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ON

THE BOOK OF PSALMS;

IN TAHICIl THEIR

ILiUval antr jB^istodcal <Scnsc,

AS THEY RELATE TO KING DAVID AND THE TEOPLE OF ISRAEL, IS ILLUSTRATED;

] HEIR APPLICATION TO MESSIAH, TO THE CHURCH, AND TO INDIVIDUALS AS MEMBERS THEREOF,

IS POINTED out;

With a view to rcnder^the Use of the Psalter pleasing and profitable to all orders and / degrees of Christians.

HornS-

BY GEORGE,^LORD BISHOP OF NORWICH,

AND PRESIDENT OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD.

All things must be fulfilled, which were written in4he Psalms concerning me. — Luke xxiv. 44. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. — 1 Cor. xiv. 15. They sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb. — Rev. xv. 3.

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,

^ J«emoir o£ tijc JLitt of tije Stut!)or.

PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY ALEXANDER TOWAB'

SOLD ALSO BV C. R. k. C. WEBSTER, ALBANV-

James Anderson, Printer.

1822.

^^Uetrtistmeut*

WHAT the royal moralist observes of seasonable coun- sels, that " they are like apples of gokl in pictures of sil- ver," may, with the greatest propriety, i)e applied to the Book of Psalms, as illustrated by the inestimable Commen- tary of the venerable Bishop *Horne. Here learning is, what it always should be, the handmaid to devotion; and the most refined taste is brought to the service of piety. The Christian professor is here continually reminded of his Saviour, and of the riches of redemption wliich are laid up in him who made more use of the Psalms than any other portion of the sacred writings, not only because they spake of his humiliation and sufierings, his resurrection and ascension, but particularly because these divine compo- sitions are adapted to all the purposes for which he came into the world, of " purif3'ing unto himself a people zealou«; of good works."

To the same end, and in imitation of her great head and exemplar, the Church has appointed these inspired hymns to be used in a regular order in her daily offices ; but it is to be feared that too many of her members lose the benefit intended, for want of having the veil lifted up which covers, under typical characters and figurative representations, the; sublime mysteries of the kingdom of God.

To animate Christians in j)ublic worship, and to edify them in their private studies, the excellent autlior of this work has employed many years of his valuable life in eluci- dating that book, which the great Luther emphatically and Justly termed. "The Little Bible."

OF THE

RIGHT REVEREND GEORGE HORNE, D. D.

LORD BISHOP OF NORWICH.

This exemplary prelate was the son of the reverend Samuel Home, M. A. rector of Biede, in Sussex, and of Otham, in Kent, in the l.Tst of which livings he was succeeded, in 1768, by his son William Home, M. A. formerly demy of Magdalen College, Oxford. The bishop was born at Otham, and baptized in the parish church there, November 1, 1730. His early education was conducted by his worthy father, and next by the reve- rend Deodatus Bye, master of Maidstone grammar school, who observed, at his admission, that " he was fitter to go from school than to come to it."" In March 1745-6, he was admitted at University College, Oxford, having' been previously chosen to a scholarship from Maidstone school ; and, in October 1749, he took his degree of bachelor of arts. The year following, he was elected to the fellowship of Magdalen College, which is appropriated to a native of the county of Kent. He was a very laborious student, and he had an elegant taste in Greek, Latin, and English poetry, of which he gave many admirable specimens, while he was no more than an undergraduate in the university. His constant aim, however, was to render the acquisition of polite literature subservient to the study of theology and the illustration of the sacred writings In the language of the early companion of his liter- ary pursuits, and who became his chaplain and biographer, " he raised his thoughts from the poets and orators of Greece and Rome, to the contem- plation of the great Creator's wisdom, in his word and in his works."* While at University College he became enamoured of the Hebrew language, which he studied with close application, and this brought him acquainted with the writings of the learned John Hutchinson, whose whole life was de. voted to the great object of deducing from the Mosaic scriptures the princi- ples of true philosophy.

In 1751, Mr. Home manifested his attachment to this system, wliich wa.s at that time exceedingly unpopular in our seats of learning, by publishing witliout his name, a tract entitled, " The Theology and Philosophy in Cicero's Somnium Scipionis explained ; or a brief attempt to demonstrate, that the Newtonian system is perfectly agreeable to the notions of the wisest ancients ; and that mathematical principles are the only sure ones."' The chief merit of this pamphlet lies in its wit, the aim of it being to expose the received philosophy as no other than a revival of what was maintained ages ago by Cicero and the Stoics.

* Dedication to the Rev. William Jones's Sermon " on the Natwal History of tlie E<ulli and its Minerals." Svo. 1787.

vi MEMOIR OF

In June 1752, Mr. Home took liis de^ee of master of arts, and about the same time he engaged in a controversy, through the medium of the Gentle- man's Magazine, on the subject of the Cherubim, which he, in common with the followers of Hutchinson, held to be symbolical of the Trinity. The letters of our autlior were signed Ingenius; but tlie publisher of the maga- zine, after suffering the discussion to connnence in tliet work, put a stop to it, by declining to insert the reply which Mr. Home drew up in defence of the doctrine he espoused, thus exercising an unwarrantable disposition over the privilege of inquiiy, and the freedom of the press. The year following, Mr. Home published a masterly pamphlet, with this title, " A fair, candid, and impartial state of the case between Sir Isaac Newton and Mr. Hutch- inson: In which is shown, how far a sj'stem of physics is capable of ma- thematical demonstration; how far Sir Isaac'.s, as such a system, has that demonstration; and, consequently, what regard Mr. Hutchinson's claim may deserve to have paid to it." Of this luminous and closely reasoned production, which was never answered, a new edition appeared in 1795. In the year 1754, our awthor gave to the world, though anonymously, an ironical piece with this curious title, " Spicilegium Shuckfordianum, or a nosegay for the critics: being some choice flowers of modern theology and criticism, gathered out of Dr. Shuckford's* supplemental discourse on the creation and fall of man, not forgetting Dr. Garnct'st Vatikra."

But religious controversy and ^philosophical pursuits, were far from nar- rowing the mind and abating the cheerfulness of this amiable man; for at this period we find him corresponding with Mr. Berkeley, son of the excel- lent bishop of Cloyne, in a strain of playful humour and fervent piety, of which the following letter is an admirable specimen.

Mag. Coll. Oxon. Maij 10, 1755. My dearest George,

IT was with the greatest jjleasurc that I set my eyes on your hand- writing, and with no less do I now take up the pen to have some conversa- tion with you upon paper, which is very sweet and comfortable when we are prevented from having it face to face. Without this, the hurry about us, and constant succession of fresh objects, insensibly deface the image of absent friends in our hearts, (such is our weakness and frailty) in spite of all our endeavours to the contrary. How lamentably would this be the case with regard to our best friend, our absent Lord and Master, were it not for those letters full of love, the Holy Scriptures, which come directed to every soul, though so few take the trouble to open tlu^ seals and read them. As he has been pleased (blessed be his holy name for it) to lead us to a know ledge of them, we should be taking all opportunities of comforting and en- couraging one another in this our pilgrimage through the land of the dead, to the land of the living. When we cannot do it by talking, we must do it by writing. And those can never want a subject to write upon, who have

* Samuel Shuckford, D. D. autlior of the " Connexions of Sacred and Profane Ilistoiy," and other works of great learning'. He was prcljentlai-y of Canterbury, and died in 1751.

t Jolin Garnet, D. D. wlio, by going to Irolaml \\ ilh tin- DuUc of DorsiCt, in 1751, ohtainrd Ihe bisliopric of Leighlin and Ferns, from wluiuc \n- u;is t];m>l:itc(i to Clotrher. He di.-d in 1732. Uisliop Garnet was tliQ autlior of a mi y iKiiiilnim'' irc.iii-c on the iSook of .Job. U> which, like Warburton, he assigns a date postrrioi- lo tlio caplivily.

BISHOP HORNE. vii

an interest in him, and are concerned in the increase of liis king^doni ; who, as members of the same body, have an intimate fellow-feeling, and all suffer or rejoice for the loss or recovery of a limb.

Archdeacon Hamilton I know well, and Am happy in callins: him my old friend and companion. He is a Christian in head and heart, the one en- lightened with knowledge, the other warm with love; equally removed from a dead profession and a groundless enthusiasm, the two baneful plagues of tlus (I am afraid I must say falling) church. The news of his recovery, since attested by a kind and most excellent letter from himself, we received with great joy. He comes forth like gold tried and brightened in the fur- nace of sorrows and adversity, to enrich many with the riches of grace, the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, hid in Christ, and manifested by the preaching of the Gospel of God. I rejoice to hear you have other faithful labourers on that side of the water, which confirms to us tiie truth of that divine maxim, that God will never leave himself without a witness. There is always a call, if men had but ears to hear, which nothing but grace can furnish them witii, — " The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made both of them."— I shall be glad to hear how Dr. Ellis** goes on, and whether he builds up as well as he pulls down. You surprise me mucii with the account of bishop Brownf being an admirer of Hutchinson. Let us know a little of your confab togetlier, and how that matter stands. When you see young Mrs. Brown, present my compliments to her, and likewi3e to the other sister, good Mrs. Brcviter, a near relation of Mrs. Quicklv of facetious memory. You mention nothing of Mr. Auchmuty, an ohl friend of mine at Edmund HA], son, I think, of the late dean of Armagh. If he be in Dub- lin's own self, touch him up. He knows tlie truth, but, I am afraid, sleepeth. Give him a jog or so.

