According, O Lord, to +thy promises of grace, according to thy counsel and thy covenant, in +the which thou hast said, “I am the Lord your God;” according to this +thy glorious name deal thou with us, O Lord; but not according to any +name of ours, whereby we may be called sacrificers, or good-workers, +or singers, or fathers, or the like: for all these names the nations +that know not thee may assume, and yet remain still nations without +God.’</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The psalmist professeth his love and duty to God for his +deliverance.—He studieth to be thankful.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I love the L<small>ORD</small>, because he hath heard my voice <i>and</i> my +supplications.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon +<i>him</i> as long as I live.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon +me: I found trouble and sorrow.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then called I upon the name of the L<small>ORD</small>: O L<small>ORD</small>, I beseech thee, +deliver my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Gracious <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, and righteous; yea, our God <i>is</i> merciful.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the L<small>ORD</small> hath dealt bountifully +with thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, +<i>and</i> my feet from falling.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will walk before the L<small>ORD</small> in the land of the living.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I said in my haste, All men <i>are</i> liars.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What shall I render unto the L<small>ORD</small> <i>for</i> all his benefits towards me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will pay my vows unto the L<small>ORD</small> now in the presence of all his +people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Precious in the sight of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> the death of his saints.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, truly I <i>am</i> thy servant; I <i>am</i> thy servant, <i>and</i> the son of +thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon +the name of L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will pay my vows unto the L<small>ORD</small> now in the presence of all his +people,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the courts of the L<small>ORD’S</small> house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. +Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in which the Psalmist renders thanks, +after coming out of a most heavy trial, and again rejoices in God; +praising God for having delivered him from the terrors of death, and +from the pains of hell; for by such terms does he express those deep +and heavy spiritual temptations, concerning which he had spoken +before, Psalm vi., which are not known unto all. And the Psalmist +complains also that he suffered all these things, and was thus +overwhelmed and almost destroyed by these heavy trials, because of his +confession of his faith and the truth of God before the world. “I +believed (saith he) and therefore have I spoken:” but I am heavily +afflicted for the word’s sake. For all the saints confess and teach +the righteousness of faith; and, on the other hand, they expose and +condemn all the righteousness, wisdom, and holiness of the world, and +also all hypocrisy, and the outside form of godliness. And this the +world will by no means whatever endure: they ever rage and roar +against it: and they load the godly with every kind of affliction, +because of their unsocial confession: and hence arise all those +terrors without and those fears within, by which the church of Christ +and the saints have ever been afflicted from the kingdom of the devil, +in the midst of which their confession is made.</p> + +<p>But amid all these great, and hard, and numerous afflictions of Satan +and the world, the Psalmist has this firm consolation, that his work +and cause are right before God; therefore he comforts and encourages +himself by relying on the word of God, and stirs up and strengthens +himself unto all confidence. “I will take (saith he) the cup of +salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.” As if he had said, If +they drink my destruction from the cup of their fury, and hate and +persecute me unto death; what then? “I will take the cup of God’s +salvation and helping grace:” that is (as if he had said), Supporting +and strengthening my faith with the glad word of thy promise, as with +strong and generous wine, I shall be filled with the Spirit, by +drinking of that cup; and, by my continuing to preach and spread the +word, I shall hold out the cup to others also, who confess with me the +same truth, and preach the same word; that they also may draw the same +consolation with me, out of the same most blessed word of the grace of +God.</p> + +<p>This (saith the Psalmist) is our case, and this is the way in which we +drink of it and use it. We drink of it ourselves, and then we hold it +out to others, and invite them to drink also; and this is the true +worship of God; and by this we laud and magnify his name. By this +service we truly pay our vows unto God, namely, the vow of the first +commandment, paid unto God by his people; for the greatest and highest +vow of the first commandment is this—God, the true, the living God, +alone shall be our God: we will cleave unto him alone: him only will +we adore; him only will we worship; him only will we seek; on him only +will we call!</p> + +<p>As, therefore, in many other Psalms, so also in this, you may see what +is the true sacrifice of praise (of that praise which is wrought in +the heart and in the spirit by the Holy Ghost, and is not lip-service +only.) And in this Psalm you may also see that the true preaching of +the word, and the true confession of the word, before the world, form +the highest and most precious worship of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God for his mercy and truth.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O praise the L<small>ORD</small>, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the +L<small>ORD</small> <i>endureth</i> for ever. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prophecy concerning Christ; that all peoples out of all +kingdoms and islands, shall know Christ in his kingdom; that is, in +his church; in that kingdom where mercy and grace, and the remission +of sins, and eternal life, and everlasting consolation, shall be +preached against sin, death, the power of the devil, and all evil. +This Psalm has been before explained in my more full commentary +thereon.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>An exhortation to praise God for his mercy.—The psalmist by his +experience sheweth how good it is trust in God.—Under the type of the +psalmist, the coming of Christ in his kingdom is expressed.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>; for <i>he is</i> good; because his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let Israel now say, that his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them now that fear the L<small>ORD</small> say, that his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I called upon the L<small>ORD</small> in distress: the L<small>ORD</small> answered me, <i>and set me</i> +in a large place.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see +<i>my desire</i> upon them that hate me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> better to trust in the L<small>ORD</small>, than to put confidence in man:</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> better to trust in the L<small>ORD</small>, than to put confidence in +princes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the L<small>ORD</small> will I +destroy them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name +of the L<small>ORD</small> I will destroy them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of +thorns: for in the name of the L<small>ORD</small> I will destroy them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast thrust sore at me, that I might fall: but the L<small>ORD</small> helped +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> my strength and song, and is become my salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The voice of rejoicing and salvation <i>is</i> in the tabernacles of the +righteous: the right hand of the L<small>ORD</small> doeth valiantly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The right hand of the L<small>ORD</small> is exalted; the right hand of the L<small>ORD</small> +doeth valiantly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto +death.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go in to them, <i>and</i> I +will praise the Lord;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This gate of the L<small>ORD</small>, into which the righteous shall enter.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee; for thou hast heard me, and art become my +salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The stone <i>which</i> the builders refused is become the head <i>stone</i> of +the corner.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This is the L<small>ORD’S</small> doing; it <i>is</i> marvellous in our eyes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This <i>is</i> the day <i>which</i> the L<small>ORD</small> hath made; we will rejoice and be +glad in it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Save now, I beseech thee, O L<small>ORD</small>: O L<small>ORD</small>, I beseech thee, send now +prosperity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> he that cometh in the name of the L<small>ORD</small>: we have blessed +you out of the house of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>God <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with +cords, <i>even</i> unto the horns of the altar.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> my God, and I will praise thee; <i>thou art</i> my God, I will +exalt thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>; for <i>he is</i> good: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is also a Psalm of thanksgiving. This Psalm, “O give thanks unto +the Lord,” which I so much love and admire, is the one which I, in +particular, call the golden Psalm; and is the Psalm which has often +revived and comforted me in my temptations.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist gives thanks, and at the same time utters forth a +prophecy concerning Christ, who by his suffering entered into glory; +who is that stone rejected of the builders, which became the head of +the corner; as Christ himself also saith, Matt. xxi. citing this +Psalm. The Psalmist also describes with blessed feelings of heart the +joyful day of the gospel, the day of salvation and peace, the day of +joy and consolation, and the true and glorious feast-day.</p> + +<p>Among other things the Psalmist speaks of the church and the children +of God, who are to be conformed to the image of his Son; shewing, that +they must be surrounded with afflictions on every side, and by the +cross and through death enter into glory.</p> + +<p>A brief summary, however, like this, cannot set forth the great and +glorious contents of this Psalm: but my particular and more full +Commentary on it will supply, in some measure, what is here wanting.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>This psalm containeth sundry prayers, praises, and professions of +obedience.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">א <small>ALEPH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>are</i> the undefined in the way, who walk in the law of the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>are</i> they that keep his testimonies, <i>and that</i> seek him with +the whole heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast commanded <i>us</i> to keep thy precepts diligently.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy +commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have +learned thy righteous judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ב <small>BETH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed +<i>thereto</i> according to thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy +commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>art</i> thou, O L<small>ORD</small>: teach me thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as <i>much as</i> in all +riches.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ג <small>GIMEL</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deal bountifully with thy servant, <i>that</i> I may live, and keep thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul breaketh for the longing <i>that it hath</i> unto thy judgments at +all times.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast rebuked the proud <i>that are</i> cursed, which do err from thy +commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Princes also did sit <i>and</i> speak against me: <i>but</i> thy servant did +meditate in thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy testimonies also <i>are</i> my delight <i>and</i> my counsellors.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ד <small>DALETH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy +wondrous works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid <i>before me</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O L<small>ORD</small>, put me not to shame.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my +heart.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ה <small>HE</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Teach me, O L<small>ORD</small>, the way of thy statutes: and I shall keep it <i>unto</i> +the end.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe +it with <i>my</i> whole heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I +delight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; <i>and</i> quicken thou me in +thy way.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who <i>is devoted</i> to thy fear.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments <i>are</i> good.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy +righteousness.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ו <small>VAU</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thy mercies come also unto me, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>even</i> thy salvation, +according to thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I +trust in thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have +hoped in thy judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be +ashamed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved; +and I will meditate in thy statutes.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ז <small>ZAIN</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to +hope.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This <i>is</i> my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The proud have had me greatly in derision: <i>yet</i> have I not declined +from thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I remembered thy judgments of old, O L<small>ORD</small>; and have comforted myself.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy +law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have remembered thy name, O L<small>ORD</small>, in the night, and have kept thy +law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This I had, because I kept thy precepts.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ח <small>CHETH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Thou art</i> my portion, O L<small>ORD</small>: I have said that I would keep thy +words.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I entreated thy favour with <i>my</i> whole heart: be merciful unto me +according to thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The bands of the wicked have robbed me, <i>but</i> I have not forgotten thy +law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy +righteous judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> a companion of all <i>them</i> that fear thee, and of them that keep +thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The earth, O L<small>ORD</small>, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ט <small>TETH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O L<small>ORD</small>, according unto thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy +commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> good, and doest good: teach me thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The proud have forged a lie against me: <i>but</i> I will keep thy precepts +with <i>my</i> whole heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Their heart is as fat as grease: <i>but</i> I delight in thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy +statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The law of thy mouth <i>is</i> better unto me than thousands of gold and +silver.