Blg-S^^^^y ^)0 r/ PRINCETON, N. J. <^<.y. /J, /f .:ds.i.^.3o ;; .S/i^/y. Number SIXTY LECTURES ON THE SEVERAL PORTIONS OF THE PSALMS, AS THEY ARE APPOINTED TO BE READ IN THE MOENING AND EVENING SERVICES Cl^c Cl^urf]^ of iJrnglantr. THE EEY. EICHAKD BRUDENELL ^EXTON, DOMESTIC CHAPLAIN TO THE EARL OF CLARENDON, AND INCUMBENT OF ATHELINGTON AND CRETINGHAM, IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK. TUUSi: STIIAINS THAT ONCE DID SWEET IN ZION GLIDE. — BuiHS. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANi IPSWICH: FREDERIC PAWSEY. 1847. ii;i) i!v r. i'awsi;y, iiswini. GEORGE WILLIAM lUKDKKKIK, EARL OF CLARENDON, G.C.B. THIS VOLUME IS MOST RESPECTEULLV INSCKIHKJ), IX GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF NUMEROUS SUBSTANTIAL FAVOURS CONFERRED RV HIS NOBLE HOUSE AND BY HIMSELF, UPON THE AUTHOR, THROUGH A PERIOD OF MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS. PREFACE. These Lectures were commenced and continued under the hope, that with the Divine Blessing they might prove in their delivery hoth acceptable and profitable to the Church committed to the author's ministry : and having been spared to conclude them, he has reason for indulging a humble confidence that his labom- has not been in vain in the Lord. " An author may mite a book, ostensibly to give rehgious instruction. But it must not be forgotten, that the very same success which accomplishes good for the cause, brings honour to the labourer : and many an enterprizing and zealous workman will find, if he looks honestly at his heart, that the worldly feeling has far more than its fiiir share in the work."* By this feeling the Author of these Lectures might have been somewhat prompted to their pubhcation, though certainly not to their composition. But hear another cautionary monitor, neither less candid nor less modest than the one already quoted : " Omne enim artis et mentis humanae opus habet to ov, ad quod, non modo licet, sed etiam aliquo modo necesse est contendere : dum in ejus studio nimius non sis, et laudem consccutionis illius nimis afi'ectasse non videaris."t In venturing upon the doubtful issue of oflering his work to the notice of the Christian community at large, the Autlior may • /IlibotCs Corner Stone. f yVwyra/(//M— Paraphrasis in Psalmos Davidis. l(Jt>2. have been influenced by thut natural feeling common to humanity, which partially blinds us to those unavoidable imper- fections that belong to all the labours of man ; but which are more obvious to other eyes than to our own. Upon his own motives to the task he has undertaken, he reposes his trust of pardon with his God, for any venial errors that may have blotted his labour of love. He has designed a work equally useful to his younger ministering brethren in the pulpit, for the devo- tional exercises of the family circle, and for the closet of the meditative Christian. Much, however, of the good which these Lectures are designed to impart, must owe its Ijirth to the temper and frame of mind in wliich they are listened to or perused. And that course which the Preacher recommended to his hearers, the Author would now suggest to his readers — the perusal, (in the Prayer Book) of the verses of each Psalm, as they are noted down, before entering on the Commentary. The Theologian may possibly mangel at the presumed temerity of a new Commentary on the Psalms, after the labours of more learned writers, devoted exclusively to the subject: but should he extend his acquaintance with this unpretending volume, he will discover no presumptuous competition with their respective works, no rush invasion of tlie learned Authors' sacred territory, no secret appropriation of their patented rights. These Lectures aspire only to the merit of usefulness, as a practical guide to tlie better understaiuling and more perfect enjoyment of the spiritual character of the Psalms, than can be attained (without aid) by the generality of read(>rs ; wliether in their religious services or by their own Jire-side. I'or, as the good J3ishop PREFACE. Vll Horno liimselt' exclaims, " Is it not to be fenved, that for want of stich instruction, the repetition of the Psalms, as performed by multitudes, is but one degree above mechanism ? And is it not a melancholy reflection, to be made at the close of a long life, that after reciting them at proper seasons, through the greatest part of it, no more should be known of their true mean- ing and application, than when the Psalter was first taken in hand at school ?" Wherever a borrowed passage appears, it is duly acknow- ledged : but it has not been thought necessary to encumber the pages with the marks of quotation [" "] to the language of Holy Writ, as often as it is interwoven with that of the Author: nor will the use of it, unacknowledged, be deemed a literai7 piracy. Where so much of that language is used, the marks would tend only to confuse the eye of the reader, and impart no equivalent advantage. INTRODUCTION, ADDRESSED TO THE CONGREGATION PRESENT AT THE FIRST LECTURE. It is my intention, brethren, now to commence,* and under Gods blessing to continue, an Exposition of the Psalm or Psalms appointed as a part of each Sunday's Service. The Book of Psalms is a treasury of divine instruction which has no equal among the Old Testament writings ; and as a proof of the estimation in wliich it has ever been held, both the Jewish and the Christian Churches have, in succession and together, retained these effusions of enlightened piety in their religious services. Their great value consists in their practical character: for until the days of the Evangelists, notliing had been be- queathed to the Church of God of equal simplicity and beauty and force, with the Book of Psalms. It contains little that is mysterious, and nothing which may not be comprehended by the most unlearned, after a brief attention to its subject-matters as they arise. Our familiarity with the Psalms furnishes another reason, why I hope to impress my hearers with a fuller under- standing, and a deeper interest in them, by a weekly Exposition. The result, however, I must leave to Him whose testimony is sure, and who giveth wisdom to the simple. * Sept 7, 1845. LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. LECTURE 1. PSALM 1. Happiness is unquestionably the end and aim of our being. The longing after it is a part and parcel of our nature. But since that nature was defiled by the original transgression of God's law, we have gone astray from the only path which leads to the consummation so devoutly to be wished. The heathen tribes, no less than ourselves, have been, and are, in pursuit of what is deemed the chief good ; but they wander on in error, while to us a light is vouchsafed, which imposes upon us a far weightier responsibility for our attainment or loss of the bliss that is, un- questionably, the inheritance of the undying soul. The sweet Psalmist of Israel, in his three-fold character of prophet, priest, and king, laboured in his generation to dispel the mists that darken our understanding upon this all-important subject. He penned his sublime compositions, it is true, under the imperfect light of the Legal Dispensation ; but it must be remembered, that the Law was our school- master to bring us unto Christ ; and the promised Messiah came, according to his own declaration, not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it. In this introductory Psalm, therefore, the sacred penman argues on the requirements of the Law, as the then only known conditions of attaining the universally desired happiness ; and this happiness he sets forth under figures or similitudes, which are plain to the most uninstructed mind. Ver. 1 — 4. Tliongh all men are professedly engaged in the pursuit of happiness, the Psalmist here enumerates three dis- tinct classes, the tendency of whose lives is at utter variance with the means, by which divine revelation and the human con- science teach us it is to be obtained. But such is the influence of these classes in the world at large, through individual con- tamination, that the pious Instructor of his people opens the sacred work he was now meditating, with the declaration that the highest state of blessedness we can attain to in this life is, freedom from the pollution of evil example and evil counsel. 2 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. And here are distinct descriptions of men against whom he warns us : the ungodly, tlie sinner, and the unheliever, that is, tlie scorner. Famiharity with either of these classes is un- questionably dangerous. The ungodly man may be simply neglectful of all rehgious observances, while he is not charge- able with gross offences against morality, nor with the violation of human laws : but his example in the matter of an irreligious life is dangerous, and may be infectious. Again, the open and notorious sinner may be seen occasionally to appear in the House of God ; may never have been heard to argue against the force and validity of God's commandments ; may some- times manifest the compunctious visitings of conscience for his deeds of darkness : but he has no restraining influence opera- ting within him ; and if he can beguile another into immoral fellowship with him, his success goes far to confinn himself in evil habits : how then can friendship or familiarity with such persons be less than dangerous ? We come now to the climax of human blindness, human folly, and human madness, in the character of the infidel or scorner. We may nevertheless see an example of this suicidal class, in whom, perhaps, is not discoverable the absence of the social virtues, or the neglect of social duties : he is peradventure a kind master, a faithful hus- band, a fond parent, an inoffensive neighbour ; and may claim perhaps, as the world goes, an average share of integrity in all his dealings with others. But seest thou a man wise in his own conceit ? there is more hope of a fool than of him ! And what is the damning passion of the infidel, but self-conceit? He is in his own estimation wiser than his teachers are. We ar(i however considering the effects of his influence upon others, and the d.nigcv of too close an intimacy with him. For the immediate efiects we must look into the habits of his family, his honseliold, and those who are more remotely dependant ii])nn liiiii. We must look to liis own movcMiients through life, for the development of the ruling and cherished blindness LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 8 wiiliin him. Of his f\imily we can only juflgo ])y what wc do not see : we see them advancing on from chiklhood to man- hood ; but we see not any outwai-d and visible signs of their having been brought up in the way they should go. In his dependants, whether domestic or others, we may observe a striking contrast in their observances of the Sabbath only. The Christian master, who does not profess to belong to our Church, influences his family and sei-vants in favour of his own creed ; and not being infidels, they do not, because they are gradually prejudiced against the Church, renounce all religious profession. No — they are influenced by example, perhaps by persuasion, and they become in their practice faithful professors of their particular creed. Let the same persons engage in the service of an infidel master, a scorner of the religion of the Gospel ; and mark the influence of his example upon tlieir conduct. I need not enlarge upon it. Laxity and indifierence end in a total disregard of all outward observances of religion, and of inward misgivings of conscience. But let us look to the infidel himself, and the influence of his own cherished pcrverseness upon his own happiness only in this life. If he be a pros- perous man, — and it is in this class that infidels are mostly found, — his heart is contracted to the circumference of every coin that may float within his grasp, the better to secure it from escape or flight. He has renounced the easy yoke of a Divine Master for the galling semce of Mammon, the most tyrannous of all the imaginary deities of the earth ; who exacts from his worshippers a seven days' semdce throughout every week of their lives. To his ear the Sabbath chimes bring only the re- membrance of a change in his cares and labours — the per- mission to wander over his acres unobserved,* to calculate his probable gains or losses on the passing season, and to meditate on the effects of corn-laws upon his elastic purse, the altar of his idolatry. And it may be that he is pursuing tliese trou- • These Lectures were addressed to a rural population. 4 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS blous visions under the consciousness of advancing feebleness or approaching old age ; or he may experience in every movement the pangs of some incurable malady — Those silent pangs, that in their silence say More to the heart than thunder to the ear:— Though all in vain for him : his evil heart of unbelief is im- penetrable alike to the warnings of nature and to the calls of grace. Yet will the example of this man have its influence on those around him. As many as share his confidence, his hos- pitality, or his patronage as an employer, are exposed to the danger of contamination, in proportion to the frequency or closeness of their intercourse with him. Against all these several characters the Psalmist enters his protest as dangerous persons ; and it behoves the Christian, in the discharge of his duty to his own soul, to keep aloof, as much as in him lies, from the poison of their example ; not heedlessly to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor to stand in the way of sinners, nor to sit in the seat of the scornful : — 0 my soul, come not thou into their secret : unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united ! We began by speaking of human happiness, and of its universal pursuit by mankind, as the true end and aim of their being : but how diverse soever the paths in which it is sought after, there is only one straight and narrow way which leads to its certain attainment. The tree of life is in the midst of the Paradise of God. The eternal Word of Truth has gua- ranteed our enjoyment of its fruit. But it is still guarded by the flaming sword of the Law ; not to exclude us from en- trance, but to direct us to the strait gate of admission ; while the Cherubims, the ministering spirits of the glad tidings of salvation, cease not day and night to proclaim, This is the way — walk ye in it ! Of these ministering spirits the inspired Psalmist belonged to the highest earthly order : and he pro- nounces the blessedness of the man, who shunning the con- tagion of " folly, vanity, and vice, and every low pursuit," LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. O delights himself in the Law of the Lord, therein exercising himself day and night. For his experience shall he rich in the blessings of time as well as those of eternity — that perfect state of bliss in which not even a leaf of the righteous man's verdure shall wither. Ver. 5 — 7. Behold here the awful contrast : Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish ! The doom of the ungodly is equally sealed for time as for eternity. The just Judge of all, in his comparative estimate of his creatures, hath weighed them in the balance of his Sanctuary, and finding them deceitful upon the weights, and altogether lighter than vanity itself, He disperses them by the blasting of the breath of his displeasure ; He scattereth them like chaff from the face of the earth. And when the awful trump of the Archangel shall recal the un- godly, the sinner, and the scorner, fi'om their sleep of death, to give account of the deeds done in the body ; they shall not be able to stand in the judgment, nor to lift up their heads in the presence of the righteous by whom they will be surrounded. For they are already prejudged by their own conscience ; and one glance from the eye of the Omniscient Judge will pro- nounce the everlasting destinies of the righteous and the wicked. 0 that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end ! PSALM 2. This Psalm is plainly prophetical of what would befal Christ's Church and kingdom upon the earth, and of their final triumph over the violence and treachery of heathen foes. As such, it is adopted in our Service for Easter Day. In its primary sense, a portion of it applies to the position of David, when the Philistines, on hearing that he had been anointed King of Israel, (2 Sam. v, 17,) became im- piously moved for his destruction. The opening of this admirable effusion of faith plainly shews that the Psalmist's mind was then under some extraordinary influ- ence, which stirred up the prophetic spirit within him, even to embrace a far higher subject than that of his own confidence in the divine protection of himself, his throne, and liis people. 0 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. Ver. 1 — 3. These verses are alike descriptive of the op- position of the heathen to the rule of David and that of Messiah. Furious as they were on each occasion, they imagined a vain thing, when trusting to human strength and suhtlety for the overthrow of either. The one was ahout to be established by God's special appointment ; the other had been ordained from before the foundation of the world, or ever the earth and the world were made. The kings of the earth, in their pride of place, encouraged each other in the blind presumption which was common to them all, that by their united strength they could overmaster the hosts of Omnipotence ; for they could im- agine no gi'eater power than their own boasted will : — Let us ! Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us ! This scene was presented to David's imaginative mind, as a prelude to that divine inspiration (ajflatus NuntiffisJ to which he now gives utterance : — Ver. 4 — 6. This is not the language of an earthly potentate, relying upon the courage and faithfulness of his people for tri- umph in the day of battle : but an ebullition of faith, that evidence of things not seen, which enables the believer to tram- ple upon the objects of time and sense, and to realize the things wliich are afar off. David, not trusting in his own might, nor in the loyalty or warlike prowess of his subjects, seems to ridicule the threats of his enemies, in the sole confi- dence that God, who had so manifestly sustained liim through a thousand dangers, till he had reached the throne of Israel, would still be his helper and defender. He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scom : the Lord shall have them in derision. And they shall feel his wrath ; they shall taste of the fruits of his displeasure ; they shall know that He alone hath set a king upon his holy hill of Zion ; and that by no eaithly power shall his kingdom be removed. In this passage Jehovah Himself is introduced as the speaker. In what immediately follows we discern the voice of the Son of God, proclaiming that I.KCTUUE8 ON TlIK I'SALMS. 7 great truth which in liis own Person He preached unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel for their conviction and conversion. Ver. 7 — 9. We mnst interpret these verses as the prophetic annunciation by David of that law, which God the Son should in due time preach to the world ; and of the promise by God the Father of that universal sovereignty, which should be establish- ed in the Person of the Messiah, God manifest in the tlesh. After this, the Psalmist in his own name exhorts the kings of the earth, whom he had so severely rebuked at the commence- ment, to reflect, and to learn, and to practise their dutv, as creatures, equally wiUi their sul)jccts, dependiiut on tlie (li\ine government. Vcr. 10 — 12. The second of tln'sc verses contains an exhor- tation of a similar ])urpoit willi tliat of the Apostle to the Philippians — to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling ; not reconnneuding the abject fear which is only de- basing, but the reverential feeling that may be cheiished with the spirit of rejoicing, and is the evidence of holy love. For the concluding verse cames out this idea to its full extent: In eastern countries the kiss is the sign of humiUty from inferiors towards their superiors, and is there earned so I'ar as to be con- sidered an act of servile adoration. But here the Psalmist em- ploys the tenn only as a figurative recommendation to the heathen people to be reconciled to the One True God and to Messiah his Son, lest He should finally and utterly cast them away; for that in the day of his anger they only shall be blessed who put their trust in Him. PSALMS n, 4, 5. Tliese three Psalius, like several others that fall in their order, are supposed to have a reference to the rebellion of Absalom, and to the suffering which that event in- flicted upon his pious father. They can be considered, indeed, only as one effusion, consisting of complaint, and prayer, and e.Kpostulation, such as we llnd re- peated in several of the subsequent Psalms. All the beauty of the composition is, 8 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. however, concentrated in the intermediate portion, the 4th Psalm — which opens with an earnestness of supplication, that seems to have been prompted by a re- membrance of past deliverances :— Thou hast set me at liberty wlien I was in trouble : have mercy upon me, and hearken unto my prayer ! His thoughts then turn to those who are persecuting him, not in the spirit of hostility, but in the utterance of mild reproof and warning, with instruction how to become righteous: reminding them of the common profession of a desire to become wise — there be many that say, Who will shew us any good? and praying in their behalf for the illumination of the Divine Spirit: and moreover confessing that he rejoiced even in their prosperity. Here, as if concluding this impressive hymn at the close of a day of trouble and rebuke, he gives his heart over to a quiet repose in that faith, which is alone the Christian's source of comfort and consolation in the hours of darkness and in the death of sleep : — I will lay me down in peace, and take my rest ; for it is Thou, Lord, only that makest me dwell in safety.* [Read Psalms 3, 4, 5.] Glonj be to the Father, S^c. * The Author is indebted to a learned Brother for having pointed out to him, that his interpretation of some of these imprecatory passages is not consonant with the grammatical construction of the original. The spirit, however, in which this interpretation was preferred, is obvious in the Lectures themselves ; and the follow- ing passages from different writers on the Ps.lms, constitute the Author's defence, and will probably obtain the reader's toleration of a mere grammatical licence. Psalm v, 10. — Concerning passages of tliis imprecatory kind in the Book of Psalms, it is to be observed that they are spoken by way of prediction rather than of imprecation ; which would appear if the original verbs were translated, as they should he, in the future tense. — Bp. Home. P.salm xx.KV, 4. — Concerning this and the like imprecations, which seem strange and severe, they may be taken only for predictions — Poole. Psalm Ixix, 32. — It may be here remarked, that this and the following verses, to the twenty-ninth inclusive, are strictly prophetical of the wretched condition of the Jews, after their rejection of the Messiah, and the destruction of their city and Temple. —■Travell. Psalm ci.x. — There are many passages in the Book of the Psalms, that have given offence to well-meaning persons, as savouring too much of private resentment, and inconsistent with that charity which peculiarly marks the Christian Dispensation. Many attempts have been made to remove this difficulty ; but the most satisfactory method appears to be, to consider the verbs in the future tense, so that the passages may be looked upon as so many denunciations of the punishments that God icould inflict on the general or individual adversaries of his Church and people. — J('i«,-. ij — 10. The time will arrive, when if we can cherish the faithful confidence of the Psalmist, we shall share with him the wisdom that owns the emptiness of those things, whicli in times of health, and peace, and prosperity, feed the vanity of the human heart ; and beguile it from the only objects worthy of its contemplation and its love : the hour when, in the conviction of our humbled souls, we shall so earnestly, so hopefully, so con- fidingly have committed ourselves to the tender mercies of our God in Christ Jesus, as to feel the assurance, that the I^ord hath heard the voice of our weeping; that He hath heard our petition ; that He will receive our prayer Then may we exultingly cherish the belief in our final deliverance from the power of our enemies, spiritual and temporal ; that they shall be • Bp. Home. 12 LECTUllES ON THE PSALMS. Utterly confounded and sore vexed at the salvation wrought in our behalf; that they shall he turned hack with sudden shame, to seek some other subjects for the victims of their disappointed mahce. PSALM 7. This is a Psalm or Hymn, said to have been written by David as a record of his own innocency, when he had been slandered by some one among the envious depend- ants of Saul. The nature of the imputation brought against him does not appear ; but there is sufficient evidence of the consciousness of his own integrity ; while he appeals only to the Searcher of hearts, for righteous judgment of his conduct in the particular matter referred to. Ver. 1 — 2. The preacher hath declared that a good name is better than precious ointment : and it may be as truly affinned, that of still greater value is the testimony of conscience, that we deserve not an ill name. This alone will bear us up against many trials and conflicts with an evil world : but if it enable tis also to cast our care upon Him who careth for us under every variety of tribulation ; if we can lay our hearts open in prayer to the God of all consolation — 0 Lord my God, in Thee have I put my trust; — then may we be assured of protection and deliverance from the power of all who would persecute us, in the indulgence of their envy, hatred, and malice, and all un- charitablenoss. For though like lions they may threaten to devour our soul, and tear it in pieces, in the foohsh confidence that there is none to interpose in behalf of the poor persecuted child of the dust ; none to help him in his worst extremity ; they shall find their malicious intentions foiled by an unseen Power, who watcheth over the safety of his OAvn faithful servants, and will not that the righteous be cast down. And who is the righteous man, but he that can thus boldly appeal to the God of the spirits of all flesh ? LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 18 Ver. 3 — 5. Tt is often sseen, and felt too, by one who is suffering under the malignant slander of an enemy, that it is of little use to assert his innocence, or even to produce proofs of it, in the presence of his fellow-men ; relying upon their justice, their honesty, their love of truth, or their presumed friendship : he is building his place of refuge on the sand. The cold and silent glance of worthless pity will often prove the utmost mite they have to bestow, for the restoration of his injured character, and the re-establishment of his peace. Happy is he, therefore, who taking refuge in the strong-hold of his own