Now for a da<h at Oxford news. The plantation at Christ Church thrives and flourishes. Little Charles by going to a play, (the Conscious Lovers, I think) and scampering from hence again upon our friend Pie-ball, to dance ui)on his brothers birth-night, has pretty well got off the imputation of nie- ihodism, and things are quiet. I intend to exist with him often in a paradi- saical way, in the neighbourhood of the Wheat Sheaf, flio prettiest retire- ment from the noise and lunry of the world that 1 know. Tliat most excel- lent youth ille noster, is much better in mind and body, bavin"- taken our advice concerning the nature, use and advantages, of an able-bodied servitor to assist in the education of the Mr. L.'s men, more famous than they are likely to be usr/id in their generations.

I have spent two or three evenings with Dr. Patten,t in whose manner and conversation the spirit of Christianity breathes as strong as ever I saw it.

■ Dr. .lohn KlUc, formerly of Braisennose CoUego, Oxford, afterwards hcneficed at Ches- ipr, and, lanly, in Dublin. He was the author of a very valuable treatise which cuts up infidelity by the roots. This work, entitled " The Knowleiljre of Divine Tliinfrs from Revc- iHtion, not from Rea.son or Nature," appeared first in one volume octavo, in 17J3, and has since been reprinted three times.

t Dr. Peter nro\vn, bishop of Cork, apd the author of « The Procedure of Human L/nderstanding;" " Things Divine and Supernatural conceived by Analogy- ;» «Sennon.s,"

-.A.Tliow'.a"' Patten, D. D. then Miavr of Corpus Christ! College, and afterwai-ds rector of ChdOrey in Berkshire. He wa? the author of some excellent Sermons, and died ui 1790.

viii MEMOIR OF \^

He is quite a spiritual man, and has imbibed Law's piety without liis whims* We have had a pretty translation of Psalm cvii. from Ben. Wheelcr,t of Trinity, occasioned by reading Romaine,t so that 3'ou see we are putting

on XD'^ nrDX.§

Coins: last Sunday evenin«r to call upon Glasse,|| I found him and Charles Poyntz,11 instead of tlaunting^ in oiu carnival walks, sitting together over the cordi.al bishop Hall. How acceptable to God are such young converts ! It brought to my mind a sweet passage in the Song; " I went down into " the garden, to see the fruits of the valley, to see whether the vine flou- " rished, and the pomegranate budded. "

And now, my dear friend, what shall I say more.' It has pleased God to bring you up to an early piety, under the best of fathers, an ornament and honour to the Christian church, to keep you steady in the communion, doc- trine, and discipline of that church, committed to the saints by Jesus Christ, (he glorious liead of it; to lead you to those living fountains of waters, the Holy Scriptures, which to so many are indeed " a fountain sealed," and not to be opened but by the keys of David, so graciously put into our hands; to give you a noble courage, undaunted perseverance of mind, and great readiness of speech ; and thus furnished, to throw you into a large acquain- tance amongst the heads and rulers of our disordered affairs. Gird close, therefore, the armour of God, pray earnestly for the wisdom of the Spirit to direct; and his almighty power to strengthen you; thus go forth in the name of Jesus Christ, the conqueror of sin, death, and hell, and — " the Lord prosper you, I wish you good luck in the name of the Lord." And oh! in your prayers to the throne of grace, remember one, whose ar- dent desire it is, by giving you any assistance in his power, to prove himself, vour sincere and affectionate brother in the faith of Christ,

G. HORNE.

Love to the Archdeacon, who shall hear soon from me. I am just told there is an apology come out for the clergy against Romaine. If we can pnce make them talk we shall do. " The dumb spake, and the people won- dered!"

To George Berkeley, Esq. Mari/sireet, Dublin.

* William Law, A. M. He was a nonjui-ing divine, or one who refused to take the oatli>^ to the reig'ning- family. He was dome.'iticated as chaplain in the family of Mr. Gibbon, the histoi-ian, who speaks highly of his piety and fjenius. It is however to be laniented that the author of " the Serious Call to a devout and holy life," should have fallen into the very dregs of mysticism. He died in 1761.

t Benjamin Wheeler, of Trinity College, and afterwards fellow of Magdalen College, took his doctor's degiee in 1770, and died July 21, 1783. Ue was professor of poetry in the University ; and of whom Dr. .Johnson, in a Utter to a young clergyman, relates the following

anecdote i "My learned friend, Dr. Wheeler of Oxford, when he was a young man, had

the care of a neighbouring parish, for which he was never paid ; but he counted it a con- venience, that it compelled him to make a sermon weekly. One woman he could not bring to the communion ; and when he reproved or exhorted her, she only answered, that she was no scholar. He was advised to set some good woman or man of the parish, a little wiser than herself, to talk to her in language level to her mind,"

t The late celebrated William Romaine, M. A. rector of St. Anno, BUickfriars, who had just before published his Discourbcs on the 107th Psalm.

§ The covering of truth.

II Samuel Glasse, then a student of Christ Church, D. D. in 1769, and afterwards chaplain in ordinary to his majesty, and rector of Wanstead. Between this exceUent divine and bishop Home the closest iiitima'-y .subsisted during life.

T Charles Poynti, was M. A. of Chri-it Church, in 1759, and D. D. in 17G'>.

BISHOP HORNE. ix

About this time our author published two sermons; one preached in Mag- daleu Colleg^e Chapel, on the anniversary of St. John the Baptist ; and the other, entitled, " Christ the Light of the World. " It is very extraordinary, that neither of these valuable discourses should have found a place in the collection of his works; which unaccountable omission leads us to express our regret that a correct and uniform edition of the productions of this sound divine and elegant writer, has not hitherto made its appearance. The publication of the sermon preached in the university pulpit, brought the author into a controversy, in which he distinguished himself not more by his zeal for truth, than by Christian meekness. In 1756, appeared a pamphlet with this title, " A Word to the Hutchinsonians ; or, Remarks on three extraordinary Sermons, lately preached before the University of Ox- ford, by the Rev. Dr. Patten, the Rev. Mr. Wetherell,* and the Rev. Mr. Home." About the same time was published, another tract to the same purpose, but to which the author had the candour of prefixing his name. This last piece bears the title of " The Use of Reason, asserted in matters of Religion ; or. Natural Religion the foundation of Revealed. In answer to a Sermon preached before tlic University of Oxford, on Whit-Sunday, .Inly 13, 1755; and lately published at the request of the Vice-Chancellor, and other heads of houses, by T. Patten, D. D Fellow of Corpus College ; by Ralph Heathcote, M. A. of Jesus College, Cambridge, and assistant preacher at Lincoln's Inn." To these violent attacks upon a set of respec- table scholars, who had no otherwise rendered themselves the object of cen- sure, than by exerting themselves with peculiar energy in the revival of Hebrew literature; our author replied in "An Apology for certain Gentle- men in the University of Oxford, aspersed in a late anonymous pamphlet; with a postscript concerning another pamphlet lately published by the Rev. Mr. Heathcote." The last of these adversaries had piiidence enough to withdraw from a contest into which he had obtruded out of vanity, and to in"Tatiate iiimself into the favour of his friend, the redoubtable Dr. ^Var- burton; but the anonymous writer who had provoked the warfare, conti- nued it, though with a feeble hand, in a tract entitled, " True Censure no Aspersion; or a vindication of a late seasonable admonition, called a Word to the Hutchinsonians, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Home." It is now well known that this piece, and the one which it defends, came from the pen of Mr. Kennicott, the celebrated collator of Hebrew manuscripts, whose learn- in"- lay contracted within very narrow limits, but who compensated the want of genius and judgment by the most indefatigable industry. The illi- berality with which this divine treated some of his contemporaries, who were by much his superiors, not only in general knowledge, but even in that branch of study ujjon which he prided himseliihe most, very naturally excited their jealousy, when they saw him embark in a concern of such apparent hazard, as that of publishing an improved edition of the Old Testament. Estimating his abilities by what they knew of him, and of his spirit by these intemperate publications, the persons who were stigmatized as a sect, by the name of Hutchinsonians, regarded the project of Kennicott in the light of a speculation pregnant with mischief to the cause of revelation. Among

* Natlian Wetlicrell, of University College, took his Master's Degree in 1750, and those of B. ana D.U. in 1764. He became Msfter of hi.< college, Prebendary of Weslmin^ter. inrt Dean of Hereford.

X MEMOIR OF

others who took alarm on this occasion was Mr. Home, whose apprehen- sions, instead of being- removed by the publication of the plan, were in- creased by the petulance of its language, the confidence of the author, and the freedom of his censures. This work drew from Mr. Home one of the keenest of his performances, under the title of " A View of Mr. Kennicott's method of correcting the Hebrew Text, with three queries formed there- upon, and twenty submitted to the consideration of the learned and Chris- tian world." It is but justice, however, to these two eminent men, to ob- serve in this place, that as the work whicli was the subject of animadversion in this tract proceeded, tlie opposition to it abated, in consequence of the circumspection adopted by the collator, who had the discretion to turn the hints of his opponents to the advantage of his literary labours. Thus con- troversj', when properly managed and duly improved, tends to put the one party upon his guard, and to direct him in a better course, while it acts as a stimulant to tlie other in detecting errors, and suggesting practical im- provements. The province of science has been extended by those disputes, in which the world at large finds little interest, and of which superficial minds are apt to entertain an unfavourable judgment, as though it were nothing more than a waste of words and the ebullition of passion excited by the diflerence of opinion. But it should be considered, that truth is not elicited without inquiry, and that on subjects of importance, when men of ability contend, they of necessity bring forward their strongest reasons, and examine every argument and testimony with a rigid and scrupulous severity. It is, however, happy when theological contests are conducted in the spirit which distinguished that great ornament of our church, the judicious Hooker, whose sharpest language to a captious disputant was this, " Your uext argument consists of railing and of reasons ; to your railing I say no- thing; to your reasons, I say what follows." Such was the temper in which our author defended the principles he espoused ; and it is pleashig to remark that though he had received rather coarse treatment from Kennicott, and thought very little of his gieat scheme, a perfect friendship afterwards subsisted between them, which was not in the least disturbed till the death of the collator, in 1783.