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">י <small>JOD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I +may learn thy commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that fear thee will be glad when they see me: because I have +hoped in thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I know, O L<small>ORD</small>, that thy judgments <i>are</i> right, and <i>that</i> thou in +faithfulness hast afflicted me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according +to thy word unto thy servant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law <i>is</i> +my delight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the proud be ashamed: for they dealt perversely with me without a +cause: <i>but</i> I will meditate in thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy +testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my heart be sound in thy statutes, that I be not ashamed.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">כ <small>CAPH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul fainteth for thy salvation; <i>but</i> I hope in thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; <i>yet</i> do I not forget thy +statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How many <i>are</i> the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute +judgment on them that persecute me?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The proud have digged pits for me, which <i>are</i> not after thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All thy commandments <i>are</i> faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; +help thou me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They had almost consumed me upon earth: but I forsook not thy +precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Quicken me after thy loving-kindness; so shall I keep the testimony of +thy mouth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ל <small>LAMED</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For ever, O L<small>ORD</small>, thy word is settled in heaven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy faithfulness <i>is</i> unto all generations: thou hast established the +earth, and it abideth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all <i>are</i> +thy servants.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Unless thy law <i>had been</i> my delights, I should then have perished in +mine affliction.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: <i>but</i> I will consider thy +testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have seen an end of all perfection: <i>but</i> thy commandment <i>is</i> +exceeding broad.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">מ <small>MEM</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: +for they <i>are</i> ever with me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies +<i>are</i> my meditation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have not departed from thy judgments; for thou hast taught me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How sweet are thy words unto my taste! <i>yea, sweeter</i> than honey to my +mouth!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false +way.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">נ <small>NUN</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy word <i>is</i> a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have sworn, and I will perform <i>it</i>, that I will keep thy righteous +judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O L<small>ORD</small>, according unto thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Accept, I beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth, O L<small>ORD</small>, +and teach me thy judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul <i>is</i> continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy +precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever; for they <i>are</i> +the rejoicing of my heart.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, <i>even unto</i> +the end.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ס <small>SAMECH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I hate <i>vain</i> thoughts: but thy law do I love.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my +God.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be +ashamed of my hope.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy +statutes continually.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their +deceit <i>is</i> falsehood.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth <i>like</i> dross: therefore +I love thy testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ע <small>AIN</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy +righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy +statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy +testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> time for <i>thee</i>, L<small>ORD</small>, to work: <i>for</i> they have made void thy +law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore I esteem all <i>thy</i> precepts <i>concerning</i> all <i>things to be</i> +right; <i>and</i> I hate every false way.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">פ <small>PE</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy testimonies <i>are</i> wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto +the simple.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto +those that love thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion +over me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">צ <small>TSADDI</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Righteous <i>art</i> thou, O L<small>ORD</small>, and upright <i>are</i> thy judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy testimonies <i>that</i> thou hast commanded <i>are</i> righteous and very +faithful.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My zeal hath consumed me: because mine enemies have forgotten thy +words.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy word <i>is</i> very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am</i> small and despised; <i>yet</i> do not I forget thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy righteousness <i>is</i> an everlasting righteousness, and thy law <i>is</i> +the truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me; <i>yet</i> thy commandments +<i>are</i> my delights.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The righteousness of thy testimonies <i>is</i> everlasting: give me +understanding, and I shall live.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ק <small>KOPH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I cried with <i>my</i> whole heart; hear me, O L<small>ORD</small>: I will keep thy +statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mine eyes prevent the <i>night</i>-watches, that I might meditate in thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear my voice, according unto thy loving-kindness: O L<small>ORD</small>, quicken me +according to thy judgment.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou <i>art</i> near, O L<small>ORD</small>; and all thy commandments <i>are</i> truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded +them for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ר <small>RESH</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; for I do not forget thy law.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Salvation <i>is</i> far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Great <i>are</i> thy tender mercies, O L<small>ORD</small>; quicken me according to thy +judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many <i>are</i> my persecutors and mine enemies; <i>yet</i> do I not decline +from thy testimonies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O L<small>ORD</small>, according to thy +loving-kindness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy word <i>is</i> true <i>from</i> the beginning: and every one of thy +righteous judgments <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ש <small>SCHIN</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in +awe of thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I hate and abhor lying: <i>but</i> thy law do I love.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Seven times a-day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous +judgments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend +them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways <i>are</i> +before thee.</blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote class="center">ת <small>TAU</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my cry come near before thee, O L<small>ORD</small>; give me understanding +according to thy word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my supplication come before thee; deliver me according to thy +word.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments <i>are</i> +righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thine hand help me: for I have chosen thy precepts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have longed for thy salvation, O L<small>ORD</small>; and thy law <i>is</i> my delight.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help +me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant; for I do not +forget thy commandments.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is the most extended in the whole Psalter. It contains +prayers, consolations, doctrines, thanksgivings, and repeats all these +with a varied fulness. It is however given forth with a deep and +blessed intent: namely, that by this repetition and fulness, it may +invite and exhort us to hear and diligently to treasure up the word of +God. For throughout the whole Psalm the Psalmist exalts unto the +heavens, with the highest praises, the pure doctrine of God’s holy +word. He sets it forth as to be preferred before all gold and precious +stones, and before all the riches of the world; as Solomon also +beautifully speaks of it in his Proverbs.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the Psalmist earnestly warns against all false +doctrine and against all security and contempt of the word. For no +pestilence is more destroying than false doctrine, or human doctrines +without or contrary to the word of God. And knowing that Satan without +cessation assaults the church of God with all kinds of heresies and +false doctrine; the Psalmist takes up a great part of this Psalm in +consolations.</p> + +<p>The principal, and indeed whole foundation and truth of godliness lies +in the pure teaching and hearing of the word of God. For where that +word is purely taught and heard, there, to a certainty, will be +begotten pure and prevailing prayer, calling upon God, diligence in +reading, teaching, and exhortation, consolation for the weak that are +afflicted and tried, strengthening of heart and spirit, joy, peace of +conscience, thanksgivings, prophecyings, an abundant understanding of +the scriptures; and, in a word, true religion, and the true worship of +God; and also, confidence in God under the cross and afflictions, and +perseverance unto the end; and, finally, all the blessed operations +and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and all those things which please God +and displease the Devil.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, where the pure word is not taught, or where there is +a weariness and loathing of the word, there the true religion becomes +extinguished, and all true worship of God perishes. For where the true +word of God is not taught, there is not any truth of God; there is +found a great noise of external holiness, and the form of godliness, +and hypocrisy;<small><small><sup>1</sup></small></small> there, indeed, is psalm-singing, prayer, doctrines, +consolation, thanksgiving, and all the varieties of the worship of +God, with all interpretations of the scriptures. I will add, also, +that there you may find sufferings and martyrdoms. But all is outside +show; all is the form of godliness only; all is false; all is feigned, +and nothing but lies; all is full of the poison of the devil. Nor +without true faith in the heart, nor without the divine word, nor +without the worship of the First Commandment, is there, or can there +be, any true and real worship of God.</p> + +<blockquote><small><small><sup>1</sup></small> Luther is here deeply opening up the extent to which the +“form of godliness” may be carried, yet without the truth and “power” +of it.</small></blockquote> + +<p>How many thousands of priests and monks have sung this Psalm at their +first, third, sixth, and ninth hours, in their temples.</p> + +<p>But what did they do during all their singings? They did nothing else +but call down God’s judgment and indignation on their own heads! For +the design of this Psalm, in every word of it, is to glorify the word +of God, and to confound, put to shame, destroy, and blot out all +hypocrisy upon the face of the earth.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David prayeth against Doeg, reproveth his tongue, complaineth of his +necessary conversation with the wicked.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>In my distress I cried unto the L<small>ORD</small>, and he heard me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver my soul, O L<small>ORD</small>, from lying lips, <i>and</i> from a deceitful +tongue.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou +false tongue?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, <i>that</i> I dwell in the tents of +Kedar!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I <i>am for</i> peace: but, when I speak, they <i>are</i> for war.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is an earnest prayer; and it complains, with deep feelings +of sorrow, of those horrible evils which Satan causes in the church by +a false and crafty tongue: that is, by that virulent and truly +serpentine tongue which boasts of God and the worship of God, and +never instructs any one in the truth, nor leads them to God.</p> + +<p>For false teachers cause infinite and terrible evils in the church; +and like giants with immense weapons in their hands, they never strike +without inflicting some mighty wound: or, like fire-brands cast into a +grove of juniper trees, they consume in all directions, with a sudden +and devouring flame. And just so, the common people often burst out +into one general flame, even by the throwing in among them of one +single spark of false and wicked doctrine; and not only do they blaze +forth with a sudden flame of their minds and spirits, but even greatly +admire the error and the hypocrisy. For all doctrines of this kind, as +being more congenial to human reason than the truth of God, quickly +please men; as Paul saith, 2 Tim. iv. “They will heap to themselves +teachers, having itching ears.”</p> + +<p>Mesech are the nations nigh unto Jerusalem itself, towards the north; +where the Tartars now are. And Kedar are the Arabs, to the east of +Jerusalem. These nations are types of all enemies and heretics who +oppose themselves as adversaries to the true church. The Mesech of +Christians, at this time are the Turks, who derive their origin from +the Tartars. And the Kedar are Mahomet and the Saracens; for they are +from Arabia. These with their Alcoran have oppressed and laid waste +the Gospel in many places: and that fire of wicked doctrine, broke out +into a mighty blaze, just like a brand cast into a thicket of juniper +trees.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The great safety of the godly, who put their trust in God’s +protection.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My help <i>cometh</i> from the L<small>ORD</small>, which made heaven and earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not +slumber.