conscience, can look out from thence to the throne of Divine Justice ; and there pleading his own cause, can lay open his inmost thoughts and desires, to the eye of Him who judgeth righteously: — O Lord my God, if I have done any such thing : or if there be in my hands the wickedness that is laid to my charge ; then let mine enemy persecute my soul, and take me : yea, let him ti'ead my life down upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust ! Here is the language that admits of no mistake — the impressive testimony of inward rectitude, the boldness of conscious integ- rity, "which gives the world assurance of a man." The per- secutions of Saul were for a length of time a sore burthen on the mind of the innocent son of Jesse ; but they tempted him not to revenge, at the expense of his religious principle ; for we read in the first book of Samuel, that when Saul wuth three thousjmd men was in pursuit of David in the wilderness of En-gedi, the malicious king had occasion to retire into the very cave where David had hid himself ; and that there he availed himself of the opportunity of cutting off" the skirt of Saul's robe, which he aftei-wards shewed to him, as a proof that his fidelity was un- shaken. See, my father ; yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand : for in that I cut off" the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor trans- gression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee : yet ihou huntest wysoul to take it! To this occurrence the sacred 14 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. writer alludes in the 4th verse of the Psalm — Yea, I have de- livered him that without cause is mine enemy. Ver. 6 — 9. This passage is a prayer for the divine judg- ments upon the general wickedness of the subjects of Saul, rather than against his personal share of it : for it had followed of course, that very many of the people besides those who formed his army, would take part with their sovereign against one whom he would have dealt with (however unjustly) as an enemy and a traitor. David therefore calls upon the Lord to manifest himself in his favour, to stand up in wrath, and to rise up in judgment against them : and that for the sake of the nation at large, God's justice between David and his enemies might be made plain in their sight; that they, the people, may no longer remain in doubt of his righteousness, or integrity ; and that his innocency might be proved in the sight of all men : so that the wickedness of the ungodly may cease, from their conviction of liis upright conduct ; and that those who cherish the principles of truth and justice, may be guided by the divine counsels in their judgment of liis conduct. Ver. 10 — 17. Here follow some general reflections upon the divine government of the world, as displayed in God's dealings with the righteous and the wicked ; setting forth some of the leading attributes of the character of the Deity ; as his omni- science, proved in tiying the very hearts and reins of man ; his watchful care for the presei-vation of them tliat are true of heart; his strength to punish, contrasted with his patience in forbearing to punish, the provocations of the wicked ; and his awful judgments, prepared for those who will not turn from their evil ways; against whom He is represcntrd as having whet his sword, and bent his bow, and ordained liis arroAvs, as the weapons of his vengeance and the instruments of their des- truction. Then follows the description of the certain fate of those who will, in spite of warnings, threatenings, and con- ditional promises of mercy, go on still in their wickedness, con- LKCTrHES ON THE PSALMS. IT} ceiving sorrow and bringing forth ungodliness; until tlie pit which they had digged for others shall prove to themselves a pit of destruction ; and the fruits of their wickedness crash the heads that had conceived it. Wlierefore the upright victim of their persecution concludes, I will give thanks unto the Lord according to his righteousness, and I will praise the Name of the Lord Most High. PSALM 8. This and the following Psalm are supposed to commemorate David's wonderful vic- tory over the giant of Gath. Tlie first, which we are now entering upon, forms a part of the service of our Church on the Aniiivorsarj' of Christ's Ascension ; and by her is no doubt considered as figuratively applicable to the great exaltation which was vouchsafed to human nature, by its having been taken as the garment of the Son of God, until by his Ascension the great mission of mercy was fulfilled, and ratified in the sight of men and angels : after the noblest victory ever won upon the earth. Ver. 1 — 9. The History of David's encounter with Goliah is well known ; but is too little considered, perhaps, to produce those reflections wliich it is so well calculated to awaken. Here is a stripling who was employed in keeping his father's slieep, at a time of war between the Israelites and Philistines, in which his three eldest brethren were then engaged. He was sent to the camp by his father to can-y provisions to them, and to enquire after their welfare. He saw the two hostile armies in battle an'ay agiiinst each other, on two opposite mountains. He learned that the cowardly enemies of his countiy had rested their sole hope of victory on the prowess and strength of a single man : but that man was a giant, nine feet in height, and armed Tsnth a coat of mail, the weight of which alone proved his prodigious strength; for it was more than 140 pounds; while the iron head, only, of his speai', weighed 1 7 pounds, besides the helmet of brass on his lie;id. Tliis bugbear of 16 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. infidel blindness was put fonvard every morning in fr(jnt of the hostile ranks to defy the annies of Israel, and to bully them into submission ; by calhng upon them to produce a man that they might fight together, and thus to decide who should be the future masters and who the servants of either party. And the effect of their boasting challenge was, that Saul and all Israel were dismayed and greatly afraid. But the truth must be allowed, that the people of Israel were then only in the infancy of their progress towards the knowledge of the One True God ; notwithstanding their past, and it should seem, their forgotten experience of his often manifested Omnipotence in their behalf. Here, however, for almost the first time upon record, God worked by the agency of a single human instrument, and one who was until then held in contempt even by his own kindred : for Ehab his brother thus reproached him — I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart : for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. David's heart, however, *was occupied by inspired thoughts wliich his brother could not divine. The Lord had delivered him out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear ; and the remembrance of this gave him confidence that under the divine guidance, the .simple sldll of the shepherd boy, with the sling and the stone, would deliver himself and his country from the power of the brute giant and his cowardly followers. None who hear me can be ignorant of the issue of this seemingly unequal contest. Nor was it likely ever to be absent from the memory of the grateful son of Jesse. This Psalm is a most pious, poetical, and dignified commemoration of the great event, written many years after : and it is remarkable that the only allusion which he modestly makes to himself, was ([uoted by our Saviour, in reproof of the Chief Priests and Scribes — Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength. Glory be to the Fatln'i; S(c. LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 17 LECTURE in. PSALM 9. There exists some diversity of opinion among commentators touching the occasion upon which this Psalm was written ; a few supposing this and the 8th commemo- rative of David's victory over Goliah : but there is no particular application to that event in either to warrant this conclusion ; nevertheless, in deference to an opinion held by learned men, I have treated the first of the two Psalms with an exclusive view to that impressive subject of sacred history. This 9th Psalm, though it may intlude a retrospective view of his encounter with Goliah, is a solc-nm and grateful testimonial of thankfulness for the many proofs which David had experienced of the Divine Providence and Uenevolence, in his deliverance from imminent perils. Ver. 1 — G. The warmth and earnestness of spirit with which the Psalmist enters upon tliis act of thanksgiving, indicates the soundness of the faith and the depth of the gratitucie which prompted it. The rapid transition of the thoughts' arising in tlie mind of the poet savours also of the force of inspiration : and indeed the entire Book of Psalms is of that character, which justifies the universal belief that David, among other holy men, wrote and spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. Wliatever were the circumstances here commemorated, whether his individual acliievement against the giant of Gath, or other triumphs obtained by the forces he commanded, the Psalmist gives the entire gloiy to God ; and the very terms of thanksgiving used by him testify to the sincerity of his ob- lation: — I will give thanks to Thee, 0 Lord, with my whole heart : I will speak of all thy marvellous works : I will be glad and rejoice in Thee : yea, my songs will I make of thy Name, O Thou most Highest ! From the throne whereon thou sittest hath thy righteous judgment maintained my cause, to the des- truction of Israel's ungodly foes ; for by thy power they are rebuked, they ai-e fallen and driven back, they perish and ai'e destroyed ; and even as their own cities which have l»een swept c 18 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. away in thy just anger, the memorial of their wicked inhabitants is perished with them : Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever! 0 thou enemy, (thy) destructions are come to a perpetual end. These concluding words are parenthetical where they stand ; hut at the close of this passage, they form the cli- max to a noble effusion of devotional praise. Ver. 7 — 12. Here follows an earnest exhortation to the people, which seems to flow spontaneously from David's own reflection on the Power and Goodness displayed in their behalf, by the God of their salvation ; whose claim to their submission and confidence, the Psalmist traces to the unchanging character of His Majesty: for not only doth He reign supreme from all eternity, but hath also prepared his seat for the judgment of the actions of all manldnd, in that day which He hath Himself appointed, when He shall judge the world in righteousness. And it was in these very words that Paul reproved the blind- ness of the Athenians, when he discovered them offering their devotions at an altar inscribed To the Unknown God. (Acts xxvi.) The Psalmist, however, instructs his people to put their trust in the Lord for temporal justice, for protection, for sup- port, and for safety in time of trouble. He had enjoyed a prolonged experience of the loving-kindness of the Lord, and as the well-being of his people was bound up in his own pros- perity,- he labours to impress their hearts with the same senti- ments of faith and devotedness to the God of Zion, which ani- mated his own. He exhorts them therefore to put their full trust in the Lord ; to shew the people, that is, to speak contin- ually among each other, of his doings ; reminding them that the Lord forgetteth not the complaint of the oppressed and the poor ; for that the day will come, wherein He will make inqui- sition for the blood of those who have been unrighteously slain, or cruelly treated, or unjustly impoverished, by the tyranny of heathen or ungodly men ; never, in time nor in eternity, failing them who seek his face. LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 19 Ver. 13 — 20. In his contemplation of the dangers and deliverances of liis people, the pious king of Israel never omits the duty of personal prayer. Tlie experience and fate of Israel were so intei-woven with liis own, that he could not separate them in his thoughts. He could not forget, moreover, that in all the national conflicts wherein his people had been engaged, his individual destruction was the first and chief aim of his foes, whether they were the heathen nations around him, or the treacherous instruments of Saul's vengeance, or his own rebellious subjects. Here therefore he resumes the language of private prayer — he supplicates the Almighty to have mercy especially upon himseK, and to consider his personal affliction ; acknowledging with a grateful spirit, that the Lord alone had redeemed his life fi'om many past perils, and lifted him up from the gates of death : and upon this review he builds his hope that he shall yet rejoice in the final salvation of liis God, and be spared to celebrate liis praises in the presence of all Israel, and within the gates of the daughter of Zion : for that he had already been made to triumph over his godless adversaries : they had fallen into the pit of their own contrivance ; they had been caught in the snares which they had privily hiid for his destruction. In the meditation and prayer which conclude this Psalm, though ostensibly applied to the temporal enemies of Israel, the Chi'istian may see an instructive model whereby to shape his own thoughts, and supplications for aid, against his spiritual foes, sin, the world, and the devil. Nor can he fail, while meditating on this portion of the Psalm, to turn the mind's eye upon those living professors of the rehgion of the Gospel, whose wishes and actions are nevertheless hostile to the peace and unity of ' Christ's Holy Catholic Church ; whom the Apostle describes as gainsayers, who while they profess that they know God, in works deny Him ; being in truth vain talk- ers and deceivers, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. (Tit. i.) To all such is David's supplica- 20 LECTURES ON THE PSAI,MS. tion most appropriate — Put them in fear, 0 Lord, that they mav know themselves to be but men. PSALM 10. Whatever was the occasion which prompted the composing of this Psahn,it must remain unknown, as it hears no Title in the original. It is, however, an eloquent exposure of those evil practices which godless men indulge in, to manifest their enmity against their more virtuous neighhours; which is followed by a most earnest appeal to God in behalf of those who are his faithful though oppressed servants. The Psalm contains moreover many useful though indirect instruc- tions, by which the humble Christian is encouraged to preserve an unshaken faith in the defence of the Most High, under whatever provocations he may sustain from evil tongues. Here is nothing of a propheuc character, no figurative lan- guage, but all is simply descriptive and instructive. Ver. 1 — 6. The leading verse of this Psalm is thought to be a reflection arising out of the remembrance of the argument of Moses, in his exhortation to obedience, in the 4th chapter of Deuteronomy : — What nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is, in all things that we call upon him for ? Whereas the Psalmist's complaint is, Why standest Thou so far off, 0 Lord, and hidest thy face in the needful time of trouble ? Yet this betrays more of mere human impatience under the provocation of the wicked, than of decided faithlessness. The persecution and the proud boastings of ungodliness, and the arrogant defiance of the infidel, un- checked for a season, are strong temptations to the weakness of our nature to admit, upon occasions, the suggestions of a doiibting spirit. Yet these are but the flitting shadows cast upon our vision by our ever-present infirmities. The Psalmist was too deeply convinced how abhorrent in the sight of God is the pride of infidelity, to doubt for a moment of the final ad- ministration of retributive justice ; but is impatient of its delay, while witnessing the impious boldness of the offenders : — Tush, LECTLKtS ON THIi PSALMS. 21 I shall never be cast down : there shall no harm happen unto me ! This portion of the Psalm gives a general description of the subjects of complaint: what follows is more minute and particular. Ver. 7 — 12. The vehemence of the language resorted to by the Psalmist in these descriptive passages, indicates the pre- sence of some extraordinary cause : it is surmised that the various stratagems resorted to by the emissaries of Saul, to circumvent the innocent object of his implacable malice, some- times successfully against the most simple among David's faith- ful followers, called forth these vituperative sentences : and it is not improbable that the indignant feehngs of the honest son of Jesse were aroused to their utmost height, by hearing from time to time that the infidel plea which he has recorded, was the familial" language of his enemies : — Tush, God hath for- gotten : He hideth away his face, and He will never see it ! As tliis was their only hope of impunity, so was David's confidence in the never-failing protection of Jehovah off'ended ; his pride was wounded ; and in his estimate of the true character of his foes, he feels no reserve in giving to its several features their proper colouring. He knew them only as blasphemers, de- ceivers, and traitors; (See 1 Sam. xviii, 22, &c.) that their treachery was but the implement used to gratify their murderous designs against the innocent ; and that they rested their hope of final success against himself and his little company of friends, upon theh- comparative weakness and poverty. The contemplation of their wickedness seems to have left the sacred liistorian powerless to restrain liis pen from recording even one dark line in the description of their complicated baseness. Thus does the Psalmist exemplify our Lord's declaration — He that is faithful in that which is the least is faithful also in much. David has rendered justice to liis enemies, by pro- sen-ing their true characters for the instruction and caution ot posterity. ZZ LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. Ver. 13 — 20. Against the wickedness which he has so mi- nutely recorded, the Psalmist raises liis supplication in behalf of the afflicted victims of that wickedness, with an earnestness scarcely less vehement than that which he had manifested in his condemnation of the ungodly persecutors. Such will ever be the quality of the prayer of faith, when prompted by a due estimate of the impartiality of Divine justice. Earnestness in prayer is the test of the sincerity of faith. The very terms of David's supplication afford the proof of his confidence that his prayer would not return unto him void of effect. Arise, O Lord God ! lift up tliine hand : forget not the poor. The blas- phemy of the wicked hath reached tliine ears ; tliine eyes have beheld the prevailing ungodliness and wrong; the poor com- mitteth his sorrows unto Thee ; the friendless seek refuge under thy wing, as their helper and defender. Interpose, 0 God, between them and their oppressors : break down the power of the ungodly and malicious : for when that is destroyed. Thou shalt find faithfulness, only, among thy people. The sudden transition, from this imprecation to the warm language of devout acknowledgment, is the evidence of an answered prayer: it is the confession of God's omnipotence, timely manifested in behalf of his oppressed people : it is the pledge of increasing faith in the loving-kindness of the Lord towards them that call upon Him, yea, all such as call upon Him faithfully : it is the avowal that of Him alone cometli that preparation of the heait, which gives its prayer a claim to the ear of divine compassion. To meet this view of the purport of the Psalmist's language, it is necessary to make only a little change in the arrangement of the three concluding verses : — Lord, Thou hast heard the desire of the poor : Thou prcparest their heart, and (then) thine ear hcarkencth thereto ; to the end that Thou mayest help the fatherless and poor unto their right, (and) that the man of the earth be no more exalted against them : for already are the heathen perished out of the land; because Thou, Lord, art King for ever and ever. LECTURES ON TiJK PSALMS. 23 PSALM 11. This short Psahn is a poetical commemoration of the most pregnant circumstance of David's eventful life. While he was in the house of Saul, retained as a minstrel, and exercising his skill on the harp for the solace of his master's troubled spirit, it became manifest to all the king's household that the young son of Jesse had be- come an object of peculiar hatred to Saul's disordered mind; and they advised him to provide for his own safety by fleeing into the mountainous country of Judea. David did not follow this counsel, for it was after tl/is that he achieved his won- drous victory over the Philistine host by the slaughter of Goliah. At length his beloved friend Jonathan persuaded him of the necessity of avoiding Saul's increas- ing madness against him. This Psalm is a record of David's feelings and reflec- tions at that trying period; and if composed at tlie time, is an evidence of the early display of that fine talent, to which every succeeding generation owes so great a debt, for its instruction in the soundest piety. Ver. 1 — 3. These tlu'ee verses are interlocutory, and we must suppose David and Jonathan to be the speakers; for the language of the response is bolder and more faithful, than any we can suppose to have been uttered by a sei-vant in Saul's household. The opening passage is strikingly energetic : it savours of youthful ai-dour, breaking forth in a sudden flame of astonishment; at the same time expressive of an impassible con- fidence in the divine protection, and of the strong consciousness of integrity. In the Lord put I my trust ! Am I not his anointed future King of Israel ? Am I a traitor in the house of Saul ? Am 1 intriguing to forestal the decrees of Je- hovali, by supplanting the Lord's chosen sen-ant ? Am I not faithful to my calling in his household, and dihgently labouring by my huml)le talent to soothe the distracted mind of my ac- knowledged master ? Wherefore then should I feai' ? Is the Lord's hand shortened, that it cannot save ? How say ye then to my soul that she should flee, as a bird unto the hill ? The reply of his Mend is at once faithful, judicious, and precise : — Beware ; for lo, the ungodly bend their bow against thy life ; they make ready their arrows within the quiver, that they may privily destroy thee ; and that, because thou art true of heart : for within my father's house there is neither harmony, nor dis- cipline, nor order: his throne is shaken, and its very foun- 24 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. dations will be cast down. And what hath the righteous done ? Wherein hath my beloved friend David offended, that he should be swallowed up in the impending destruction ? Wliy should he, the innocent cause of all this disorder, remain to become the certain victim of my father's madness and the mahce of his servants? "And, as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between thee and me for ever ! " (1 Sam. XX, 23.) Ver. 4 — 8. The sequel of this dialogue, contained in David's reply, denotes an unshaken faith in the protection of liis God ; for though constrained to follow the advice of his constant friend, he enters upon his perilous flight with the fullest trust in his future and final deliverance. His thoughts ascend to the dwelUng-place of the Most High : there he sees the Judge of all the earth, the Diviner of the thoughts of men's hearts, the im- partial Eewarder of all their doings, sitting on the judgment seat in his holy Temple, pondering the ways of men, compas- sionating the meek and lowly, protecting the poor and oppressed, and treasuring up his wrath against the day of wrath, for the just punishment of every soul of man that doeth evil. For though, according to the apostolical doctrine, whom the I^ord loveth He chasteneth; though he trietli the righteous, (which is the more exjjressive term than "alloweth" of our Bible trans- lation,) because He loveth righteousness, and condescends to regard the actions of the just; yet doth He so abhor the un- godly, and him that dehghteth in wickedness, that oftimes He leaveth all such unnoticed, unrestrained, unpunished through- out this life ; so that they come in no misfortune hke other folk, neither are they plagued hke other men. But tlie day will come, in the which He shall judge the world in nglitoousness ; and when upon the ungodly He shall rain snares, and fire, and brimstone, storm and tempest : this shall be their portion : they shall be filled with drunkenness and soitow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation: they shall even drink it and LECTURES ON THK PSALMS. 