In 1758, Mr. Home discharged the office of junior proctor of the Univer- s.ity; and the next year, he took his degree of Bachelor in Divinity. At this time he was a liberal correspondent of Dr. Dodd, who had tlien undertaken the management of the Christian Magazine, for Newberry. Some of the most valuable papers in that useful miscellany can>e from the pen of our author, under the signature of Academicus.

In 17fi4, he took the degree of Doctor in Divinity; but it is remarkable that he never had any benefice, or preferment, till, by the death of Dr. Jen- ncr, President of Magdalen College, in 1768, he was elected to succeed him in that important station. This year he also entered into the marriage state, with the daughter of Philip Burton, Esq. of Hatton-street, in London, and of Eltliam, in Kent, ^y this lady he had three daughters. The year fol- lowing he testified his regard for the Junior members of his college, by pub- lishing, with a view to their edification, " Considerations on the Life and Death of St. John the Baptist." This inestimable little work was the sub- stance of several sermons, which were delivered by the author, before the University, in Magdalen College Chapel, according to annual custom

BISHOP HORNE. xi

In 1771, he w.is appointed Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty; and in 1772, when an association was formed by those divines who inclined to the Arian or Socinian tenets, for the purpose of abolishing subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles, Dr. Home printed a letter, addressed to Lord North, •' On tlie projected Reformation of the Church of England;" in which he showed clearly, that the projected sciieme, instead of promoting unity, and ad^■anfing the cause of Cluistifinity, would be the occasion of discord, and the source of infidelity.

In 1776 appeared that great work which had for many years been his fa- vourite employment, and to the perfection of which he brought all the stores of bis multifarious studies, and the fruits of his retired meditations. This was his " Commentary on the Psalms," in two volumes, quarto; and when i\Ir. Prince the publisher, was carrying the first set to the college, some per- son who met him asked what he had got there. " It is," said the booksel- ler, " a new work of the President of Magdalen, whose former production* have given him a name, but this will render his name immortal." Of this Commentary it may be truly said, that it is equally adapted to edify the profound scholar and the unlearned Christian; that it throws light upon dark passages, and clears up difficuhies without tlie parade of criticism; while in every elucidation, practical improvement is consulted, and the reader of every description is enabled to draw si>iritual instruction even from the dry subject of j)hilological discus.sion.

This year Dr. Home was appointed Vice-ChanceUor of the University, in which important station ho continued till the close of 1780; and it may be truly said, that no person ever held that oftice with greater dignity and popularity. On the death of Da^id Hume, his zealous admirer, Adam Smith, published an extravagant panegyric upon the phUsopher; in which he was not contented with praising his friend for his meritorious qualities, a* a moral character, and his splendid talents as a wi'itcr, but he coloured the picture in such a manner as to give his liero every virtue that could adorn human nature, and that obviously for the purpose of undervaluing the principles of revealed religion, and of depreciating the motives of its profes- sors. As an antidote to this pernicious apology for the poison of infidelity, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford published '• A Letter to Dr. Smith, on the Life, Death, and Philosophy of his Friend, David Hume, Esq. by one of the People called Cliristians." In tliis little piece, which happily blends the closest reasoning with the keenest wit, the character of Hume is faithfully delineated, and the malignant conduct of his panegyrist completely exposed. In 1779, Dr. Home favoured the world with two vakimes of admirable Ser- mons, in which line of composition it may safely be affirmed that he has been equalled by few and excelled by none; for his style is remarkably vi- gorous, and yet so perfectly simple, that the plainest understanding cannot avoid being immediately convinced by tlie arguments, and affected by the exhortations.

On the advancement of Dr. Comwallis to the bishopric of Lichfield, in 1781, the President of Magdalen was appointed to succeed him in the dean- ery of Canterbury, from which period, till his elevation to a higher station in the church, he divided his time in a regular course between the duties of the College and the Cathedral, to the equal satisfaction of all who had the happiness of living under his g^overnment During bis residence at Canter-

xii MEMOIR OF

bury, he was ever ready to exert his services in the pulpit on public occa- sions. The opening of a new organ in the Cathedral, the institution of Sun- day Schools, the anniversary of the gentlemen educated in the King's School, and the visitation of the Archbishop, afforded him opportunities of displaying in that city with what taste and feeling he could describe the power of music; with what zeal he could plead for the indigent; with what energy he could point out the means of obtaining true wisdom; and with what strength he could " contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints."

While on these occasions he gratified the public as a preacher, his talents were also employed as a writer, in exposing the vain pretensions of " Sci- ence, falsely so called." In 1784 appeared, but without his name, a small volume entitled, " Letters on Infidelity;" in which the system of Hume is held up to just contempt, and the sophistry of that sceptic laid open in all its native deformity. With the same anxious concern for the cause of Christianity, our author next encountered the great champion of Socini- anism, in " A Letter to the Rev. Dr. Priestley, by an Undergraduate." For while, in the judgment of the Dean, infidelity had a necessaiy tendency to destroy morality, by depriving it of the only sanction that can give it force for the regulation of human actions, he also looked upon that which is called tlie Unitarian doctrine, especially as taught in the modern schools, in the light of an auxiliary, or rather guide to that enemy of God's image in the soul of man.

At length, though too late for the benefit of the church, the great merit of Dr. Hoi-ne was rewarded with the mitre, by his consecration to the bishopric of Norwich, June 7th, 1790; the sermon on which occasion being preached by his old and constant friend Dr. Berkeley, Prebendary of Can- terbury. Soon after this event, he resigned his station in Magdalen Col- lege ; but, though he repaired to his episcopal palace, he found it difficult to go up and down the steps, owing to his increasing infirmities, for the al- leviation of which he was constrained to reside at Bath, where the use of the waters gave him temporary relief. At this time his eldest daughter was married to the reverend Mr. Sclby Hele, rector of Colesworth, in Bedford- shire, and chaplain to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. On this occasion, the Bishop wrote the following letter to Dr. Berkeley, which evinces the same fervent piety and innocent gayety that distinguished the accomplished writer throughout life.

Bath, May 21, 1791. My Dear Frienb,

IN negotiations of the matrimonial kind, nmlta cederunt inter, he. and therefore I think it better to say nothing of the matter till the newspapers tell it every body at once that the thing is done, and there's an end of if. I always desired my girls to secure three points in a husband — good temper, good sense, and good principles : if they meet with a good person and a good fortune, they might be thrown in, and no harm. For the present in- stance, as far as I can judge, we are well off" throughout, and all parties pleased, and so God bless them. To see a little of the world before they settle, they are gone for three or four months upon the Continent ; as to cake, we must therefore wait, I believe, for a slice of right national, for

BISHOP HORNE. xiii

they set off on tlip evening of the wedding-day ; and (he trusty Betty, on her return to Eltliani, deposed she had seen 'em under sail for tlie coast of France. Best tliunks to Mrs. Berkeley, for her very kind letter, which ha«; found its way hither. My wife is passing a few days at Olhaiu, after the hurry and heat of Sackville-street.

I bless God the waters and weather here carry me on charmingly. I write, you sec, nearly as well as ever I did ; and as to utterance, hope to be a match for Norwich Cathedral by the end of July, when I am engaged there for the infirmary. Once a year, by God's blessing, I propose to refresh nature at Bath, and keep things going.

I hope, when we can get rid of these cold winds, for such they arc, not- withstanding the sun this day, Mr. Berkeley's gout will melt away like ice in the fair weather. The doctors want me to have a fit ; but I wish to leave that matter to God's goodness. I sooth my mind, and settle my temper every night with a page or two of Bozzy [i. e. Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson], and always meet with something to the purpose. My sleep is sweet after it. God bless you all. So prayeth, my dear friend,

Your affectionate friend anl servant,

G. NORWICH.

This year the ^ood prelate published the " Charge to tiie Clergy of his Diocess ;" whicii, on account of tiie declining state of his health, he had been prevented from delivering personally, but which he now sent to them from the press, as he says in the preliminary advertisement, " that so, when- ever he should be called hence, he might leave some testimony of his regard for them, and attention to their concerns." This was the completion of all his public customs ; and the close was marked by the same liveliness of sen- timent, perspicuity of illustration, and zeal for evangelical truth, which dis- tinguished him in every stage of his ministry. In this farewell discourse, he treats with a vigour of reasoning almost peculiar to himself, " the nature of God ; the nature of man ; the saving principle of faith ; the importance and use of the church ; the obedience due to civil government ; and the ne- cessity of a pure life and holy conversation."

The complication of disorders with which this excellent man was afflicted, compelled him to return to Bath ; but, on the road, he was attacked by a paralytic stroke, which, though it did not weaken his mental powers, de- prived him of articulate utterance ; and it was but by slow degrees that he so far recovered his speech as to be understood by his attendants. Not long before his departure " to that rest which remaineth for the people of God, ' he signified a strong wish to have the sacrament of the Lord's Supper ad- ministered to him ; and when the solemn ordinance was over, he clasped his hands with an emotion of rapturous devotion, and exclaimed, '• Now am I blessed indeed 1" He languished on, from this time till January 17th, 1792, and then breathed his last, without a groan. " Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace."

The mortal remains of the bishop were interred in the family vault be- longing to his father-in-law, Philip Burton, Esq. at Eltham, in Kent ; in the church-yard of which parish is a monument, with the following inscription, a copy of which, with some slight alteration, is also placed on a tablet to his memory, in the Cathedral of Norwich.

xiv MEMOIR OF BISHOP IIORNE.

Here lie interred

Tlie earthly Kemains of

The Rig^ht Keveromi GEOUGE HORNE, D.D.