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> thy keeper; the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> shade upon thy right hand.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy +soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this +time forth, and even for evermore.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation, wherein the Psalmist, from his own +experience, exhorts the godly to a constancy of faith, and to an +expectation of help and defence from God. For although in the hour of +temptation God puts off his help, and all things appear as if he were +asleep, or had forgotten us altogether, and had left us to be scorched +by the heat of the sun by day, and by the beams of the moon by night; +that is, as though he had given us up to be afflicted and destroyed by +all manner of temptations, by Satan, by the world, and by sin, day and +night: yet it is not so;—he has not given us up, as we, according to +the weakness of our flesh, imagine and feel. He sees and regards us, +and watches over us; nor does he suffer us to be so burnt as to be +destroyed, nor so tempted or distressed, as to be swallowed up of +over-much sorrow: and this all blessedly experience, who call upon him +for his help and patiently wait for it.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David professeth his joy for the church, and prayeth for the peace +thereof.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the L<small>ORD</small>, unto the testimony +of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of +David.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Peace be within thy walls, <i>and</i> prosperity within thy palaces.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace <i>be</i> +within thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Because of the house of the L<small>ORD</small> our God I will seek thy good.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, it contains the feelings of a glad, a +rejoicing, and a thankful heart, for that unspeakable gift of God,—the +ministry of his word. This Psalm in the person of the Jews, rejoices +that God had appointed a certain place, namely Jerusalem, in the midst +of that people, where the name and the word of God had a certain +dwelling-place and could there be found: and where it was administered +by certain persons, the Levites and the priests, to certain disciples; +namely, to the tribes of Israel.</p> + +<p>For what calamity or misery can be greater than to seek the word of +God anxiously, and not be able to find it? This calamity and misery +the children of Israel experienced in the times of God’s anger, when, +being forsaken by him, and left to their own inventions, they sought +and worshipped idols. And in these our times of monkery also, the +masses and the travellings about to so many Marys have given abundant +proofs of what it is to seek the word of God and not to find it.</p> + +<p>Our Jerusalem, our certain place, is the church, and our temple is +Christ. Wheresoever Christ is preached and the sacraments are duly +administered, there we are sure God dwells; and there is our temple, +our tabernacle, our cherubim, and our mercy-seat; for there God is +present with us by his word.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The godly profess their confidence in God, and pray to be delivered +from contempt.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, as the eyes of servants <i>look</i> unto the hand of their masters, +<i>and</i> as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our +eyes <i>wait</i> upon the L<small>ORD</small> our God, until that he have mercy upon us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Have mercy upon us, O L<small>ORD</small>, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly +filled with contempt.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at +ease, <i>and</i> with the contempt of the proud.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a fervent prayer against all those secure and proud +despisers of the word of God and its true ministers. And the Gentile +nations were not the only despisers who contemned the whole religion +of the Israelites and the true worship of God, and condemned it as +sedition altogether: but the idolaters and false teachers which were +in the midst of that very people themselves proudly despised and +derided the godly, that little flock of God, and the true prophets; as +Psalms xii. and xiv. complain. And in the same way also our papists +and fanatics now, who seem in their own eyes to be more holy than the +gospel itself, more proudly and contemptuously than any others +despise, trample underfoot, and spit upon all true and good ministers +of the word of God. Not to say anything now about that security and +pride wherein, at this day, even our bishops and priests themselves, +who are more profane than all heathen nations put together, despise +the true word of God. So that we, as the Psalmist saith in its +conclusion, are indeed filled with the derision of the rich and the +contempt of the proud. But may God, (and he will!) regard us, and +glorify his word. Amen.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The church blesseth God for a miraculous deliverance.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>If <i>it had not been</i> the L<small>ORD</small> who was on our side, now may Israel say;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If <i>it had not been</i> the L<small>ORD</small> who was on our side when men rose up +against us;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled +against us:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, who hath not given us <i>as</i> a prey to their +teeth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the +snare is broken, and we are escaped.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our help <i>is</i> in the name of the L<small>ORD</small>, who made heaven and earth.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>The Psalmist, in this Psalm, gives thanks unto God for defending his +little helpless flock, here in the midst of the kingdom of the devil, +struggling against all temptations, against tyrants, and against +bloodthirsting hypocrites; and for delivering them from the snares of +virulent calumniators; the number of whom is so great, that compared +with the little flock of God, they are like a sweeping torrent, or a +mighty deluge, to one solitary rivulet.</p> + +<p>Though, however, their teeth were of iron; that is, though their power +were infinitely greater than it is, and though their snares (that is, +their cunning devices,) were infinitely more crafty than they are; yet +“Greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world;” he breaks +and destroys their teeth, he defeateth their snares, and wonderfully +delivers his people, as we have seen it in our own times, on many and +great occasions.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The safety of such as trust in God.—A prayer for the godly, and +against the wicked.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>They that trust in the L<small>ORD</small> <i>shall be</i> as mount Zion, <i>which</i> cannot +be removed, <i>but</i> abideth for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>As</i> the mountains <i>are</i> round about Jerusalem, so the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> round +about his people from henceforth, even for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the +righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Do good, O L<small>ORD</small>, unto <i>those that be</i> good, and to <i>them that are</i> +upright in their hearts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the L<small>ORD</small> shall lead +them forth with the workers of iniquity: <i>but</i> peace <i>shall be</i> upon +Israel.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This also is a Psalm of thanksgiving containing the feelings of an +exercised faith: thanking God, that, although he sometimes permits +false prophets and fanatical spirits to prevail, as if they would +possess all things (which thing God often does so permit to be, as a +punishment for the ingratitude of his people, who value not the +blessing of the word;) yet he visits such with the more terrible +judgment, and suffers them not to prevail in all things against the +righteous, lest the righteous, being entirely broken by too great +afflictions and sorrows, should, through discouragement and despair, +fall away from the word unto ungodliness and sin.</p> + +<p>For the final end of all false teachers and blasphemers ever +is,—confusion, terrible judgment, and destruction; “And their glory,” as +the apostle saith, “is turned into shame.” But the end of the poor +flock of God, even though the church be proved and tried by a thousand +fires and deaths, though it appear a thousand times over to be +oppressed, destroyed and extirpated is,—eternal life, eternal +consolation, eternal glory! This is what the Psalmist means, when he +says, “The Lord doth good to them that be good, and to them that are +upright in their hearts: but as for them that turn aside unto their +crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the evil doers, but +peace shall be upon Israel.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The church, celebrating her incredible return out of captivity, +prayeth for, and prophesieth the good success thereof.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>When the L<small>ORD</small> turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them +that dream.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: +then said they among the heathen, The L<small>ORD</small> hath done great things for +them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath done great things for us; <i>whereof</i> we are glad.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Turn again our captivity, O L<small>ORD</small>, as the streams in the south.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall +doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves <i>with him</i>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance from the Babylonish +captivity; whether it was written after the captivity, or before it, +as a prophecy to comfort the Jews with the certain hope of +deliverance, and that they should not despair, is uncertain: but at +what particular time it was written, it matters not.</p> + +<p>This Psalm ends with a remarkable and glorious conclusion; which +embraces, in a few words, the whole counsel and the immutable decree +of God concerning his church; namely, that it behoved Christ first to +suffer, and then to be raised up, and exalted of God and glorified. +And so also Christians must first fill up a certain measure of +afflictions before they enter into their joy; while, on the contrary, +the men of the world fill up a certain measure of their joy before +they are eternally punished and damned.</p> + +<p>The church, therefore, is that poor little helpless flock, in the +midst of a wicked nation. They are that little company who pray, cry, +are tempted, and are afflicted by the world; who sow in tears, but +reap in joy. “But,” says the Psalmist, “they went, and wept as they +went, sowing precious seed; but they shall come again with joy, +bringing their sheaves with them.”</p> + +<p>These afflictions, and these deaths of the saints are very precious; +hence it is that the Psalmist calls them “precious seed;” because they +are followed by the most fruitful crops, and by the most abundant +harvests. But we infants in grace, we poor little children, under our +tears and our sighs, understand not the voice, or the mind, or the +will of our heavenly Father in these afflictions: nor can we see or +understand how precious this seed is in the sight of God; who calls +even “death,” (which is the worst and lowest of all these seeds,) +“precious;” saying, in another place, “Precious in the sight of the +Lord is the death of his saints;” and God sets this precious seed thus +sown by his children, before all the treasures of the world.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The virtue of God’s blessing.—Good children are his gift.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A song of degrees for Solomon.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Except the L<small>ORD</small> build the house, they labour in vain that build it: +except the L<small>ORD</small> keep the city, the watchman waketh <i>but</i> in vain.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the +bread of sorrows: <i>for</i> so he giveth his beloved sleep.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lo, children <i>are</i> an heritage of the L<small>ORD</small>; <i>and</i> the fruit of the +womb <i>is his</i> reward.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As arrows <i>are</i> in the hand of a mighty man; so <i>are</i> children of the +youth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them; they shall not be +ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm contains a most blessed and important doctrine. It is of +the same subject-matter as that contained in the book of Solomon, +called Ecclesiastes. The Psalmist teaches, that all governments and +commonwealths rightly constituted are the good and free gifts of God: +and that none of them can be either rightly constituted, at the first, +nor preserved afterwards, by any human wisdom or might: but that all +these things are in the hand of God: that, where he giveth not peace, +where he giveth not men desirous of the arts of peace, and wise +therein, where he holdeth not the helm of the state,—that there, all +human wisdom, however great, all laws, all ordinances, all might, all +arms, all preparations are vain.</p> + +<p>In the next place, the Psalmist saith, that where God blesseth not a +domestic household, where he giveth not concord between husband and +wife, success and happiness in the bringing up of children, diligence +and faithfulness to men-servants and maid-servants; there, all labour +and industry and toil are vain: concerning all which I have spoken +more largely in my more full commentary on this psalm.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The sundry blessings which follow them that fear God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>is</i> every one that feareth the L<small>ORD</small>; that walketh in his +ways.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy <i>shalt</i> thou <i>be</i>, +and <i>it shall be</i> well with thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy wife <i>shall be</i> as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: +thy children like olive-plants round about thy table.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of +Jerusalem all the days of thy life.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, <i>and</i> peace upon Israel.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of consolation, wherein the Psalmist extols, with the +highest praises, marriage, as a holy and godly kind of life, +instituted of God himself. The Holy Spirit here comforts and +encourages all husbands and wives with a divine consolation; and +confirms and fortifies them against all those wrong cogitations and +thoughts of human reason; which reason does not look at what good +there is in marriage, but only beholds and exaggerates what of evil +there may be in it; and thus blasphemes the glorious work of God in +the two sexes. Hence, here arises all those blasphemous sayings among +the heathen: ‘There are three great evils in life; fire, water, and +woman.’ But Solomon saith, “He that findeth a wife findeth a good +thing.”</p> + +<p>This Psalm reminds husbands and wives that they should not look at the +labours, the troubles, the cares, or the various temptations and +trials which are to be endured in marriage; but that they should +rather keep their eyes fixed on the word and will of God; from which +they ought to hold themselves assured that marriage was not a human +invention, nor a matter casually contrived of men; but that the whole +human race were, from the beginning, created and formed of God, man +and woman, and that neither of the sexes, nor their design can or +ought to be altered or changed by men, by the devil, or any other +creature, any more than the sun and moon and their offices can or +ought to be altered or changed.