2ij suck it out! {Ezekiel xxiii, "i'i.) With this view of the ri«;ht- eous retribution of the Most High God, the youthful sou of Jesse, the tj-pe of the true David our Lord and RedeeuK-r, goeth forth conquering and to conquer ; and amid all the dark uncertainties and perils surrounding liis unknown path, relying upon the protection of Him who maketh sore and bindeth up; whose spirit strengthened his servant with the wliispered pro- mise— I will deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven shall no evil touch thee. Thus out of weakness was David made strong. {Heb. xi, 31.) In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye then to my soul, that she should flee as a bird unto the liill? Glory he to the Father, S^c. .26 LECTUllKS ON THE I'SALMS. LECTURE IV. PSALM 12. In this Psalm the Priest and Prophet of Israel laments the general corruption of the time, mider which the Church of God was suffering, and bewailing the impediments of her glory and usefulness on earth. But she is encouraged to look to the divine promises, and, thereupon to rest her faith ; though the wicked pre- vail over her for a season, and walk on in their course, without present check or chastisement. Ver. 1 — 2. It is not only by the practical infidel, or the open profligate, that the cause of Christ's Kingdom upon earth is hindered in its progress towards universal rule; but the hypocritical professor, the wise in liis own conceit, and the schismatic, alike impede the spread of the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus. These have each their private ends to serve, their carnal prejudices, and their worldly advantages ; and to these ends they direct all theu' energies, their opportuni- ties, and their influence ; beguiling unstable souls by their vain and self-magnifying talk ; flattering with their lips those whom they would betray into their net ; dissembling in their double heart the plainest and most obvious truths of the written Word, that they might exalt themselves and their unrighteous cause, in the sight of those whom they hope to win over to their own delusive practices. And thereby many fall unto them unawares, and thereout suck they no small advantage. Such is the working of Popery in all its variety of means : such are the labours of Schism in its manifold denominations. Here, my brethren, ye have not so learned Christ. It is not the practice of our Church to rely upon flattery, or dissimulation, or human tyranny : knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men ; not by the dissembling arguments of fleshly wisdom, nor by deceitfully handling the Word of Truth : but in simplicity and LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. ^7 godly sincerity, beseeching you tliat ye receive not the grace of God in vain — that is, the means of grace, which it is the duty of God's ordained ministry, however unworthy we be of the sacred trust, to dispense faithfully, fearlessly, and independently of the gainsayer or the scoffer. Some of you, my bretlu-en, are in subjection occasionally to the false teaching of the apostles of schism : but once and again I warn you to beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Be not carried away wdtli eveiy wind of doctrine whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Have a due regard to your soul's health, if you are careless of your little wealth ; and some of you know to your cost that the fellowship, or as it is called, the "membership " of schism, is an imaginary honour not to be maintained for notliing. But hear now the Psalmist's condemnation of the leaders in this mysteiy of ini- quity ; and mark how truly he describes them and their doings. Ver. 3 — 4. And let me remind you, brethren, that a rebel- lious pride is the moving principle in all dissent. It was that spirit wliich Satan infused into the hearts of Korah and all his company, when they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron ; insolently demanding of them, the specially appointed sen^ants of Jehovah, wherefore lift ye up yourselves above the congregation ? And obsen^e how nearly alike is the language which the Psalmist attributes to the gain- sayers in his day — We are they that ought to speak : who is Lord over us ? And let me fiu'ther remind you, that this is the very spirit of pride which prompts and upholds the schismatic in every successive generation of men. But it was our Saviour's declaration of Himself, I came not to send peace on earth ; but a sword : and his true disciples need not to act the part of cow- ards in their Christian warfare ; for they may ever depend upon the help of the Lord against the mighty ; for He will root these out at the last. A humble spirit, receiving with meekness tlie ingi-afted Word, is the strongest armour against spiritual delu- sion and all its evil works. For the words of the Saviour are, 28 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. Except ye receive the Idngdom of God as little children, ye shall not enter therein. Ver. 5 — 6. Beaiing in mind that all wliich is said in this Psalm applies to the true Church of God collectively, we here come to the consolation offered to those who can so far Hft their minds ahove the grovelling pursuits of this world, as to take an interest in the well-being of the Christian community. The poor in spirit are the blessed of our Heavenly Redeemer, and these are they of whom the Psalmist speaks as the needy : and for their deep sighing, and for their comfortless troubles' sake, he assures us that the Lord will arise, and will help them in their necessities, and against their fears. I have no very strong hope, my brethren, that among those who now hear me, there is any prevailing sense of the value of an estabhshed Church in our land. I fear that for want of the knowledge that tliis is the foundation, and the source, and the security of all our national blessings, there exists a cold indiiference in the hearts of the majority, not only to her welfare and supremacy, but to her very existence. But what is the Church? It is the visible re- presentative on earth of the crucified and risen Redeemer. It is his mystical body, and we are all members thereof, whether healthful or diseased, whether sound or lame, whether useful or cumbrous, whether graceful or unsightly — for such are the true distinctions between the faithful and the unfaithful professors of the religion of the Gospel. But here, in this Psalm, the faith- ful are assured of the divine support and protection — I will up, saith the Lord ; and will help every one from him that swelleth against him, and will set liim at rest. Let him who can derive consolation from the reflection that he is a true member of Christ's Holy Catholic Church upon earth — let him assure him- self, that this instrument of Ins eternal salvation will not be removed from his path, will not be cast aside to gratify the rebellious spirit of our enemies. For this is the promise of its Founder and Protector. Lo, I am wit1i you to the end of tlie world ! LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. yU Ver. 7 — 9. Well may the Church confide and rejoice in the divine promises. They have been tried through a period of 1800 years of continual warfare with her open foes and her treacherous professors of friendship. And more obviously here in tliis favoured land, where the idolatiy of Popery, the scoffs of the infidel, and the hypocrisy of the Puritan, have in turns and together assailed the bulwarks of our Zion. But her foun- dations are upon the holy liills, and the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. These pure words are unchange- able ; and the Lord will keep them, and by them he will pre- serve his faithful followers from every e\dl generation. It must needs be that offences come; for the ungodly portion of the human race will ever be seen to walk on every side : they -vrill have their short turns of exaltation and triumph, and will oc- casionally, under the permitted power of Satan, put to rebuke the cliildren of men. But these shall be finally delivered, and shall go forth, like the martyrs and confessors of old, purified in the furnace of affliction, pure as the silver which is tried and purified seven times in the fire ; and bearing their testimony to the truth of the divine promises before men and angels, through the vast circle of eternity. For the righteous hve for evermore : their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them with the Most High. They shall receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his ami shall he protect them. Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours. Thus the righteous which is dead shall condemn the ungodly which are living. PSALM 13. Here again is an outpouring of complaint, and prayer, and faith in the protecting shield of God's Providence : and a suitable act of praise for mercies relied upon, though yet afar off: an anticipation of desired blessing by the thanksgiving that it shall inspire. 30 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. Ver. 1 — 2. In this complaint there is sometliing so natu- ral, so congenial to our common feelings, under the sense of ill treatment, that every believer in an all-ruhng Providence must have experienced it at some time or other in his life. It is true that men are too apt to cherish resentment, and to seek revenge for injuries, and to trust in their own opportunity and strength to punish the oifender against their peace. But this practice is not in accordance with the precepts of Christianity ; nor is it an evidence of a religious faith and trust in the care of our Heavenly Father. The sound advice of the Psalmist elsewhere is, Commit thy way unto the Lord, and put thy trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall make thy righteous- ness as clear as the Hght, and thy just deaUngs as the noon- day. But we will pass on to the prayer of the afflicted servant of God. Ver. 3 — 4. There is no small danger, while we are suffering under the mahcious persecution of an enemy, that we may be wearied out and overcome by his perseverance, and for the sake of a hollow peace, let go our own integrity. And tliis, to the wicked, is a greater triumph than even the crushing of his vic- tim. David therefore prays that the eyes of his understanding may be enlightened, lest liis uprightness should be shaken, his consciousness of integrity overcome, and lest he should fall into that moral and spiritual death, which is indicated by the yield- ing up of principle to a seeming necessity. For then would his enemies boast that they had indeed prevailed against him, and cast him down from that proud eminence, from w^hich the righ- teous only can look upward in faith to their God, and downward with contempt upon their foes ; under the sure and certain hope of deliverance and triumph. Ver. 5 — 6. And the Psalmist docs not long dwell upon complaint or prayer, before that joyful hope animates him to break forth into the song of praise ; as though he were already assured of the hearing of his complaint, the answering of his prayer, the attainment of his desire. His trust is strong, and LErrUllES ON THE PSALMS. 31 therefore his heart is joyful before the Lord. He can sing and give praise with the best member tliat he has : for, having already experienced tliat the Lord hud in time past dealt lovingly with his soul, he could rely upon the divine mercies through the seasons of trial yet for to come. Such, brethren, is the power of faith — that faith which, though it is the gift of God, must yet be cultivated and cherished by an habitual ren- dering to God the honour due unto his Name, as the som*ce and fountain of all the blessings of tliis life, and of all our hope of that which is to come. For at his disposal alone are all the issues of life and of death. If tliis be borne constantly in mind, so as to produce a practical effect on your lives, happy are ye ! PSALM 11. This Psalm consists principally of a general and energetic condemnation of the folly of the infidel; a character which it may be presumed was more common in the days of the Jewish dispensation, than since the Messiah came upon earth, a Light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel. But the general corruption of mankind, and the perverse enmity of the wicked against the true worshippers of God, are also subjects of this Psalm. Ver. 1 — 2. The very existence of an infidel where the Gospel has been made known for a thousand years, would seem an impossibility, if the fact were not before our eyes : the folly of the thing is too manifest for many to have the boldness to avow it : but let us only remember the distinction made by the Psalmist, and we shall not be driven to look far around us for some samples of these lost sheep. The fool denies in his heart the existence of a God, while he is too much of a coward to proclaim it with his hps. Yet does fiis life and conduct betray him to an observing world. By their fruits ye shall know them, is a mark set upon them by the two-edged sword of the Divine Word : and by this test will they be tried by their fellow men. There is first, the absence of all practical good from theu" lives and conversation. They are neither friendly with their neighbours, n(ir just in their dealings, nor honest 32 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. with their lips : they are liars and slanderers of their equals and superiors, whether in virtue or in station. In short, they are selfish ; and in this one vice are swallowed up all the hest feel- ings and dispositions of our common nature : for he who owns not a duty to God will admit of no obHgations towards his fellow- man. T speak not of the avowed infidel, for that is a very rare character : hut how shall we judge of the practical infidel from his carriage towards God ? He constantly pollutes the Sab- bath ; he despises the ministration and the ordinances of rehgion ; the Sacraments are in his sight only the forms of priestcraft ; and altogether he denies God in his heart and hfe. Of such it is, that the Psalmist avers that they are corrupt and abominable in their doings : and the Apostle Paul has plainly and truly accounted for their depravity ; for even, says he, as they did not hke to retain God in their knowledge. He gave them over to a reprobate mind : to change the Truth of God into a He : to worship and serve the creature more than the Creator. Now, brethren, I ask, is it possible for you to think and reflect, and meditate for a moment, and not call to mind some whom you know, and to whom all these terms of condemnation fully apply? And what are they other than practical infidels, those who say in their heart there is no God ? The Psalmist, however, describes them in one word — they are fools. Ver. 3 — 10. These verses fonn together such an unbroken continuation of description, that it would be injudicious and unjust to separate them: but they bear me out fully in my appeal to your own knowledge of the existence of such a class of men as the practical infidel. The gainsaying of all spiritual rehgion must have been a wide spreading contagion in the days of David : for he tells us poetically and figuratively, that the Lord looked down upon the children of men, to see if there were any that would understand and seek after God: and he re- peats the declaration of the second verse, that there is none that doeth good, no not one. And what a horrid catalogue of hate- LKCTIRKS ON THE PSAI.MS. 33 fill qualities docs lie iistribe to the infidel, the denier ol' God in his heart! The foul exhalations of the sepulchre in their throat ; deceit in their tongues ; poison under their lips ; curs- ing and bitterness in their mouth; their feet swift to shed blood; destruction and unhappiness in their ways; ignorance of the way of peace ; blindness to the fear of the Omnipotent and ofiended God ; ha^'ing no knowledge, that is, no common sense; workers of mischief; devourers and oppressors of the humble and needy, until they even ceased to call upon the Lord, being, as the Psalmist affinns, in great fear where no fear was ; by reason that the Israelite indeed and the true Christian are never deserted by their IJeavenly Father, for God is in the generation of the righteous: though the infidel will mock at them, because they put their trust in the Lord. ' Ver. 11. Our Prayer Book translation of this verse is some- what obscure, and that of the Bible more so; and our best Com- mentators do not clearly explain it. I take it, however, as an aspiration of the Psalmist in behalf of that portion of the Israelites who were then in bondage, and far fi-om that beloved home, which is so pathetically lamented in the 137th Psalm. Tliis is at least a reasonable interpretation. But if it also bear, as others suppose, a more spiritual meaning, as a prayer for the deliverance of the captives from the spiritual dai'kness that necessarily suiTounded them in a heathen land; then may we, brethren, di'aw consolation from the reflection, that we ai'e enjoy ing the glorious Liberty of the children of God ; that our lines are cast in pleasant places; that we have the knowledge of the gloiy of God in Christ. Jesus, as revealed to us in the everlasting Gospel, and ministered to us from Sabbath, to Sabbath; and tliat if we are doers of the Word, and not hearers only, neither principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall separate us from the loye of God, which is in Christ .Tesiis our Lord. Therefore, Glory be to the Fnther, S;c. D 34 LKC'TUKES ON THE Tf-'ALMt LECTURE V. PSALM 15. The conditions of acceptance with God, as set forth in this Psalm, although they have a sole reference to the dispensation of the Law, are not less necessary to be observed under that of the Gospel; wherein .we find throughout, the reiteration and enforcement of the doctrine of the necessity of practical godliness, so well compressed in that one precept of the Apostle to Titus ; that the professors of Christ's religion should be instructed in the necessity of maintaining good works ; for that they are good and profitable unto men. The Psalmist's doctrine here leads to the same point, though delivered without the immediate sanction of our great High Priest, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. ^^,.. I — 7. The entire Psalm is a continuous catalogue of the moral quahfications which entitle a man to be considered a faithful professor of Keligion, and consequently a worthy mem- ber of the Holy Catholic Church of God upon earth. For these practical virtues are the evidences of the faith that abideth within : and however independent of the sanctions of the Gospel, are fully confirmed by the requirements of the later dispen- sation. A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit ; wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. John the Baptist warned his hearers not to rely upon their natural prerogatives for salvation ; not to boast that they had Abraham for their father, as though the virtues of the patriarch were sufficient for all who should descend from him. Every tree must be valued for the fruit it bears, from whatever stock it had been raised ; and that which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. The Psalmist has anticipated this evangelical doctrine but by a different figure. Lord, who shall dwell in thy Tabernacle : or who shall rest upon thy holy hill ? Not the hypocrite whose religious profession is an untimely blossom, put forth for shew; but he that Hke a tree planted by the water- side bringeth forth LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 35 his fruit in due season : that is, he who Hves, and thinks, and speaks, and acts, as becomes his profession : in liis acknowledg- ment of a supreme Lawgiver he will not be puffed up with spiritual pride, as if free from all obhgations of duty to his brethren and his neighbours ; but in all lus actions will be con- strained by the law of love to do unto all men as he would they should do unto him. It is of the doer of the work of this law that St. James pronounces that he shall be blessed in his deeds ; and the Psalmist's judgment of him is equally encou- raging : — Whoso doeth these tilings shall never fall. PSALM IG. This is a memorable Psalm, as predictive of Christ's triumphant resurrection, and as having been quoted by St. Peter on the day of Pentecost, when preaching to an immense assemblage of Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven; {Acts, ii ;) upon which occasion, it is recorded, three thousand souls were con- verted, and baptized, and added to the Church of Christ. David was himself un- questionably a vivid type of the Messiah; but as the type is necessarily inferior in dignity to the person who is thereby prefigured, the Psalmist, though speaking throughout in his own person, almost imperceptibly advances from out of himself, as it were, into a prophetic style of language, that can be applicable to none but the true David, the risen Son of God. The Psalm is in short, an effusion of min- gled terms, some of which apply to the writer only and personally, some to him as the type of the ^lessiah, some to Christ exclusively. Every portion, however, is expressive of David's faith in the divine promises. Ver. 1, 2. These tAvo verses can be interpreted only as an outpouring of prayer of the Psalmist's own heart : they implore the almighty protection on the plea that in God alone is his entire trust; that this trust is the very life and sustenance of his soul ; that he places no reliance upon any temporal wealth for his happiness or safety; but acknowledging the supreme Lord of heaven and earth to be his God, on Him only he relies for preservation and every attendant blessing. Even in these verses, however, there is a foreshadowing, not only of his own D 2 36 LECTURKS ON TIIF. PSALMS. approaching sovereignty, but of that universal dominion of which David's establishment on the throne of Israel is an acknowledged type ; for he thus makes known his detennina-. tion of the manner in which he will conduct his government": — Ygr. 3 — 5. Here it is seen that not only was the kingdom of Israel a prefiguration of that of Messiah ; but that David himself was a tme type of the great Pattern of Holiness, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Godhead manifest in the flesh. For as He announced to his disciples, that the Holy Spirit should reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judg- ment; so David, moved by the same Spirit, proclaims his resolve to signalize his coming reign, by the protection and encouragement of all such as excel in virtue; and by his marked abhorrence of the unbeliever and the profane idolater : so that their very names shall be held by him in too great abomination to be pronounced by his lips. y^r 6 — 8. In these verses is perceptible the mingled sense, applicable to the condition and experience of the anointed king of Israel, and prophetic of those of Messiah, when He should come upon eaith to establish his kingdom. David confesses of ■himself, that all he possesses or hopes for is his inheritance under the divine promise ; and is therefore confident that his lot in life will be maintained by the same gracious Power who bestowed it. And here is a grateful acknowledgment, that his heritage is a goodly possession in a fair land, the prospect of which he enjoys the more, for having experienced the warning chastisements of the Lord, in liis past progress towards his high earthly destiny. And it must be borne in mind, that much of our Saviour's recorded language has a resemblance to this; that much of his experience, while fulfilhng his ministi-y here, had been foreshadowed in the life of David ; He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted witli grief; and He was ever prayerfully and humbly acknowledging, that the portion of liis inheritance and of his cup was of his I.KCTfRKS ON THE PSALMS. 37 Heavenly Father; wliich is stroiigly exemplified, typically, in the following verses. Fer. 9 — 12. The two leading verses of this portion bear the double application ; for while they are descriptive of David's faith, and of the gladness of heart which he derived from it; they are accommodated to the evangelical histories of our Saviour's daily life. In every utterance of his lips, in every action of his life, in his frequent retirements for private prayer, in his fastings, in the recorded temptations He sustained, and in his conflicts \vith a stubborn and faithless generation, the man Christ Jesus uniformly evinced his consciousness of the ever- watchful Presence of his Heavenly Father, and of his all-suffi- cient support in every appointed trial. It is in his human character only that we can apply these prophetic passages to the Son of God : for in his seasons of special communion with God the Father, He was -withdrawn fi'om the pressure of his temporal sufferings, and could rejoice in the certainty, that after He should have passed the pangs of crucifixion and death, his flesh should rest in hope ; con-uption should have no power over that body which He had taken upon Him, as the instru- ment of redeeming mankind frc^m tlie consequences of spiritual coiTuption : the path of Li/e, that state of perfect existence of which we, brethren, can form no clear conception, lay before Him ; the path that should lead to the fulness of joy which is diffused only in the eternal and inalienable Presence of the ever-blessed Trinity ; and where, at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on liigh, the seat of supremest honour, He should employ Eternity in the holy delight of receiving and dispensing pleasure for evennore ! PSALM 17. This is a prayer of David : but, as the foundation of his hope tliat his prayer will be heard, he institutes a comparison between his own claims to Divine Mercy before thLJudfjinent-scat of thu A 11 -.seeing (iod, ami tliosc of his enemies ; ^nd professes 38 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. his perfect innocence of those charges which they falsely make the ground of their hostility. It was in suffering as well as in faithfulness, that the anointed king of Israel was a type of the man Christ Jesus. There prevails therefore in many of his divine compositions a strength and magnificence of language, which in its ful- lest interpretation can be accommodated only to the purity and sanctity of the Redeemer; whose perfect rule of life, as seen in Himself, admitted of no com- parison. But David wrote under the influence of divine inspiration; and while pouring forth his own prayers, his own complaints, his own professions of faithful- ness, could not help (so to speak) pourtraying the character of Him, of whom he himself was the progenitor according to the flesh ; and of whom it had been pro- mised that He should sit upon the throne of David forever. Ver. 1 — 3. The bold confidence of David in his own com- parative integrity is here, as in many other passages of the Psalms, truly marv'ellous. I speak as an accountable being, conscious of my own consciousness of infirmity, and natural impurity, and consequent liability to ofi'ences in the sight of God, to which my own self-love may possibly have blinded my own eyes. Such, bretln-en, is our common condition ; yet we may approach the mercy- seat in the strong assurance of faith, that while we overlook, or have forgotten, our own transgres- sions, the God of Grace will at the same time be not extreme to mark what we have done amiss ; but that in our supphcations ■He will hearken unto the prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips. And this is our possible degree of integrity in the act of prayer, however deeply laden with the deeds of acted guilt. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence, and let thine eyes look upon the thing that is equal. Here is an appeal to the mercy of God against his strict justice, an imploration that He might weigh the eternally-settled provisions of that mercy against the misdeeds of the sinner. But in what follows we find the boldest portion of the passage ; too bold, indeed, for our approval or comprehension even, unless by interpreting it as a vow of future obedience rather than a boast of past per- fectness ; — Thou hast tried me, and shall find no wickedness in me ; for T am utterly purposed that my mouth shall not ofiend. In the sense therefore which I attach to this passage, we find an LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 39 exemplai'y lesson of instruction. None of us can recal the past ; few of us can remember all our transgressions ; but all may implore the divine mercy ; and while so doing, may form reso- lutions, with the aid of divine grace, that not even with our mouth will we again wilfully offend. Fer. 4 — 7. The first of these verses contains an avowal of the principle upon wliich the Psalmist had hitherto acted ; the same that he recommends in the first Psalm as the security of temporal happiness, or blessedness ; namely, the habitual shun- ning of evil communications, whether with the ungodly, the sinner, or the in'eligious scorner. The remaining verses con- stitute a prayer for grace to persevere, to be sustained, to be holden up in the ways of practical godliness, that his footsteps slip not. But he trusts to experience the marvellous loving- kindness of the Lord, only in answer to devout supplication for the needed mercies. Such is the tenor of the Gospel Law — Ask and ye shall receive, that yom- joy may be full — and this Law requires something more than the prayer that goeth out of feigned lips — the mere utterance of a form of words. If we ask and receive not, it is because we ask amiss. The Psalmist appeals unto God as the Saviour of them who put their trust in Him. Faith is the grand and prominent condition of the acceptance of all our offerings ; whether of prayer, of praise, or of deeds; and whether the objects of such oblations be the blessings of eternal salvation, or merely temporal deliverance from the evil influences of such as know not God, and obey not his commandments ; thus resisting, as the Psalmist's forcible expression is, the right hand of the Majesty on high. Ver. 8 — 16.