Maiiy years President of Magtlalen College, in Oxforil,

l)ean of Canterbiu-y,

And late Bishop of Norwich.

In whose Character,

r>epth of Learning;, brigfhtness of Imao;ination,

Sanctity of Manners, and sweetness of Temper,

Were united beyond the usual lot of Mortality.

With his discourses from the Pulpit, his hearers,

Whether of the University, the City,

or the Country Parish,

Were edified and delig'hted.

His Commentai-y on the Psalms will continue to be

A Companion to the Closet,

Till the Devotion of Earth shall end in the Hallelujahs

of Heaven.

Having patiently suffered under such infirmities

As seemed not due to his years.

His Soul took its flight from this Vale of Misery,

To the unspealial>le loss of the Church of England,

And his surviving Friends and Admirers,

Jan. 17th, 1792, in the 62d Vear of his Age.

The style of Bishop Home is nervous, and frequently epigrammatic, par- ticularly on subjects of a controversial nature, and where serious argument would have been thrown away upon those who either wanted sense or ho- tiesty to feel its force, and to treat it witii reverence. But though this Chris- tian advocate sometimes indulged a sportive humour, when he condescended to enter the list with writers whose talents he conceived to be dangerously employed, he never disgraced his powers by acrimony, nor weakened the effect of them by abuse. " Wit," said he, " if used at all, should be tem- pered with good humour, so as not to exasperate the person who is the ob- ject of it; and tlien,we are sure there is no mischief done. The disputant ought to be at once firm and calm ; his head cool, and his heart warm."

The conduct of the bishop corresponded with the picture of his heart ex- hibited in his literary productions. He was distinguished by the suavity of his manners, no less than by the firmness of bis faith and the ardour of his zeal. He was not only a " burning, but a shining light," exhibiting in every relation the practical influence of those principles which he tliought it his duty to defend against all gainsayer?.

He was a most agreeable as well as instructive companion ; and, as he abounded in anecdote, which he alv/ays introduced in season, liis conversa- tion never failed to afford delightful entertainment to those who had a taste for moral and intellectual pleasure. That he might never forget the solemn obligations by which he had bound himself, it was his prescribed custom to read over the service for the ordination of priests, on the first day of every month, which practice being accompanied by devout meditation, was well cal<:ulatcd to increase his humility, to strengthen his faith, and to animate his resolution in the discharge of his duty.

Besides the publications which have been already noticed, he wrote the " Preface to Dodd's Translation of Callimachus ;" a Tract " On the Repeal of the Test Act ;" tlie " Miscellany by Nathaniel Freebody," in tlie St. James's Chronicle for 1767; several papers signed Z. in the Olla Podrida, published in 1787 ; some others printed by the late Rov. William Jones, his Chaplain, in the " Scholar Armed," 2 vols. 8vo. ; and, since his death, three volumes of his Sermons have been printed, together with his " Miscellane- ous Works and Essays;" ajid " Considerations on the Life and Death of Abel " &.C.

PREFACE.

1 HE Psalms are an epitome of the Bible, adapted to the pur- poses of devotion. They treat occasionally of the creation and formation of the world ; the dispensations of Providence, and the economy of grace ; the transactions of the patriarchs ; the ex- odus of the children of Israel ; their Journey through the wilder- ness, and settlement in Canaan ; their law, priesthooii, and ritual ; the exploits of their great men, wrought through faith ; their sins and captivities ; their repentances and restorations; the sufl'erings and victories of David; the peaceful and happy reign of Solomon; the advent of Messiah, with its effects and consequences ; his incarnation, birth, life, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, kingdom, and priesthood ; the effusion of the Spirit ; the conver- sion of the nations ; the rejection of the Jews ; the establishment, increase, and perpetuity of the Christian church ; the end of the world; the general judgment; the condemnation of the wicked, and the final triumph of the righteous with their Lord and King. These are tlie subjects here presented to our meditations. We are instructed how to conceive of them aright, and to express the different affections, which, when so conceived of, they must ex- cite in our minds. They are, for this jnirpose, adorned v.ith the figures, and set off witli all the graces of poetry ; and poetry itself is designed yet farther to be recommended by the charms of music, thus consecrated to the service of God; that so delight may pre- pare the way for improvement, and pleasme -become the hand- maid of wisdom, while every turbulent passion is calmed by sa- cred melody, and the evil spirit is still dispossessed by the Harp of the Son of Jesse. This little volume, like the paradise of Eden, affords us in perfection, though in miniature, every thing that groweth elsewhere, " every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food :" and above all, what was there lost, but is here restored, the TRfiE op life in the midst op the garden. That which we read, as matter of speculation, in the other Scrip- tures, is reduced to practice, when we recite it in the Psalms ; in those, repentance and faith are described, but in these they are

xvi PREFACE.

acted ; by a perusal of the former, we learn how others served God, but, by using the latter, we serve him ourselves. " What is there necessary for man to know," says the pious and judicious Hooker, " which the Psalms are not able to teach ? They are to beginners an easy and familiar introduction, a mighty augmenta- tion of all virtue and knowledge in such as are entered before, a strong confirmation of the most perfect among others. Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of that world which is to come, all good necessarily to be either known, or done, or had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth. Let there be any grief or disease incident unto the soul of man, any wound or sickness named, for which there is not, in this treasure- house, a present comfortable remedy at all times ready to be found."* In the language of this divine book, therefore, the pray- ers and praises of the church have been offered up to the throne of grace, from age to age. And it appears to have been the Ma- nual of the Son of God in the days of his flesh ; who, at the con- clusion of his last supper, is generally supposed, and that upon good grounds, to have sung a hymn taken from it ji who pro- nounced on the cross the beginning of the xxiid Psalm ; " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And expired with a part of the xxxist Psalm in his mouth ; " Into thy hands I com- mend my spirit." Thus He, who had not the spirit by measure, in whom were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and who spake as never man spake, yet chose to conclude his life, to solace himself in his greatest agony, and at last to breathe out his soul, in the Psalmist's form of words, rather than his own. No tongue of man or angel, as Dr. Hammond justly observes, can convey a higher idea of any book, and of their felicity who use it aright.

Proj)ortionable to the excellency of the Psalms, hath been the number of their expositors. The ancients were chiefly taken up in making spiritual or evangelical applications of diem ; in adapt- ing their discourses on them to the general exigencies of the Chris-

' Hooker's Ecclcsiast. Pol. B. v. Sect. 37.

t St. Matthew inl'ornis as, Chap. xxvi. 30. that he and his apostles " sung an hymn;" and the hymn usually sung by the .Tews, upon that occasion, was what they called the " great Ilailel," "consisting ol" the Tsalius from the <:xiiith to the cxviiitli inclusive.

PREFACE. xvii

tian cluirch, or to the particular necessities of the aire in wliich tliey wrote. The moderns have set themselves to investigate with diligence, and ascertain Avith accuracy, their literal scope and meaning. Piety and devotion characterize the writings of the ancients ; the commentaries of the moderns display more learning and judgment. The ancients have taught us how to rear a goodly superstructure ; but the moderns have laid the surest foundation. To bring them m some measure together, is the de- sign of the following work ; in which the author has not laboured to point out what seemed wrong in either, but to extract what he judged to be right from both ; to make the annotations of the latter a ground-work for improvements, like those of the former ; and thus to construct an edifice, solid, as well as specious. Materials, and good ones, he cannot be said to have wanted ; so that if the building should give way, the cement must have been faulty, or the workman unskilful.

The right of the Psalter to a place in the sacred canon hath never been disputed ; and it is often cited by our Lord and his apostles in the New Testament, as the work of the Holy Spirit. Whether David, therefore, or any other prophet, were employed as the instrument of communicating to the church such or such a particular Psalm, is a question, which, if it cannot always be satisfactorily answered, needs not disquiet our minds. When we discern, in an epistle, the well-known hand of a friend, we are not solicitous about the pen with which it was written.

The number of Psalms is the same in the original, and in the version of the LXX; only these last have, by some mistake, thrown the ninth and tenth into one, as also the hundred and four- teenth and the hundred and fifteenth, and have divided the hun- dred and sixteenth into two, as also the hundred and Ibrty- sevcnth. The Hebrews have distributed them into five books ; but for what reason, or upon what authority, we know not. This is certain, that the apostles quote from " the book of Psalms,*'* and that they quote the " second" psalm of that book, in the order in which it now stands.t That division, which our own church hath made of them, into thirty portions, assigning one to each day of the month, it hath been thought expedient to set down in the margin ; as persons may often choose to turn to the conuiientary on those Psalms, which occur in their daily course of reading.

In the titles, prefixed to some of the Psalms, there is so mucli

' Afts. i. 20. t Acts xiii. n.'i.

xviii PREFACE.

obscurity, and in the conjectures which have been made concern- ing them, both in a literal and spiritual way, so great a variety and uncertainty, that the author, finding himself, after all his searches, unable to offer any thing which he thoi-ght could con- lent the learned, or edify the unlearned, at length determined to omit them ; as the sight of them, unexplained, only distracts the eye and attention of the reader. The omission of the word selah must be apologized for in the same manner. The information ob- tained from the historical titles will be found in the argument placed at the head of each Psalm ; though even that is not always to be relied on.

Where this information failed, the occasion and drift of the Psalm were to be collected from the internal evidence contained in itself, by a diligent perusal of it, with a view to the sacred his- tory ; the light of which, when lield to the Psalms, often dissipates the darkness that must otherwise for ever envelope allusions to particular events and circumstances : sometimes, indeed, the de- scriptions are couched in terms more general ; and then, the want of such information is less perceived. If it appear, for instance, that David at the time of composing any Psalm, was under perse- cution, or had been lately delivered from it, it may not be of any great consequence, if we cannot determine with precision, whether his persecution by Saul and Doeg, or that by Absalom and Ahito- phel, be intended and referred to. The expressions either of his sorrow or his joy, his strains whether plaintive oi jubilant, may be nearly the same, in both cases respectively. This observation may be extended to many other instances of calamities bewailed, or deliverances celebrated in the Psalms, sometimes by the prince, sometimes by the community, and frequently by both together. Upon the whole, it is hoped, that the design of each Psalm hath been sufficiently discovered, to explain and aj)ply it for the instruc- tion and comfort of believers.