</p> + +<p>God, saith the scripture, created them male and female, and blessed +them. Marriage, therefore, is that kind of life, which, as being the +creation and institution of God, greatly pleases him. If, therefore, +thou shalt obey God herein, and shalt keep the eyes of thy faith fixed +on the good, and on the blessings of marriage; if thou shalt obey the +commandment and the call of God in taking to thyself a wife, the sexes +created of God will not be vile, but precious in thy sight: and all +the little troubles and trials of marriage shall be drowned and lost +in that divine blessedness,—the knowing that God favours husbands and +wives, and is present with them; that the joining of marriage is one +of his own works; and that he provides for, and defends those who are +joined together.</p> + +<p>To fortify thyself, therefore, against all that blasphemy of human +reason and of the devil, by which they condemn marriage, hold thou +fixed in thine heart that heavenly word, “And the Lord made them male +and female, and said, Be fruitful and multiply.” And if thou fear the +Lord thou shalt be happy, and it shall be <i>well with thee</i> in +marriage, even though the virulent and blaspheming mouth of the devil, +and the whole world together with him, should say it shall be <i>evil +with thee!</i></p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God for saving Israel in their great +afflictions.—The haters of the church are cursed.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not +prevailed against me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them be as the grass <i>upon</i> the house-tops, which withereth afore +it groweth up:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that bindeth sheaves, +his bosom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the L<small>ORD</small> <i>be</i> upon you; +we bless you in the name of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the people of Israel give +thanks unto the God of Israel for his deliverances and consolations of +every kind: seeing that from the beginning he had often mightily and +marvellously delivered them from the hand of their enemies, as we have +it recorded in the books of Judges and Kings; where we find that the +Israelites were often oppressed by the cruel power and tyranny of +their Gentile enemies, who afflicted them for a long time, and, as it +were, ploughed upon their backs (as the Psalmist saith) and made long +their furrows, and held them most cruelly under their yokes; until God +sent them a Saviour, and delivered them both from the ploughers and +the ploughs, and their yokes also.</p> + +<p>At the conclusion, the Psalmist prays against them; or rather, +prophesies that they shall perish, and shall be burnt up like grass +upon the house-tops; as it also came to pass: for all the enemies and +the nations that were adversaries unto Israel perished; but Israel +remained, and was afterwards lifted up with new consolations.</p> + +<p>In the same way also all the wicked and the enemies of God and of his +word, are like grass upon the house-tops; which flourishes, indeed, +like a thriving garden, as if it would remain; but before it is grown +up, it withers, is burnt up, and becomes of no use whatever. So also +the enemies of the word, and all erroneous teachers, when they are +shining in pride and magnifying themselves in their boastings against +God, wither on a sudden like the falling grass; while Christians and +the church of God flourish for evermore.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The Psalmist professeth his hope in prayer, and his patience in +hope.—He exhorteth Israel to hope in God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>: Lord, hear my voice: +let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If thou, L<small>ORD</small>, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But <i>there is</i> forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I wait for the L<small>ORD</small>; my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My soul <i>waiteth</i> for the Lord more than they that watch for the +morning: <i>I say, more than</i> they that watch for the morning.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let Israel hope in the L<small>ORD</small>: for with the L<small>ORD</small> <i>there is</i> mercy, and +with him is plenteous redemption.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a very blessed Psalm and a prayer unto God, proceeding from a +spirit and feeling of heart truly Davidical: for this Psalm confesses +that none is righteous before God on account of his own works and +merits, but only through grace and by faith in the promise of God, +freely giving the remission of sins and peace by Jesus Christ: on this +promise of God the Psalmist relies; and with this word of promise he +supports and comforts himself when struggling in the depths of sin and +hell.</p> + +<p>And he exhorts all Israel with a loud voice, to learn and to do the +same. “For (says the Psalmist) with thee only is mercy, and with thee +is plenteous redemption, that thou mayest be feared:” that is, that +thou mayest be worshipped with the worship of the first and greatest +commandment,—with the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. “And he +(continues the Psalmist) shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities;” +that is, neither Israel, nor any man, shall be delivered from sin, +from the power of the devil, and from death, in any other way than by +the grace and the free remission of sins: but he shall, without these, +remain in the deep; that is, in the kingdom of sin, death, and the +devil, and under the wrath of God.</p> + +<p>Behold in how few words this Psalm expresses the most glorious things! +The Psalmist is a truly great teacher of divine truths, and of the +whole sum of godliness. He has a clear and thorough view of those +glorious promises. “I will put enmity between thee and the serpent, +and between thy seed and his seed: thou shalt bruise his head:” and, +“In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” The +Psalmist wraps up both these promises in that one verse, “And he shall +redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David professing his humility, exhorteth Israel to hope in God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of Degrees of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I +exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of +his mother: my soul <i>is</i> even as a weaned child.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let Israel hope in the L<small>ORD</small>, from henceforth and for ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is also a blessed Psalm, containing, in a few brief words, the +same most important doctrine which was taught also in the preceding +Psalm,—that we are not to trust in our own righteousness or works: and +it attacks all proud and arrogant hypocrites, who, by human strength, +attempt works beyond all human powers, namely to pacify God; and +understand not the power of grace nor the remission of sins; but +endeavour to pacify God by their own works.</p> + +<p>“My heart is not lifted up,” (saith the Psalmist); as if he had said, +Those proud saints (as they imagine themselves) being ignorant of all +trials and temptations, and spiritual things, trust greatly in their +own works, and know not what sin is, nor what the anger and judgment +of God are. But I, being broken down and humbled by these things, know +what they are. For whenever I leave off to trust closely and wholly to +the promise of grace; as often as I cease to suck the breast of mercy +and promised pardon, my rest is gone, and I begin to weep and howl +with distresses and straits of conscience; just as a little +newly-weaned infant cries unceasingly, night and day, for the breast +of its mother which it has lost.</p> + +<p>The sum therefore of all true religion and godliness is this, “Let +Israel hope in the Lord:” that is, there is no other salvation, there +is no other consolation, there is no other sure peace of conscience +for any mortal, than the apprehending and embracing the promise of +grace. Take care, therefore, that thou neglect not this true mother’s +breast for thy soul; take heed that thou lose it not out of thy mouth; +for this breast alone is that which can relieve, refresh, and quiet +thirsting and sinking consciences, in any of their agonies on account +of sin. Christ alone is eternal life, peace, and consolation!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David in his prayer commendeth unto God the religious care he had for +the ark.—His prayer at the removing of the ark, with a repetition of +God’s promises.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Song of Degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, remember David, <i>and</i> all his afflictions;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How he sware unto the L<small>ORD</small>, <i>and</i> vowed unto the mighty <i>God</i> of +Jacob;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into +my bed;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will not give sleep to mine eyes, <i>or</i> slumber to mine eyelids,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Until I find out a place for the L<small>ORD</small>, an habitation for the mighty +<i>God</i> of Jacob.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah; we found it in the fields of the wood.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We will go into his tabernacles; we will worship at his footstool.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Arise, O L<small>ORD</small>, into thy rest; thou and the ark of thy strength.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints +shout for joy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> hath sworn <i>in</i> truth unto David, he will not turn from it; +Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall +teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne for +evermore.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> hath chosen Zion: he hath desired <i>it</i> for his +habitation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>This <i>is</i> my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with +bread.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall +shout aloud for joy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for +mine anointed.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown +flourish.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer, in which Solomon and the people of Israel beg +of God to preserve the priesthood and the kingdom: that is, that he +would maintain the true religion, the true worship of God, and a +prosperous and happy state of the kingdom among that people. In a +word, it is a prayer to God that he would be pleased to preserve the +ministry of the word above all things; and then also the laws, the +magistrates, and the public peace: for where these two things, the +word and the laws, are rightly constituted and preserved, there all +things go well with a kingdom.</p> + +<p>In the eleventh verse, the Psalmist, turning his eye, as it were, to +the promise, feels the fullest assurance that he is heard. For God had +promised by oath that he would dwell in that place, namely, in +Jerusalem or Zion; and would bless both the priesthood and the +kingdom, if they would keep the commandments of their God, and obey +him.</p> + +<p>Why the Psalmist calls, in the sixth verse, this habitation of God, +Jerusalem, “Ephratah,” and “the fields of the wood,” is explained in +my more full commentary elsewhere, on these “Psalms of Degrees.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The benefit of the communion of saints.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Behold, how good and how pleasant <i>it is</i> for brethren to dwell +together in unity!</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is</i> like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon +the beard; <i>even</i> Aaron’s beard; that went down to the skirts of his +garments;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>As the dew of Hermon, <i>and as the dew</i> that descended upon the +mountains of Zion: for there the L<small>ORD</small> commanded the blessing, <i>even</i> +life for evermore.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm contains an important doctrine, and an exhortation unto +concord in the church, and also in the state; and especially an +exhortation unto unity in the Spirit; concerning which Paul speaks, +Phil. ii.; and also, it exhorts unto agreement in doctrine, and unto +peace in general. Let the wise, the strong, and the holy, (the +Psalmist would say,) bear with and support the simple, the +weak-minded, and the infirm; which is indicated and implied by the two +similitudes of “ointment” and “dew.”</p> + +<p>The Psalmist alludes to the priesthood and the kingdom. For divine +harmony and agreement in the priesthood, or in the doctrine of the +truth, is a great and lovely gift of God, and diffuseth a fragrance +like precious ointment; and this fragrance descendeth or runneth down; +that is, unity in the doctrine of truth, runs down from the high +priest Aaron, down his beard, and even unto the skirts of his +clothing; that is, down to all other teachers of the truth.</p> + +<p>And this “dew of Hermon” signifies literally that dew which revives +the flower of Lebanon; and, spiritually, the concord of Lebanon; that +is, of Jerusalem. For, as the natural dew fructifies Lebanon, and all +the places near unto Lebanon, so concord in divine and spiritual +things causes a kingdom to flourish and prosper.</p> + +<p>Wherever, therefore, concord in a state and in its church flourishes, +there God dwells with all his grace and blessing; but where there are +dissensions, divisions, and discord, there is the dwelling of Satan.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXIV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to bless God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A song of degrees.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Behold, bless ye the L<small>ORD</small>, all <i>ye</i> servants of the L<small>ORD</small>, which by +night stand in the house of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Lift up your hands <i>in</i> the sanctuary, and bless the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small>, that made heaven and earth, bless thee out of Zion.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This again is a very short and brief Psalm, but it contains a most +blessed doctrine. It teaches and exhorts priests and Levites, to +perform the duties of their office diligently, and to be constant and +careful in the worship of God; that they be instant day and night in +teaching and exhorting by the word; as Paul exhorteth Timothy to the +continual preaching of the word; saying, “be instant in season and out +of season.” As if he had said, Be thou ever at the duty of thy office; +teach, exhort, rebuke; exercise both thyself and others unto godliness +by a constant preaching of the word; and continue therein, even though +some be turned unto fables, and others despise thee.</p> + +<p>For where the pure word of God is not sought and learnt, there, most +certainly, is no worship of God; there, of necessity, perishes all +true religion; and there as surely perishes also, the good and +prosperity of the nation; which is certainly either deserted of God, +or involved in darkness, errors, and the power of the Devil. But where +the word of God continues in truth, and the scriptures are rightly set +forth, there God gives his blessing. And although Satan will there +greatly oppose himself to, and will afflict both the church and the +state; yet God, who made the heavens and the earth, and who is +therefore greater than all creatures and the Devil also, preserves +that state and that church; and, on account of their holding fast his +name and his word, he saves them, even though they be ungrateful and +unworthy of his salvation.</p> + +<p>Let all ministers, and preachers, and bishops therefore, know, that +this Psalm, beginning “Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of +the Lord,” &c. pertains unto them; teaching them to know that the +highest worship of God is the preaching of the word; because, thereby +are praised and celebrated the name and the benefits of Christ.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God for his mercy, for his power, for his +judgments. The vanity of idols. An exhortation to bless God.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. Praise ye the name of the L<small>ORD</small>; praise <i>him</i>, O ye +servants of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Ye that stand in the house of the L<small>ORD</small>, in the courts of the house of +our God,</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise the L<small>ORD</small>; for the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> good: sing praises unto his name; +for <i>it is</i> pleasant.