- This fine supplication of the devout spirit of David is evidently prompted by some existing hostilities, either openly carried on, or devised in the secret councils of Saul and his envious adherents — the ungodly that compassed him about to take away his soul. It is too descriptive to be the work of the imagination only ; though it applies equally to the enemies 40 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. of David and to tlie adversaries of Christ's Holy Catholic Church upon earth. The figurative expression that they are inclosed in their own fat, while their mouth speaketh proud things, conveys a very just idea of the hlindness and haughti- ness of a multitude leagued together in defiance of all moral restraint, and neither fearing God nor regarding man. Such was the experience of David in his many seasons of adversity — such was the contradiction of sinners to our Divine Master and his faithful disciples, in their united endeavours to establish the reign of righteousness over the earth. The pride, pomp, and circumstance of kingly power were arrayed in open hostility, alike against the anointed king and the Holy One of Israel : in each case they had taken counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed : their language in each case bore a similar import — ^we will not have this man to reign over us ! Yet were these rebellious foes of God and man permitted to possess their portion of the good tilings of this life — they were filled with the hidden treasures of the distributive Providence of the God whom they denied, abused, and opposed. Such are his mercies and forgivenesses, and long-suffering to us-ward. Such ai-e ■human ingratitude, and human pride and obstinacy, when engaged in the pursuit of unhallowed objects. But, says the pious king of Israel, but as for me, I will behold thy Presence in righteousness ; that is, by following after righteousness J will seek thy face, until I behold as in a glass the perfect glory of the Lord ; and being changed into the same image fi'om glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, I shall go down to the grave in peace ; and when I awake up after thy likeness, — when Thou shalt have changed this vile body, according to the mighty power whereby Thou art able to sub- due all things to Thyself, — I shall be satisfied with it. Glory be to the Father, S^c. LECTLUES ON THE I'bALMS. LECTURE VI. PSALM 18. An old and very learned writer on the Psalms pronounces this to be a most beautiful specimen of poetic skill, in the form of a triumphant celebration of the power and goodness of the Eternal God, displayed in the deliverance of his servant David from the evil designs of all his enemies. Though it was probably composed after the full establishment of the king upon the throne of Israel, it is introduced in this manner in the second Book of Samuel, (c. 22,)— And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song, in the day that the Lord had delivered him out o< the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul. As, however, David was the type of Christ, and f'hrist the Head of the Church, our true David, this Psalm is deemed to be prophetically commemorative of the honour and glory of his victories over the common foe of mankind, in whose nature (that is, David's) our Lord and Saviour achieved the final triumph over doatli and the powers of darkness. Fer. 1 — 6. The strength and copiousness of these expres- sions indicate a degree of love or faithfulness, in the acknow- ledgment of wliich the inspired writer seems to feel that no language can be too ornate or emphatic. And he justifies his extreme devotedness, l)y calling to mind and eniunerating the many and deep afflictions from which he had been delivered ; calling upon the Lord, as alone worthy of the praise due to such signal mercies, and trusting in Him only for future safety from all his enemies. And however figurative the language in wliieh the Psalmist has expressed the nature and extremity of his past perils, the records of them in the two Books of Samuel prove that they are truly described, when he declares that the over- flowings of ungodHness made him afraid ; that the snares of death overtook him ; that the sorrows of death compassed him, and the pains of hell came about him. In his trouble, there- fore, he had called upon the Lord, and complained unto his God ; until He stooped from liis Tabernacle on high to hear the cries of his faithful and afflicted servant, who had persevered 42 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. iu urging his complaint, until it had entered even into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ver. 7 — 15. These poetic descriptions are such as no writer, moved by mere enthusiasm, could have dared to adopt, except under the guidance of some extraordinary instinct or inspira- tion. The same judgment may be pronounced of the entu-e passage now read to you. It baffles all comment, it admits of no analysis, it defies every attempt to explain or enlarge upon it. The grandeur of the scenery which it unfolds to the mind's eye impresses the soul with that kind of awe, and almost to the same degree, which was felt by the band of men and officers, when the Incarnate Son of God announcing Himself to be the person whom they sought, they went backward, and fell to the ground. And this descriptive vision of the inspired poet is equalled in magnificence only by the record of the Evangelist St. Matthew, of what actually took place after our Lord's cru- cifixion ; when from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour : and behold, the veil of the tem- ple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom ; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent ; and the graves were opened ; and many bodies of the saints which slept ai'ose. We may therefore safely apply this subHme vision of the Psalmist to the awful scenes of that day, when the Son of Man shall come again in his glory, and all his holy angels with Him, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel. Ver. 16 — 24. As it is stated in the prophet Samuel's History that it was soon after the death of Saul that David spake before the Lord all the words of this song, we must venture to change the tense in which these verses read, that is, from the past to the future ; for the troubles of the son of Jesse ended with the life of his great enemy : or, as they stand, they must have a prospective reference to the rebelHon of Absalom. We are not justified, however, in thus applying them. This diversity of LECTURES ON THE I'SALMS. .| ,'{ time is not iufrequent in our translation from the original lan- guage. We may read, therefore, lie liath sent down from on high to fetch me : He liath delivered me from my strongest enemy. Tliis was Daxdd's happy position at the moment of Saul's death: he was deUvered from them which hated him, and were too mighty for him ; the Lord being his upholder. The verses which follow breathe the spirit of thanksgiving, rather than of prayer, wliich affords another good reason for the change of time already spoken of, as it respects the two preceding verses. For the Psalmist, acknowledging that the Lord had brought him forth into a place of hberty, because He had a favour unto him, foresees the future reward of his own integiity and righte- ous dealing, and proclaims it with all the confidence of the strongest faith. There never was seen, perhaps, in any gene- ration of mankind, any other person in whom the power of religious faith manifested itself with so much strength, and in such unabated continuance and growth, as in the character of David. There are examples of a sublime resignation to the mil of God in the last extremity, to be found in Holy Writ, as that of the dying Jacob in the Old Testament, and that of the martyr Stephen in the New. But it was the duty and the liigli privilege of the Psalmist to record from time to time his own immoveable faithfulness, through many yeai-s of the severest trial and the most imminent dangers; as well as under the more encouraging experience of deliverances from them. In all, he acknowledges the hand of God : and it is upon liis grateful re- flections on the past that he founds his reasonable confidence of future protection, and guidance, and recompense. It is, how- ever, from liis own consciousness of integrity that he derives encouragement to come boldly to the throne of grace, to look for future mercies, and with the hope to find grace in all his times of need. And herein lies the true secret of obtaining that great gift of God, a true and lively faith. No man can ask any thing in faith, believing, while his conscience is burthened 44 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. with the weight of past sins, imrepented of; or whih^ hibouring under that greater impediment to advancement in spiritual hfe, an evil heart of unbelief in the necessity of Christian practical obedience. Yet how few are they who can approach the Mercy Seat with those inspiring reflections which animated the courage of the son of Jesse : — I have kept the ways of the Lord ; I have an eye unto all his laws ; I was also uncon'upt before Him, and eschewed mine own wickedness. Upon this rested his confi- dence in the Divine Justice, as well as in the mercy of his God. Therefore, says he, (and this thanksgiving for coming mercies is repeated,) therefore shall the Lord reward me after my righte- ous dealing ; and according unto the cleanness of my hands in his eye-sight. Ver. 25 — 29. The language of the two first of these verses is obscure, if not mysterious, as addressed to God Himself: but they bear an explanation which ^vill make plain their hidden meaning to the humblest mind. The sense of the passage is, that he who to the best of his ability hath striven to purify his mind from unclean and unholy thoughts, and his life fi'om positive vices ; he can desire nothing that he will not find in the perfect purity of the Divine Character. This was exemplified before the eyes of men in the life of our Saviour, who was the Deity Himself, manifest in the flesh : this passage therefore may be taken as prophetic of our incarnate Redeemer's exemplary course upon earth. But with God the Judge of all, the froward and evil minded man shall learn the fierceness of his anger against the wickedness of his doings: he shall find that the Almighty not only opposes a firm and irresistible hand to his presumptuous course ; but that He is in the end a consuming fire to all such as dehght in lies, and in the fi'owardness of the wicked. All sinfulness is pride ; and as tliis is in the sight of God the object of his deepest hatred, so is humihty of mind the earnest of all other Christian virtues : and that which Ho will accept in the absence of more ostensible and active graces. LECTL'RKS ON IIIi; I'SAl.MS. 4') Tliis is what is meant by saving the people that are in adversity. David felt the value of tliis sacred ornament in himself: it inspired liim ^^•ith comfort and confidence that subdued all his fears : it slied a light upon all the ways of adversity which lie had trodden : — Thou also shalt light wy candle ; the Lord my God shall make my darkness to be light. So that, bow ninne- rous soever mine enemies, how mighty and tln-eatening their bulwai'ks raised against me; by the help of my (iod I shall triumph over them, and pursue my victorious course, in the exercise of that authority which He hath placed in my hands. Vcr. 30, 31. These two verses consist of a pious reflection of the Psalmist, introductory to a long enumeration of the mercies he had experienced, and the support he yet hoped to experience, at the hand of his God. He meditates on the way of God, on the Word of God, and on the faithfulness of God, as tlie defence of all who put their trust in Him. It is necessary, my brethren, first to obtain a knowledge of God, before we can reasonably hope to acquire that faith in him wliich is the source of all true peace here, and the earnest of eternal peace and safety hereafter. We can gather a knowledge of his ways, that is, of liis providential dealings with mankind, only from those long presented records of liis government, which were written for our learning. The brief history of the Creation, wliich is unquestionably a work of divine inspu-ation, is only an intro- duction to the knowledge of the Creator, gradually expanded through the details of the manner in which He displayed his attributes to the understanding of his intelligent creatures, in the exercise of his universal sovereignty. We who have the advantage over any one generation of our earlier progenitors, of comparing the progress of events through thousands of years — we are enabled, as it were at one glance, to see the connexion of causes and effects, in all the operations of Divine Power, and in all the dispensations of Divine Providence ; and the better we acquaint ourselves with the historical records of God's dealings 4b LECTUKES ON THE TSALMS. with ever}' generation, and with every distinct division of the human race, the more shall we he constrained, nay, compelled to acknowledge, that the way of God is an undefiled way : — " 0 God Omnipotent! how perfect is the way of the Lord! how just and equal the reasons of Ms Providence ! "* Let us take only the histoiy of the seed of Abraham, from their first separation as a distinct people,- to their final dispersion, and we shall require no other text whereon to build up a just though imperfect con- viction, that the way of the Lord is an undeviating course of truth and equity. So also, as the Psalmist proclaims, is the Word of the Lord tried in the fire. And perhaps not less in our own day, than in the time of the Egyptian bondage of his people, or in that of their subsequent deliverance. The awful threatenings of divine vengeance are recorded for our caution ; yet how numerous, how continuous are our provocations ! By these is the Word of the Lord tried. For though, as the Apostle reminds his Eoman converts, though God hath said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy ; yet is this no encourage- ment to presumption ; for the same written Word proclaims the incorruptibility of Divine Justice. And God's faithfulness is no less manifest in the dispensation of his judgments, than in that of liis forbearance and loving-kindness towards his creatures : though herein, as the Psalmist intimates, is the display of his brightest attribute: — He is the defender of all them that put their trust in Him. It is as the reward of our faithfulness that God, through Jesus Christ, manifests liis faithfulness towards us : in that He forgiveth all our sin, and healeth all our infirmities; and hath saved our hfe from destruction, and crowned us with mercy and loving-kindness. And to inspire the faithfulness which leads to this consummation, the Psalmist thus argues : — Who is God, but the Lord : or who hath any strength, except our God ? * Amyraldus (in loco) in Davidis Psalmos. LECTURES ON THE I'SALMS. 47 Ver. 32 — 51. Though, as it has been stated in the opening argument of this Psahn, it is prophetically commemorative of the honour and glory of Christ's dominion over all things and for ever ; yet this view of it is a fitter subject for private meditation than for a written commentary. We will confine its application therefore to the Psalmist himself, his experience, and his strong faith. The voice of inspiration is echoed in every passage of tliis triumphant hymn — the celebration of a future and perfect triumph, rather than of any past stages of a protected and \'ictorious life. David, however, humbly ascribes all his prospective power and success to Jehovah, who had so long and so signally shielded him from unequalled perils. And though he speaks of blessings in prospect with as strong a cer- tainty as if they were in possession ; he does not overlook his own past frailties, nor think ungratefully of his past sufferings, as though they were the unmerited inflictions of the divine anger ; but he ascribes to them the healing and strengthening power, which manifests the love of God, in all his chastise- ments of the children whom He loveth. David admits, at once honestly and piously, that liis advancing greatness shall not be less o^ving to the divine correction than to the divine support : — Thy right hand shall hold me up, and thy lo\dng correction shall make me great. And this duty performed, the inspired penman revels as it were in the boundless vision of the temporal blessings that await him, as the anointed ruler of God's peculiar people, as the conservator of Israel's peace, and as the guardian of the Sanctuary, now established on the hill of Zion which God loved. It is difficult for us, brethren, to enter into the feelings which must have warmed the breast of the pious young king at this moment of exultant faith ; but the re-perusal of these twenty verses again and again, must kindle in the dullest heart a joyous sympathy with the grateful historian of his own experience : and especially among those who have attentively read the sacred biogi-aphy of his earlier eventful life. And it is 48 LECTUKKS ON THE PSALMS. impossible to dissect this rapturous hymn of anticipant tliauks- giving, without marring its beauty. It is a continuous flow of joyous pride, upon which the mind of the reader may ghde on- ward in pleasant contemplation, until he is made to partake in the conviction of the Psalmist himself, of how joyful and plea- sant a thing it is to be thankful. None of us, my brethren, have passed our lives thus far, without having experienced very many motives to thankfulness to the Giver of all good ; and however humble our condition here, we are no less the objects and the subjects of Almighty care. It may be that we are too unmindful of the Source fi'om whence all our blessings spring ; and that we need occasionally to be awakened to a sense of our dependance upon the inexhaustible love of our Heavenly Father, by the chastisements of his hand, by the rod of his cor- rection. It were far more promotive, however, of our perfect and uninterruj)ted peace, to make his law our study, to follow the bright examples of faith and obedience recorded in the Lively Oracles of Divine Truth, and to seek his grace to help us in our experience of temptation or of need. The fei-vent out- pomings of the pious spirit of David may alone guide us into all truth, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, if we meditate upon them with a teachable mind, and a heart disposed to learn the ways of God, in his dealings with his favoured creatures. The Psalms are a treasury of practical wisdom, unequalled in I'ull- ness, in richness, in usefulness, by any other portions of the Scriptui'es written for our learning, and presei-ved for our use, previous to the advent of our Great High Priest Himself: for as the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Chiist, so were the holy and inspired writers who lived under that dispen- sation, exemplars to us of the gainfulness of that godliness, which is more clearly deiined, and more authoritatively enforced, in the glorious Gospel of the ever-blessed God. Therefore, Ghry he to the Father, 8(C. LECTURES ON THE I'SALMR 49 LECTURE VII. PSALM 19. This Psalm is appointed by the Church to be used as one of the proper Psahns for Christmas Day. That which prompted David to pen this beautiful effusion seems to have been nothing more particular than his own ardent pervading piety, musing on subjects most congenial to his gifted spirit, and looking through Nature up to Nature's God. For the subjects on which he expatiates are, — first, the order of the visible creation, especially the structure of the heavens, as most impressively proclaiming the glory of their Creator to the understanding of men : — secondly, he contends that the Word of God, the written revelation of the Divine Character, graciously given to man by the unsearchable counsels of Jehovah, are yet more conducive to his acquiring that knowledge which shall make him wise unto sal- vation : — and the conclusion is the prayerful outpouring of a spirit humbled by the contemplation of its own comparative impurity and weakness. The Psalm is plainly and purely preceptive, though introduced under the most graceful poetic adornments. Ver. 1 — 0. It is a hard task, brethren, for even the preacher to address his fellow- sinners in words of reproach, though be use only the most general terms, from the application of wliioh he is no more exempt than any one of those to whom he addresses liimself. But we are justified in resorting to plain- ness of speech, by a thousand examples from among those who have laboured most for the common enlightenment and improve- ment of our nature. Poets, philosophers, and divines, among uninspired men, have recorded their condemnation of the com- mon bhndness of humanity to all the evidences in favour of both natural and revealed religion, which are presented in the visible works of creation. Beyond these, we have our Saviour's para- bles pointing plainly to the same end. And however strange it may appear at first sight to the unreflecting reader, the opening portion of this Psalm, which I have just now read, conveys a silent reproof of the insensibility, the common insensibility of our fallen nature, not one jot less forcible, though less dirrct, E 50 LECTUEKS ON THE I'SALMS. than that of our great Poet of the Seasons, after enumerating the visible testimonies of inanimate things to the love, the glory, the bounteousness, and the awful po^Yer of their and our com- mon Creator. But, says he, But, wandering oft with brute unconscious gaze, Man marks not Thee ! marks not the mighty hand, That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres ; Works in the secret deep ; shoots, steaming, thence, The fair profusion that o'erspreads the Spring; Flings from the sun direct the flaming day ; Feeds ev'ry creature ; hurls the tempest forth ; And, as on earth this grateful change revolves, With transport touches all the springs of life ! Thus also the Psalmist appeals to the hearts and consciences of men, while setting forth, in the most impressive language, the testimony of God's intrinsic gioiy, as proclaimed by those mag- nificent creations of his power, which cannot be liid from our eyes. Does he not, therefore, in the mere description of these visible wonders, convict us to our own thoughts of an habitual insensibilty to their speech and language ; to their plain decla- rations of the glory of their Maker ; to their daily repetition of lessons of wisdom and love, upon them written for our learning ? Yes — for though their sounds are gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world, yet is their appeal to our sensibilities treated as an idle tale which we regard not : we are even as the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears; which re- fuseth to hear the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely. But there are also other and stronger appeals to our reason in this sublime anthem. For, Ver. 7 — 11. The revelation of the Divine Will and the im- parted knowledge of the Divine Character are the surest testi- monies of God's love to his creature, man: for without that revelation, all the children of Adam must still have wandered on in the darkness which was entailed by their parents' transgres- sion. And here, in order to win our confidence to this gracious LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 51 communication, the Psalmist enlarges very eloquently ujion its perfections, as adapted by Divine Wisdom to the necessities of our fallen nature. This is the moral law as contained in the ten commandments — the only law which was given to God's chosen people, {Luke x) — that law, the obsei-vance of which, our Saviour Himself assured a self-righteous enquirer, is sufficient to insure eternal life ; and which is hmited to two distinct heads, the love of God and the love of our neighbour. A very httle of the experience, brethren, of wliich we all have had more or less, or rather a very little reflection on that experience, will force home to our feelings the conviction, that much of our temporal happiness is promoted and secured by the observance of the second requirement of the law — the love of our neigh- bour : and reason alone may convince us, that without cherish- ing in our souls a love towards God, we can have no gi'ound of hope that we are or shall be, here or hereafter, the objects of the di\dne love — no knowledge of it, beyond the painful con- sciousness that it has been offered to us, and either scornfully or heedlessly rejected. It were vain for uninspired himian wisdom to indite, though in many more words, so impressive and copious a discourse, or one so persuasive of the behef of the simplicity that is in true godliness, (2 Cor. xi, 3,) as is con- tained in the few verses of the Psalm, which were last quoted. A well-known divine sums up his meditations upon them with this appropriate prayer, "Lord, give us affections towards thy Word in some measure proportioned to its excellence : for we can never love too much what we can never admire enough." Bji. Hume. Ver. 12 — 15. The conclusion of this Psalm is sou-cely less valuable than the other portions, as affording subjects for medi- tation and self-examination. The inspired penman, after mus- ing on the awful perfections of the Deity, as manifested in his works, and in the beneficent adaptation of his Law to our wants and necessities, retreats into the secret chambers of his own E 2 52 LECTURES ON THE ^SALM^'. heart, and makes the confession that it is deceitful above all things ; for that it is ignorant of even those offences, of which it is the very birth-place and the nursery: — Who can tell how oft he offendeth ? Here then David shews the necessity of that cautionary proverb, which is bequeathed to us by his own gifted son : — Keep thy heart with all diligence ; for out of it are the issues of life. And the pious father instructs us in the true principle of this effective watchfulness — prayer and the heart- worship which alone is acceptable to the God of the spirits of all flesh : — 0 cleanse Thou me from my secret faults : keep me from presumptuous sins ; for Thou,. Lord, knowest my frailty ; my weakness in resisting the power of Satan over my soul ; and the great danger lest those evil desires be indulged in imaginary secrecy, until by undetected advances they get the dominion over me" And the ground of the Psalmist's confidence in prayer is, that the Lord is our strength and our Redeemer. PSALM 20. Some expositors think otherwise, but others have given satisfactory reasons for ap- plying this Psahn to the history of David's triumphs over the Ammonites and Syrians, as recorded 2 Sam. x, interpreting it as a Psalm of Thanksgiving for the occasion. It has been also suggested, that as David was a type of .Tesus Christ, the language of the Psalm may be justly appropriated by the Church, as descrip- tive of her alternate trials and triumphs. It was probably used in the service of the Tabernacle as an interlocutory anthem, the several parts being chaunted alternately, by David himself as the priest, and by the people in responsion. y(;y_ \ — 4. This portion of the Psalm, interpreting it as suggested, is the part with which the priest opens the act of de- votion, and uttered as an intercessory prayer for Israel. And if the occasion has been rightly conjectured, the order of the Psalm presents an admirable lesson of humility to every individual, worthy of deep meditation. For though the present may be a season of rejoicing, a season wherein we may shout to God with the voice of triumph, yet none can tell what a day may bring forth. The Psalmist therefore opens with a prayer in behalf of I.KCTL'KKS ON TUK PSALMS. 