infallible in his predictions. What are the thousands of gold and silver, compared to the treasures of the sacred page!

7. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

As if it had been said, Yes, blessed Lord, what thou hast promised shall surely be performed, since there is with thee no variableness, nor shadow of turning: thou wilt keep thy poor and lowly servants, as thou hast promised, from being circumvented by treachery, or crushed by power; thou wilt preserve them undefiled amidst an evil and adulterous generation; thou wilt be with thy church to the end of the world, and then admit her to be with thee for ever.

8. The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted. While the faithful repose, as they ought to do, an unlimited confidence in God's promises, they have, in the meantime, but too much reason to mourn the prevalence of wickedness, stalking, like its author, to and fro, and up and down in the earth, uncontrolled by those who bear the sword, but who either blunt its edge, or turn it the wrong way. Such is often the state of things here below; and a reflection, made upon the subject by our Lord, when his enemies drew near to apprehend him, may satisfy us how it comes to be so: "It is your hour, and the power of darkness." But that hour will quickly pass with us, as it did with him, and the power of darkness will be overthrown; the Lord will be our everlasting light, and the days of our mourning shall be ended.

PSALM XIII.

ARGUMENT.-This Psalm contains, 1, 2. a complaint of desertion; 3, 4. a prayer for the divine assistance; 5, 6. an act of faith and thanksgiving.

1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

While God permits his servants to continue under affiction, he is said, after the manner of men, to have "forgotten and hid his face from them." For the use, therefore, of persons in such circumstances, is this Psalm intended; and, consequently, it suits the different cases of the church universal, languishing for the advent of our Lord to deliver her from this evil world; of any particular church, in time of persecution; and of each individual, when harassed by temptations, or broken by sickness, pain and sorrow. He who bore our sins, and carried our sorrows, may likewise be presumed to have made it a part of his devotions in the day of trouble.

2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?

To excite compassion, and prevail for help from above, the petitioner mentions three aggravating circumstances of his misery: the

perplexity of his soul, not knowing which way to turn, or what course to take; his heart-felt sorrow, uttering itself in sighs and groanings; and the mortifying reflection, that his enemies were exulting in their conquest over him. All this will happen, and be particularly painful, to him who has yielded to temptation, and committed sin.

3. Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.

On the preceding considerations is founded a prayer to Jehovah, that he would no longer hide his face, but "consider," or, more literally, "have respect to, favourably behold" his servant; that he would "hear, attend to, be mindful of" his supplication in distress. The deliverance requested is expressed figuratively, "Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death." In time of sickness and grief, the "eyes" are dull and heavy; and they grow more and more so as death approaches, which closes them in darkness. On the other hand, health and joy render the organs of vision bright and sparkling, seeming, as it were, to impart "light" to them from within. The words, therefore, may be fitly applied to a recovery of the body natural, and thence of the body politic, from their respective maladies. Nor do they less significantly describe the restoration of the soul to a state of spiritual health and holy joy, which will manifest themselves in like manner, by "the eyes of the understanding being enlightened;" and in this case, the soul is saved from the sleep of sin, as the body is, in the other, from the sleep of death.

4. Lest mine enemies say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

This argument we often find urged in prayer to God, that he should be pleased to work salvation for his people, lest his and their enemies should seem to triumph over him as well as them; which would indeed have been the case, had Satan either seduced the true David to sin, or confined him in the grave. And certainly it should be a powerful motive to restrain us from transgression, when we consider, that as the conversion of a sinner brings glory to God, and causes joy among the angels of heaven; so the fall of a believer disgraces the Gospel of Jesus, opens the mouths of the adversaries, and would produce joy, if such a thing could be, in hell itself.

5. But I have trusted, or, I trust, in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice, or, rejoices, in thy salvation. 6. I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt, or, deals, bountifully with me.

The heart which "trusteth in God's mercy," shall alone "rejoice in his salvation," and celebrate by the tongue, in songs of praise, the loving kindness of the Lord. It is observable, that this and many other Psalms, with a mournful beginning, have a triumphant ending; to show us the prevailing power of devotion, and to convince us of the certain return of prayer, sooner or later, bringing with it the comforts of heaven, to revive and enrich our weary and barren

spirits in the gloomy seasons of sorrow and temptation, like the dew descending by night upon the withered summit of an eastern moun-tain.

PSALM XIV.

ARGUMENT.-This Psalm is in a manner the same with the 53d. It sets forth, 1-3. the corruption of the world; 4-6. its enmity against the people of God; 7. the prophet longs and prays for salvation.

1. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God: they are corrupt, they · have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

It does not appear upon what occasion David composed this Psalm. The revolt of Israel in Absalom's rebellion, is by most writers pitched upon as the subject of it. But, be this as it may, the expressions are general, and evidently designed to extend beyond a private interpretation. And accordingly, the apostle (Rom. iii. 10, &c.) produces some passages from it, to evince the apostacy of both Jews and Gentiles from their King and their God, and to prove them to be all under sin. In this light therefore, we are to consider it, as characterizing the principles and practices of those who oppose the Gospel of Christ in all ages. "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." Infidelity is the beginning of sin, folly the foundation of infidelity, and the heart the seat of both. "Their foolish heart (says St. Paul of the heathen, Rom. i. 21.) was darkened." The sad consequence of defection in principle, is corruption in practice. "They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." On these words the reader may see a full comment, Rom. i. 28-32.

2. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there was any that did understand, and seek God. 3. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy, or, putrefied: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Like a watchman on the top of some lofty tower, God is represented as surveying, from his heavenly throne, the sons of Adam, and their proceedings upon the earth; he scrutinizes them, and as it were searches diligently, to find among them a man of true wisdom, one whose heart was turned toward the Lord his God, one who was enquiring the way to salvation and glory, that he might walk therein. But as the result of this extensive and accurate survey, God informs his prophet, and commissions him to inform the world, that all had declined from the paths of wisdom and righteousness; that the mass of human nature was become putrid, requiring to be cleansed, and the vessels made up of it to be formed anew. Such is the Scripture account of man not having received grace, or having fallen from it; of man without Christ, or in arms against him. See Rom. iii. 11, 12.

4.* Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord.

The "workers of iniquity," work for the wages of death; they fight against God and their own souls; they barter eternity for time, and part with happiness for misery, both in possession and reversion. Well therefore may it be asked, "Have they no knowledge?" For common sense, after all, is what they want. They who, with an appetite keen as that to their food, prey upon the poor, and devour the people of God, will themselves be preyed upon and devoured by that roaring lion, whose agents for the present they are; and such as now "call not on" the name of "the Lord" Jesus for pardon and salvation, shall hereafter call in vain upon the rocks and mountains, to shelter them from his power and vengeance.

5. There were they in great fear; for God is in the generation of the righ

teous.

In the parallel place, Psal. liii. 5, after the words, "There were they in great fear," are added these, "where no fear was," which certainly connect better with what follows, " for God is in the generation of the righteous." David is supposed to be speaking primarily of Israel's defection from him to Absalom, and here to be assigning the motive of that defection in many, namely, fear of the rebel's growing power, and distrust of his ability to protect them; which fear, he observes, was groundless, because his cause was the cause of God, who would not fail to appear in its support and vindication. The subjects of Christ, in times of persecution, are often tempted to renounce their allegiance, upon the same principle of fear; although of them it may more emphatically be said, that they "fear where no fear is, since God is in the generation of the righteous; and they who are engaged on the side of Messiah, will, in the end, most assuredly be triumphant. The latter clause of this verse, in Psalm lii. runs thus: "For God hath scattered, or, shall scatter, the bones of him that encampeth against thee; thou hast, or shalt, put them to shame, because God hath despised them :" the sense of which is evidently the same with-" God is in the generation of the righteous" he will defend them and overthrow their enemies: therefore let them not fear, neither let their hearts be troubled. If this interpretation be disapproved, the words, "There were they in great fear," must be understood of the enemy; and the clause, " where no fear was,' must be rendered interrogatively thus, "and was there not cause for them to fear? since God is in the generation of the righteous, or, will scatter the bones of him that encampeth against thee," &c.

6. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge.

This is plainly addressed to the adversaries, and charges them

Between the preceding verse and this are three others inserted in our common translation, which, though taken by St. Paul from other parts of Scripture, yet because (Rom. iii. 13.) they followed the words cited from this Psalm, were probably added thereunto in this place by some transcribers of the copies of the LXX. For in other copies of the LXX. they exist not any more than in the Hebrew, Chaldee, or Syriac.

with reproaching and scoffing at that confidence in the Lord, expressed by the afflicted righteous, in the preceding verse.

7. O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

The consideration of the apostacy and corruption of mankind, described in this Psalm, makes the Prophet express a longing desire for the salvation of Israel, which was to go forth out of Zion, and to bring back the people of God from that most dreadful of all captivities, the captivity under sin and death; a salvation at which Jacob would indeed rejoice, and Israel be glad. And how doth the whole church, at this time, languish for the consummation of her felicity, looking, even until her eyes fail, for that glorious day of final redemption, when every believing heart shall exult, and all the sons of God shout aloud for joy!

THIRD DAY.-MORNING PRAYER.

PSALM XV.

ARGUMENT. This is one of the Psalms appointed to be used on Ascension-day. The Prophet, 1. inquires concerning the person, who should ascend into the hill, and dwell in the temple of Jehovah; 2-5. he receives, in answer to his question, a character of such person.

1. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

The prophet alludes to the hill of Sion in the earthly Jerusalem, to the tabernacle of God which was thereon, and the character of the priest, who should officiate in that tabernacle. But all these were figures of a celestial Jerusalem, a spiritual Sion, a true tabernacle, and an eternal priest. To the great originals therefore we must transfer our ideas, and consider the inquiry as made after Him, who should fix his resting-place on the heavenly mount, and exercise his unchangeable priesthood in the temple not made with hands. And since the disciples of this new and great High Priest become righteous in him, and are by the Spirit conformed to his image, the character which essentially and inherently belongs only to him, will derivatively belong to them also, who must follow his steps below, if they would reign with him above.

2. He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

The man, therefore, who would be a citizen of Zion, and there enter into the rest and joy of his Lord, must set that Lord always before him. Renewed through grace, endued with a lively faith, and an operative charity, he must consider and imitate the life of that blessed Person who walked amongst men, without partaking