seech him to turn his face, and to look upon them. When the soul, forsaking and forsaken by all earthly supports and comforts, finds herself in a state of desolation, and is experimentally convinced of her being, not in a paradise of delights, but in a vale of misery, then her visitation and deliverance are at hand.

"17. The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses."

As life is prolonged, troubles are generally enlarged,* till at length they take up what room there is in the heart. The last scene of the tragedy is the most calamitous. So it was in the life of our dear Master. And every man will sooner or later perceive that God alone can "bring him out of his distresses."

"18. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my

sins."

Affliction and pain, whether of mind or body, are the fruits of sin; and the pardon of sin is the first step towards the removal of sorrow. The latter is sent to beget in us a due sense of the former, in order to a deliverance from both. In the new earth "dwelleth righteousness;" and, for that reason, "there is no more sorrow, pain, nor crying," 2 Pet. iii. 13. Rev. xxi. 4.

19. Consider mine enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred."

As the evils we suffer are great, so the enemies we have to encounter are many. Their name is "legion:" and to their envy, hatred, and malice, there are no bounds. How unequal the combat, unless thou, O God, goest forth with us, by thy grace, conquering and to conquer !"

"20. O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee."

Preservation from sin, and deliverance from death, are two great gifts of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. For the latter clause, see ver. 2.

"21. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee." How many wishes do our hearts send forth after riches, honours, and pleasures how few after "integrity and uprightness:" yet these can "preserve" us, and those cannot. Absolute integrity and uprightness are the prerogatives of the King of righteousness: and it is his grace which makes us such as his mercy will accept. On him therefore let us "wait."

"22. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles."

In the common salvation all have an interest; and, for that reason, all should pray for it. The earthly David petitioned for Israel; the heavenly David ever continueth to intercede for the church; and every Christian ought to become a suppliant for his brethren, still looking and longing for that glorious day, when, by a joyful resurrection unto life eternal, God shall indeed"redeem Israel out of all his troubles."

PSALM XXVI.

ARGUMENT.

The party speaking in this Psalm, whether we suppose it to be the typical or the true David, the church or any member thereof, lying under the false accusations of calumny, 1, 2, 3. appealeth to God in behalf of injured innocence ; 4, 5. disclaimeth all connexion with wicked men ; 6, 7, 8. declareth a fixed resolution to adhere to the worship of God in the church, 9, 10. prayeth to

* Bishop Lowth, with some slight alteration of the text, thinks the rendering should be,

Coarctationes cordis mei dilata;

Et ex angustiis meis educ me.

See Merrick's Annotations.

be delivered from the ungodly; 11. again protesteth integrity, and 12. determineth to praise the Lord.

"1. Judge me O LORD, for I have walked in mine integrity; I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide."

We have here an appeal to God, in behalf of injured and calumniated innocence. This was the case of David, with regard to the accusations of Saul; of Christ, with regard to those of the Jews; and it is often the case of the church, and of good men in the world; for whose use this Psalm seems peculiarly calculated.

2. Examine me O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart." A trial of this sort might be desired by David, and may be desired by men, like him, conscious of their integrity, as to the particular crimes charged upon them by the malice of their enemies. Christ alone could ask such a trial at large, as being equally free from every kind and degree of sin; and certain of receiving additional lustre from the increasing heat of the furnace.

"3. For thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes; and I have walked in thy truth."

They who study, in order to copy the "loving-kindness" and the "truth" of God, may have confidence towards him, whose "truth" will not suffer him to be false to the promises which his "loving-kindness" prompted him to make.

"4. I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers. 5. I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked."

David, driven by Saul into a land of aliens, yet preserved himself from the contagion of idolatry. And happy the Christian who can say, that during the time of his banishment and pilgrimage, he hath escaped the pollutions that are in the world, namely, vanity and hypocrisy, evil practices, and wicked principles. Christ alone, like his emblem the light, passed through all things undefiled.

❝6. I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD; 7. That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works."

