As all the tribes" of Israel, three times in the year, were seen "going up" to the old Jerusalem in compliance with the "testimonies," the injunctions and institutions of their law, to acknowledge the mercies, and to give thanks unto the name of "Je"hovah," who had done such great things for them; so from the ends of the earth are the redeemed of the Lord, out of every nation, and kindred, and people, continually ascending, by faith and charity, to the new Jerusalem. St. John saw the nations of them that were saved, walking in the light of the heavenly city, and he heard her streets resound with the hallelujahs of ten thousand times ten thousand. 5. For there are set thrones of judgement, the thrones of the house of David. The Israelites resorted to Jerusalem, because it was the metropolis of the country, and there was the residence of their monarchs, after the kingdom was established in "the house of David." But, alas! that metropolis is desolate, and "the thrones of "judgement," which were therein, have been long since cast down to the ground. A Jerusalem, however, remains, which shall never be moved; in that Jerusalem is the throne of eternal judgement erected, and the Son of David sitteth upon it. Of him it was said by the angel to Mary, "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and " he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, "and of his kingdom there shall be no end:" Luke i. 32. And he himself thus addressed his apostles : Verily, I say unto you, that ye which have followed in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall me, "sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon "twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt. xix. 28. 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. In this latter part of our Psalm, the members of the Israelitish church are exhorted to pray for its peace and welfare. What that church was, the Christian church militant upon earth now is, and demandeth, in like manner, the prayers of all Christian people for its peace and welfare in a troublesome and contentious world. Its increase here below, is in reality the increase of Jerusalem above, of which it is a part, and ought to be a resemblance. Heaven has therefore decreed, that they who contribute their labours, as well as their prayers, to promote so good and so glorious an end, shall enjoy its protection, and its blessing shall be upon the work of their hands; "They shall prosper that love thee." 7. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity, or, plenteousness, within thy palaces. Come, O thou divine Spirit of peace and love, who didst reside in the soul of the holy Jesus, descend into his mystical body, and fill us, who compose it, with all his heavenly tempers; put an end to heresies, heal all schisms, cause bitter contentions to cease, abolish every enmity, and make us to be of one mind in thy holy city; that so, "peace being "within her walls," her citizens may give themselves to every profitable employment, and "plenteous"ness" of grace, wisdom, and truth, as well as of earthly blessings, may be in all her "palaces." Thus will she become a lively portrait of that place which is prepared for them that love one another, where, with one heart and one voice, they shall ascribe "salvation and glory to God and to the Lamb." 8. For my brethren and companion's sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 9. Because of the house of the LORD our God I seek thy good. In these concluding verses, the Psalmist declareth the two motives, which induced him to utter his best wishes, and to use his best endeavours, for the prosperity of Jerusalem; namely, love of his brethren, whose happiness was involved in that of their city; and love of God, who had there fixed the residence of his glory. These motives are ever in force, and ought, surely, to operate with marvellous energy upon our hearts, to stir us up to imitate the pattern now before us, in fervent zeal and unwearied labour, for the salvation of men, and the glory of their great Redeemer; both which will then be complete, when the church militant shall become triumphant, and the heavenly paradise shall be filled with plants taken from its terrestrial nursery. Theodore Zuinger, of whom some account may be found in Thuanus, when he lay on his death-bed, took his leave of the world, in a paraphrase on the foregoing Psalm; giving it the same turn with that given to it above. I have never been able to get a sight of the original *; but one may venture, I be * Since the publication of the first edition, a learned friend has obliged me with a copy of these Latin verses of Zuinger, transcribed from the 303d page of Vitæ Germanorum Medicorum, by Melchior Adamus. They are as follow: lieve, to say, that it has lost nothing in a translation of it by the late learned and pious Mr. Merrick ; which is so excellent, that I must beg leave to present it to the reader. Some of the lines are retained in his more literal poetical version, published in O lux candida, lux mihi Læti conscia transitus! Per Christi meritum patet Vitæ porta beatæ. Augustam Domini ad domum: Petunt Christiadæ, et Deum Cuncta in sæcla beati. Mater nobilis urbium! Semper te bona pax amat: Cedunt omnia recte. Semper pax tua mœnia Larga munera fundit. Spesque Fidesque valete. 1765. It may serve as a finished specimen of the noble and exalted use which a Christian may and ought to make of the Psalms of David. PSALM CXXII. I. What joy, while thus I view the day II. The festal morn, my God, is come, My feet the summons shall attend, III. E'en now to my expecting eyes I view her mansions, that contain IV. Hither from earth's remotest end, VOL. II. E e |