The result of such critical inquiries as were found necessary to be made, is given in as few words as possible ; often only by in- serting into a verse, or subjoining to it, that sense of a word, or phrase, whici) seemed upon mature deliberation, to be the best j as it was deemed iinproper to clog, with prolix disquisitions of this kind, a work intended for general use. The reader will, how- ever, reap the benefit of many such, whicli have been carefully consulted for him. And he will not, it is presumed, have reason to complain, that any verse is passed over, without a tolerably consistent interpretation, and some useful improvement. Where

PREFACE. xix

the literal sense was pluin, it is noticed only so far as was ne- cessary to make an application, or form a reflection. Where there appeared any obscurity, or difliculty, recourse was had to the best critics, and that solution which seemed the most satisfac- tory,, given in the concisest manner. Much labour hath here been bestowed, where little appears. The plan of every Psalm hath been attentively studied, with the connexion and dependence of its parts, which it is the design of the Argument to exhibit at one view, and of the Cojinnentary to pursue and explain, from beginning to end.*

No person is more thoroughly sensible, than the author is, of the respect and gratitude due from all lovers of the sacred wri- tings, to those who have laboured in the field of literal criticism. Great and illustrious characters, whose names will be had by the church in everlasting remembrance ! All who desire to un- derstand the Scriptures, must enter into their labours, and make the proper advantcige of them, as he himself hath endeavoiu-ed to do. But let us also bear in min-i, tliat all is not done when this is done. A work of the utmost importance still remains, which it is the business of t Theology to undertake and execute ; since, with respect to the Old Testament, and the Psalter more espe- cially, a person n)ay attain a critical and grammatical knowledge of them, and yet continue a Jew, with a veil upon his heart; an utter stranger to that sense of the holy books, evidently intended, in such a variety of instances, to bear testimony to the Saviour of the world; that sense, which is styled, by the divines, the

PROPHETICAL, EVANGELICAL, MYSTICAL, or SPIRITUAL Sense.

As it is one great design of the following work to investigate that sense in many of the Psalms, this is the proper place to lay be- fore the reader those grounds and reasons, upon which such inves- tigation has been made.

That the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture, like all other good things, is liable to abuse, and that it hath been actually abused, both in ancient and modern days, cannot be denied. He who shall go about to apply, in this way, any passage, before he hath attained its literal meaning, may say what in itself is pious

* Nos Lcctoris pium hunc laborem adjuvandumsuscepimus: dum consti- tutis argumeiUis scopuin attentioiii figimus: dum scrutainur literani, et ex sacra historia quantum possumus, omnia repctinius: dum annotamus qufe pietatcm inflamnicnt : alio eo cxemplo qusrenda indicawus. Bossuet Disser- tai. in Psal. Cap. vii.

t Thoologiw insipnis liic usus est, ut, verbomm gensu exposito, rem intel- lig^as. £ls7ier. PraJ'at. ad Observat. Sacr.

XX PREFACE.

and true, but foroign to the text from which he endeavoureth to deduce it. St. Jerom, it is well known, when grown older and wiser, lamented that, in the fervours of a youthful fancy, he had spiritualized the jirophecy of Obadiah, before he understood it. And it must be allowed, that a due attention to the occasion and scope of the Psalms would have pared off many unseemly excres- cences, which now deform the commentaries of St. Augustin, and other Fathers, upon them. But these and other concessions of the same kind being made, as they are made very freely, " men of sense will consider, that a principle is not therefore to be re- jected, because it has been abused;"* since human errors can never invalidate the truths of God.

It may not be amiss, therefore, to run through the Psalter, and point out some of the more remarkable passages, which are cited from thence by our Lord and his apostles, and applied to matters evangelical.

No sooner have we opened the book, but the second Psalm pre- senteth itself, to all appearance, as an inauguration-hymn, com- posed by David, the Anointed of Jehovah, when by him crowned Avith victory, and placed triumphant on the sacred hill of Sion. But let us turn to Acts iv. 25. and there we find the apostles, with one voice, declaring the Psalm to be descriptive of the exaltation of Jesus Christ, and of the opposition raised against his Gospel, both by Jew and Gentile.

In the eighth Psalm we imagine the writer to be setting forth the pre-eminence of man in general, above the rest of the creation ; but by Heb. ii. 6. we are informed, that the supremacy conferred on the second Adam, the man Christ Jesus, over all things in hea- • vcn and earth, is the subject there treated of.

St. Peter stands up. Acts ii. 25. and preaches the resurrection of Jesus from the latter part of the sixteenth Psalm ; and, lo, three thousand souls are converted by the sermon.

Of the eighteenth Psalm we are told, in the course of the sacred history, 2 Sam. xxii. that " David spake before the Lord the words of that song, in the day that the Lord delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul." Yet in Rom. xv. 9- the 50th verse of that Psalm is adduced as a proof, that " the Gentiles should glorify God for his mercy in Jesus Christ, as it is written. For this cause will I confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name."

" Bishop Ilurd's Introduction to the study of the Propliocios, p. 64.

PREFACE. xxi

In the nineteenth Psalm, David seems to be speaking of the material heavens and their operations only, when he says, '• Their sound is gone out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." But St. Paul, Rom. x. 18. quotes the passage to show, that the Gospel has been universally published by the apostles.

The twenty-second Psalm Christ appropriated to himself, by begimiing it in the midst of his suffering on the cross; " My God, my God,"' &c. Three other verses of it are in the New Testament applied to him; and the words of the 8th verse were actually used by the chief priests, when they reviled him: " He trusted in God," &-C. Matt, xxvii. 13.

When David saith, in the fortieth Psalm, '•' Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire — Lo I come to do thy will :" we might sup- pose him only to declare, in his own person, that obedience is bet- ter than sacrifice. But from Heb. x. 5. we learn, that Messiah, in that place, speaketh of r his advent in the flesh, to abolish the legal sacrifices, and to do away sin, by the oblation of himself once for all.

That tender and pathetic com})laint, in the forty-first Psahn, " Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me," undoubtedly might be, and probably was, originally uttered by David, upon the revolt of his old friend and counsellor, Ahitophel, to the party of his re- beUious son, Absalom. But we are certain, from John xiii. 18. that this Scripture was fulfilled, when Christ was betrayed by his apostate disciple — " I speak not of you all ; I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scriptures maybe fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me."

The forty-fouiih Psalm we must suppose to have been written on occasion of a persecution, under which the church at that time laboured ; but a verse of it is cited, Rom. viii. 36. as expressive of what Christians were to suflisr on their, blessed Master's ac- count; " as it is written. For thy sake are we killed all the day long ; we are counted as sheep ajjpointed to be slain."

A cjuotation from the forty-fifth Psalm, in Heb. i. 8. certifies us, that the whole is addressed to the Son of God, and therefore cele- brates his spiritual union with the church, and the happy fruits of it.

The sixty-eighth Psalm, though apparently conversant about Israelitish victories, the translation of the ark to Sion, and the services of the tabernacle, yet does, under those figures, treat of Christ's resurrection, his g<ung up on high, leading captivity cap-

xxii PREFACE.

tive, pouring out the gifts of his Spirit, erecting his church in the world, and enlarguig it by the accession of the nations to the faith ; as will be evident to any one who considers the force and consequence of the apostle's citation from it, Eph. iv. 7, 8. " Unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, AVhen he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men."

The sixty-ninth Psalm is five times referred to in the gospels, as being uttered by tlie jjrophet, in the person of Messiah. The imprecations, or ratlier predictions, at the latter end of it, are ap- plied, Rom. xi. 9, 10. to the Jews; and to Judas, Acts i. 20. where the hundred and ninth Psalm is also cited, as prophetical of the sore judgments which should befall that arch-traitor, and the wretched nation of which he was an epitome.

St. Matlliew, informing us. Chap. xiii. 34. that Jesus spake to the muhitudes in parables, gives it as one reason why he did so, " that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet ; Psalm Ixxviii. 2. I will open my mouth in a parable : I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world."

The ninety-first Psalm was applied by the tempter to Messiah : nor did our Lord object to the application, but only to the false inference which his adversary suggested from it. Matt. iv. 6, 7-

The ninety-fifth Psalm is explained at large in Heb. iii. and iv. as relative to the state and trial of Christians in the world, and to iheir attainment of the heavenly rest.

The hundred and tenth Psalm is cited by Christ himself. Matt, xxii. 44. as treating of his exaltation, kingdom and priesthood.

The hundred and seventeenth Psalm, consisting only of two verses, is employed, Rom. xv. 11. to prove, that the Gentiles were one day to praise God for the mercies of redemption.

The 22d verse of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm, " The stone which the builders refused," &c. is quoted six different times as spoken of our Saviour.

And, lastly, " the fruit of David's body," which God is said in the hundred and thirty-second Psalm to have promised that he would " place ui)on his throne," is asserted. Acts ii. 30. to be Je- sus Christ.