58 Israel, embracing her possible i'uturc condition. The pious warrior does not presumptuously conclude, that because to-day the God of the annies of Israel has given them victory in the battle, they shall be therefore safe under his shield and buckler in all future conflicts and in all distant time. But he exhorts them, by implication, to offer up their prayers against future trouble, to depend upon help only from the Sanctuary, and strength from out of Zion ; to be punctually obedient in their commanded offerings and sacrifices, in order tliat they may be ever present in God's remembrance ; and that, in manifestation of his acceptance of their obedience. He may grant them their heart's desire, and fulfil all their mind. I have said that all this is implied in the act of David's prayer, and in the peculiar con- sti'uction of that prayer, which could not but operate as a check upon any intemperate indulgence of mere rejoicing. But, this duty performed, the people are permitted to give utterance to their subdued exultation. Ver. 5 — 9. The congregation begin with a suitable re- sponse to the priest's intercessory prayer, confessing that of the Lord alone they have obtained salvation from defeat, and a tri- umphant victory over their enemies; and uniting their own prayer to that of their leader, that the Lord may perform all the petitions offered by liim on Israel's behalf. And as Ave take this Psalm as a commemoration of the signal victories obtained over the Ammonites and the Syrians in close succession,, we cannot but admire the appropriateness of the language chosen for the occasion. In these conflicts, as upon other like occasions, there must have hung a doubt of the issue upon the minds of those engaged, even with past experiences of God's interposing defence : but this was indeed a memorable instance of the divine interposition; for we read that David slew tlie men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen. Well, then, may the sumvors of this tremendous contest ex- claim, each one for himself, Now know I that the Lord helpeth 04 LECTURES ON THE TSALMS. his Anointed, and will hear him from his holy heaven : now know I that He will defend his servant David with the whole- some strength of liis right hand. We will therefore remember the Name of the Lord our God : for if He be for us, who shall be against us ? We have witnessed the hordes of our ungodly foes rushing upon us in battle an*ay, and flushed with pride in the consciousness of their overwhelming strength: but they had put their trust in chariots and in horses ! Yet hast Thou delivered us out of their hands, and spared us to praise thy Name in thy holy Temple. We are risen from the depths of danger and impending destruction, while they are brought down and fallen. Thus is the beauty of tliis sacred anthem brought out by the history of the occasion which prompted the inspired writer to its composition : and it is perfected by the return of the Psalmist's thoughts to that dependent humility and submis- sive confidence, which are most plainly manifested and best expressed in the language of prayer : — Save, Lord, and hear- us, O King of Heaven, when we call upon Thee ! PSALM 2J. As this Psalm is used in the service for Ascension Day, the presumption is, that its general interpretation has heen applied to our Lord. And though the Jews in common understand it as descriptive of David's experience and exaltation, some of their writers apply it to Messiah. Under the first idea it has heen considered as a continuation of the preceding anthem, which notion is supported by the title of the Psalm ; wherein it is said to be composed by David, and given to the Master of Symphonies, to he publicly sung in the Tabernacle. The general turn of its language, however, is too high to be strictly applicable to an earthy monarch ; yet in some passages of too ambiguous a character to be exclusively appropriate to our Lord. The reader will therefore occasionally advert to each, as his thoughts may be impressed by the alternations of figurative and descriptive terms. Ve?-. 1 — 7. The sense of these verses may, to a certain extent, be exclusively applied to David himself; for there is an evident connexion between this and the preceding Psalm, indi- cating that both were written on the same occasion ; the first LECTURES ON THE I'SALMS. 0;) as a thank-oftering lor the people, this as an effusion of personal gratitude and adoration. Nor is it probable that the pious king, wliile reflecting on the gracious interposition of the Almighty for the defence and preser\'ation of Israel, could be unmindful of his own wonderful exaltation, after so many imminent per- sonal perils. The language of tliis portion of the Psalm is therefore perfectly natural, and fi'ee from mystery, as the work of a pen which was always impelled by the irresistible force of genius. The dazzling colours of the Poet's imagination are here thrown around the simplest facts ; and the only difficulty is in discerning and defining those facts ^^•itllin their beauteous clothing. The terms of the fourth verse present the only am- biguous passage in this portion — He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever. But this is clearly explained in the narrative (2 Sam. vii) of the prophet Nathan's assurance given to David : — Thine house and thy kingdom shall be estabhshcd for ever before thee : thy throne shall be established for ever. This promise foreshadowed the Messiah as the heir of the house of David ; but it was also as full a revelation to himself of the life eternal, as had been given to any individual under the legal dispensation. All the remain- ing verses of this portion are only a grateful enumeration of the blessings already vouchsafed to liim, and of future mercies realized by faith. In the division which follows, however, we may clearly discern, that the Spirit of prophecy carried the pen- man into the liigher regions of intelligence ; unfolding to his view the power and majesty of Him, who is King over all, and blessed for evermore. Ver. 8 — 13. Here the Psalmist, comprehending the perfect- ness of Messiah's dominion, and having in remembrance his o^Ti experience of the divine power and presence, in his past conflicts with the heathen nations around him, ascribes to the spiritual sway of Christ an unhmited command over the fate of all such as should be haters of the Lord, and intending 56 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. mischief against Him. This was realized in part by Christ's resurrection and ascension ; and will be carried out with fearful particulaiity in the final judgment. Then shall liis enemies feel his power, the weight of his hand. Then shall He destroy them in liis displeasure, and the fire of his cherished wrath shall consume them : and not only themselves, but their oft'- spring, whom they had corrupted by their influence and example ; these shall share the general doom of the ungodly and the sinner ; they shall bo rooted out from the living, and consigned to the bottomless pit of everlasting destruction, where the worm dieth not,' and the fire is not quenched. After this review of the Majesty of the Lord as displayed in the everlasting establishment of his kingdom, the Psalmist returns to the expression of his own grateful adoration, in tenns wdiich present a remarkable contrast to those with wliich the Psalm opens : there, he says. The King (of Israel) shall rejoice in thy strength, 0 Lord: exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation : here he ascribes the exaltation of Messiah to his own strength or omnipotence, and admits that truth to be the subject of his faithful people's everlasting joy : — Be Thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength : so will we sing and praise thy power ; " here upon earth in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs ; with endless hallelujahs hereafter in heaven " — Bj). Home. Glory be to the Father, Sjc. LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 57 LECTURE VIII. PSALM 2 2. We cannot with propriety divide the commentary on this Psalm into more than two distinct parts : for as the Psalm is selected by our Church for a portion of its service in commemoration of our Lord's Crucifixion, so it is to be considered as a representation of the passion, and a prophetic enumeration of the happy effects of his triumph over death, and his resurrection from the grave. Many passages from the Psalms are quoted in the New Testament ; and if proof were wanting that these sublime compositions were dictated by the Holy Spirit, the use of them by our Saviour Himself should suffice to remove any doubt. Fer. 1 — 21. It is recorded both by St. Matthew and St. Mark, in their respective accounts of Chiist's crucifixion, that just before liis mortal suffering had come to a close, He uttered the words with which this Psalm opens — My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? And to account for the tenor of this language from the lips of Him who was co-equal with God, we must remember, brethren, that He still bore our frail nature, and was sensible of all the tortures of perhaps the most cruel death to which man can be subjected; and we must remember also, that He made Himself a voluntaiy offering to this under- taking, with all its conse(]uences foreseen and foreknown. But the Advent of the Son of God upon earth, merely to make known the truths of his ever-blessed Gospel, was not all that was necessaiy to appease the wrath of God, and to satisfy divine justice upon our offending race. Christ came to be a aacrijice for sin, in obedience to that eternal condition imposed in the councils of the Most High, that with- out the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin : and if the blood of every mere child of Adam, down to the last man, had been shed for the expiation of that man's inherited guih. it would have been shed in vain : it could not have satisfied the fulness or perfectness of divine justice. Yet was it necessary that satisfaction should be made in our nature. 58 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. that wherein the offence was committed against the command of the Most High. The Divine Nature must be humbled to the level of sinful human nature, in order that the image of God in man might be cleansed of its contracted filthiness, by the descent of God Himself into the image or form and nature of man ; and in that nature to make the one acceptable atone- ment to otherwise inexorable justice. This explains why the language of our Saviour on the cross should be and was such as is expressive of mortal agony and doubt in the extremity of human suffering. And the quality (so to speak) of all the language ascribed to our Kedeemer in this Psalm, is throughout alike. O my God, I cry in the day time, but Thou hearest not : and in the night season also I take no rest. And Thou continuest holy, 0 Thou Worship of Israel. In corroboration of this view of the language of the God-man, we have the testimony of the Evangelists to his practice of retiring to a mountain apart, and in the night season, to pray ; and we have also the more impressive picture of his agony in the garden, accompanied by the express words used by Him in the presence of three of his disciples. Jesus cometli with them (all) unto a place called Gethsemane, and saitli unto them. Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder: and taking with Him the three, He began to be sorrowful and very hea\7. My soul, said He, is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. And He went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, 0 my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me ! Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done ! And Ho went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the stmie words. The Psalmist's language pre- sents therefore at once a prophecy and a picture — I cry in the day-time, and rest not in the night season. The few words which follow this passage are full of matter for deep devotional meditation. And Thou continuest holy, 0 Thou Worship of LECTUllES ON THE PS.VLMS. Oi) Israel ! The Lord our God is nifidc known to us as lull of compassion, and loving-kindness, and tenderness, even towards us his wandering and offending creatures : for as his own most lioly Word assures us, God is Love. It would seem then, even to our dull feelings and faculties, that the cries of his only- begotten and beloved Son must have tempted God (which is a wan-anted expression) to forego his just wrath against man- kind ; to annul the sentence which required so precious a sacri- fice as the prolonged agonizing sufferings and death of Him, who had left the bosom of the Father to endure them for the sake of sinful rebels, the work of Ids own hands, the children of his own care ! But no — the attributes of God are unchangeable : as is his love, so is his justice : and the Son of God, to whom belongs the glory of our redemption, must bear the penalty of our transgression : He must suffer, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, whbse sins had for a season expelled Him, as it were, from the throne of his co-equal glory in heaven. That which had been decreed from all eternity must be accomplished : the cries, the tears, the prayers of the suff'ering victim, the Lamb of God, must pierce the heavens in vain, until the propitiation be consummated : for, (as the Eedeemer is here made to express liis meek submis- sion; for,) Thou continuest holy, 0 Thou Worship of Israel! Again — the man Christ Jesus is brought foi-ward by the Psalm- ist, as pleading, or reasoning, in his human character — as the son of David, as of the seed of Abraham — Our fathers hoped in Thee : they trusted in Thee, and Thou didst dehver them. They called upon Thee, and were holpen : they put their trust in Thee, and were not confounded. We all know that in many passages of the New Testament our Lord speaks of Himself as the Son of Man. There can therefore be no impropriety in the Psalmist's imputing this language prophetically to the Saviour, in the extremity of his suff'ering as a man. Nor is even the expression of deeper humiliation in the verses which follow, to be deemed inappropriate; as they contain a prediction which (jO LECTURES ON TilE PSALMS. was fulfilled to the very letter; as was that of our Saviour's exclamation on the cross — My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? St. Matthew, in the 27th chapter of liis Gospel, tells us what was the language of our Lord's revilers, as He hung upon the cross ; and it was precisely that which is here predicted : As for Me, I am a woiin, and no man : a very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. They that see Me laugh me to scorn : they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads, saying. He trusted in God : let Him deliver Him, if He will have Him ! The Jews who witnessed our Lord's cruci- fixion must have become extremely ignorant of the only Scrip- tures in their possession ; or they must have employed these terms of reproach in the most hardened spirit of derision of those very Scriptures, on which they professed to found all their belief of God's partiahty towards them as his chosen people. The fact, however, is wonderful, that David had written these words more than a thousand years before they were recorded by the Evangelist as the very expression of the mockery of Christ's murderers. Surely this fact offers a strong reproof to the pro- fessing Christians of the present day, who crucify the Son of God afresh, by tearing asunder his body, the visible Church on earth ; and attempt to justify their schisms, by rejecting all such parts of the inspired truths of Eevelation, as do not accord with the rebellious spirit which they clierish under the plea of liberty of conscience ! But in this Psalm the Incarnate God is made to acknowledge his manhood in yet more precise terms : Thou art He who took me out of my mother's womb : Thou wast my hope when I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts : I have been left unto Thee ever since I was bom. The- simple history given by St. Matthew of the wai-ning from God, and of the Hight into Egypt, to avoid the murderous jealousy of Herod, is the best illustration of this passage; and where, as the Evangelist states, the infant Jesus, with his Virgin Mother and her espoused husband, remained until the death of Herod ; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the 1 -ord LECTURES ON THE PSAI.MS. 61 by the Prophet Hosea, saying — Out of Egypt have I c-allcd my Son. This brief sentence is remarkable, as establishing the doctrine of Christ's divinity, when taken in conjunction with the natural expressions of his suffering humanity, as ascribed to Him by the Psalmist. In the remaining verses of the division which 1 have read, we find only a continuation of those pleadings and complainings, so natural to the weakness of mere human nature in the hour of affliction. These which follow indicate the certainty of the Redeemer's glorious resur- rection, and the effects which shall follow, by the establishment of his kingdom upon earth, until all flesh shall see the salva- tion of God. Ver. 22 — 32. This hymn of his approaching triumph may well be ascribed to our crucified Lord, as descriptive of those visions of eternal gloiy, which presented themselves in his agonies, to cheer, though not to dispel, their bitterness. He saw of the travail of his soul, and was satisfied . that is, He knew the work He had undertaken, namely, the atonement for universal guilt, must be wrought out under much tribulation: but that work was now on the eve of its accomplishment ; the moments of his suffering were successively passing away ; the children had come to the birth, and there had not been strength to bring forth, but for the consolation of those bright visions of immortal bliss, which should crown the Redeemer's labour of love. In confirmation of this view of Christ's foretaste of his approaching reward, let us take a glance at the immediate assu- rance of bliss granted to the penitent thief on the cross — the believing penitent — Lord, remember me when Thou comest into thy kingdom ! Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in paradise. Stronger evidence than this cannot be imagined nor desired, that the glories of the Redeemer's triumph were then opened to his view; that He was about to resume the dignity and the bliss, which for our sakes He had resigned ; and that He foresaw through the vista of uncounted ages, how cordially and univer- 62 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. sally the name of the Most High God should he reverenced by liis piu'chased and adopted brethren ; and his praises resounded in the great congregations of the redeemed children of Adam ; that at the annunciation of the glad tidings of salvation to be sounded throughout the earth by the Gospel trumpet, all the ends of the world should remember themselves, and be turned unto the Lord ; and all the kindreds of the nations should wor- ship before Him ; that they should look to his bounteous hand alone for all their temporal blessings ; that they who in his good Providence had received a larger share of earthly trea- sures, they who had eaten and were fat, should fall down and worship Him, acknowledging Him to be the Author and Giver of all their good; that all they who go down into the dust should kneel before Him, imploring his final acceptance through the all-perfect merits of their Redeemer; and that his own seed, the fruits of the blood of the great Sacrifice, shall more especially and devotedly serve the God of their salvation, and be accounted by Him as liis chosen genera- tion : for they above all others shall come before his Presence, shall fall down low on their knees before his footstool ; shall adore their Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; until the hea- vens, the opening and embracing heavens, shall declare unto them his righteousness ; even unto successive generations of a people who shall be born anew unto the liOrd ; them whom the Lord hath made the heirs of grace and gloiy. PSALM 23. This Psalm, following immediately upon that which we have just concluded, is so rich in its expression of tliankfui feelings, so heautiful in the imagination of appro- priate images, that we can consider it only an effusion of devout gratitude, under David's contemplation of the wonders of grace, whicli God had wrought for him among the myriads of the ransomed who it was foretold should come to Zion, with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. He speaks in his own person throughout, and revels as it were in the fertile and sunny landscape, which his contemplative genius had created for its own enjoyment. It can be regarded only as one brief liymn of overflowing joy and gratitude. LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. (!:{ Ver. 1 — 6. The humble son of Jesse, Avho alU'nvards by God's especial choice became the anointed Idng of Israel, had liimself been a shepherd : and still true to those feehngs and imaginations which had occupied his youthful mind, while tending his father's flock in Bethlehem, he here contemplates himself as a lamb of Christ's flock, needing the most watchful care, liable to stray into the thorny paths of eiTor, and demand- ing the powerful controul of divine grace and authority, to guide liis soul in the naiTow way of peace and safety. But in the histoiy of David, as related in the first Book of Samuel, it is told that immediately after the anointing, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him from that day forward. How the conti- nued influence of that Spirit acted upon him in the more advanced periods of his hfe, the Book of Psalms will ever remain an imperishable record. And the portion of it we are now considering manifests that abiding piety of the heart, which is kept alive only by the power of the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of spiritual life. The son of Jesse, the king of Israel, no sooner turns fr'om the contemplation of the glorious manifestation of divine love, commemorated in the preceding Psalm, and its happy effects upon the countless generations yet for to come ; than he retires, as it were, into himself, meditates on his own share in the ample provision made for the universal salvation ; and breaks forth in the expression of his boundless confidence, with those strains of poetic feeling, so natural to one who had dreamed away his boyhood's years in the liberty of the verdant meadows, and among the sheep-folds : — The Lord is my Shepherd : tlierefore can I lack nothing : He shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. It would be unjust to suppose that this warm effusion of grateful confidence was applied chiefly to his expe- rience of temporal bounties, though it is expressive of a strong faith in their continued supply, from the one Source of all our blessings. A higher object manifests itself, as occupying the G4 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS devotional spirit of the Psalmist. He shall convert my soul, He shall reprove my wanderings, He shall direct my future goings, and shall bring me forth in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake. For even should I blindly stray into and through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. I know that He neither slumbers nor sleeps, that his watchful care will presei-ve or recal me from error and danger : for He is ever with me ; his rod and liis staff comfort me ; the one with the assurance of his guardianship, the other with the pro- mise of his guidance. For He hath already spread before me of the plenteousness of his stores ; with the oil of gladness hath He crowned my days ; and He will give me to diink of the rivers of his pleasures for evermore. Surely his goodness and mercy shall follow me ! Thus, my brethren, should our experience of the never-failing bounty of our Heavenly Father, and of the exhaustless grace of Christ, the Shepherd of our souls, inspire us with immoveable confidence. This will insure the endeavour at least, on our part, to make that return of obe- dience to the divine laws, and submission to the divine will, which is the only requirement of his creatures imposed on the part of our Creator and Kedeemer. - Then may we hope to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever : those blessed man- sions of life and light, where we shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more : For the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, shall feed us, and lead us to living founttiins of water. Ghry he to the Father, Sfc. LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. (>'> LECTURE IX. PSALM 24. Much of the value of these sacred Poems arises from our knowledge of the occa- sions oa which they were written; for from this knowledge we obtain a clearer understanding of thera. After the Philistines had taken the Ark of the Lord in battle, and had suffered all the plagues inflicted upon them by the divine anger, as referred to in the Lecture on Psalm 78, they voluntarily surrendered it, with an acknowledgment of the God of the Hebrews, by the gift of a trespass- offering. It was then placed in the house of Abinadab at Kirjath-jearim, whose son Eleazar was sanctified to keep it. Here it rested for the space of twenty years, after which David gathered together all the cliosen men of Israel, tliirty thousand ; and went with them to bring up from thence the Ark of God to the city of David, where he had pitched for it a tent And he spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be singers with the instruments : and thus all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, with shouting, and with the sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, and making a noise with psalteries and harps ; David himself being clothed with a robe of fine linen, and the ephod on his breast. This Psalm of rejoicing and praise was written for that great occasion ; which being deemed a type of Christ's ascension into heaven, the Psalm is adopted among those used in our Church, to commemorate the day of Messiah's final triumph over death and the powers of darkness. Ver. 1 — 6. The first portion of this sacred hymn is purely preceptive ; consisting of matters of truth, wliich, in his cha- racter of prophet, priest, and king of Israel, David felt bound to impress upon the minds of his people, on tliis joyous but solemn occasion. He remembers it was by the mysterious exer- cise of Jehovah's power upon the foes of Israel, that the Ark of tlie Covenant had been preserved from violation