up their mouth with fat; they speak proudly." Either way the meaning plainly is, that pride is the child of plenty, begotten by self-indulgence, which hardens the hearts of men against the fear of God and the love of their neighbours; rendering them insensible to the judgments of the former, and the miseries of the latter. Let every man take care, that, by pampering the flesh, he do not raise up an enemy of this stamp against himself.

11. They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the ground.

"They have compassed us in our steps;" that is, literally, Saul and his followers had watched, pursued, and at last hemmed in David and his men; "They have set, or fixed their eyes" upon us, to lay us prostrate upon the earth," or finally to make an end of us.

Such are our spiritual enemies; such is their

intention, and our danger.

12. Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

The similitude of a lion, either roaring abroad in quest of his prey, or couching in secret, ready to spring upon it, the moment it comes within his reach, is often employed by David, to describe the power and malice of his enemies. Christians cannot forget, that they likewise have an adversary of the same nature and cha. racter; one ever seeking whom, and contriving how, he may devour.

13. Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword; 14. From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from the 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 babcs.

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The Psalmist, having characterized those who pursued after him to take away his life, now entreats God to " arise," or appear in his cause, to 66 disappoint," or prevent" the enemy in his designs, and to "cast him down," to overthrow and subdue him. The next words may be thus rendered; "Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword, from men by thy hand, O Lord, from the men of the world;" the expressions, " sword, and hand of Jehovah," being frequently used to denote his power and vengeance. Then, or "mortals of the transitory world," from whom David prays to be delivered, are said to be such as have "their portion in this life," such as, in our Saviour's language, "have their reward" here, and are not to expect it hereafter; "whose bellies thou fillest with thy hid treasure ;"

whom thou permittest to enjoy thy temporal blessings in abundance, to "receive their good things" upon earth, and to "fare sumptuously every day;" as if it were to convince us, in what estimation we ought to hold the world, when we see the largest shares of it dealt out to the most worthless of the sons of Adam: "They are full of, or abound in children, and leave the residue of their substance to their babes;" after living in plenty, perhaps to a good old age, they leave behind them a numerous and flourishing posterity, who inherit their estates, and go on, as their fathers did before them, without piety to God, or charity to the poor. From these men and their ways, we have all reason to say with David, "Good Lord, deliver us:"

15. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy likeness.

Instead of setting our affections on things below, the prophet instructs us, after his example, to place all our happiness in the vision of God, and in that righteousness which leads to it; since the hour is coming, when we shall awake, and arise, after the divine similitude; when we shall be like God, for we shall see him as he is, and by seeing him shall be changed into the same image; and then shall every desire be satisfied with the fulness of joy, with the exceeding abundance of unutterable glory.

III DAY. EVENING PRAYER.

ARGUMENT.

PSALM XVIII.

This Psalm, as we are informed by the sacred history, 2 Sam. xxii. 1. was composed and sung by David, in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. It contains, ver. 1-3. an address of thanks to Jehovah; 4-6. a relation of sufferings undergone, and prayers made for assistance; 7-15. a magnificent description of the divine interposition in favour of the sufferer, and 16-19. of the deliverance wrought for him, 20-24. in consideration of his righteousness, 25-28. according to the tenor of God's equitable proceedings; 29-36. to Jehovah is ascribed the glory of the victory, which 37-42. is represented as every way complete, by the destruction of all opponents, and 43-45. the submission of the heathen; for these events, 46-50. God is blessed and praised. As the sublimity of the figures used in this Psalm, and the consent of ancient commentators, even Jewish as well as Christian, but above all, the citations made from it in the New Testament, do evince, that the kingdom of Messiah is here pointed at, under that of David; an application is therefore made of the whole

in the ensuing comment, to the sufferings, resurrection, righteousness, and conquests of Christ, to the destruction of the Jews, and conversion of the Gentiles. In a word, the Psalm, it is apprehended, should now be considered as a glorious epinikion, or triumphal hymn, to be sung by the church, risen and victorious in Christ her Head.

1. I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

Let us suppose king Messiah, like his illustrious progenitor of old, seated in peace and triumph upon the throne designed and prepared for him. From thence let us imagine him taking a retrospective view of the sufferings he had undergone, the battles he had fought, and the victories he had gained. With this idea duly impressed upon our minds, we shall be able in some measure to conceive the force of the words, "78, With all the yearnings of affection I will love thee, O Jehovah, my strength, through my union with whom, I have finished my work, and am now exalted to praise thee, in the name of a redeemed world." Whenever we sing this Psalm, let us think we are singing it in conjunction with our Saviour, newly risen from the dead; a consideration, which surely will incite us to do it with becoming gratitude and devotion.

2. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

In other words, explanatory of the figures here made use of, Through Jehovah it is, that I have stood immoveable amidst a sea of temptations and afflictions: he has supported me under my troubles, and delivered me out of them; his protection has secured me, his power has broken and scattered mine enemies; and by his mercy and truth am I now set up on high above them all.-How lovely these strains, in the mouth of the church militant! How glorious will they be, when sung by the church triumphant! It is observable, that the words, " in whom I trust," or, as the original has it, "I will trust in him," are referred to in the margin of our English Bible, as quoted from this verse by St. Paul, Heb. ii. 13. If it be so, the reader, by turning to the place, may furnish himself with a demonstration, that in the xviiith as well as in the xvith Psalm, David speaks in the person of Christ.

3. I will, or, did call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be, or, so was I saved from mine enemies.

As the Psalm so evidently throughout is a thanksgiving for past deliverances, the verbs in this verse seem to require the same rendering which is given to them below, at ver. 6. Jehovah is to be "called upon," both in adversity and in prosperity; in the former

with the voice of prayer, in the latter with that of praise. "Is any afflicted?" saith St. James, v. 13. “Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing Psalms."

4. The sorrows, or, cords of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men, or, Belial, made me afraid. 5. The sorrows, or, cords of hell, or, the grave, compassed me about: the snares of death prevent

ed me.

St. Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, says, when speaking of Christ-" Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it," Acts ii. 24. Now, "the Hebrew word 2, (as Dr. Hammond well observes on that place) signifies two things, a cord, or band, and a pang, especially of women in travail; hence the LXX. meeting with the word, Ps. xviii. where it certainly signifies Zoivia, cords or bands, yet have rendered it adives, pangs; and from their example here St. Luke hath used ras adivas Davars, the pains or pangs of death; when both the addition of the word cas, loosings, and xpare,oba, being holden fast, do show the sense is bands, or cords." From the passage in the Acts, with this learned and judicious remark upon it, we obtain not only the true rendering of the phrase "nan, cords or bands of death," but also something more than an intimation, that in the verses of our Psalm now before us, David speaks of Christ, that "the cords of death," those "bands" due to our sins, "compassed him about, and the floods of Belial," the powers of darkness and ungodliness, like an overwhelming torrent breaking forth from the bottomless pit, "made him afraid,” in the day of his agony, when the apprehensions of the bitter cup cast his soul into unutterable amazement, and he beheld himself environed by those "snares," which had captivated and detained all the children of Adam. David, surrounded by Saul and his blood-thirsty attendants, was a lively emblem of the suffering Jesus, and therefore the same description is applicable to both; as the words of the second Psalm, in like manner, celebrate the inauguration of the son of Jesse, and that of the Son of God.

6. 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.

David was in distress; David called upon Jehovah, the God of Israel, who dwelt between the Cherubim in the holy place; and by him the prayer of David was heard. Much greater was the distress of Christ, who likewise, as St. Paul speaks, "in the days of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was

heard," Heb. v. 7. his voice ascended to the eternal temple, his powerful cry pierced the ears of the Father everlasting, and brought salvation from heaven at the time appointed. The church also is distressed upon earth, she crieth, her cries are heard, and will be answered in the day of God.

7. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

At this verse the Prophet begins to describe the manifestation of divine power in favour of the Righteous Sufferer. The imagery employed is borrowed from mount Sinai, and those circumstances which attended the delivery of the law from thence. When a monarch is angry, and prepares for war, his whole kingdom is instantly in commotion. Universal nature is here represented as feeling the effects of its Sovereign's displeasure, and all the visible elements are disordered. The earth shakes from its foundations, and all its rocks and mountains tremble before the majesty of their great Creator, when he ariseth in judgment. This was really the case at the resurrection of our Lord from the dead; when as the Evangelists inform us, "there was a great earthquake," and the grave owned its inability any longer to detain the blessed body, which had been committed, for a season, to its custody. And what happened at the resurrection of Jesus, should remind us of what shall happen, when the earth shall tremble, and the dead shall be raised at the last day.

8. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it; or, fire out of his mouth devoured, with burning coals from before him.

The farther effects of God's indignation are represented by those of fire, which is the most terrible of the created elements, burning and consuming all before it, scorching the ground, and causing the mountains to smoke. Under this appearance God descended on the top of Sinai: thus he visited the cities of the plain; and thus he is to come at the end of time. Whenever therefore he is described as showing forth his power and vengeance for the salvation of his chosen, and the discomfiture of his enemies, a "devouring fire" is the emblem made choice of, to convey proper ideas of such his manifestations. And from hence we may conceive the heat of his wrath against the adversaries of man's salvation, when by raising his Son Jesus from the dead, he blasted their schemes, and withered all their strength.

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9. He bowed the heavens also, and came down and darkness was under his feet. 10. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly on the wings of the wind. 11. He made darkness his secret