These citations, lying dispersed through the Scriptures of the New Testament, are often suffered by common readers to pass unnoticed. And many others content tliemselvcs with saying, that they are made in a sense of acconunodation, as passages may be quoted from poems or liistories merely human, for the illus-

PREFACE. xxiii

tration of truths, of which their authors never thought. " And this (as a learned critic oijserves) is no fauh, but rather a beauty in writing. A passage applied justly, and in a new sense, is ever pleasing to an ingenious reader, who loves to be agreeably sur- prised, and to see a likeness and pertinency where he expected none. He has that surprise which the Latin poet so poetically gives to the tree ;

' MiraUirqiic novas frondcs, ct non sua ponia.' "

The readers, who have been accustomed to consider the New Testament citations in this view of accommodation onl}', must perceive the necessity of such accommodation, at least, to adapt the use of Psalms, as a part of divine service, to the times and circumstances of the gospel ; and canilbt therefore reasonably object, upon their own principles, to the applications made in the following sheets for that purpose. But not to inquire, at present, whether passages are not sometimes cited in this manner, surely no one can attentively review the above made collection of New Testament citations from the book of Psalms, as they have been placed together before him, without perceiving that the Psalms are written upon a divine, preconcerted, prophetical plan, and con- tain much more than, at first sight, they appear to do. They are beautiful without, but all glorious within, hke ••■ apples of gold in pictures, or net-work cases, of silver," Prov. xxv. 11. The brightness of the casket attracts our attention, till, through it, up- on a nearer approach, we discover its contents. And then in- deed, it may be said to have '• no glory, by reason of the glory that so far excelleth.''* Very delightful and profitable they are, in tlieir literal and historical sense, which well repayeth all the pains taken to come at it. But that once obtained, a farther scene be- gins to open upon us, and all the blessings of the gospel present themselves to the eye of faith. So that the expositor is as a tra- veller ascending an eminence neither unfruitful nor unpleasant ; at the top of which when he is arrived, he beholds, like iMoses from the summit of mount Nebo, a more lovely and extensive prospect lying beyond it, and stretching away to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills. He sees valleys covered over with corn, blooming gardens, and verdant meadows, with flocks and herds feeding by rivers of water ; till ravished with the sight, he cries out, as St. Peter did, at the view of his Master's glory, " It is good to be here!"'

xxiv PREFACE.

It would bo unreasonable to suppose, tliat no parts ol the Psalms may by us be spiritually applied, but such as are already expressly applied for us by the inspired writers. Let any man consider attentively a New Testament citation; then let him as carefully read over, with a view to it, the Psalm from which il is taken, and see if it will not serve him as a key, wherewith tu unlock the treasures of eternal wisdom ; if it will not " open his eyes," and show him " wonderful things" in God's law. When we are taught to consider one verse of a Psalm as spoken by Mes- siah, and there is no change of person, what can we conclude, but that he is the speaker through the whole ? In that case, the Psalm becomes at once as much transfigured, as the blessed per- son, supposed to be the subject of it, was on mount Tabor. And if Messiah l)e the speaker of one Psalm, what should hinder, but that another Psalm, where the same kind of scene is evidently de- scribed, and the same expressions are used, ma}' be expounded in the same manner?

It is very justly observed by Dr. Allix, that " although the sense of near fifty Psalms be fixed and settled by divine authors, yet Christ and his aj)ostles did not undertake to quote all the Psalms they could quote, but only to give a key to their hearers, by which the}' might appl}' to the same subjects the Psalms of the same composure and expression."* The citations in the New Testament were made incidentally, and as occasion was given. But can we imagine, that the church was not farther instructed in the manner of applying the Psalms to her Redeemer, and to herself? Did she stop at the applications thus incidentally and oc- casionally made by the inspired writers ? Did she stop, because they had directed her how to proceed ? We know she did not. The primitive Fathers, it is true, for want of critical learning, and particularly a comj)etent knowledge of the original Hebrew, often wandered in their expositions ; but they are unexception- able witnesses to us of this matter of fact, that such a method of expounding the Psalms, built upon the practice of the apostles in their writings and preachings, did universally prevail in the church from the beginning. They, who have ever looked into St. Augustin, know, that he pursues this plan invariably, treating of the Psalms, as proceeding from the mouth of Christ, or of the church, or of both, considered as one mystical person. The same is true of .lerom, Ambrose, Vrnobius, Cassidore, Hilary, and

rivCacc to liis Book of Psahiis, p. 9

PREFACE. XXV

Prosper. Chrysostom studies to make the Psalter useful to be- lievers under the gospel. Theodoret attends both to the literal and prophetic sense. But what is very observable, TertuUian, who flourished at the beginning of the third century, mentions it, as if it were then an allowed point in tlie church, that '' almost all the Psalms are spoken in the person of Christ, being addressed by the Son to the Father, that is, by Christ to God."* In this channel flows the stream of the eailiest Christian expositors. Nor did they depart in this point from the doctrine held in the church of the ancient Jews, who were always taught to regard Messiah as the capital object of the Psalter. And though, when the time came, that peojjle would not receive Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, it does not ajipear that they ever objected to the propriety of the citations made by our Lord and his apostles, or thought such passages applicable to David only, and his concerns. Nay, the most learned of their Ilabbies, who have written since the com- mencement of the Christian era, still agree with us in referring many of the Psalms to Messiah and his kingdom ; diflering only about the person of the one, and the nature of the other.

When learning ai'ose, as it were, from the dead, in the sixteenth century, and the study of primitive theology by that means re- vived, the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures revived with it. It was adopted, at that time, by one admiral^ly qualified to do it justice, and to recommend it again to the world by every charm of genius, and every ornament of language. I mean the accomplished Erasmus, who omitteth no opportunity of insisting on the useful- ness, and even the necessity of it, for the right understanding of the scriptures; for the attainment of that wisdom which they teach, and that holiness which they prescribe ; seeming to think himself never better employed, than w4ien he is removing the earth and rubbish with which those Philistines, the monks, had stopped up the wells of salvation, opened by the apostles, and first fathers of the church, for the benefit of mankind.! This great man was much importuned by his learned friends, as he informeth us in an epistle to Cardinal Sadolet, to write a conmientaiy on the Psalms.t Such a work, executed by him, had been one of

* Omncs pr-nr- Psalmi Cliristi personam susUnent, — Filium ad Patrcm, id est Christum ad Ucum verba facientcin repra^sintant.

+ Enchirid. Mil. Christ, in I'rwfat. Canon. 5. et passim.

tLib. XXV. Epist. 11. Edit. Froben. 10S5. Edit. Cler. Non semel rogfatus

sum quum ab alii.s, turn ab Anglorum Regc, ut in omnes Psaluios tdciem

Commentarios ; scd deterrcbant me quum alia nuilta, turn ilia duo potissi-

inmii, quod viderum hoc argumcntcm vix posse pro di;.jnitatc tractari, nisi

4

xxvi PREFACE.

the richest gifts that were ever cast into the Christian treasury; as we may judge from the specimen which he hath left us, in his dis- courses on eleven of them. Some of these were drawn up with a view to enlarge upon the transactions of the times ; imd in all of them he is more diffuse and luxuriant, than, it is to be presumed, he would have been in a general exposition. But they abound with a rich variety of sacred learning, communicated in a manner ever pleasing, and ever instructive. If at any time he takes us out of the road, it is to show us a fine country, and we are still in company with Erasmus. He considers a Psalm, as it may relate to Christ, either suflering, or triumphant ; as it may con- cern the church, whetlier consisting of Jews or Gentiles, whether in adversity or prosperity, through the several stages and periods of its existence; and as it may be applicable to the different states and circumstances of individuals, during the trials and temptations which they meet with, in the course of their Christian pilgrimage and warfare here below, till having overcome their last enemy, they shall sit down with the Lord in his kingdom ; when the scheme of prophecy shall receive its final accomplishment, and " the MYSTERY of God be finished."*

It is obvious, that every part of the Psalter, when explicated according to this scriptural and primitive methoil, is rendered uni- versally " profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" and the propriety immediately ap- pears of its having always been used in the devotional way, both by the Jewish and the Christian church. AVith regard to the Jews, Bishop Chandler very pertinently remarks, that "they must have understood David their prince to have been a figure of Mes- siah. They would not otherwise have made his Psalms part of their daily worship, nor would David have delivered them to the church, to be so employed, were it not to instruct and support them in the knowledge and belief of this fundamental article. Was the Messias not concerned in the Psalms, it were absurd to celebrate, twice a day, in their public devotions, the events of one man's life, who was deceased so long ago as to have no relation now to the Jews, and the circumstances of their afiairs ; or to transcribi; whole passages from them into their prayers for the coming of the Messiah."t Tpon tlie same princijile, it is easily seen, that the

quis calleat Hebraorum litcras, atqiio ctiam antiquitatcs ; partim quoil vo- rebar nc turba CommeiUaiioium obscuraretur Seniio rroplicticus, citius (juam illustraictur.

