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him suffering in his poor afflicted members; and to extend to them the mercy which he extended to us. who was blessed' of Jehovah, and delivered in the evil day,' by a glorious resurrection, will bless' and 'deliver,' in like manner, such as, for his sake, love and relieve their brethren.

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2. The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive,' or revive him; and he shall be blessed upon the earth; and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.'

The compassionate and charitable disciple of the holy Jesus is often wonderfully preserved,' and rendered prosperous, even in this world; but his greatest comfort is, that, like his Master, he shall one day be revived,' to inherit the blessing,' in a better country, where no ' enemy' can approach to hurt or molest him.

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3. The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.'

An exemption from sorrow and sickness is not promised to the children of God; but strength and comfort are given unto them, from above, to support and carry them through their trials; and they who, in the days of their health, have, by their alms, given rest to the bodies, or, by their counsels, restored peace to the consciences, of others, shall have the bed of pain made easy under them, by the hand of their heavenly Father.

4. I said, LORD, be merciful unto me heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.'

Every son of Adam may, and ought, in these words, to acknowlege his sin, and to entreat for mercy and grace, to heal the disorders of his nature. If we suppose Messiah ever to have uttered this verse in his devotions, as we know he applied the 9th verse to his own case, it is obvious, that he must be understood to confess the sins, not of his own righteous person, but of the nature he had assumed, in order to cleanse and purify it by his sufferings. See above, Psal. xl. 12.

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5. Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?"

Here we may undoubtedly consider the poor and lowly Jesus, in the day of his humiliation, when he was daily

and hourly calumniated by his adversaries; when, restless and impatient at beholding him still alive, they said- What do we, for this man doth many miracles? If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him. Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after him;' John xi. 47. xii. 19.: and when, grown more furious and clamorous, they cried,' Away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him.' How many, with the same bitterness of spirit, speak evil' continually of his doctrines, his church, his ordinances, and his ministers; in effect, saying, When shall he die, and his name perish?'

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And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.'

Thus the enemies of Christ' sent out spies, who should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor;' Luke xx. 20. Thus Judas sat down at the last supper, all the while meditating the destruction of his Master; till at length, rising from table, and going abroad, he put his design in execution; and thus the mystical body of Christ frequently suffers, as his natural body once did, by means of hypocrites and traitors.

7. All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.' 8. An evil disease, say they,' Heb. a word, or matter, of Belial, namely, the crime charged upon him, 'cleaveth fast unto him; and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more.'

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The whispers of the Pharisees, the counsels of the sanhedrim, and their taunts and scoffs at the blessed Jesus, when on the cross, numbered with the transgressors,' nor ever expected to arise' again from the dead, are here most significantly and plainly pointed out. The same weapons are frequently employed against the servants of Christ; but let them not be, on that account, discouraged from following their Master.

9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against

me.'

Div.

No. XXII.

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'I speak not of you all,' saith our Lord to his disciples; 'I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me, hath lift up his heel against me: John xviii. 18. The sufferings of the church, like those of her Redeemer, generally begin at home; her open enemies can do her no harm, until her pretended friends have delivered her into their hands: and, unnatural as it may seem, they, who have waxed fat upon her bounty, are sometimes the first to 'lift up the heel' against her.

10. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them,' or and I shall requite them.

The holy Jesus here maketh his prayer unto the Father, for the accomplishment of the promised resurrection, and foretelleth the righteous judgment that would be executed on his enemies, after their rejection of the gracious offers made them, by the apostles, in his name, notwithstanding all that they had said and done against him. Then the kingdom of God was taken from them, and their house was left unto them desolate. The hour is coming when the church shall arise to glory, and all her enemies shall be confounded.

11. By this I know that thou favorest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.' 12. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.'

The Christian, like his Master, must expect sorrow and tribulation, but he is not thereby deprived of the favor' of heaven; his spiritual enemies, whatever trouble they may give him, yet do not 'triumph' over him; he is preserved in his integrity,' and his reward will be the 'vision' of God. For the exaltation, therefore, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of all believers, in, by, and through him.

13. 'Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen,’

PSALM XLII.

ARGUMENT.

[David, by Absalom's rebellion driven from Jerusalem to the country beyond Jordan, is there supposed to have indited this Psalm; which, as it is applicable to the case of our Lord, in his state of sojourning and suffering on earth, for our sins; as also, that of the church, under persecution, or that of any member thereof, when deprived of the opportunities of public worship: so doth it, in the most beautiful and pathetic strains, describe the vicissitudes of joy and sorrow, of hope and despondency, which succeed each other in the mind of the Christian pilgrim, while, exiled from the Jerusalem above, he suffereth affliction and tribulation in this valley of tears. The last is the application chiefly made in the comment, as it is the most general and useful one; the others naturally offer themselves, being coincident with, or subordinate to it.]

1. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O GOD.'

The thirst, which the 'hart' experienced, when chased, in sultry weather, over the dusty plains, is here set before us, as a representation of that ardent desire after the waters of eternal comfort, which the temptations, the cares, and the troubles of the world, produce in the believing soul. Happy they who feel this desire, and fly to the well of life, that it may be satisfied. Blessed are they that thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.' Matt. v. 6.

2. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?'

Whoever considers what it is to appear before God;' to behold the glorious face of Jesus; to contemplate a beauty which never fadeth; to be enriched by a beneficence which can never be exhausted, and blessed in a love unmerited and infinite; will find abundant reason to say, again and again, My soul thirsteth after God;' why is the time of my banishment prolonged; when shall the days of my pilgrimage have an end; when shall I come and before God?'

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3. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy GOD?'

So long as the soul finds herself absent from him whom she loveth, sorrow is still her portion, as well in the day of worldly prosperity, as in the night of adversity. And this sorrow is greatly aggravated by the taunts of the enemy; who, because the promise is delayed, and she suffereth affliction in the mean season, ridiculeth and insulteth her faith and hope, as vain and groundless; intimating, that God hath forsaken her, and tempting her to renounce her principles.

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4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holiday.'

As the royal Prophet, when driven from Jerusalem by Absalom, was melted into tears at the comparison of his destitute and forlorn situation with his former glory and happiness, when, on some joyous festival with all his subjects about him, he had attended the service of the tabernacle, in the city of God; so the Christian pilgrim cannot but bewail his exile from the heavenly Jerusalem, out of which sin hath driven him, and doomed him to wander, for a while, in the vale of misery. Led, by repentance and faith, to look back to the place from whence he is fallen, he sighs after the unspeakable joys of the celestial Zion; longing to keep a festival, and celebrate a jubilee in heaven; to join in the songs of angels, and bear a part in the music of hallelujahs.

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5. Why art thou cast,' or bowed, ' down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him for the help,' or salvation, of his countenance.'

The holy mourner now expostulates with his soul for suffering herself to sink into a kind of despondency, on account of her afflictions, and the insolent triumph of the adversary; and, as a sovereign cordial for melancholy, prescribes faith' in God, which will show the morning of salvation dawning, after the night of calamity shall have run its course, a night which cannot be long, and may be very short. When the sun arises, we cannot be

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