during its long continuance in their possession, namely seven months ; during which they were plagued with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death, until even their hardened hearts were turned to that semblance of repentance which is induced by fear : for their priests and soothsayers said unto the people, "Wherefore should T 66 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts : for when the God of the Israelites wrought won- derfully among them, did not the Egyptians let them go?" And the grateful king of Israel reminds his people of the omnipo- tence of Jehovah, by reason of his right as Creator of all things; not only of the fabric of the world, but of every crea- ture that inhabits it. Who then, he asks, shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord ? that holy place in which they were now about to deposit the Ark that God had commanded Moses to make from the offerings of the children of Israel, as related in the 25th of Exodus; and in which was deposited the Testimony of the Covenant given by the Almighty to his chosen people. Thus was the hill of Zion sanctified by the emblem of the Divine Presence, and set apart as the place where God's honour should dwell. The Psalmist then replies to his own proposition, as to who shall be counted worthy to approach this sacred place, by shewing that only the undefiled and the pure in heart shall be admitted to the spiritual benefits of this Covenant: for this was a Covenant of works. Nevertheless, he is not unmind- ful, nor does he neglect to remind his people, that their obe- dience is but the means whereby they shall obtain grace, and not -constituting their absolute title to glory. For that, it is of Ms free mercy that they shall receive the blessing from the Lord ; and righteousness, that is, imputed righteousness, from the God of their salvation. It is from the magnificent chorus of this in- structive hymn, that wo derive our authority to apply it to the ex- altation of the Saviour, when He re-ascended into heaven, leading captivity captive, and about to claim and to receive those inesti- mable gifts for men, which He had purchased on earth, by a life of perfect obedience, and by the shedding of his own most precious blood for the sins of the whole world. As the Ark was the type of the Heavenly Jerusalem, so was the testimony it contained a shadow of the good things to come, by means of that more gra- cious Covenant, which, though it had been a sealed book from LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. G7 everlasting, was then about to be opened to make known the Gos- pel of grace and peace, that the faithful of all generations may find joy and peace in belie\ang. The Evangelists have given the simplest possible narratives of our Saviour's doings, sufferings, and exaltation ; and this is the most fitting style for the detail of facts, however important the consequences to which they lead. But the Psalmist, in the spirit of poetiy and prophecy, has re- corded liis \dsion of the Ascension, as if he himself had penetrated to the gates of the heavenly mansions, and was calling upon the blest inmates to open the everlasting doors, that the Lord of Life and Glory might come in. [Read 7 — 10.] PSALM 2 5. The number of the verses of this Psalm corresponds with the number of letters in the Hebrew Alphabet; and this order is preserved in our Bible translation : but in our Prayer Book the first and second form but one. The character of the whole Psahn, however, savours greatly of penitence and prayer, and admits the conjecture that it was written in a time of national affliction, probably under the rebellion of Absalom, as the concluding verse is a petition in behalf of all Israel. The whole Psalm, indeed, is an alternation of personal and of general prayer, with an intermixture of reflective piety. Ver. 1 — 4. This opening of the Psalm plainly indicates the presence of some severe affliction, whatever may have been its nature ; and from the contemplation of which, the sufferer seems by his language to have suddenly ai'oused himself to a remembrance of the efficacy of his prayers in past times of trial ; and to resolve again and again to cast himself upon the faithfulness of Jehovah, for the peculiar protection and deliver- ance of which he and his people now stood in need. We must not, brethren, cavil at the great similarity of sentiment and subject wliich prevails in so large a portion of these sacred compositions : for if we study the Hfe of the son of Jesse, as written in the two Books of Siunuel, and accompany him from F 2 68 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. the sheep-folds to the throne, and through all the trials which marked the period of his greatness; we shall be constrained to admit, that David's experience of the changes and chances of this mortal life is unequalled by that of any monarch whose name adorns the history of the world. But amidst all these vicissitudes, the pervading piety of David's spirit sustained him; and to that we owe the sublime record of his feelings, under so many changes. In his present extremity, whatever it was, he at once resolves for the future, and appeals, humbly, but confi- dently, to the Searcher of hearts, upon the past : — Unto Thee, O Lord, will I hft up my soul : my God, I have put my trust in Thee. Does any one here present know the blessedness of being able thus to lay open his heart to God? He then, under any experience of affliction, whether of the mind or body, whether spiritual or arising from mere worldly causes, may timi towards the Mercy Seat in the sure and certain hope that liis prayer will be heard. 0 let me not be confounded before Thee, 0 Lord, by the consciousness of my own unworthiness of the least of thy blessings ; neither let the outward enemies of my peace triumph over me ! And herein lies the value of these mi- nute records of a good man's feelings and practice : they are preserved to us for an example of godly life; which consists not in ostentatious professions, or plausible shew of piety, in the use of language which is too sacred for every-day use, too hallowed to be made famihar to our tongue as household words. The Psalmist could not have penned his own thoughts from day to day, with any feeling of the vanity of authorsliip ; much less with the expectation that through a period of three thousand years they would be written for our learning, and for the instruction of future generations to the end of time — for that is unquestionably their glorious destiny ! No — the great body of the Psalmody of David is a written record of private prayers and thanksgivings ; but their exalted character, and the high position of their Author, as being at once the most LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. f.O talented, and the most devoted monarch to the service of his God, and to the prudently ruliuf^ of his people, that ever sat upon the throne of Israel, forbid that they should he shut out from "gathered wisdom of ten thousand years." We see in the practice of David a bright illustration of that subhme thought of an autlior of our own days, that " a written prayer is a prayer of faith ; special, sure, and to be answered."* But the petitions of the sweet Psalmist of Israel are ever founded upon confidence in his God : All they that hope in Thee shall not be ashamed. Ver. 5 — 10. In these verses, after the personal petition, David goes on in the reflective style. He calls upon God only for the exercise of that great attribute to which we all owe, not only the inestimable gift of the means of grace, but also our hope of eternal glory, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord — Call to remembrance, 0 Lord, thy tender mercies : Oh remember not the offences of my youth ; but according to thy mercy think Thou upon me ! This prayer is no sooner uttered and recorded, than he falls into reflection upon the general character of the Deity, as exem- pUfied in liis own experience ; and the repentant sinner then turns to the admonitions and reproaches of his own conscience : For Thy Name's sake, 0 Lord, be merciful unto mxj sin, for it is great! It is supposed that in this and in the Gth verse of the Psalm, David refers to his deep guilt in the matter of Uriah ; and this confirms the opinion that the Psalm was TSTitten during the unnatural rebellion of Absalom ; for though he was not the son of Bathsheba, he was the offspring of one of those nu- merous alliances which David fonned in his day of sensual indulgence. But it is not recorded that he committed the sin of adultery in any other case than that of the wife of Uriah ; which cannot be palliated by ourselves, when we remember that • Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy, 1838. 70 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. it was accompanied by the murder of a faithfiil servant : and we may therefore suppose that it weighed heavily upon the sensitive conscience of David. But such is the frailty of man. Ver. 11 — 13. The Psalmist has elsewhere declared that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; and here he shews what are its progressive benefits ; namely, that the Holy Spirit Himself shall teach the humble disciple the way that he shall choose; that is, the way he must choose, in order to attain to that happiness, which is the end and aim of his being ; in- cluding the promise of temporal peace, and of its being pro- longed even to his seed after him; through the knowledge of that great secret of the Lord, wherein, as in the Ark of the Sanctuary of old, is deposited the Covenant of Mercy and Grace wrought from everlasting, for our final redemption from the penalties of original and actual guilt. Ver. 14 — 21. This remainder of the Psalm consists of pe- titions for pardon and continued grace, introduced by a firm profession of faith in being delivered from the fears and perils by which David's consciousness of his own transgi'essions had surrounded him. His adversity and misery he traces to the hand of God, as provoked by his own sin ; and to that hand alone he looks for deliverance fr-om the many enemies, who are the permitted "instruments and agents of the divine anger ; but against whose tyrannous hatred he prays to be protected ; that henceforth his hfe may manifest in the sight of men his per- fectness and righteous deahng. But the Psalmist does not confine his thoughts to his own personal sufferings ; the hap- piness and safety of his country and his people have their share in his prayers. Deliver Israel, 0 God, out of all his troubles. PSALM 26. This is unquestionably one of the Psalmist's own compositions ; but the application of its language to David himself, or to the Messiah, is an unsettled point. Some Commentators think, and perhaps justly, that its language is too confident to have LECTURES ON THE I'SALMS. 7 I been appropriated by the Psalmist to himself; and that it is therefore only boldly prophetic of the inward feelings of Him who knew no guile. It is nevertheless a powerful call to the Christian duty of self-examination, with a view to repentance and self-correction, as the means of purifying the heart of those desires, which forbid its presumptuous appeal to the God of the spirits of all flesh, on the ground of its innocency, its foithfulncss, or its obedience. To this purpose, therefore, I will endeavour to apply the Psalm before us. Ver. 1 — 3. Here is evidence of a very weighty character, that however by reason of our frailty we may fall into occasional sin, yet that as the Lord is not extreme to mark what is done amiss, we may, under the consciousness of general integrity, and freedom from habitual vice, or besetting sins, lay open our hearts before Him in reliance upon his forbearance and final forgiveness. For He knoweth our thoughts long before they have ripened into action ; and who among us can say, I have made my heart clean ; I am pure from sin ? Yet if our con- science condemn us not of a desperate yielding to the allure- ments of the world, the flesh, and the devil, our safety and consolation lie in an appeal to the God of all mercies, the Judge of the whole earth, with a comparatively utter disregard of the judgment of our fellow sinners. Such was the convic- tion of St. Paul : — With me it is a veiy small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. He that judgeth me is the Lord. This was also the Psalmist's appeal — Be Thou my judge, 0 Lord. Examine me, and prove me : try out my reins and my heart. But on what does tliis confidence rest? on his experience of the inexliaustible goodness of Him, to whom belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him : for thy loving-kindness, saith the Psalmist, is ever before mine eyes. Ver. 4 — 8. It is upon the plainest reasoning that the Apos- tle founds his caution to those who profess and call themselves Christians, that they hold no intimacy with tlie ungodly; for "what fellowship," he asks, "hath righteousness with unrighteous- ness? and what communion hath light with darkness ? What 72 LECTUllES ON THE PSALMS. concord hath Christ witli Belial ? or what part hath he that he- lieveth, with an infidel? Wherefore come out from among them, and he ye separate, saith the Lord." — Much less of evil would prevail in the world, if this precept were more generally observed by such as really do endeavour to walk in all the com- mandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. For not only is it true, that as evil communications lead to the corrup- tion of good manners, the comparatively virtuous do thereby expose their principles to the danger of contamination; but also, that their habitual separation of themselves from the so- ciety of the infidel and the profane may operate as a practical rebuke, and thus help to produce the shame which might be effective in turning the evil from the error of their ways. This wise caution the Psalmist professes to have obsers^ed, and he speaks with a determination on the matter which should be ex- emplary:— I have not dwelt with vain persons, neither will I have fellowship with the deceitful. I have hated the congrega- tion of the wicked, and will not sit among the ungodly. On the contrary part he professes his deep love for the Sanctuary of the Lord, as the place wherein the Divine Honour dwelleth ; . and where he may purify his thoughts, and nourish liis faith, and obtain grace and strength to help him in time of need ; acknowledging, that the true preparation for the reception of these blessings, is to wash his hands in innocency, and so to go unto the altar of the Lord. Fer. 9, 10. Yet it appears fi*om this conclusion, that David depended not upon his own strength, but on the protecting power of Gods Holy Spirit, to keep him undefiled by the influ- ence or example of sinners, the wicked and the bloodthirsty, in whose hands are the gifts of corruption ; that is, the means whereby they endeavour to con-upt others. With this cautious resolve to submit all our goings and doings to Him, who not- withstanding our undesendngs still careth for us, it were well, brethren, if we could proceed onward in our destined course on LECTURES ON THK PiSAI.MS. 73 the earth : for without the divine aid we liave not the strength even to resolve that we will take heed to our ways ; much less to carry out our resolutions to good effect. And herein we have the example of one far more righteous tlian ourselves — even the man after God's own heart — ^who thus mingles his vows with prayer, and in answer to his prayer is inspired with the confidence, that as the Lord is his strength, so he shall not he permitted greatly to fall. [Read II, 12.] Glory he to the Father, Sjc. 74 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. LECTURE X. PSALM 27. The sacred writer opens this composition with a bold avowal of his entire depend- ence on the guidance and deliverance of the Almighty arm, in the midst of the terrors and tumults of war'; when probably the holy city and its temple were threatened by besieging foes ; for such was often the condition of Jerusalem before its final overthrow. But the Psalmist forgets not the efficacy of prayer, as a means of establishing and supporting his avowed confidence ; nor, while making a pro- fession of his faith, does he neglect the ministerial duty of exhorting others to the exercise of a trustful patience, under their own personal trials. Ver. 1. Faith in divine protection, wherever it exists, will occasionally manifest itself in some strong expression of the lips. Thus it was displayed equally, and in similar language, by David and by Paul. The apostle's words are, If God be for us, who can be against us ? The importance to ourselves of seek- ing the gift of faith, (for it is to be obtained only of God, by prayer,) is little thought of in the world. Yet all, at some time or other, experience those visitations, in which the light that is thrown by faith on the all-protecting sliield of the Almighty and all-merciful God, can alone give assurance of final peace and safety. In those times then, how pitiable are they who possess not this great gift of God, this refuge against the teiTors of despair ! Ver. 2, 8. It was the Psalmist's consolation, and the ground of his strong confidence, that he had passed through many and severe trials, and had been rescued from them all. And this should not be recorded for us in vain Of what value is the protective weapon which has perhaps saved our life in past perils, if in the prospect of new danger we have no confidence in its usefulness ? So then may we learn, from God's mercies experienced, to trust Him for mercies needed. Ver. 4 — 7. And the true way to acquire that confidence, is to hold that sort of communion with God, which it is the very LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 75 end and aim of all the public sendees of the Sanctuary to pro- mote and encourage. For in these we ai'e constantly reminded of oiu- duty towards God as his dependent creatures ; and that duty cannot he fulfilled in any acceptable degree, if we eschew these means of grace, and forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. For tliis reason the Psalm- ist's desire is, that he may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his Ufe ; that is, that liis thoughts, like the face of Daniel in his captivity, may ever turn towards the holy place, even when not present there in the body : for while his thoughts 4welt there, he felt that he was an object not only of the provi- dential care, but of the. free grace of God ; and that he would be not only protected, but honoured and exalted. Therefore does the Psalmist resolve there to offer his sacrifices of prayer and praise. Ver. 8 — 15. But the sacrifice of prayer is always predomi- nant in the acts and resolutions of the pious king of Israel. And the burthen of his prayer is not for mere temporal good, but for spiritual blessing — the true object of all prayer. He appeals to the Seai'cher of hearts in testimony of his sincerity — My heart hath talked of Thee : and when Thou saidst. Seek ye my face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. Tliis translation of the passage, as given in our Bible, is more clear than that wliich I have just read to you. And after this the Psalmist confesses again, as in the second verse, that the foundation of his present hope is his past experience — Thou hast been my succour : and when my earthly friends and rela- tives have been removed, or have deserted me, the Lord takcth me up. this confession again leads him into prayer : and as if conscious of too earnest or too frequent importunity, he alludes, by way of apology, to the existence of adversaries from whose falsehood and \vrong he could appeal only to Him who knoweth our thoughts long before : for he acknowledges that he should utterly have fainted under the terror of their active maliciousness against him, but that he believed to see the good- 76 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. ness of the Lord in the land of the living: that is, not waiting for the hour of his final salvation ; but still hoping that while yet upon the eaith, he should see, as he had seen, the manifest tokens of the divine love and care for him. Ver. 16. In these few words is the substance of a long dis- course. How few are there, who in the time of outward trouble, or of bodily anguish, can submit to the wholesome discipUne of patience ? Yet, for the want of it, how much do they increase the pangs of whatever trouble or uneasiness they labour under ! And how justly is this punishment inflicted upon the spirit, that is rebellious under God's dispensations — for such they are, whatever be their distinguishing character. Trouble cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth sorrow spring out of the ground : it is the "will of our Heavenly Father, who correcteth only to amend, who chasteneth only to heal. In all our suffer- ings the exhortation of the Psalmist is of the highest value, as the truest remedy yet offered to the heirs of pain. Tarry thou the Lord's leisure : be strong in faith, strong in bearing your lot, strong in the assurance that deliverance is yet at hand ; be strong, and He shall comfort thine heart : and put thou thy trust in the Lord ; for in liis hands are all the issues of Ufe and death, of time and eternity : moreover, brethren, keep in mind the apostolical precept, that whether we live or die, we are the Lord's : we are not our own, we are bought with a price ; and that price has been paid down at the foot of the cross, for our redemption from eternal sorrow and suffering. PSALM 28. It has been conjectured that this Psalm was penned exclusively to typify our Sa- viour's sorrows and sufferings, as well as his intercession for the Church. But there appears on the face of it no strong reason for this opinion: it may be ap- plied without impropriety to the earthly condition of the Man of Sorrows: yet it is evident, from the strength of the language of the Psalm, that it was prompted by the intense suffering or appreliension of danger, then agitating the mind, and stirring up the spirit of the writer, to utter his cry towards the mercy-seat, under the terrors of present or approaching evil. He is not however, selfish in his sor- rows: he forgets not the appeal to God for blessings upon his people Israel, xvhoni }ie calls the Lord's inheritance. LECTURES UN THE PSALMS. 77 Ver. I — 0. It is evident from the concluding verses of this passage, that the pious monarch was in a state of great fear, if not of despondency ; and from the general tenor of his com- plaint it may be suggested, that he was suffering from the malice of some internal foes ; such disturbers of the common peace as we have in our day, under the various names of repealers, libe- rals, leaguers, universal-suffrage-men, and others ; or else that liis private and personal enemies had been so active and suc- cessful in slandering his name and his actions, that he could find no ground of hope, but in prayer, and an humble appeal to the merciful protection of his God. For he earnestly calls upon Him to reward them according to their deeds ; to recompense them after the work of their own hands ; to pay them that they have deserved. It is not always, my brethren, that we can limit our thoughts to these just bounds, when we pray or only hope for vengeance on those who persecute us. Every offence against the law of Christian charity is obnoxious to the divine justice; and we may well rest in the quiet assurance that no such offence will pass for ever unpunished, though we see not the lash of justice inflicted under our eyes. But we cannot all pray with the deep fervour of the Psalmist, who seems in the following portion of tliis Psalm to have had liis desii-e upon his enemies, at least so far as to have been himself delivered out of their power. Ver. 7 — 9. It is this last word, probably, which has given strength to the opinion of some commentators, that this Psalm is exclusively descriptive of the Redeemer's sufferings and ex- altation. But it must be remembered that David was tlie anointed king of Israel. There is therefore no impropriety in his thus speaking of himself, when praising God for his own rescue from the power of his enemies. " Praised be the Lord, for He hath heard the voice of my humble petition. He is my strength and my shield ; my heart hath trusted in Him, and I am helped." This is the language of simple gratitude, as it will 78 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. be cherished in all our hearts, if with the consciousness that for every escape from threatened danger, and every deliverance from present and positive evil, we have also the grace to confess it to he of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed. For it is most true that in all the injustice and wrong we may suffer from others, the actors are those who regard not in their mind the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands : the righteous therefore may confidently leave them to that just judgment which will reward them according to their deeds ; will pay them that they have deserved. Ver. 10. David was at once the prophet, priest, and king of his people ; and in this three-fold dignity we see, not only in his personal character as recorded in the Old Testament, hut in his public capacity, as well as in tliis unrivalled production of the sacred Muse, the Book of Psalms, that what he owed to the people in his priestly office was always uppermost in his thoughts, always the feehng which prevailed in liis heart. And herein is he an example to the Christian priesthood, worthy of their emulation. But, my brethren, every minister who is faith- ful to his calling and profession, has too much reason to lament over his unprofitableness, rather than over his own want of zeal in the service of his fellow-men. I accuse no one, I preach at no one ; but T refer you to your own hearts for the reasons — and they are many — why it is that there is only so much — I say not, so little — but otili/ so much of the religion that is /el/, while there is on all hands such an universal profession and outward shew ? PSALM 29. This is a magnificent summary of the visible attril)Utes of God. as displayed in his providential works ; and of the evidences of his power, as manifested in the effects of His Word in the world and in his Church. The Psalm opens with an authori- tative command to all the mighty rulers of the earth to worship God in his holi- ness, to praise him in the tiniuiment of his power. It calls upon them to bring LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 79 their offerings to the Lord of the choicest things at their command, according to the usages of the Israelitish church, and it plainly implies an exhortation to the more spiritual worship of the heart, from even the kings and princes of tlie world. Ver. 1, 2. It is only in a figurative sense that young rams are required of the rich and powerful as their offering to the Lord, and in compliance with the observances of the ceremonial law. The language of the All-merciful Father to the children of his love is, My son, give me thine heart. Then it is that his creatures ai-e prompted and enabled to ascribe unto the Lord worship and strength ; to give the Lord the honour due unto his Name ; and to worship Him with holy worship. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world has by his sacrifice abolished the offerings of worldly wealth, save in deeds of charity, as propitiatory sin-ofierings. Nor would I be under- stood to say that the works of charity are propitiator)', though acceptable to Him who demands them as an evidence of our faith and allegiance. But it is that faith which is rooted in the heart, and springs forth from thence, bearing the fruit of good works, which is the prominent condition in our part of the New Covenant. This is the offering of a sweet savour which only will now be accepted, instead of the blood of animals, once re- quired to be slain and offered upon the Jewish altars, typically of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, who would come to offer an atonement for the sins of all mankind. Fer.S — 9. This eloquent enumeration of the visible effects produced by Almighty Power, under the figurative term, the voice of the Lord, is at once minute and comprehensive. We are all more or less acquainted with the appalling power of the elements, when put in motion by the Creator and ruler of them all. In different climates, however, they usually operate ^vith different degrees of force. For instance, the Psalmist speaks of their power as making the mountains of Libanus and Sirion skip like a young calf. The earthquake we can understand to be a most awful example of the Divine Power ; and we can 80 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. scarcely imagine how it can ever be exhibited, but as a token of Divine Wrath ; since it almost always involves a wide des- truction of human life, and a lasting infliction of misery upon the neighbouring survivors. Mountainous countries are chiefly liable to these visitations; because the very element which probably was the moving cause in forming those great inequali- ties on the earth's surface, namely, subterraneous fire, is still in existence, and always in active operation ; and in the progress of time the resistance of the earth's weight above it, in certain portions of the globe, is not enough to confine the powerful element beneath ; and the consequence is, an awful trembling and heaving of the earth, which sometimes moves to and fro, like the waves of the sea ; at other times is rent asunder ; the mountains leap as it were from their strong foundations ; human labours are crumbled together, as the dust of the ant-hill under our feet ; and, like the little insects which have raised it, man, the creature formed in the image of God, is whelmed by thousands in the gaping chasms and pits of the earth ; these again closing upon them for ever, and forming at the same moment their death-bed and their sepulchre. Let us not, however, ascribe to the creature the power which belongs only to the Creator. Fire is but the agent of the Divine Will ; for as the Psalmist teaches, it is the voice of the Lord that divideth the flames of fire which He hath created as a part of the natural economy of this lower world. And we are told moreover that God Himself is a con- suming fire. And, beyond this, we are forewarned that in the last great day, the day of the Lord, which will come as a thief in the night, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Let us not, however, overlook in all this, that the Psalmist ascribes all the tremendous effects upon the visible world, which he enumerates, to the voice of the Lord, that is, to his omnipotent Word ; and though we witness not his wonders to that extent in which He LKCTIIKES ON THE PSALMS. Sl hiith displayed them in past ages and in distant lands ; we have liis written Word, the still small voice of his love, wherein all his attrihutes are unfolded to our sight, and whereby we are taught, that if we labour not to deserve liis love, we must abide liis insupportable wi'ath. And who shall stand in his sight when He is angry ? Who shall abide the blasting of the breath of his displeasure ? For if oiu' hearts tremble, if our frail bodies are shaken by the voice of his thunder, by tlie teiTors of his lightnings, when He bringeth the winds out of his treasures, or when He causeth his waters to overwhelm us ; — how will our undying spirits stand in his immediate Presence, quivering under the consciousness of having throughout a long life-time turned a deaf ear to his Word, shunned his Sabbaths, despised his ordinances, given ourselves up to every pursuit, every object of desire, forbidden in his holy commandments, and laden ourselves with the thick clay of unrepented sins ? For then shall we find, that not only over the elements that controul by his command the course of this perishable world, but also over our immortal souls, the Lord remaineth a King for ever. J'rr. 10. Here, however, we are recalled from our contem- plation of the teiTors of an offended God to the less fearful at- tribute of his in-dwelling mercy and goodness towards his frail and wandering creatures: for as in the hour of their present need He giveth strength unto his people; so shall He give them the inexhaustible blessings of peace eternal in those many mansions above, which have been provided and are pro- mised by Him who is the Living Word, the Word that is with riod, the Word that is God — even our Saviour Christ! — Amen. Glonj be to the Fa/lirr, S^c. 82 LECTUUES ON THE PSALMS. LECTURE XI. PSALM 30. Much confusion and contrariety of opinion prevail among Expositors, touching the occasion of this Psalm ; one leaning to the notion that it was written by David on the dedication of his house ; another interpreting it as an act of legal purification, on his restoration to his house, after subduing the rebellion of Absalom ; and others again adopting the more rational, because more obvious interpretation, that it was after his recovery from some severe and dangerous bodily atfliction, this Psalm was composed, as a thanksgiving; whether to be offered in his own domestic circle, or in the House of the Lord, on his first subsequent return to public worship. The language of the Psalm certainly indicates this to be itB object, rather than either of the others which have been surmised. Fer. 1 — 3. If any thing in our earthly experience can awaken in us the spirit of grateful adoration; the escape from peril, whether hy sickness or mischance, appeals forcibly alike to our sensibilities and to our reason, in prompting us to this duty. There is, in spite of the deep convictions of our immor- tality impressed by religious instruction, and by the secret and silent influences of the Holy Spirit on our heai'ts, encouraging hope, and faith, and confidence — there is an unconquerable dread of death, forming a part and parcel of our mortal nature, which is so far paramount in the time of sickness and danger, that the heart must be indeed hardened, which does not acknow- ledge the deliverance from this peril to be the work of divine mercy. The memorable instance of the good king Hezekiah, when he was sick unto death, is a strong case in proof, that even the most righteous of God's sers^ants are not always free from the terror of the last mysterious enemy. For in his sick- ness, though deeply conscious of his own integrity in the sight LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 83 of his Creator and Judge, he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord : I beseech Thee, 0 Lord, remember now how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. On his recovery, however, he committed to writing his vow of thanksgiving, which is preserved to this day. {Isaiah xxxviii.) Behold, for peace I had gi'eat bitterness: but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption : the Lord was ready to save me : therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day ; the father to the children shall make known thy truth. Here we see the pious king following the example of his great predecessor on the tlu'one of Israel. For his language is similar in purport to that of the Psalmist ; wliich is a warm acknowledgment that it was of the Lord's mercy he had not been consumed. In each case also these devout exemplars of a grateful spirit call upon others to unite with them in the duty of praise. Ver. 4, 5. Every instance of the Divine Goodness mani- fested in oiu" sight, though others may be the immediate sub- jects of it, calls for our united acknowledgments and praises. For herein is the fulfilment of one branch at least of the apos- tohcal precept, to rejoice with them that do rejoice, being of the same mind one towards another. David here enlarges his ex- hortation to his people to give thanks unto the Lord for a remembrance of his holiness, by endeavouring to infuse into their minds a good hope, under whatever corrections it may please the Lord to chasten them withal, and by reminding them of the all-prevailing attribute of mercy ; for whereas if they are afflicted, liis anger is only for a brief season, which is com- pared to the twinkhng of an. eye; but that in his pleasure, that is, in his returning goodness or favour towards them, there is life, with all its accompaniments of hope and peace, and joy G 2 84 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. and confidence : affliction may bcfal them in the night, when their soul may best gird itself for the conflict with pain, or sickness, or sorrow, as more free from the operation of external influences: but joy cometli in the morning of their renewed existence; when all visible and all perceptible objects around them shall minister to their delight, proclaiming the faitliful- ness, the goodness, the bounty of their Creator and Preserver. This passage of the Psalm is thus beautifully paraphrased by a gifted Poet of our own country : — Grief for a night, obtrusive guest ! Beneath our roof perchance may rest : But Joy with the returning day Shall wipe each transient tear away ! Ver. 6 — 13. Here the Psalmist humbly confesses what were his proud feelings in the days of his prosperity; when he thought his fortunes were as unchangeable as Mount Sion, which should never be removed. But he now saw the vanity of his overstrained confidence, and how weak are the hopes and strength of man, unless they are sustained by the Almighty Will. This was manifested in the change of his condition, the feebleness of his prostrate powers: for. Thou didst turn thy face fi-om me, and I was troubled. Then I humbled myself be- • fore Thee : then I reasoned myself into a renewed dependence on thy returning mercy ; for what profit is there in my destruc- tion ? how shall I serve or praise Thee in the grave ? how shall my dissolving body acknowledge thy goodness, or declare thy truth ? Therefore was I encouraged to renew my prayer — Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me : Lord, be Thou my helper ! And he gratefully records the success of his prayer : Thou hast turned my heaviness into joy : Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness. Although these expressions are figurative and poetical, their meaning is too plain to require explanation. I'he Psalmist concludes with the natural reflec- tion, that under the experience of similar mercies, every good I.KCTrKKS ON TlIK I'SAI.MS. 85 man will liiiliitiially. ns well as at all pavlii-iiiar seasons of re- joicing, render his praise to the Giver of all good : leavinir ns in his own ardent vow an example to stir up our minds hy way of remembrance of the claims of our Heavenly Father upon our grateful adoration: O my God, I will give thanks unto Thee for ever ! P S A L ]\r o I . In this, as in llie .31th and l()9th Psahns, David prostrates himself in prayer under that great peril lie sustained, while hiding himself from the malice of Saul and his followers, and it is supposed to have been written or conceived in the cave of Engedi, after his escape from Keilah, and from the desert of Maon. Yet though these several Psalms are thought to have been prompted by the same occasion, there is a variety in their terms, which indicates either that his thoughts took their colouring from divine inspiration, or were moulded to different forms of expression by the powers of his own genius. Here also, as in other Psalms, the sufferings and humiliation of Christ are prefigured : and St. Luke has recorded the (Jth verse as the last words uttered by Him on the cross. Ver. 1 — 5. In considering these verses as exclusively appli- cable to the case of David liimself, amidst imminent perils; the force and propriety of the terms employed are strikingly obvious, when taken in connexion with the nature of the dangers then suiTounding him, and the localities which had afforded him pro- tection. After humbly supplicating the attention of the Al- mighty, on the plea that he had in all his extremities put his trast in the Lord, his thoughts seem to take their character from the scenes which he had passed : Be Thou my strong rock, and house of defence, that Thou mayest save me. He had found temporary shelter in the cave of Adullam, in the strong holds of the wdldemess of Ziph, and in the cave of Kn- gedi — these had been each, for a time, his houses of defence: and a mountain in the wilderness of Maon had been to him a protecting rock in his extreme (hiULri'r; wln'U Saul there pur- 86 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. sued after David, he and his host going on this side of the mountain, and David and liis men on that side ; and when these owed their dehverance, under God, to the providential timely invasion of Saul's dominions by the Philistines : where- fore Saul returned from pursuing after David. Herein we trace more plainly the propriety of the figures of language employed by the Psalmist in his supplication — Be Thou my strong rock and house of defence ! Nor are the remaining sentences of this portion less appropriate. Be Thou also my guide, and lead me : draw me out of the net that they have laid privily for me. The wanderings of the fugitive were yet far from being accompHshed, and he needed the guidance of that faithful arm which had safely conducted him through so many perilous adventures. His ene- mies still were spreading their toils around liis supposed path ; they were foolishly devising how they might ensnare him whom God had determined to deliver. These scenes were therefore prevalent in the thoughts of the son of Jesse ; and, as I have said, they imparted their colouring to the language of his prayer : Be Thou also my guide, and lead me for Thy Name's sake : di'aw me out of the net that they have laid privily for me ; ■ for Thou art my strength. A lesson of some value may be gathered from the style of this prayer alone. Few are gifted in any degree proportionate to the talent bestowed on the Psalm- ist ; yet thousands are puffed up with the vain conceit that their own outpourings of their own spirit, though it be the spirit of pride and arrogance, are far preferable, in the ear of the Al- mighty, to even the records of divine inspiration. For such are the Psalms of David ; and of all other written productions of human agency, they are most copious in such thoughts and aspirations as become the humble Christian in his approach to the mercy seat of our Heavenly Father. No wonder, then, that they who are thus wise in their own conceit should turn their backs upon the established ordinances and prescribed Liturgy of our Church. But, l)rotlircn, for your safety, and for the LECTl'RKS O.N TIIK rSAI.Ms. S7 preservation of your stedfastness, I remind you that it lias been acknowledged by the most learned, the wisest, and the most truly pious among the ministers of Dissent, that of all the pro- ductions of mere human wisdom, not pretending to the aid of inspiration, the authorized prayers of the Church of England are the most comprehensive, and the best adapted to the neces- sities of all sorts and conditions of men, of any collection of written di\-iuity, after the Holy Scriptures themselves. Nu- merous as are our actual wants, vaiious as are our sanctified, that is, permitted desires, and needy as is our spiritual con- dition, hemmed in as we are by a corrupt nature ; in om* Book of Common Prayer there are none of these which are not pro- vided for. This Book is a treasure committed to us in common, by the united exercise of Divine Grace and Divine Providence to assist us in working out our common salvation : and it is a question which we ought all to be able to answer to our self- satisfaction — " If we have such a talent committed to our trust, have we been duly careful in the employment of it?"* Ver. 6. It is considered proof there was no contrivance, no concert or co-operation between the Evangelists in writing the several Gospels, that each one records some circumstance of our Savioui-'s life which is not noticed by the rest. In the several accounts of liis dying hour there is a striking difference. St. Matthew and St. Mark report another passage taken from the 22nd Psalm, as our Lord's last words — My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? but both recording, that wdien He had cried again with a loud voice, He gave up the ghost. St. John relates that when Jesus had received the vinegar offered to Him, He said, It is finished : and He bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. St. Luke alone ascribes to our Saviour the use of the words of this 31st Psalm — Into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Nor is there any impropriety in applyincr the con- • Piiidtr, on the LiturK.v. 88 LECTUllKS ON THE PSALMS. eluding words of the verse to tlio Man Christ in his hist agony, when his great work was about to be "finished," and Himself about to experience the fulfilment of the prophecy, that He should see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied : Thou hast redeemed Me, O Lord, Thou God of Truth ! Though the application of the preceding words to Clirist is fully justified by his memorable use of them, we must here consider them as the expression of the pious resignation of the Psalmist in his ex- treme distress : and on their obvious fitness for the occasion no comment is needed. Ver. 7 — 9. We frequently find in the reflective passages of the Psalms very strong expressions of David's abhon-ence of all evil ways, and not seldom, as in this place, an avowed hatred of the evil actors. This is nature, and is not always to be re- strained ; but is on the conti'ary strongest with those who have the deepest sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin ; who can truly say with David, My trust hath been in the Lord ; who can rejoice in his mercy, having experienced it in trouble and in adversity. He had known and gratefully acknowledges many deliverances; and the particular phrase with which this passage concludes, refers probably to his most recent escapes from peril, while wandering in the wilderness of Maon : — Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy, but hast set my feet in a large room. Vcr. 10 — 15. It must be obsei-ved throughout the Psalms, that no complaint is uttered without the suitable accompaniment of prayer. And this offers an impressive lesson. For while on the one hand, the indulgence of a spirit of murnuiring and dis- content with our earthly lot is utterly at variance with the pro- fession of the Christian faith; we are nowhere forbidden to make our complaints known unto God, as the moving principle of our prayers to Him, and of our trust in Him, when all human help is vain. It is not necessary to enlarge upon the [Kii'liciilars of Davids sorrows, as recorded in this passage: i.i:rrri!Ks on the psai.ms. S!) they wore peculiar to his own cxperienci^ Tho viihu! of the record lies in the usefulness of his example in our times of any land of affliction ; and is further recommended by the apostolic precept: — In every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Ver. 10 — 23. Here the Psalmist boldly contrasts his own humble faith with the reckless multitude of foes with whom he had to struggle, renewing his profession of entire trust in the Lord, and enlarging his prolonged prayer witli tlic warmest ex- pressions of adoration and thanksgiving. Had he himself been a dutiful disciple of the gi-eat Apostle, he could not have shewn a more perfect obedience to the letter of the precept I have so recently produced, to illustrate the preceding verses of the Psalm. The strong city alluded to in the last of these verses is supposed to have been Keilali, where David had found pro- tection for a season; which was the more "marA^ellous," as the people proved treacherous to him, even after he had fought for them, and delivered them from the hands of the Philistines. (1 Sam. xxiii.) Ver. 2-4 — 27. Hero, as in the llCth Psalm, David confesses to a weakness of faith which had assailed him in some past moment of trial ; probably, from the expression used, when in hasty flight from his enemies: — When I made haste I said, I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes ! Nevertheless, notwith- standing this faithlessness, Thou hcai'dest the voice of my prayer when I cried unto Thee. For this he expresses the warmth of his own gratitude, by cxlKuting all liis people to a devout reliance upon the Lord — that firm and faithful reliance, which at once proceeds from love, and manifests the depth of that love. He would inspire them with faith, by the assurance, grounded on his own experience, that thus they become special objects of the divine care; while the proud doer, the indepen- dent selC-willed despiser of supreme protection and guidance, siiall lie rewarded after liis own works; shall be left to the 90 LECTCJKES ON THE PSALMS. changeful experience of relying upon his own feeble powers of action and of suffering. But nothing can be more forcible than the reasoning argument of the final appeal to the beheving heart : — All ye that put your trust in the Lord, be strong, and He shall establish your heart. There are circumstances in every man's life, under which it is necessary for him to act, as well as to believe and pray. Then it is he needs the courage of the Christian. Be strong, and the Lord shall establish your heart. 67o7'i/ be tv the Father, S;c. LKCTL'RES ON THE F.SALMS. 1)1 LECTURE XII. PSALM 32. This is the second of the seven Penitential Psalms, and in it we may trace a pre- cognition of the doctrine of justification by faith, so finely argued by St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, wherein he quotes the two leading verses of the Psalm : for, as an ancient expositor remarks. If any one after Abraham could be justified by his works, David was the man. But the Apostle refers to him as describing the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works : a sincere repentance for past misdeeds being always understood, as the necessary evidence of a true and saving faith. Ver. 1, 2. The words of St. Paul furnish the best commen- tary on these verses : — The promise to Abraham, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to him or to his seed through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith : for if they which are of the Law be heirs, then is faith made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the Law Avorketh vn-aih ; for where no law is, there is no transgi'ession. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed. David explains in a few words the con- dition on which faith is accepted; namely, that in the spirit of the professing penitent there shall be no guile. Fer. 3 — 8. In these sentences is vividly pourtrayed the an- guish of conscious guilt, when the sinner has been awakened to a sense of his past folly, vanity, and vice ; and to the horrible dread of divine retribution. The fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, is never so beneficially manifested as when it induces the godly soitow that worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of. (2 Cor. vii, 10.) The Apostle, you will observe, speaks of the soitow that worketh repentance ; and the language of the Psalmist indicates, that he had too long mused in silence on the occasional reminiscences of his own •>'^ LECTUIIES ON THE PSALMS. weiglity sin : mingling tliem, peradventure, as Nature will do, with mental re-actings of the transient pleasures of sin. But he confesses that while thus tied and bound, the arrows of con- science were festering in his prostrate soul ; that it was in vain for him, even among his multitudinous occupations, to ajiply to it the flattering unction of occasional forgetfulness, saying peace ! peace ! where there was no peace ; that the hand of God lay too heavy upon him day and night, to afford him a hope of escaping the terrors that encompassed him round about. What, then, was his refuge ? It was prayer and confession : — I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord ; and so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin. This, brethren, it must be allowed, is but a brief description of the process of conversion; but let it not, I pray you, be taken for a warranty of the truth of those instantaneous conversions, which we sometimes hear of from the miracle mongers of Dissent ; who can occasionally emulate the pretended powers of the Eomish priesthood, when they catch a malleable subject. No — here, in David's case, is the godly sorrow for sins committed, here is the secret repentance working onward towards salvation, here is the open confession of guilt, and here is the fervent prayer for pardon. And for this, says the Psalmist, every one that is godly shall make his prayers unto God in an acceptable time : but reminding us, that there is a limit to the divine forbearance ; that in the great water- floods, when the deluge of unrepented sin hath overwhelmed the soul, the cry of the wicked shall not come nigh Him. To every living man therefore it may be said, Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation, even while it is yet called to-day : for it is now only, that the repentant sinner may embrace the privilege vouchsafed to the humbled King of Israel : — Thou (0 Lord) art a place to hide me in. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble : Thou shalt compass me about with songs of de- liverance ; for there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. LKcrruEs ox TiiK rsAi.Ms. !);{ Ver. 9 — 12. Here the Alnii^dity Judge is sok-nilv iiuro- duced, encouraging the sinner by his promises of instructicju and guidance ; wsuTiing him against a stubborn perseverance in iniquity ; and denouncing his temporal and eternal wrath upon the ungodly. But whoso putteth his trust in the I,ord, mercy embraceth him on every side. Wherefore be glad, 0 vc right- eous ; be joyful, all ye tliat are true of heart ! PSALM 33. This is a highly exultant hymn of praise, of great simplicity in its composition, and adapted to those musical accompaniments, according to the order of singing in the Tahernacle, established by David himself; at least brought to its highest per- fection in his day. The entire Psalm is plain and methodical, furnishing matter for meditation, but requiring little explanation. " The style of it is sweet, fluent, temperate, simple, without any poetic flights, and almost devoid of any figurative language."