Instead of consorting with the heathen, David comforts himself with the future prospect of restoration to Jerusalem; of attending the service of God in the tabernacle; of performing the legal ablutions, in token of innocency thereby signified and of singing, before the holy altar, psalms of praise for his deliverance. The believing soul, in like manner, may find perpetual consolation, while she looks forward toward her return home from her exile in the world, to the Jerusalem above; her access to the fountain of life and purity; her employment of serving God in the eternal temple, and chanting forth, with angels and archangels, the new songs of the celestial Sion, for so great salvation.

"8. LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth; Heb. the place the tabernacle of thy glory."

With what ardent affection the banished prophet sighs for the beauty of holiness in the church, the most amiable object on earth, because the nearest resemblance of heaven, where is the true "habitation of God's house, and the tabernacle of his glory;" since of the heavenly Jerusalem, St. John tells us, that the "Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple," Rev. xxi. 22.

9. Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men; 10. In whose hand is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes."

In consideration of his integrity and piety, David beseeches God not to deliver him over into the hands of his unjust and bloody enemies, nor to reckon him in their number, Let our lot, O Lord, be among thy children. here, that it may be among them hereafter.

"11. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me."

The Christian's resolution, like that of the prophet, must be, to hold fast his "integrity" in the midst of his enemies, and not follow a multitude to do evil; as knowing, that the day of final "redemption and mercy" will come. 12. My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD."

The law of God is that "even place," that plain and direct path, in which the affections, which are the "feet" of the soul, must be immoveably fixed, so that nothing may induce her to swerve from the stability of her purpose, to the right hand or to the left. David, upon his return to his country, "blessed the Lord in the congregation" of Israel, by singing Psalms of praise and thanksgiving, and by the constant use of those very Psalms, the Lord is daily "blessed" in all Christian "congregations" throughout the world; yea, and he shall be so blessed to the end of time.

FIFTH DAY.-EVENING PRAYER.

PSALM XXVII,

ARGUMENT.

This Psalm containeth, 1—3. a declaration of trust and confidence in Jehovah amidst the dangers and tumults of war: 4. a longing desire of restoration to the city and house of God: 5, 6. a triumphant assurance of final victory and exaltation: 7-12. earnest prayer for support and protection; 13. a profession of faith, and its mighty power and comfort in affliction; 14. an exhortation to patience.

"1. 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?”

God is our "light," as he showeth us the state we are in, and the enemies we have to encounter; he is our "strength," as he enableth us by his grace, to cope with, and overcome them; and he is our salvation," as the author and finisher of our deliverance from sin, death, and Satan. All this he was to the blessed Person, whom David represented; and all this he will be to his faithful servants. "If God" therefore "be for us, who can be against us?" Rom. viii. 31.

"2. When the wicked, even mine enemies and foes, came upon me to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell."

The past time is often used, in the prophetical language, to intimate the certainty of the future. Faith sees the foe already vanquished, and the prey snatched from the jaws of the devouring lion.

"3. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear : though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."

What avails it, that the "host" of darkness is in arms, and the world taking the field against us, when the LORD is our light, and heaven our ally? "4. 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."

The victories of David ended in his restoration to Jerusalem, and the service of God: the victories of Christ terminated in his triumphant return to a better Jerusalem; and this ought to be the "one thing desired" by the Christian, that after his conquest over the body of sin, he may pass the unnumbered days of eternity in the courts of heaven, contemplating the beauty and the glory of his Redeemer.

"5. 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." The protection and consolation, experienced by believers of the church

militant, give them a taste of the loving-kindness of the Lord, and make them impatiently desirous of quenching their thirst at the fountain of divine pleasures, after they shall have been exalted upon the Rock of ages, from whence that fountain flows.

"6. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD."

These words, as they are supposed to be spoken by David, by Christ, or by the church, express their respective assurances, through faith, of final victory over their several enemies, with their determined resolution of singing hallelujahs to Jehovah for the same.

7. Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me."

From the assurances of faith it is always good to descend to the humiliation of prayer to God, who alone can grant unto us that one thing which we desire, and long after, while in the land of our captivity, and house of our pilgrimage. See ver. 4.

8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek."