" Rev. X. 7. 1 Defence of Chiistianity, First Part, p. 241

PREFACE. xxvii

ohjt'ctlons, which may seem to lie against the use of Jewish ser- vices in Christian congregations, cease at once. Thus, it may be said, Are we concerned with the aflairs of David and of Israel? Have we any thing to do whh the ark. and tlie temple? They are no more. Are we to go up to Jerusalem, and to worship on Sion ? They are desolated, and trodden under foot by the Turks. Are we to sacrifice young bullocks, according to the law ? The law is abolished, never to be observed again. Do we pray for victory over Moab, Edom, and Philistia; or for deliverance from Baby- h)n? There are no such nations, no such places in the world. What then do we mean, when, taking such expressions into our mouths, we utter them in our own persons, as parts of our devo- tions, before God? Assuredly we must mean a spiritual Jerusalem and Sion; a spiritual ark and temple; a spiritual law ; spiritual sacrifices ; and spiritual victories ; spiritual enemies ; all described under the old names, which are still retained, though "old things are passed away, and all things are to become new.''* By sub- stituting jMessiah for David, the gospel for the law, the church Christian for that of Israel, and the enemies of the one for those of the other, the Psalms are made our own. Nay, they are with more fulness and propriety applied now to the substance, than they were of old to the "shadow of good things then to come,"t And therefore, ever since the commencement of the Christian era, the church hath chosen to celebrate the gospel mysteries in the words of these ancient hymns, rather than to compose for that purpose new ones of her own. For let it not pass unobserved, that when, upon the first publication of the Gospel, the apostles had occasion to utter their transports of joy, on their being counted worthy to suffer for the name of their dear Lord and Master, which was then opposed by Jew and Gentile, they broke forth into an application of the second Psalm to the transactions then before their eyes. See Acts iv. 25. The primitive Christians constantly followed this method in their devotions : and, particu- larly when, delivered out of the hands of 'persecuting tyrants by the victories of Constantine, they praised God for his goodness,

* 2 Cor. V. 17. Ergo anige aures, Christiane Lector, et ubi taliain Da- vide Icgci is, tu mill! fac cogitas, non Arcain, fragile lignum, aut Taberna- rulnin contectum pellibus, non urbein lapidibus compositam : non Tcmpluin divinae Majestati augustuni : seel Christi et occlesiae Sacran)cnta, scd vivos lapides, Cfhri.sto angiilari lapidi coaptatos ; sed ipsani Eucliaristiam pra>- se»itis Dei tcstcni ; dcniquc caeleste rcgniini ct a^lernam fclicitateni. Bos- snet Dhscrtat. de Psal. Cap. i. ad Jin.

\ Hob. X. 1.

xxviii PREFACE.

and the glorious success and establishment of Christ's religion, no words were found so exquisitely adapted to the purpose, as those of David, in the xcvi. xcviii. and other Psalms — " Sing unto the Lord a new song: sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, and praise his name; be telling of his salvation from day to day. Declare his honour unto the heathens, his worship unto all people," — &c. &c. &;c. In these, and the like Psalms, WE continue to praise God, for all his spiritual mercies in Christ, to this da}'.

The Psalms, thus applied, have advantages, which no fresh compositions, however finely executed, can possibly have ; since, besides their incomparable fitness to express our sentiments, they are, at the same time, memorials of, and appeals to, former mercies and deliverances ; they are acknowledgments of prophecies ac- complished ; they point out the connexion between the old and new dispensations, thereby teaching us to admire and adore the wisdom of God displayed in both, and furnishing, while we read or sing them, an inexhaustible variety of the noblest matter that can engage the contemplations of man.

Why is the mind more than ordinarily affected, and either melted into sorrow, or transported with joy, when on the days set apart for the commemoration of our Saviour's birth, passion, resur- rection, &c. the Proper Psalms are read, which the church hath appointed, following herein the directions of the evangelists and apostles, and the usage of the early ages ? Why, but because, by such appointment, we are necessarily put upon transferring our ideas from the complaints or exultations of David and Israel, to those of a suffering or glorified JMessiah, of whose sufferings or glories we participate, as members of his mystical body? And how much more intense would be the effect, if, in the sermons preached on such occasions, such Proper Psalms were expounded to the people, and their jn-opriety evinced, as it might easily be ? Dis- courses of this kind would make the hearts of the auditors to " burn witJiin them," and men wonlil cease to wonder, that three thousand Jews were converted to the faith, by St. Peter's ani- mated discourse on jiart of the sixteenth Psalm. Were believers once brought Avell acquainted with these Proper Psalms, they would be better enabled to study and apply the rest, which might hkewise be explained to them at different times, and certainly afford the finest subjects on which a Christian orator can employ his eloquence. That this was done in the primitive church, we learn from the exposition of the Psalms left us by St. Chiysostom

PREFACE. xxix

in llic east, and St. Aiigustin in the west, those expositions still subsisting in the form of homilies, as delivered to their respective <;ongregations. Is it not to be feared, that, for want of such in- structions, the repetition of the Psalms, as performed by multi- tudes, is but one degree above mechanism ? And is it not a melan- choly reflection, to be made at the close of a long life, that, after re- citing them at pro])er seasons, through the greatest part of it, no more should be known of their true meaning and application, than when the Psalter was first taken in hand at school !

Many sensible and well-disposed persons, therefore, who, when they read or sing tite Psalms, desire to read and to sing " with the spirit and the understanding," have long called for a commentary which might enable them to do so; which might not only explain the literal sense of these divine compositions, and show how they may be accommodated to our temporal affairs, as members of civil society;* but might also unfold the mysteries of the kingdom of God, which are involved in them, and teach their application to us, as members of that spiritual and heavenly society, of which Christ Jesus is the head, and for whose use, in every age, they were intended by their omniscient Author. A work of this kind, though often desired, has never yet been executed, upon any regu- lar and consistent plan. The survey of a province in Theology, hitherto almost unoccupied among the moderns, which promised a great deal of jjleasing as well as profitable employment, gave birth to the attempt which hath been made to cultivate it, in the ensuing commentary; in which the author has only endeavoured to evince, by an induction of particulars, the truth of what so many learned and good men have asserted in general, concerning tiie prophetical, or evangelical import of the Psalter. Dr. Hammond, in the pre- face to his Annotations, tells us, he chose to leave every man to make applications of this kind for himself, finding he had work enough upon his hands in the literal way. But so much having been done by him and other able critics in that way, it seems to be now time that something should be done in the other, and some directions given, in a case where directions cannot but be greatly wanted.

* A concern for the present peace and prosperity of the world, and of that kingdom to which we belong, ought ever to bo entertained and che- tished by the most exalted Christian. And if this part of the subject should at any time, in the following work, appear to be but slightly touched upon, the reason is, because it lies obvious upon the surface, and has been so fre- quently inculcated by other expositors. Nor are mankind indeed so liable. to forget the relation they bear to the world, as they are to overlook thai w I'.ich subsists between them and their Creator and Redeemer.

XXX PREFACE.

Very few of the Psalms, comparatively, appear to be simply pro- phetical, and to belong only to Messiah, without the intervention of any other person. Most of them, it is apprehended, have a double sense, which stands upon this ground and foundation that the ancient patriarchs, prophets, priests, and kings, were typical characters, in their several offices, and in the more remarkable passages of their lives, their extraordinary dejiressions, and mira- culous exaltations, foreshowing Hini who was to arise, as the Head of the holy family, the great Prophet, the true Priest, the everlasting King. The Israelitish polity, and the law of Moses, were purposely framed after the example and shadow of things spiritual and heavenly : and the events which hapjiened to the ancient people of God, were designed to shadow out parallel oc- currences, which should afterwards take place in the accomplish- ment of man's redemption, and the rise and progress of the Christian church. For this reason, the Psalms composed for the use of Israel, and Israel's monarch, and by them accordingly used at the time, do admit of an apphcation to us, who are now " the Israel of God,"* and to our Redeemer, who is the King of this Israel. t

Nor will this seem strange to us, if we reflect, that the same divine person, who inspired the Psalms, did also foreknow and predispose all events, of which he intended them to treat. And hence it is evident, that the spiritual sense is, and must be pecu- liar to the Scriptures; because, of those persons and transactions only, which are there mentioned and recorded, can it be affirmed for certain that they were designed to be figurative. And should any one attempt to apply the narrative of Alexander's expedition by Quintus Curtius, or the commentaries of Caesar, as the New Testament writers have done, and taught us to do the histories of the Old, he would find himself unable to proceed throe steps with consistency and propriety. The argument therefore, which would infer the absurdity of supposing the Scriptures to have a spiritual sense, from the acknowledged absurdity of supposing histories or poems merely human to have it, is inconclusive; the sacred writings differing in this respect, from all other writings in the world, as nuich as the nature of the transactions which they relate differs

* Gill. vi. 16.

i 'I'liat expressions and descriptions in luiman writings are often so framed as to admit of a double sense, without any impropriety or confusion, is shown by the very learned Mr. Merrick, in bis excellent Observations on Dr. Benson'.s Essay concerning the Unity of Sense, k-c. subjoined to bis .ill iiolat ions Oil the Pnalins.

PREFACE. xwi

tVoni that of all other transactions, and the author who relates them tlilFers from all other authors.

" This double, or secondary sense of prophecy, was so far from jriving offence to Lord Bacon, that he speaks of it with admi- ration, as one striking argument of its divinity. In sorting the prophecies of Scripture with their events, we must allow, says he, for that latitude, ichich is agreeable and familiar unto divine prophecies, being of his nature, with whom a thousand years are but as one day; and therefore they are not fulfilled punctually at once, but have springing and genninant accompUshtncnt through many ages, though the height, or fulness of them, may refer to some one age.

'• But, that we may not mistake or pervert this fine observation of our great philosopher, it may be proper to take notice, that the reason of it holds in such prophecies only as respect the several tiuccessive parts of one sjstem : which being intimately connected together, may be supposed to conje within the view and contem- plation of the same prophecy ; whereas it would be endless, and one sees not on what grounds of reason we are authorized to look out for the accomplishment of prophecy, in any casual unrelated events of general history. The Scripture speaks of prophecy, as respecting Jesus, that is, as being one connected scheme of provi- dence, of which the Jewish dispensation makes a part: so that liere we are led to expect that springing and germinant accom- plishment which is mentioned. But, had the Jewish law been complete in itself, and totally unrelated to the Christian, the general principle — that a thousand years arc with God but us one day — would no more justify us in extending a Jewish j)rophecy to Christian events, because perlta])s it was eminently fulfilled in them, than it would justify iis in extending it to any other signally corresponding events whatsoever. It is only when the prophet hath one uniform connected design before him that we are autho- rized to use this latitude of interpretation. For then the prophetic Spirit naturally runs along the several parts of such design, and unites the remotest events with the nearest : the style of the pro- phet, in the mean time, so adapting itself to this double prospect, as to paint the ne;ir and subordinate event in terms that emphati- cally represent the disteint and more considerable. So that, with this explanation, nothing can be more just or philosophical, than the idea which Lord Bacon suggests, of divine prophecy.

