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 Commandmont. It teaches us to trust in God both in prosperity and adversity, and patiently to wait for his

that is,

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: 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