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> hath chosen Jacob unto himself, <i>and</i> Israel for his +peculiar treasure.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For I know that the L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> great, and <i>that</i> our L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> above +all gods.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whatsoever the L<small>ORD</small> pleased, <i>that</i> did he in heaven, and in earth, in +the seas, and all deep places.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh +lightnings for the rain: he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Who</i> sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon +Pharaoh, and upon all his servants.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; Sihon king of the +Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And gave their land <i>for</i> an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his +people.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy name, O L<small>ORD</small>, <i>endureth</i> for ever; <i>and</i> thy memorial, O L<small>ORD</small>, +throughout all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> will judge his people, and he will repent himself +concerning his servants.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The idols of the heathen <i>are</i> silver and gold, the work of men’s +hands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see +not;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have ears, but they hear not: neither is there <i>any</i> breath in +their mouths.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They that make them are like unto them: <i>so is</i> every one that +trusteth in them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, O house of Israel: bless the L<small>ORD</small>, O house of Aaron:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bless the L<small>ORD</small>, O house of Levi; ye that fear the L<small>ORD</small>, bless the +L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Blessed be the L<small>ORD</small> out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise +ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a Psalm of thanksgiving; exhorting all priests and +ministers of the word to preach and to praise God in his great and +marvellous works, done in Egypt and in the land of Canaan, that the +people might not forget God and his wonderful works, and be turned +unto idols, and false kinds of worship; which very soon takes place +through security or contempt; where the word of God is not taught +diligently and with a great willingness and fervor of heart; as we +have already seen in the preceding Psalm.</p> + +<p>But where God judges a people; as the Psalmist sets it forth, verse +14; that is, when God by the mouth of his ministers, judges and +condemns our sin; there he manifests his grace unto us; there is a +ground of firm consolation for afflicted consciences; there God is +found and known, (for he is found in no other places and doctrines +than these!) there, to a certainty, he will be propitious and merciful +to his servant. But, where the word of God is not; there God is +silent; for where he doth not preach, he doth not judge; and there, to +a certainty, is the wrath of God and blindness. “Therefore,” (as saith +the Psalmist) “Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, all ye +servants of the Lord:” that is, preach the word and explain it, with +all diligence; and proclaim the works of the Lord.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXVI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to give thanks to God for particular mercies.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the L<small>ORD</small>; for <i>he is</i> good: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O give thanks to the L<small>ORD</small> of lords: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him that made great lights: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The sun to rule by day: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him that smote Egypt in their first-born: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> +for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And brought out Israel from amongst them: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>With a strong hand, and with a stretched-out arm: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him which divided the Red Sea into parts: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> +for ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy +<i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To him which smote great kings: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And slew famous kings: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Even</i> an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> +for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy <i>endureth</i> for +ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a blessed and general thanksgiving for the infinite, +unspeakable, and never-failing mercies of God, both with respect to +the body and the soul. In this golden and glorious Psalm, the +Psalmist’s design is to embrace and set forth a summary, as it were, +to all priests and ministers of the word; as a pattern for the subject +matter of all sermons, exhortations, and Psalms to be delivered to the +people: that all false and wicked doctrine might be avoided, and also +all false worship of God; and that God might be worshipped truly with +that worship required by the first commandment of the Decalogue.</p> + +<p>For this ought to be the sum and substance of all true worship,—“Let +us praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever:” +that is, praise, laud, and proclaim, without ceasing, the infinite +largeness of his grace. Learn ye, from his word, that as he hath +promised, so he is ever present with us, and continually bestows his +blessings upon us; and that the riches of his goodness are boundless +and inexhaustible.</p> + +<p>To fortify our hearts, therefore, against the devil, (whose whole aim +and employment is to destroy in our hearts faith in God, and the +knowledge of his goodness and mercy, and to cast us under doubting and +sorrow,) the Psalmist repeats this holy sentence at the end of every +verse—“For his mercy endureth for ever:” by which words, so often +repeated, the holy man wishes to impress and fix on our hearts the +doctrine of grace and the worship of the first commandment: as if he +had said, it is the infinite goodness of God, and not any human works +or merits of your own, that has done all these wonderful things for +you. It is the pure and unspeakable greatness of God’s goodness and +grace, that pours forth all these things upon you, and therefore they +are poured forth upon you freely and without any merit or deserving of +yours, and even while you are wholly undeserving of such mercies.</p> + +<p>In this repeated expression also the Psalmist refers, after the manner +of the prophets, to the promise of Christ to come; for it was from no +works of men, nor from any merit of theirs, that the promise of Christ +was given unto Abraham, which said, “In thy seed shall all the nations +of the earth be blessed.”</p> + +<p>Learn, thou, therefore, to rehearse and impress upon thine own heart, +and on the hearts of others also, this repeated conclusion of each +verse; that it may be a bulwark for thee against the devil, who is +ever maliciously jeering our temptations, and saying, that it is not +the <i>mercy</i> of God, but his <i>judgment</i>, that “endureth for ever.” +Hypocrites and enthusiasts sing not, nor can sing, this blessed +conclusion of the verses, “For his mercy endureth for ever.” They can +only sing, ‘For our goodness endureth for ever.’ But do thou, +Christian brother, hold fast this doctrine of a Davidical heart; the +truly divine and heavenly doctrine of the remission of sins; a +remission “enduring for ever,” and which sin can never destroy; which +alone overcomes the devil and all errors, and which alone can give the +conscience rest under all temptations, and the agonizing conflicts of +death.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXVII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The constancy of the Jews in captivity.—The prophet curseth Edom and +Babel.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we +remembered Zion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and +they that wasted us <i>required of us</i> mirth, <i>saying</i>, Sing us <i>one</i> of +the songs of Zion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How shall we sing the L<small>ORD’S</small> song in a strange land?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget <i>her cunning</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my +mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Remember, O L<small>ORD</small>, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who +said, Rase <i>it</i>, rase <i>it, even</i> to the foundation thereof.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy <i>shall he be</i>, +that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Happy <i>shall he be</i>, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against +the stones.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer in the persons of the captives of Babylon; +whether we understand it as having been written after the captivity, +or before it in the way of prophecy. The captives here pray for the +city of Jerusalem; that is, for the place of the word and the worship +of God; for all these things had been destroyed by the Babylonians.</p> + +<p>This Psalm shows us that the first concern of all that fear and know +God should be the preservation of a place for the ministration of the +word, and for the true religion and true worship of God. For, as here, +when Jerusalem is destroyed, Babylon and Edom, and all other wicked +nations rejoice, and triumph over the grief and the tears of the +people of God, which adds great bitterness to their afflictions. But +such enemies shall never enjoy their triumph unpunished of God. They +themselves shall be laid waste in their appointed time, and shall be +utterly overthrown and laid in ruins and in ashes; their flourishing +youth shall be destroyed by the sword, their children shall be dashed +against the stones, and neither age nor sex shall find mercy. But +Israel and the people of God shall remain for evermore. In this manner +fell Babylon, that queen of nations: and in the same manner also shall +fall all the Babylonians and Edomites in our day, who rejoice, like +their forefathers, in the afflictions and calamities of the true +church of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David praiseth God for the truth of his word.—He prophesieth that the +kings of the earth shall praise God.—He professeth his confidence in +God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing +praise unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy +lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word +above all thy name.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, <i>and</i> strengthenedst me +<i>with</i> strength in my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O L<small>ORD</small>, when they hear +the words of thy mouth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the L<small>ORD</small>: for great <i>is</i> the glory +of the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though the L<small>ORD</small> <i>be</i> high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the +proud he knoweth afar off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt +stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy +right hand shall save me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> will perfect <i>that which</i> concerneth me: thy mercy, O L<small>ORD</small>, +<i>endureth</i> for ever: forsake not the work of thine own hands.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of general thanksgiving unto God for all his help +against enemies: and it prays that the kingdom of Christ may come; and +it prophesies also that even kings and nations shall hear the gospel, +shall render thanks unto God for the same, and shall know and worship +him in truth; and shall acknowledge the eternal kingdom of Christ, +namely, his exaltation over all things, and over every name that is +named; and that he succours, helps, and saves humble, tempted, and +afflicted sinners.</p> + +<p>In the conclusion of the Psalm, the Psalmist prays, “Forsake not the +work of thine own hands;” that is, Raise up, establish, and preserve +this promised kingdom of Christ, for the sake of which thou hast +chosen this people.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXXXIX.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David praiseth God for his allseeing providence, and for his infinite +mercies.—He defieth the wicked.—He prayeth for sincerity.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>O L<small>ORD</small>, thou hast searched me, and known <i>me</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my +thought afar off.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted <i>with</i> +all my ways.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For <i>there is</i> not a word in my tongue, <i>but</i>, lo, O L<small>ORD</small>, thou +knowest it altogether.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Such</i> knowledge <i>is</i> too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot +<i>attain</i> unto it.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy +presence?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I ascend up into heaven, thou <i>art</i> there: if I make my bed in +hell, behold, thou <i>art there</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>If</i> I take the wings of the morning, <i>and</i> dwell in the uttermost +parts of the sea;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be +light above me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the +day: the darkness and the light <i>are</i> both alike <i>to thee</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s +womb.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will praise thee; for I am fearfully <i>and</i> wonderfully made: +marvellous <i>are</i> thy works; and <i>that</i> my soul knoweth right well.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, <i>and</i> +curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book +all <i>my members</i> were written, <i>which</i> in continuance were fashioned, +when <i>as yet there was</i> none of them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the +sum of them!</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>If</i> I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when +I awake, I am still with thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, therefore, ye +bloody men.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For they speak against thee wickedly, <i>and</i> thine enemies take <i>thy +name</i> in vain.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Do not I hate them, O L<small>ORD</small>, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with +those that rise up against thee?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And see if <i>there be any</i> wicked way, and lead me in the way +everlasting.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a high and glorious Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the +Psalmist, with a marvellous fervour of spirit, touches on that +all-high matter,—God’s predestination of all things; and proclaims +that incomprehensibleness of the divine wisdom and goodness, whereby, +in a wonderful manner, he himself and all men, with all their affairs, +all their works and all their thoughts, both the greatest and the +least, were predestinated of God from everlasting. This manifold +wisdom of God is incomprehensible to flesh and blood!