* Fer. 1 — 5. In this opening of the Psalm, the gifted King of Israel exhorts all his pious people to celebrate the praises of God, on the ground that a joyous expression of their gi-atitude is the most becoming homage that can be offered by the just and faithful servants of the Lord. And thence he gives as the reasons of this exhortation the acknowledged excellencies of the divine character — the faithfulness, the justice, and the bounty of God, as manifested chiefly in his dealings witli his chosen people ; yet, as the Psalmist confesses, not exclusively but uni- versally ; for that the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. Ver. 6 — 9, Here we are led to the contemplation of the power of the Deity, by whose creative Word the heavens were made, with all their shining train of living liglits — eacli tlic centre of its own glory, but every single star differing from another star in glory. The hosts of heaven's immortal inha- bitants are also of his creation — by the breath of liis mouth they were awakened to an existence of blissful dignity, which shall • Amvraldus. 94 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS know no bounds, while they fulfil the pui-poses of their destined being. In ascribing the creation to the Word of the Lord, it seems not improbable, that even in the time of David some im- perfect light had been vouchsafed, on the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity ; and that he who enjoyed so largely of the gifts of inspiration, here spoke of Him whom St. John introduces as the Word from the beginning, who was with God, and was God. And this* suggestion is strengthened by the opinion, that David's enlightened son Solomon had also a vision of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, and spoke of Him under the appropriate figure of Wisdom in these beautiful sentences: — When He pre- pared the heavens I was there ; when He set a compass upon the face of the depth : when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: when He gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when He appointed the foundations of the earth : then was I by Him, as one brought up with Him ; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before Him ; rejoicing in the habitable parts of his earth ; and my delights were Avith the sons of men. {Prov. viii.) It is not therefore in reverential love only, that the Psalmist calls upon us to praise his Name, but also in fear and awe of the incomprehensible Majesty of Him, who when He willed the creation of all things, spake only, and it was done ; who commanded, and it stood fast. Ver. 10 — 14. After his celebration of the omnipotence of God in the creation of the natural world, the Psalmist turns to the contemplation of the divine attributes, as displayed in his moral government : thus vindicating the Apostle's argument in his Epistle to the Eomans, (i, 20.) " The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that ai-e made, even his eternal power and Godhead." For whereas the counsels of ungodly rulers and their people appear to be free and above controul, by reason of tlieir unity of purpose and combined strength ; yet, if they be LECTUUKS ON THE PSALMS. 95 adverse to the irresistible decrees of God's settled Providence, He bringeth them to nought by the unseen operations of his will ; so that neither people nor princes can say, lo, we have prevailed ! For it is the counsel of the Lord only that shall en- dure for ever, and his thoughts (or intentions) from one gene- ration to another. And while he looketh down from heaven, beholding all the children of men, considering them with pai-ental affection, He yet distinguishes between the evil and the good, understanding all their works, and imparting to each such a measure of his grace as seemeth good in his sight ; thus fashioning all the hearts of them to liis own will. Blessed therefore are the people whom He hath chosen to be his inherit- ance, and whose God is the Lord Jehovali. Ver. 15 — 18. David here reverts to liis owti experience of the insufficiency of human force alone, when opposed by Him who giveth victory in the day of battle. It is not the multi- tude of an armed host that can save even their king from servi- tude or slaughter. The warrior on his fieiy steed may not be delivered by strength or swiftness, if he be engaged in an unliallowed cause, or trusting in his own valour. . But upon such as fear the Lord, sucli as fight the good fight of faith in the defence or maintenance of truth and righteousness, behold, the eye of the Lord is attent to deliver their soul from death ; and upon such as trust in his mercy, to presei^ve them in dl the casualties of warfare, and even in the time of famine to feed them with the bread of plenteousness. Ver. 19 — 22. These verses have a reference to the (then present) flourisliing state of Israel, in comparison of her past conflicts with the suiTounding heathen nations ; during which times of dread and uncertainty, it is not improbable tliat the personal influence of Da^dd inspired his people with fciith and patience — faith in the covenanted promises of God in favour of his chosen heritage ; patience under the checks and delays alwavs incident to a state of warfare ; wlierebv the hearts of 90 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. men frequently become dispirited and doubtful of tlie final issue. But now could the king of Israel say, in the name of himself and his people, our soul hath patiently tanied for the Lord; for He is our help and our shield: we have ho^ed in Ms Holy Name, and now shall our heart rejoice in Him. And he concludes this hymn of praise with an act of prayer for the Lord's continued merciful kindness upon himself and people, in terms which indicate a modest confidence in their continued faithfulness; for he asks that that kindness may be propor- tioned only to their deserving — Let it be upon us, like as we do put our trust in Thee. PSALM 31. The original title attached to this Psalm leaves no doubt of the occasion upon which it was written ; though there is not the slightest allusion to that in the Psalm itself. The occasion was one of those wonderful deliverances from personal peril of which David experienced so many. The narrative is given in 1 Sa)n. xxi, wherein it is stated that the immediate means of his escaping a great danger were the suggestions of his wit or ingenuity; for that he feigned himself mad, and was in consequence allowed to escape from the hands of those who were plotting to deliver him up to Saul's revengeful malice. However indefensible such a decep- tion might seem, it was favoured with success under Divine Providence. And as David nowhere in this Psalm refers to his escape, we may infer that he would not willingly give encouragement by his example to the repetition of an acted fraud. The love of life, however, predominates in our nature ; and it is related of Solon, one of the seven Sages of Greece, that for its preservation he also once dissembled madness. But we turn to the consideration of the Psalm. Ver. 1 — 7. It is seldom that we see David avowing his own determination to offer unto his God the sacrifice of prayer or of praise, but he calls upon all witliin the influence of his example to unite with him in the sacred duty. Here is one of the many instances of what we may call his (Mmimunity of feehng with all men on tlie subject of practical piety ; his liberal anxiety that all shall be partakers of his own joyful sincerity ; for that all liave reasons for great thankfulness, though they stand in per- jjetual need of being reminded of the pleasing duty ; and here LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 97 lie offers tliein the encouragement of his own experience, and of his own knowledge of the experience of others : — I sought the Lord, and He heard me ; yea, He delivered me out of all niy trouble. He hearetli the poor when they cry unto Him, and when they lift their eyes unto Him from their dark estate of sorrow and necessity, His eye enUghteneth them, spreading the beams of joy and peace upon their woe-stricken faces; so that they are no longer ashamed of their lowly condition, since they also share the loving-kindness of the Lord, equally with their more prosperous brethren: for His watchful guardianship ex- tends alike to all that fear Him ; His angel tarrieth round about them, and delivereth them from eveiy spiritual danger and from every passing trouble that may threaten or assault their peace. Ver. 8 — 10. The Psalmist as he proceeds becomes more earnest and animated in his exhortation ; and his language is not that of fine-spun argument, but homely and forcible, terse and simple, yet trenchant as the polished sword in the hands of the warrior. Who can mistake the invitation and the promise — 0 taste and see how gracious the Lord is : blessed is the man that tnisteth in him ? Who can be doubtful of the truth of the assurance, without having first pei-verted the tenns of the cau- tion— 0 fear the Lord, ye that are his saints: for they that fear Him lack nothing? For though the lions in their far-spread- ing forests iire swift in the pursuit of their prey, and fearless in attacking, and strong in grasping it, yet they do lack and suffer hunger; while the weak cliild of humanity, the weaker for his poverty and predestinated labour, {Gen. iii, 19,) shall want no manner of thing that is good, if he faithfully, and earnestly, and prayerfully seek it at the Fountain of all good. The beauty of the comparison and the force of the inference must be obvious to every attentive reader. Ver. II — IC. Here, as if juhlressiiig tlie younger members of his family of subjects, the paternal monarch of Israel adopts the language of gentle persuasion, set off by the most attractive II 98 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. motives to virtue — its rich temporal rewards. To the young, the thought of death is always repugnant in the season of health and enjoyment, and the desire of life far stronger than with the wiser among the aged, when the silver cord that once bound them to the world's illusions is loosed; and the golden bowl, from which they had quaffed off its pleasures, about to be broken. {Eccles. xii.) And this is a merciful dispensation, to which-ever side we look. The love of life in the young heart may, under proper instruction, prompt it to the love of virtue ; and that virtue is imperfect which has not piety for its foundation. At this point the Psalmist commences his lessons of love: — Come ye children, and hearken unto me : T will teach you the fear of the Lord. If ye desire length of life and peaceful days, keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile : eschew evil, and do good : seek peace, and ensue it. These maxims need no comment : they are the foundation upon which, in early life, may be built the superstructure of a virtuous character, equally firm and zealous to walk in all the command- ments of the Lord blameless. Over all such the eyes of the Lord are ever open ; to their prayers his ears are ever intent. Ver. 16 — 22. This concluding portion of the Psalm sets forth in alternate passages a continuous contrast between the fate and experience of the righteous and the ungodly. But there are two verses which seem particularly to point to the final destiny, the never-ending state, of each of these distinct and opposite classes : — The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart, and will save such as be of an humble spirit. The hope of all believers is the soul's salvation. It may be, as the Psalmist affirms, that in their pilgrimage here great are the troubles of the righteous; for it is a part of the economy of the divine government, that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. This experience however, is to the faithful a confirmation of their faith, the means of animating and strengthening their hope of final glory. On the other hand the Psalmist's predic- LECTURES ON THE PSALMS U'J tidu is, that misfortune shall slai/ tlie ungodly: tlie trials they must sustain in tliis life, which are generally the fruits of tlieir o^\^l misdeeds, shall harden them in impenitence and unhelief, until they are overwhelmed in habitual ungodliness, and past the reach and remedy of divine gi'ace ; for though the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of gi-eat kindness, yet doth He not restrain his anger for ever. But, brethren, the consummation of the Christian's hope is that covenant of grace, whereby the Lord hath delivered the souls of his sen-ants, and hath given the assurance that all they that put tlieir trust in Him shall not be destitute. (ilury he to the Father, S^c, H 2 100 LECTURES ON THE PKALMS. LECTURE Xni. PSALM 35. Ill this Psalm David is supposed by some Commentators to personate the Messiah in his sufferings and humiliation ; but I see in it no intrinsic reason for straining its literal meaning beyond the expression of his faithful prayer by the king of Israel, for the interposition of the divine arm in his behalf, at some period of danger or suffering. For we do not find any passage quoted from it in the New Testament, and therein applied to our Saviour's earthly experience, either by Himself or the Evangelists: we take it therefore as an outpouring cf the Psalmist's own feelings under his own experience; and in that view of it, we sliall see exemplary lessons of pious confidence, deserving our admiration and imitation. Ver. 1 — 3. David calls upon liis God and Saviour in these verses, first, to become his advocate with his foes, that if pos- sible they may be restrained in their hostile purposes against him, and thus avert the necessity for those sanguinary extre- mities, into which he feared that he and Ms people might be forced, by a duty of self-defence. For it were well, if upon all occasions of animosity between men, the least guilty could engage the preventing influences of the Spirit of peace to dis- suade their adversaries from violating the bond of peace, which had heretofore kept them at unity with their brethren. If, however, in our appeals to Heaven, we fail of obtaining this answer to our desires, we may, like the Psalmist, call upon the God of Hosts to take our part in the fearful conflict, to fight on our side, and in the glorious apparel of his power to strike dismay into our enemies ; whether they be of the earth earthy, and like ourselves the children of corruption ; or spiritual foes, against whom the arm of flesh is too weak to combat, if the spirit be unwilling or indifferent. And under this latter alter- native, the pious David instructs us for what kind of help to pray in our extremity — namely, for grace to help in our time of LECTUIJES ON TIIK I'SALMS. |()| need — aiul for faitli wliidi can look oiiwiinl and upward to that spiritual aid which alone can impart contideuce in the hour of trial. He implores that communication from above, whicli like the audible voice of the Saviour quelling the raging o£ the sea, should at once silence his ovenvhelming fears — say unto my suul, I am tlti/ salvation ! Ver. -i — G. If, my brethren, we were more accustomed to repose our confidence in the care and protection of the Almighty, than in our o\n\ wdsdom, or cunning, or strength, when we are suffeiiug under the enmity of those who imagine mischief against us ; our assurance of safety would be far stronger, our certainty of deliverance much better founded, our peace more undisturbed, than while we are devising how we may render e\dl for evil : thus perhaps in the end incurring a greater degi'ee of guilt than even they who are our enemies. It is lawful to look up to the God of Heaven for retributive justice upon such as deal treacherously with us ; for He hath declared, vengeance is mine : I will repay it. But it is not lawful, even in the ministration of this world's justice, for the sufferer to judge the offender, and to dictate the amount of his punishment. Much less may we take upon ourselves to avenge those secret acts of enmity, which, how deeply soever we may suffer from them, are known in the extent of their sinfulness only to Him, unto whom all hearts be open, and from whom no secrets can be hidden. The world's peace and the peace of the individual are much broken up by the thirst for revenge. But our best temporal security against the devices of the evil-dis- posed, is obedience to the precept. Come out ft'om among them, and be separate ; while we may trust, in the spirit of the Psalmist's prayer, that the Angel of the Lord, that is the minis- ter of his justice, in whatever form he may act, will scatter them, and bring them to nought. Ver. 7, 8. Here the Psalmist complains of the nature and quality of that enmity, for the punishment of which he impre- 102 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. cates the divine justice upon the oflFenders agahist his peace. They were secret enemies ; they were plotters of mischief in scenes far away from liis presence or liis knowledge ; back- biters, slanderers, evil-speakers, and evil-doers, where he had not the means of self-defence or of vindicating his own in- tegrity. Against such there is no human law of sufficient force to detect their guilt, or to punish them according to their deserving. David therefore gives utterance to the judicious and reasonable prayer of his heart, that as they have privily laid their net to destroy him without a cause ; so they may them- selves fall into the mischief of their owti devising, and be taken unawares in that sudden destruction, which in the darkness of their souls' designs they had plotted for him. Ver. 9, 10. In the anticipation that his prayer will be an- swered, and himself delivered from the machinations of his secret enemies, the Psalmist breaks forth in that spirit of thank- fulness to the God of his salvation, which is the prevailing cha- racteristic throughout the entire volume of these sacred aspira- tions. He bids his soul rejoice, yea, and pledges his word that it shall rejoice continually. The very members of his body shall bear witness to the loving-kindness of his Creator, and manifest their rejoicing with his spirit. Yet, with all the hu- mility that becomes the man in communion -svith his God, he speaks of himself as poor and in misery, as weaker than his foes, and as owing entirely to the Lord's hand his deliverance from those that were in their subtlety too strong for liim, and would have spoiled him, but for the intei'position of tlie arm of Almighty Power uplifted in his behalf. Ver. 11 — 16. Here, hke holy Job, he prayed that lie might be weighed in nn even balance, that God might know his in- tegrity, and falls into a repetition of his complaint against his dishonest adversaries, setting forth a comparative view of their false dealings towards him ; while he shews that in the spirit of an Israelite indeed he had conducted himself to- LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. 1 0-T wai-ds them with the fidelity of a friend aud brother; and even with the affection of a son that mourneth for a lost mother. This is a rai'e instance of rendering good for evil : but we ciin- not doubt the sincerity of David, Avhen we reflect that he is making his appeal to an Omniscient God. This is an example of the charity that "suffereth long, and is kind," and which has never been sui'passed by any but the dying Saviour Himself, who, in his last extremity upon the painful cross, prayed thus for his murderers — Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And the Psalmist's recorded experience resem- bles that of our blessed Lord ; for he complains that in his ad- versity his enemies rejoiced, and magnified their spiteful triumph by gathering themselves together against him ; and, as it hap- pens in all cases of unjust persecution, swelling their train with the very abjects, the willing slaves of the tyrant and the slan- derer, ever ready to sneer, and mock, and gnash Avith tlieir teeth, when a virtuous victim is oflered to their malice. Fer. 17 — 22. How natural is this transition of the pious mind from the contemplation of its suff"erings to the relief which is to be derived only from the prayer of faith ! Such is the course pursued by the Psalmist in these verses ; though the in- justice done to liim presses so heavily on liis thoughts, that in the weakness of our common nature he cannot help mingling some complaint with his prayer. But the great object of his prayer is that his soul may be delivered from the calamities brought upon him ; that they may not tempt or betray him into an unholy despondency, or faithlessness, or forgetfulness of his entire dependence on the God of his salvation — 0 deliver my soul, and my darling from the lions. This last term occurs also in the 22nd Psalm, and is there as here coupled with the word soul, both words having equal force; for in the Hebrew the word translated darling means my chief treasure, or my only one. And truly, my brethren, in all the trials or conflicts which it may be our lot to experience during our brief period of ex- istence here ; whether they be the immediate dispensation of 104 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. God's own Providence, or the work of man's enmity ; our chief care should he the preservation of the soul in peace ; that no murmurings should darken its contemplation of the final de- liverance; that the consciousness of its integrity, whether in action or design, should prove its support under every trial; that no revengeful thoughts should sully the purity of God's Image impressed thereupon at the creation ; that it is not in the conflicts of man with man that the righteous will look to his own sword for deliverance, or that it is his own arm which can help him; hut that in all his experience it is the Christian's paramount duty to commit his way unto the Lord, and to trust in Him; in the sure and certain hope, that in all things which are truly desirable, the Lord will bring it to pass, will give him his heart's desire, will make his righteousness as clear as the light, and his just dealing as the noon-day. Ver. 23 — 28. Here the pious king and priest of Israel be- comes emboldened by his visions of faith in God's espousal of his just cause. He casts himself upon the impartial judgment of God, not as between man and man, for a verdict on comparative merits. He calls upon the Euler of the whole earth, his God and his Lord, to judge his quarrel, to avenge his cause, accord- ing to the perfect righteousness that ruleth alone in the Heaven of heavens. He prays fervently that his foes may not be per- mitted, even for a season, to enjoy a malignant triumph over him, and to say in their hearts — There, there! so would we have it : we have devoured him ! At the same time he forgets not the friends who have been faithful to him through evil re- port and good report; who in defiance of the slanders and the malice of others, have favoured his righteous dealings, and proved his integrity. He prays that they may be glad and re- joice in the stedfastness of their own friendship towards him, and tliat they may acknowledge his deliverance to have been wrought by the Lord, who hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. For himself he engages that his tongue shall proclaim the riglitcousncss and praise of his God all tlie day long. LECTURES ON TIIL I'SAI.MS. K),') PSALM 8fi. This meditation -of the inspired writer consists of only two distinct portions : the first descriptive of the distinguishing marks in the character of his enemies: tlie second an expression of his own confidence that he is himself an object of the continued lovinff-kindness of his God, and that the Church at large shall still rest in safety under the shadow of his wing. Fer. 1 — 4. David hero dcclareth in a few words, that the deep conviction of his own heart is, that all wickedness 2)ro- ceeds from unbelief ; that in the absence of the fear of God the heart of man is hai'dened against every other fear ; encouraging pride, and self-deceit, and self-sufficiency, and self-flattery ; all of wliich are cherished under a prevailing blindness to the most obvious truth that presents itself to the reason and understand- ing of man; namely, that there is a God to whom we are ac- countable for all our thoughts, words, and actions. This is so plain a truth, that as the Psalmist affirms in anotlier place, it is the fool only who dares to think, even in his own heart, that there is no God ; though at the same time he has not the courage to provoke the reproaches of his fellow-man by avowing his unbelief. Yet he can flatter himself in his owti sight, as superior in discernment and understanding to his more humble brethren; and in this imagined superiority, can indulge his natural evil propensities to deceit and uunghteousness, caring neither to seem good nor to do good, delighting in mischief, spurning every good thought, and indifi'erent to whatever is evil. There are strong evidences, my brethren, scattered throughout the Scriptures, that such is the general character of our nature; until it is awakened to a sense of the existence of a God, who, if we propitiate not his grace and favour, will finally make Himself known as a God of vengeance ; and in the administration of his justice, a consuming fire. The pride of our nature indulged for a few short years, though it may tempt us to flatter ourselves in our own sight, will be proved to 106 LECTURES ON THE PSALMS. have been a hollow deception, in the great day of account, when the secrets of every heart shall be laid open, and in the sight of men and angels the divine justice made manifest in the con- demnation of unbelief and of all unrighteousness. Therefore let him who in the pride of an unregenerate heart thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he finally and everlastingly fall : for it is an unalterable command to every living soul, that by faith and deeds of righteousness we labour to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are God's. Ver. 5 — 10. These verses present a striking contrast be- tween the temporal condition of the ungodly and the righteous ; for as happiness is the acknowledged end and aim of our being, it is impossible that any degree of it shall be attained in this life, unless its foundation be laid in the sure and certain hope inspired by the written Word of God ; for though the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work ; yet it is only from His own revelation of Himself, that his creature man can acquire a knowledge of the Divine Cha- racter and Attributes ; of his own relation to his Creator ; and of his own duties, as dependent upon God for all the blessings of time and of eternity. If, however, he will cherish an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the Living God, he must ever remain a stranger to those consolations wdiich are the fruits of a tnie and lively faith. These fruits are seen in the language of the Psalmist, as often as his reflections lead him to proclaim his own convictions, that he derives his happy confidence from his intimate knowledge of the Divine Character ; and from his entire dependence upon that great and good Being, whose mercy reacheth unto the heavens, and his faithfulness unto the clouds ; whose righteousness standeth like the strong mountains ; and •whose judgments are unfathomable as the great deep. For herein does the wise son of Jesse discover the excellency, that is, the perfection of the Divine Mercy, and the happiness to be derived from cherishing an habitual confidence in it. The LECTURES ON THE I'SALMS. 107 lowest beings in the scale of creation owe their salrty, t'