The voice of God throughout the Scriptures exhorteth the believer to turn away from the delusive appearances of the creature, and to seek after Him who is "altogether lovely," until he behold" the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." To this voice the believer answers, like a welltuned instrument to the master's touch, declaring his resolution so to do.

9. 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."

The suppliant having determined to seek the face of God, here prayeth, that he would permit himself to be found, and to be seen; and that he would not, by hiding his face." cause the light of knowledge to become darkness, and the fire of charity to go out. The church dreadeth nothing so much as an eclipse of the "Sun of Righteousness."

"10. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up."

A time will come when the dearest earthly friends and relations can no longer be of any assistance to us.* The case of the church and of the soul is oftentimes compared to that of a poor, helpless, exposed orphan. Where worldly comforts end, heavenly ones begin. See Isa. xlix. 13. Matt. xxiii. 37. John ix. 35.

"11. Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies."

The child of God, learning to walk in the law of his heavenly Father, prayeth to be directed and strengthened from above, that the enemy may neither pervert his steps, nor triumph in his fall.

"12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty."

David had his enemies and false accusers; Christ also had his; and every child of God hath need to petition for deliverance from the great enemy of his salvation, the grand accuser of the brethren, who is ever breathing out malice and cruelty against the body and members of Christ. "13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."

"Faith" in the comfortable promises of God is the only sovereign cordial for a "fainting" spirit. Earth is the land of the dying: we must extend our prospect into heaven, which is the land of the " living," where the faithful shall "see" and experience evermore "the goodness of the Lord."

* As there seems to be some difficulty in supposing the Psalmist's parents to have" deserted" him, they might perhaps be said to have "forsaken" him (as Muis conjectures); that is, to have left him behind them, as being dead.-Merrick.

"14. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

The person speaking concludes with an apostrophe to his own soul, resulting from the confidence in God, expressed, ver. 1. from the desire and the hope of heaven, 4-13. and from the manifold pledges of the Divine love already received in this life: 5. the proper inference from all which considerations is this; that we should patiently wait on the Lord," till the few and evil days of our pilgrimage pass away, and we arrive at the mansions prepared for us in the house of our heavenly Father; till our warfare be accomplished, and terminate in the peace of God; till the storms and tempests of wintry time shall give place to the unclouded calm, and the ever-blooming pleasures of eternal spring.

PSALM XXVIII.

ARGUMENT.

This Psalm, like the xxiid, and many others, consisteth of two parts. For, 1-5. the true David appeareth in his state of humiliation and suffering; he prayeth for deliverance, and prophesieth the destruction of his enemies. 6-9. he singeth a sweet, though short hymn of triumph, and intercedeth for his church and people.

"1. 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."

The true David here maketh supplication, "with strong crying," to the Father, that he may not be suffered to continue, like other men, under the dominion of the "grave." The Christian prayeth, in the same words, to be delivered from the "pit" of corruption; and mightily should he "cry" to Jehovah, the "rock" of his salvation, until his prayer be heard and answered.

"2. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hand toward thy holy oracle."

Christ frequently interceded for his people, with his "hands lifted up toward heaven," in fervent prayer: and-"I will," saith the Apostle, "that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands," 1 Tim. ii. 8. Shall our Redeemer pray for us, and shall we not pray for ourselves?

"3. 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."

Christ, who alone is without sin, petitioneth that he may not be oppressed by sinners; he who is truth and love, prayeth to be preserved from the "false and malicious." Let us pray to be made like him; and, like him, to be delivered from evil, especially from the evil of a "lying and slandering" tongue.

4. 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. 5. Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hand, ye shall destroy them, and not build them up."

In these verses, as indeed in most of the imprecatory passages, the imperative and the future are used promiscuously; "Give them-render themhe shall destroy them." If therefore the verbs, in all such passages, were uniformly rendered in the future, every objection against the Scripture imprecations would vanish at once, and they would appear clearly to be, what they are, namely, prophecies of the Divine judgments, which have been since executed against the Jews, and which will be executed against all the enemies of Jehovah, and his Christ, whom neither the "works" of creation, nor those of redemption, can lead to repentance.

"6. Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my sup