</p> + +<p>“Thou, O Lord (saith the Psalmist) hast searched me out and known me; +thou knowest me altogether; thou understandest my thoughts long before +they are conceived by me. Wherever I move, whithersoever I go, thou +surroundest me on every side; and being ever present with me, thou +beholdest all my undertakings, and my works, and my ways, and all that +I think of doing or undertaking. There is no speech, not even the +least word, upon my tongue, but thou, O God, knowest it, before I +utter it. Thine eyes beheld me, when yet imperfect in my mother’s +womb; and thou didst wonderfully form and fashion me there.” And (ver. +6) the Psalmist exclaims, “Such knowledge is too high and wonderful; +no mortal thought can attain unto it.”</p> + +<p>Here, it is as if the Psalmist had said, it is not in the capacity or +powers of any mortal to think or determine how he will lead his life, +what he will undertake, what he will do, what he will speak, what he +will think, where he will go, or to, or from, or in what place he will +turn; but all our acts, motions, and thoughts, are nothing less than +the works of God ever present with us, doing and ruling all things as +he will. And hence (ver. 19.) he utters his indignation against the +wicked; saying, “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.” Here he +burns with zeal against hypocrites, who, being ignorant of all the +works and words of God, and utterly blind and mad, ascribe all their +doings to their own works and merits.</p> + +<p>These mortals are perpetually putting forth and boasting of their own +ability and works, and are ever relying on their own doings and +merits, and ascribing unto themselves that glory which belongs to God +alone; whereas they have not one of their words in their own power, as +of, or from, themselves; but all their words and thoughts are in the +hand of God.—This glory, I say, they arrogate to themselves, when they +are all the while so far from the wisdom of God and his divine works, +that they neither know themselves nor any one part of themselves; nor +understand how they were formed or fashioned in the womb of their +mother; nor what their own body is, nor what are its properties and +organs; nor what their eyes are, nor what their brain is; nor what the +origin and nature of that motion is, by which their body is moved; +and, in a word, when they know not what the soul and this natural life +are; nor whence arise all those various motions and affections of the +mind within, nor how they are uttered outwards by the tongue.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, this whole that we are, and this all that we do, are +not our own wisdom or doing, but God’s; and since we cannot comprehend +these earthly things; since, I say, we neither can know nor do any one +of these earthly and corporal things, as of ourselves; how awful a sin +is that enormous arrogance, whereby we profess that we have so much +power in ourselves and in our free-will, that we can understand God, +and do his divine and spiritual works, and deliver ourselves from sin, +and death, and hell.</p> + +<p>Wherefore (ver. 20.) the Psalmist utters his holy indignation against +such hypocrites and teachers of human works and doings; saying, “Thine +enemies speak blasphemously against thee, O Lord, and they are proud +and lifted up against thee without cause. Guard thou me, and prove and +try me, that I may continue in the right way; the way that is true and +eternal;” that is, in the way of the knowledge of the word of thy +grace.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXL.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth to be delivered from Saul and Doeg.—He prayeth against +them.—He comforteth himself by confidence in God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Deliver me, O L<small>ORD</small>, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent +man;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which imagine mischiefs in <i>their</i> heart: continually are they +gathered together <i>for</i> war.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison <i>is</i> +under their lips. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Keep me, O L<small>ORD</small>, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the +violent man, who have purposed to overthrow my goings.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords: they have spread a net +by the way-side: they have set gins for me. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I said unto the L<small>ORD</small>, Thou <i>art</i> my God: hear the voice of my +supplications, O L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>O G<small>OD</small> the L<small>ORD</small>, the strength of my salvation; thou hast covered my +head in the day of battle.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Grant not, O L<small>ORD</small>, the desires of the wicked; further not his wicked +device, <i>lest</i> they exalt themselves. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>As for</i> the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of +their own lips cover them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into +deep pits, that they rise not up again.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt +the violent man to overthrow <i>him</i>.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I know that the L<small>ORD</small> will maintain the cause of the afflicted, <i>and</i> +the right of the poor.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright +shall dwell in thy presence.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is an ardent prayer against those hypocrites, who not only +cause many offences, and lay many nets and snares for them that go on +the right way, but proceed with terrible threats and unceasing cruelty +against all who will not approve and follow their errors and wicked +ways.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist therefore here prays that God would be pleased to +disappoint their counsels and purposes, and all the wicked plots which +they form, and devise, and to turn them on themselves and on their own +heads; that all these enemies of the people of God may perish with +that horrible judgment with which Pharaoh perished in the Red Sea, +who, being at the same time struck with lightning from heaven, and +overwhelmed with the waves of the sea, was utterly destroyed.</p> + +<p>This Psalm affords an abundant consolation to the godly; as the +Psalmist saith in its conclusion, “The wicked shall fall into their +own nets, whilst that I at all times escape.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLI.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David prayeth that his suit may be acceptable, his conscience +sincere, and his life safe from snares.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, +when I cry unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let my prayer be set forth before thee <i>as</i> incense; <i>and</i> the lifting +up of my hands <i>as</i> the evening sacrifice.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Set a watch, O L<small>ORD</small>, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Incline not my heart to <i>any</i> evil thing, to practise wicked works +with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the righteous smite me; <i>it shall be</i> a kindness: and let him +reprove me; <i>it shall be</i> an excellent oil, <i>which</i> shall not break my +head: for yet my prayer also <i>shall be</i> in their calamities.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my +words; for they are sweet.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and +cleaveth <i>wood</i> upon the earth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>But mine eyes <i>are</i> unto thee, O G<small>OD</small> the Lord: in thee is my trust; +leave not my soul destitute.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Keep me from the snares <i>which</i> they have laid for me, and the gins of +the workers of iniquity.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm also is a fervent prayer, wherein the Psalmist prays to be +delivered from wicked teachers, who pretend to speak of peace, and +craftily use soft and flattering words, after they have found that +they can prevail nothing by terrors and threats. “Let the righteous,” +saith he, “smite me:” that is, I had rather that true and faithful +teachers should rebuke and condemn me, and reprove my ways, than that +hypocrites should flatter me and applaud me as a saint.</p> + +<p>And farther, (saith the Psalmist) although I suffer affliction for the +sake of that true and sound doctrine to which I cleave, and though, by +afflictions returning again and again, my bones be broken in pieces +and scattered like clods of earth before the penetrating and dividing +plough; yet I had rather be reproved and smitten by godly and true +teachers, and so acknowledge my sin, and rest upon the promise of God, +than hear all the flattering words of those hypocrites who deceive +themselves and others; and who pretend to have peace with God, when +there is no such peace unto them. For all such teachers and their +hypocrisies shall be hurled, as it were, from a mighty precipice, and +they shall suddenly be dashed to pieces and shall perish together; +their glory shall be hurried into confusion, and their end shall be +utter destruction; and then it shall appear how bitter their pleasing +doctrine is.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David sheweth that in his trouble all his comfort was in prayer unto +God.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>Maschil of David; a Prayer when he was in the cave.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I cried unto the L<small>ORD</small> with my voice: with my voice unto the L<small>ORD</small> did I +make my supplication.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I poured out my complaint before him: I shewed before him my trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path; +in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I looked on <i>my</i> right hand, and beheld, but <i>there was</i> no man that +would know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I cried unto thee, O L<small>ORD</small>: I said, Thou <i>art</i> my refuge, <i>and</i> my +portion in the land of the living.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my +persecutors: for they are stronger than I.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous +shall compass me about; for thou shall deal bountifully with me.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is a prayer; wherein the Psalmist, being now surrounded +with peril on every side, cries unto God out of prison, as it were, by +reason of the great cruelty and malice of false teachers, who +persecuted him on account of the word.</p> + +<p>As the people of Israel were a stiff-necked people, their Cainish +malice and bitterness had so hardened them, that they stoned, +rejected, and killed the true prophets, on account of their preaching +of the word, and maintaining the true worship of God; and had given +themselves up to hypocrisy and idolatry; and all this, their histories +of them testify; as does Christ also, (Matt. xxiii.) and Stephen. +(Acts vii.)</p> + +<p>Hence, as these things were fully known, so we find most of the Psalms +grievously complaining of the cruel malice of false prophets and +hypocrites. And just in the same way, from the very beginning, +hypocrites and false teachers have afflicted the true church of God; +and the true saints in all ages found it necessary to cry unto God +continually, against all such hypocrites and Cainish pretenders to +saintship. All this is abundantly testified by the histories of the +times of Elijah and king Ahab and Jezebel; when all the true prophets +of the Lord were compelled to flee and to hide themselves, to escape +the furious cruelty of these adversaries; all which histories might +have been adduced as examples in this Psalm. And the recent times of +the Arian heresy afford also a plain example of the same persecution +and malice, when all the catholic bishops were compelled to flee; for +Satan neither can nor will endure the pure word of God!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLIII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David prayeth for favour in judgment.—He complaineth of his +griefs.—He strengtheneth his faith by meditation and prayer.—He prayeth for +grace, for deliverance, for sanctification, for destruction of his +enemies.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Hear my prayer, O L<small>ORD</small>; give ear to my supplications: in thy +faithfulness answer me, <i>and</i> in thy righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall +no man living be justified.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to +the ground: he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that hath +been long dead.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me: my heart within me is +desolate.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works: I muse on the +work of thy hands.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul <i>thirsteth</i> after thee, as +a thirsty land. Selah.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Hear me speedily, O L<small>ORD</small>; my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from +me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Cause me to hear thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in thee do I +trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up +my soul unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Deliver me, O L<small>ORD</small>, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Teach me to do thy will; for thou <i>art</i> my God: thy Spirit <i>is</i> good; +lead me into the land of uprightness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Quicken me, O L<small>ORD</small>, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake +bring my soul out of trouble.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that +afflict my soul: for I <i>am</i> thy servant.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a prayer, expressing the deep feelings of an afflicted and +agonizing conscience. The Psalmist, being in the midst of the sense +and peril of sin, and terrified at the judgment of God, begs of God +not to enter into judgment with him, and firmly cleaves to the promise +of mercy, and of the remission of sins. He complains, on the other +hand, of hypocrites and teachers of the law and of works; by means of +whom, as his instruments, the devil terribly harasses the godly, and +loads them with various trials and straits of mind and conscience, and +endeavours to draw them away from the certainty of the divine promise +unto doubt; in which state, consciences are horribly shaken with fear +and darkness, and the dread of the wrath of an unappeased God.</p> + +<p>“The enemy,” saith David, “hath persecuted my soul; he hath made me to +dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead; therefore my +spirit is overwhelmed within me.” Here David refers to those straits +into which consciences are cast by those who lay upon them burdens too +heavy to be borne, (as Christ saith concerning the Pharisees, Matt. +xxiii.) And yet will not so much as touch them with one of their +fingers. And hence this Psalm blessedly shows that there is no sure or +solid consolation for consciences, save for those who depend on the +promise of the free remission of sins, and on the word of God’s grace: +“Enter not,” saith David, “into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for +in thy sight shall no man living be justified.”</p> + +<p>That afflicted hearts and consciences can find rest in no other way +than this, all the scriptural histories bear witness. All the holy +patriarchs, from the beginning of the world, were justified before +God by the free, unmerited imputation of righteousness, and not by +their own works; as Peter also testifies (Acts xv.) concerning the +law, “Why tempt ye God; to lay upon us a yoke which neither we nor our +fathers were able to bear. But we believe that by the grace of our +Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, as they.”</p> + +<p>“I remember,” says David again, “the days of old, I meditate on the +works of thy hands;” as if he had added, ‘By these, thy works from the +beginning, I comfort and support myself in all my temptations: for all +the great saints from the beginning were saved, not by any merit of +their own righteousness, but by grace alone: they were delivered from +sin and from the wrath of God, by faith in Christ the promised seed: +as Abraham also was, by the same grace of God in Christ, called out of +idolatry.’ Joshua xxiv. 2, 3.</p> + +<p>Therefore God leaves here no ground for any mortal’s boasting in his +own works and merits: and yet, by this doctrine of works Satan hath +never ceased to distress and torment consciences, contrary to the +manifest words and works of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLIV.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>David blesseth God for his mercy both to him and to man.—He prayeth +that God would powerfully deliver him from his enemies.—He promiseth +to praise God.—He prayeth for the happy state of the kingdom.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>A Psalm of David.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Blessed <i>be</i> the L<small>ORD</small> my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, +<i>and</i> my fingers to fight:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my +shield, and <i>he</i> in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>L<small>ORD</small>, what <i>is</i> man, that thou takest knowledge of him! <i>or</i> the son +of man, that thou makest account of him!</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Man is like to vanity: his days <i>are</i> as a shadow that passeth away.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Bow thy heavens, O L<small>ORD</small>, and come down: touch the mountains, and they +shall smoke.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Cast forth lightning, and scatter them: shoot out thine arrows and +destroy them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Send thine hand from above; rid me, and deliver me out of great +waters, from the hand of strange children;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand <i>is</i> a right hand of +falsehood.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltry <i>and</i> an +instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>It is he</i> that giveth salvation unto kings: who delivereth David his +servant from the hurtful sword.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children, whose mouth +speaketh vanity, and their right hand <i>is</i> a right hand of falsehood:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>That our sons <i>may be</i> as plants grown up in their youth; that our +daughters <i>may be</i> as cornerstones, polished <i>after</i> the similitude of a +palace:</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>That</i> our garners <i>may be</i> full, affording all manner of store: +<i>that</i> our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our +streets:</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>That</i> our oxen <i>may be</i> strong to labour; <i>that there be</i> no breaking +in, nor going out; that <i>there be</i> no complaining in our streets.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Happy <i>is that</i> people that is in such a case: <i>yea</i>, happy <i>is that</i> +people whose God <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a blessed Psalm of thanksgiving for kings, princes, and all +magistrates. David here, as a king and a magistrate himself, who had +to govern the state and carry on wars, confesses that all prosperous +and happy government, all success at home and abroad, all the arts of +peace, and all victory in war, are the good gifts of God; and that a +man can no more effect these things by human wisdom or strength, or by +any ability of his own, than he can hold the millions of minds of +nations bound unto himself, and make their multitudes obey him alone: +for what could any mortal man do towards preserving whole kingdoms, +and cities, and provinces in quiet from sedition and commotions amid +all the infinite malice of the devil and the world? Every mortal man +would fail, like a vanishing shadow, before the thought of such an +undertaking.</p> + +<p>But the God of all majesty, as Isaiah saith, is the Lord of all the +kingdoms and kings of the earth. He, as Daniel saith, removes and +establishes kingdoms. That monarch of heaven and earth also taketh +down one king and sitteth up another. And he it is, who, in the time +of peace, curbs the wills and holds the minds of the multitude, and +stills all civil commotions like the waves of the sea, against all the +raised winds of the devil. And it is the same God also, who, in the +time of war, terrifieth the enemies of a nation, and maketh their +hearts to tremble, when he thunders in the heavens, when he touches +the mountains and great hills of nations and of peoples: he is +terrible; and who can stand before him? When he strikes the hearts of +the enemy with fear, it is easy for us to conquer. But what human +wisdom or power can strike this terror, or do or ordain such mighty +things?</p> + +<p>David then prays against the deeds of his own people, and rebukes +their ungodliness. The Israelites, because they had that especial +honour and glory of being the people of God, were above all people of +a stiff-neck; proud, seditious, avaricious, envious, unbelieving, and +disobedient; and all these things they manifested in their conduct to +Moses, to David himself, and to other godly kings. And although they +saw David, in the same manner as Moses before him, with the manifest +presence of God, and with great and divine miracles, governing the +state, and conducting wars successfully, in the midst of the assaults +of enemies on every side; yet falling into pride and security, from a +confidence in their high title, as the people of God; they showed +themselves to be no better than those of their forefathers, of whom +Moses saith, “Ye have always been a rebellious and stiff-necked people +before the Lord, from the day that I first knew you.” For the people +of David were carnally affected and ungodly; and were as if they had +said, ‘Command, and command again, if thou wilt; expect, and expect +still; and why dost thou preach unto us faith, whereas we all the +while continue in affliction? Those whom God favors, and to whom he +shows mercy, he blesses: to them he gives wives, children, riches, +houses, lands, and all things, and happiness in all things; and happy +are the people that are in such a case.’ Nor were false prophets +wanting, to dwell upon temporal promises in their preaching, and to +withstand the true prophets; denying that those were the favorites of +God who were not blessed with temporal prosperities; and saying that +all the saints of God were so blessed.</p> + +<p>Against these, therefore, David now most fervently prays, and +encourages himself in heart and in faith by his past experiences of +God’s mercies and deliverances. “If, (saith David,) thou hast aforetime +delivered me from the sword of Goliath, and hast given me the victory, +as thou hast done also unto other kings; so now defend me from this +ungodly, hardened, and unbelieving people; who neither regard God nor +his civil ministers; who care not with what evils a good king is +surrounded in his government, nor what perils of war prevail, nor what +blessings of peace are enjoyed; but are an ignorant and unfeeling +herd; the very dregs and sink of men: yea, very swine, who regard +nothing but their belly; whom it is more difficult to rule, than to +conduct the most fierce and perilous wars.” Exactly like unto these are +some of our nobles and citizens and countrymen now; who, for the sake +of their belly, trample and spit upon all true religion and good +learning; and indeed on all things human and divine.</p> + +<p>David here attacks these ungodly ones with a most severe rebuke; +calling them “strange children;” hereby cutting up that glorying of +theirs, wherein they boasted of being the children of Abraham, and the +peculiar people of God: and yet were all the while worse than any +heathen nation, and were false children and strangers; for they +honoured God with their mouth and with their lips, while their heart +was far from him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLV.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>David praiseth God for his fame, for his goodness, for his kingdom, +for his providence, for his saving mercy.</i></small></blockquote> + +<blockquote class="center"><small>David’s Psalm of praise.</small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever +and ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and +ever.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Great <i>is</i> the L<small>ORD</small>, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness <i>is</i> +unsearchable.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare +thy mighty acts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy +wondrous works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>And <i>men</i> shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will +declare thy greatness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and +shall sing of thy righteousness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> gracious and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of +great mercy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> good to all and his tender mercies <i>are</i> over all his +works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>All thy works shall praise thee, O L<small>ORD</small>; and thy saints shall bless +thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious +majesty of his kingdom.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thy kingdom <i>is</i> an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion <i>endureth</i> +throughout all generations.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all <i>those that be</i> +bowed down.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due +season.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living +thing.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> <i>is</i> nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call +upon him in truth.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear +their cry, and will save them.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he +destroy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>My mouth shall speak the praise of the L<small>ORD</small>: and let all flesh bless +his holy name for ever and ever.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a very blessed Psalm of thanksgiving for the kingdom and +dominion of Christ, which God was about to raise up among the people +of Israel: for it was on account of Christ, that this whole people was +from the beginning chosen out of all other nations; and on account of +Christ also that the law was given unto them, and the whole Mosaic +worship established.</p> + +<p>This Psalm also most especially urges forward that highest and most +excellent of all works, the peculiar and most glorious worship of God, +which the first table of the decalogue demands; that is, the sacrifice +of praise. The Psalmist in the most exalted expressions proclaims the +power of God, and his infinite mercy; which is above all his works.</p> + +<p>The whole Psalm presents to us a wonderful display of the eloquence of +the Holy Spirit; setting forth, by a great depth of feeling, and by a +luxuriant abundance of words and expressions, the glorious height of +the worship of God embraced in these words of the first commandment of +the decalogue, “I <small>AM THE</small> L<small>ORD</small> <small>THY</small> +G<small>OD</small>!” And the Psalm prays that men +may acknowledge the kingdom of Christ, “That thy power,” says David, +“may be known unto men, and the glorious majesty of thy kingdom:” that +is, that it may be known by the gospel, that there is no other +deliverance from the power of the devil, and from sin and eternal +death, than by faith in the word of thy mercy and grace, given unto us +in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>The power and kingdom of Christ lies hidden under the outward +appearance of the cross and of weakness; and the word of the gospel is +a contemptible doctrine with the wise and powerful of the world; for +“the gospel,” as Paul saith, “is the wisdom of God hidden in a +mystery.” And again, saith he, “Christ crucified, is, unto the Jews, a +stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.” But when this +kingdom is, by the preaching of the word, and by the teaching and the +confession of the saints, made known before the world, it is proved to +be the kingdom of God and the power of God.</p> + +<p>That which the Psalmist saith, (verse 14) pertains especially unto the +kingdom of Christ, which is a kingdom that “upholdeth all that fall, +and lifteth up all them that are down;” for Christ is the king of the +afflicted, of the poor, of the fallen; and the king who justifies +sinners and raises the dead: by whom God is reconciled unto us, and +hears us as a father; fulfilling the desire of them that fear him, and +feeding and clothing us whom the world hateth, and guarding and +defending us against the gates of hell.</p> + +<p>From a worshipping admiration therefore, of the largeness of the grace +of God, the Psalmist breaks out into this fervent wish and prayer, +“and let all flesh bless his holy name;” as if he had said, the +blessings and riches of the kingdom of Christ are immense and +unsearchable; as Paul also saith, “Thanks be unto God for his +unspeakable gift.”</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLVI.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The Psalmist voweth perpetual praises to God.—He exhorteth not to +trust in man.—God, for his power, justice, mercy, and kingdom, is only +worthy to be trusted.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. Praise the L<small>ORD</small>, O my soul.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>While I live will I praise the L<small>ORD</small>: I will sing praises unto my God +while I have any being.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Put not your trust in princes, <i>nor</i> in the son of man, in whom <i>there +is</i> no help.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day +his thoughts perish.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Happy <i>is he</i> that <i>hath</i> the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope +<i>is</i> in the L<small>ORD</small> his God:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein <i>is;</i> +which keepeth truth for ever:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the +hungry. The L<small>ORD</small> looseth the prisoners:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> openeth <i>the eyes of</i> the blind: the L<small>ORD</small> raiseth them that +are bowed down: the L<small>ORD</small> loveth the righteous:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and +widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> shall reign for ever, <i>even</i> thy God, O Zion, unto all +generations. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; and it contains a blessed doctrine; +namely, that we ought to trust in God, who alone can defend; and who +does defend faithfully all those that trust in him, and all those whom +the world hates and casts out. And the Psalm shows, that we ought not +to trust in any man, not even in kings or princes, nor in the mighty, +nor in the rich, as the world do. For (as the Psalmist saith) “it is +God alone that can mightily and gloriously deliver out of affliction,” +and all trust in man is deceitful and vain; for (to say nothing about +the vanity of such trust in all other particulars) no man knoweth any +thing certain respecting his own life!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLVII.</h3> + +<blockquote><small><i>The Prophet exhorteth to praise God for his care of the church, his +power, and his mercy:—to praise him for his providence:—to praise him +for his blessings upon the kingdom, for his power over the meteors, +and for his ordinances in the church.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>: for <i>it is</i> good to sing praises unto our God; for +<i>it is</i> pleasant, <i>and</i> praise is comely.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts +of Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by <i>their</i> +names.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Great <i>is</i> our L<small>ORD</small>, and of great power: his understanding <i>is</i> +infinite.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the +ground.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving: sing praise upon the harp unto +our God:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, +who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He giveth to the beast his food, <i>and</i> to the young ravens which cry.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure +in the legs of a man.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>The L<small>ORD</small> taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in +his mercy.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise the L<small>ORD</small>, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy +children within thee.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He maketh peace <i>in</i> thy borders, <i>and</i> filleth thee with the finest +of the wheat.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sendeth forth his commandment <i>upon</i> earth: his word runneth very +swiftly.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to +blow, <i>and</i> the waters flow.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto +Israel.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath not dealt so with any nation: and <i>as for his</i> judgments, they +have not known them. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a very blessed Psalm of thanksgiving for the various +unequalled and infinite mercies and gifts of God.</p> + +<p>In the first place, it thanks him for that especial mercy—his +regarding in, and miraculously delivering out of, afflictions, the +nations of Israel, his peculiar people, and the city of Jerusalem, +though placed in the midst of Gentile enemies.</p> + +<p>In the next place, it blesses God for that great and unspeakable +mercy, his giving throughout all the earth, to the godly and to the +ungodly, to the grateful and to the ungrateful, all necessary food and +gladness of heart, as Paul saith, Acts xiv. 17. “Filling the hearts of +men with food and gladness.”</p> + +<p>And more especially the Psalmist renders thanks unto God for his +refreshing, reviving, and comforting with his consolations, the hearts +of the godly when distressed and weakened by the devil, and burnt up, +as it were, by the greatness of the temptations; and for helping them +in all times of their temptation, affliction, and labour.</p> + +<p>Again, it thanks him for giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, +both unto the evil and unto the good; and for giving food unto men and +unto all the beasts of the earth; even so, that he suffereth not even +the ravens to hunger.</p> + +<p>And above all, the Psalmist gives thanks unto God, because he hears +and regards the godly, who call upon him; and that, especially in +Jerusalem; which is the place of his name and of his word; and because +he giveth Jerusalem, his city, civil peace, and a happy state of +government.</p> + +<p>Further, the Psalmist praises God for health of body and his blessing +therein, and for the good bringing up of children, and domestic order +and prosperity. And also for defence against all outward enemies, and +for the preservation of the boundaries of their land, and for national +peace and happiness. And, finally, he blesses God for the richness and +fertility of the land of Judah, and for the abundance of its fruits.</p> + +<p>The chosen people of God, and the elect places of his Zion have the +privilege, above all other nations, of being blessed with the word and +the worship of God. Wherefore they, above all others, show forth the +works of God and his wonders among the people. And all the creatures +of God, and his daily wonders, and blessings of rain, snow, dew, +frost, &c. are more clearly known where his word and worship are, than +among idolatrous nations, who have neither the prophets, nor the +Spirit, nor the word, nor see his works, though they daily enjoy his +creatures and all his heavenly gifts and mercies; on all which +abundant gifts and mercies they feed like swine; for as they are +ignorant of the word, they are altogether ignorant of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLVIII.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The Psalmist exhorteth the celestial, the terrestrial, and the +rational creatures to praise God.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small> from the heavens: praise him in +the heights.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that <i>be</i> above the +heavens.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them praise the name of the L<small>ORD</small>: for he commanded, and they were +created.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree +which shall not pass.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise the L<small>ORD</small> from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Fire and hail; snow and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the +earth:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Both young men and maidens; old men and children:</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them praise the name of the L<small>ORD</small>: for his name alone is excellent; +his glory <i>is</i> above the earth and heaven.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; +<i>even</i> of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye +the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of thanksgiving; wherein the Psalmist calls upon, and +exhorts all creatures, both in heaven and in earth, to praise God; +calling more especially on his saints, the children of Israel, among +whom is the word and the worship of God.</p> + +<p>In this Psalm you may remark this blessed doctrine, that all orders of +men, all kinds of life, which are created of God, are good,—that is, +kings, magistrates, judges, young men, old men, &c. For if to hold the +office of a magistrate and to hear and judge causes were of itself +wicked, then such magistrates could not call upon and praise God, nor +would the Holy Spirit exhort them in this Psalm to that praise of God. +And where there are magistrates and laws, kings and princes, there +also there are subjects, town-sergeants and constables. And there also +there must be artificers in the cities, and men-servants and +maid-servants, and countrymen, and soldiers, &c. And, again, where +there are young men and old men, there are also wives and children, +and so whole families and households.</p> + +<p>All these things are good and holy gifts of God, and by no means to be +condemned or refused, as the pope blasphemously saith they are. All +these things, moreover, show that their all-high and Almighty Creator +is good; and that all these his good creatures ought to speak his +praise, to sound it forth with thousands of tongues, and to celebrate +this infinite goodness and the countless and unspeakable mercies of +God!</p> + +<p>If, therefore, thou desirest, contrary to the blasphemous doctrine of +the pope, and all like him, to know how supremely good all the +creatures of God are, from the least of them even to the greatest of +them; then, suppose to thyself that one of these creatures, out of the +universal whole, were deficient or wanting, for one short moment; +suppose there were no fire or no sun for a moment’s space even; +suppose there were no women, no infantine offspring;—suppose, I say, +any deficiency of this kind: by this thought thou wilt immediately +feel that no one can sufficiently praise God, even for one of his +creatures? And how many creatures has he formed! What worlds of +goodness has he created!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXLIX.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>The prophet exhorteth to praise God for his love to the church, and +for that power which he hath given to the church.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. Sing unto the L<small>ORD</small> a new song, <i>and</i> his praise in +the congregation of saints.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be +joyful in their King.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him +with the timbrel and harp.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>For the L<small>ORD</small> taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek +with salvation.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their +beds.</blockquote> + +<blockquote><i>Let</i> the high <i>praises</i> of God <i>be</i> in their mouth, and a two-edged +sword in their hand;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To execute vengeance upon the heathen, <i>and</i> punishments upon the +people;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of +iron;</blockquote> + +<blockquote>To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his +saints. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This Psalm is also a Psalm of thanksgiving for that infinite goodness +of God, his being merciful to his people; and for assuring them, by +his word, and by his promises of his good will towards them; and that +he will hear them, regard them, and have mercy upon them. To which +immense goodness of God, no thanks of his people can be equal. And +that treasure of mercy, which is greater than the whole world unto +afflicted consciences,—that God freely promises to his people his +blessing, in the seed of Abraham, and the remission of sins; and does +not regard their unworthiness in the gift;—that treasure of mercy, I +say, is greater than the mind of man is capable of conceiving.</p> + +<p>This Psalm, therefore, (if we may so speak) is properly a Psalm of the +New Testament. Hence the Psalmist saith, “Sing unto the Lord a new +song:” showing that all praise is to be sung unto the king of Israel +and of Zion; whom all ought to laud with rejoicing, “upon their beds:” +that is, in the churches and temples where they meet for worship; as +the prophet Isaiah also mentions their temples, their altars, their +beds, and their couches, where Israel committed fornication; that is, +worshipped their idols.</p> + +<p>And that also pertains to the New Testament where the Psalmist saith, +“And a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the +heathen, and to bind their kings with chains.” This is not to be +understood simply of the Jews or of the Mahometans, with respect to +any earthly tyranny; but this is the vengeance promised in the +scriptures; which the seed of Abraham, that is, the Israelites and the +apostles, should execute by the sword of the Spirit, by which they +should destroy idolatry in so many nations, and should put to shame +the wisdom of the whole world, as the apostle Paul saith. 2 Cor. x.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>PSALM CXL.</h3> + +<blockquote class="center"><small><i>An exhortation to praise God with all kinds of instruments.</i></small></blockquote> +<br> + +<blockquote>Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the +firmament of his power.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent +greatness.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery +and harp.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed +instruments and organs.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding +cymbals.</blockquote> + +<blockquote>Let every thing that hath breath praise the L<small>ORD</small>. Praise ye the L<small>ORD</small>.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>This is a Psalm of praise, written for the people of Israel, (to +praise God in his holiness, or in his sanctuary): that is, to praise +him for that infinite and unequalled mercy, of erecting his sanctuary, +his tabernacle, his ark, his mercy-seat among the Israelites; and +thereby making Jerusalem the place of his dwelling. For God dwelt in +that place, the city of Jerusalem, as in the heaven of his habitation. +Hence other prophets call that people “the heavens,” and the place of +the habitation, of the name, and of the word of God. Because the +presence, the power, and the majesty of God are there, where he +manifests himself forth by his acts and his wonderful works.</p> + +<p>The Psalmist then mentions many musical instruments, which were used +by the people of Israel in their worship, according to the appointed +ceremonies of the Levitical worship and priesthood. But among +Christians and the people of the New Testament, the trumpet, psaltery, +the harp, the timbrels, are the gospel itself in the ministration of +the word.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>CONCLUDING ADMONITION.</h3> +<br> + +<p>I would, in conclusion, have all godly souls (whom Satan, without +ceasing, harasses with temptations,) to bear in mind that all the +laudatory Psalms, or Psalms of thanksgiving, are also promises of God, +designed to lift up, to sustain, and to refresh afflicted consciences, +and to furnish them with arguments against the devil; assuring them +that God is the God of peace, of life, of consolation, and not the God +of misery, cruelty, and damnation. For when David and other saints +thus joyfully, and with all possible abundance of expression, praise +God, they thereby show forth unto all the afflicted, that God never +forsakes his own in their temptations, but pities all such; and that +he gives them breathing-times in their conflicts, succours them in +their distresses, beholds their contrite hearts, gives them in due +time an end of their afflictions, delivers them from all evils, and +oft-times most sweetly and marvellously comforts them.</p> + +<p>Wherefore, every thanksgiving in the Psalms, is at the same time, a +promise of grace, and a sweet doctrine to the tempted and the +afflicted: because thereby is shown, by the example of David and of +others, that God regardeth the afflicted, heareth all that call upon +him, and giveth peace unto them in all the various afflictions under +which they labour.</p> + +<p>Learn thou well then how to gather, throughout the book of Psalms, the +blessed argument against the devil, contained in the words, “P<small>RAISE YE +THE</small> L<small>ORD</small>!” It was this that comforted David himself while praising +God: for they are not the dead that praise the Lord, nor they that are +swallowed up of sorrow, nor they that go down into hell!</p> + +<p>As therefore God ceaseth not, during this short and momentous life, to +try and prove his church, by causing her to undergo these many and +great offences, temptations, and afflictions, and these most bitter +hatreds of Satan and of the word; so he will, as surely, most +marvellously and excellently comfort her from heaven, and deliver her, +and save her!</p> + +<p>All, therefore, that believe, how many soever they be, and how many or +great soever their afflictions, are ever lifted up by the consolations +of God. And hence God will comfort us also, and all saints; and he +will open our mouths to praise him; that Satan may be confounded in +all his devices and in all his works, and that Jesus Christ, the Lord +our God, may be glorified! who, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, +liveth and reigneth, One God, blessed for evermore. Amen.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h4>THE PRINTER</h4> + +<blockquote class="center">TO THE GODLY READER, GREETING.</blockquote> +<br> + +<p>Behold, we here present unto thee, good Reader, the summary Commentary +of Doctor Martin Luther, collected from his mouth by those that heard +him, with all possible care and diligence. We could scarcely obtain +leave from the holy author to edit this commentary in his name: +because he felt that many things were wanting in this extemporaneous +explication, which a diligent writing down might have rendered more +perfect and more clear. But as he was satisfied that the sense and +substance of each Psalm were every where faithfully given, and that a +very important part of the true religion was here copiously handled; +he was, under these assurances, the more willing to overlook any thing +that might be wanting in the way of greater correctness, and loftier +language and expression.</p> + +<p>We hope, therefore, that this our labour will not be unacceptable to +the lovers of the Holy Scriptures and divine things. For they will +here see how blessedly this great man opened and taught the word of +God, and what his only aim and object were therein. And they will also +be the better enabled to judge of the writings of others. For while +others devote all their labours, pains, and aims, to thrust their +books upon the world; they never, in those books, touch in the least +upon those things which form the substance of the true religion! +Reader, farewell! May thy soul be blessed by our labour!</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<blockquote class="center"><small>PRINTED BY<br> +L. AND G. SEELEY, THAMES DITTON, SURREY.</small></blockquote> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75892 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + + diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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