" The great scheme of redemption, we are now considering, being the only scheme in the plan of Providence, which; as far

xxxii PREFACE.

as we know, hath been prepared and dignified by a continued system of prophecy, at least this being the only scheme to which we have seen a prophetic system applied, men do not so readily apprehend the doctrine of double sense in prophecy, as they would do, if they saw it exemplified in other cases. But what the his- tory of mankind does not supply we may represent to ourselves by many obvious suppositions; which cannot justify, indeed, such a scheme of things, but may facilitate the conception of it."*

In allegories framed by man, the ground-work is generally fic- tion,t because of the difficulty of finding one true series of facts, which shall exactly represent another. But the gi'eat disposer of events, " known unto whom are all his works," from the be- ginning to the end of time, was able to efiect this ; and the scrip- ture allegories are therefore equally true in the letter and in the spirit of them. The events signifying, no less than those signi- fied, really happened, as they are said to have done.| Why the allegories of the most perfect form, with which the book of God abounds, and which are all pregnant with truths of the highest import, should be treated with neglect and contempt, while the imperfect allegoi'ies of man's devising are universally sought after and admired, as the most pleasing and most efficacious method of conveying instruction, it is not easy to say. Why should it not af- ford a believer as much delight, to contemplate the lineaments of his Saviour, portrayed in one of the patriarchs, as to be informed, that the character of lapis was designed by Virgil to adumbrate that of Antonius Musa, physician to Augustus ? Or why should not a discourse upon the redemption of the church, as foresha- dowed by the exodus of Israel, have as many admirers among Christians, as a dissertation, however ingeniously composed, on the descent of vEneas to the infernal regions, considered as typical of an initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries?

A learned, judicious, and most elegant writer of the present

* feishop Hurd's excellent Intiotluctiou to the Study of the Prophecies, Scrm. iii.

t I sny " generally," since, as the above cited Mr. Rlerrick justly observes, " It is possible (lor example) in a conipliniental address to a moilern states- man, or general, to relate the actions of some ancient patriot of the same character, in such a manner, that the parallel intended to be drawn between them, shall be readily known, and the praises expressly bestowed on the one. be transferred, by the reader's own application, to the other."

\ jN'equc proplerca ab historico, sive literali atquc immediatio, ut aiimt, sensu abcrrare nos oportet ; quin co erit clarior ct fundatior sccrctioris illius intelligentio; sensus, quo typuni ipsum, hoc est, historian! ac litoram ligenius certius. Bossuet. Disstrlal. in Pml. udfincm.

PREFACE. xxxii.

age hath stated and illustrated the subject we are now upon, witii a felicity of thought and expression peculiar to himself. I shall endeavour to gratify the English reader with a view of his senti- ments. The beauties of his language are not to be translated.

" It would be an arduous and adventurous undertaking to at- tempt to lay down the rules observed in the conduct of the Mystic Allegory; so diverse are the modes in which the Holy Spirit has thought proper to communicate his counsels to different persons upon different occasions, inspiring and directing the minds of the prophets according to his good pleasure; at one time vouchsafing more full and free discoveries of future events : while, at another, he is more obscure and sparing in his intimations. From hence, of course, ariseth a great variety in the scripture usage of this kind of allegory, as to the manner in which the spiritual sense is couched under the other. Sometimes it can hardly break forth and show itself at intervals through the literal, which meets the eye as the ruling sense, and seems to have taken entire possession of the words and phrases. On the contrary, it is much oftener the ca- pital figure in the piece, and stands confessed at once by such splendour of language, that the letter, in its turn, is thrown into shades, and almost totally disappears. Sometimes it shines with a constant equable liglit ; and sometimes it darts upon us on a sud- den, like a flash of liglitning from the clouds. But a composition is never more truly elegant and beautiful, than when the two senses, alike conspicuous, run parallel together through the whole poem, mutually corresponding with, and illustrating each other. I will produce an undoubted instance or two of this kind, which will show my meaning, and confirm what has hitherto been advanced on the subject of the mystic allegory.

" The establishment of David upon his throne, notwithstand- ing the opposition made to it by his enemies, is the subject of the second Psalm. David sustains in it a two-fold character, literal and allegorical. If we read over the Psalm first with an eye to the literal David, the meaning is obvious, and put out of all dis- pute by the sacred history. There is indeed an uncommon glow in the expression, and sublimity in the figures, and the diction is now and then exaggerated as it were on purpose to intimate, and lead us to the contemplation of higher and more important mat- ters concealed within. In compliance with this admonition, if we take another survey of the Psalm, as relative to the person and concerns of the spiritual David, a nobler series of events instantly rises to view, and the meaning becomes more evident, as well as

xxxiv PREFACE.

exalted. The colouring, which may perhaps seem too bold and glaring for the king of Israel, will no longer appear so, when kid upon his great antitype. After we have thus attentively consi- dered the subjects apart, let us look at them together, and we shall behold the full beauty and majesty of this most charming poem. We shall perceive the two senses very distinct from each other, yet conspiring in perfect harmony, and bearing a wonderful resem- blance in every feature and lineament, while the analogy between them is so exactly preserved, that either may pass for the original from whence the other was copied. New light is continually cast wpon the phraseology, fresh weight and dignity are added to the sentiment, till gradually ascending from things below to things above, from human affairs to those which are divine, they bear the great important theme upwards with them, and at length place it in the height and brightness of heaven.

" What hath been observed with regard to this Psalm, may also be applied to the seventy-second; the subject of which is of the same kind, and treated in the same manner. Its title might be, The Inauguration of Solomon. The scheme of the allegory is alike in both; but a diversity of matter occasions an alteration in the diction. For whereas one is emplo3ed in celebrating the mag- nificent triumphs of victory, it is the design of the other to draw a pleasing picture of peace, and of that felicity which is her insepa- rable attendant. The style is therefore of a more even and tem- perate sort, and more richly ornamented. It aboundeth not with those sudden changes of the person speaking, which dazzle and astonish; but the imagery is borrowed from the delightful scenes with which creation cheers the sight, and the pencil of the di- vine artist is dipped in the softest colours of nature. And here we may take notice how peculiarly adapted to the genius of this kind of allegory the parabolical style is, on account of that great variety of natural images to be found in it. For as these images are capable of being employed in the illustration of things divine and human, between which there is a certain analogy maintained, so they easily alTord that ambiguity which is necessary in this species of composition, where the language is applicable to each .sense, and obscure in neither; it comprehends both parts of the allegory, and may be clearly and distinctly referred to one or the other."*

The scheme of exposition so beautifully delineated, and illus-

■ Bishop Lowtli on the Hebrew poetry, Lect. xi

PREFACE. XXXV

irated in two instances by this truly valuable author, has been ex- tended, in theory, by another learned writer, to a great part of the Psalter; and that upon a principle deduced from the attributes ol God, and the nature and design of the divine dispensations; though his own labours, like those of Dr. Hammond, were employed chiefly in Hteral criticism. His reasoning is as follows —

'' In this point (namely, the application of the Psalms to the mysteries of the gos})el) I am very clear. The Jews only, as a nation, acknowledged the one supreme God, under the name of Je- hovah; they must be therefore his peculiar people. There is no- thing capricious in this ; they are correlates, and of necessity an- swer reciprocally to each other. Hence that singular intercourse between God and them. Hence, among other instances of his favour, his communication of himself to them by supernatural ways of oracle, inspiration, &;c. When the acknowledgment of tlie one God branched itself, from this Jewish flock, over the face of the earth, and by that means he was become the God of all man- kind, they must all, for the same reason, become his people. As God is ever the same, and his doings uniform, his conduct towards mankind must exactly be proportioned to his conduct towards the Jewish nation. Let us therefore place God in common over them both; and there will be — on one side, the Jewish nation; and on the other, mankind; on one side Canaan, and a national prospe- rity ; on the other, heaven, and human happiness : on one side, a redemption from Egyptian servitude, and national evils; on the other, a redemj)tion of the whole human race from absolute evil : on one side, national crimes atoned by national ceremonies, sacrifices, priests; on the other, sins expiated by the one universal sacrifice of Jesls Christ : on one side, national and temporary saviours, kings, prophets, &c. ; on the other, all this universal and eternal : on one side the law, and every branch of it, adapted to a fa- vourite nation; on the other, the everlasting gospel, suited to ail mankind. It is impossible, therefore, that God can say any thing to David, under the cjuality of king of this chosen nation, which he does not speak at the same time to Jesus Christ, as king of all the elect; and that in a truer and nobler sense. To each of them he speaks in a sense adapted to the nature of their respective kingdoms. Nor is this latter a bare accommodation of words, but the first and highest meaning of them, and which only, absolutely speaking, can be the ti-ue sense of God ; the other being this sense, confined to a particular circumstance; in other words, an absolute truth, made history, and matter of fact. This is a principle.

xxxvi PREFACE.

which shows, that, far from denying the Christian application, I consider the literal and historical sense only as a kind of vehicle for it.*

Upon this plan it is, that many of the Psalms are interpreted in the foUowinj^ sheets.

In such of them as were written by David, and treat of his af- fairs, that extraordinary person is considered as an illustrious re- presentative of Messiah, who is more than once foretold under the name of David, and to whom are applied, in the New Testament, Psalms which do undoubtedly, in the letter of them, relate to Da- vid, and were composed on occasion of particular occurrences which befell him; a circumstance in theology, to be accounted for upon no other principle.

When therefore he describeth himself as one hated and perse- cuted without a cause ; as one accused of crimes which he never committed, and suffering for sins, the very thoughts of which he abhorred : as one whose life was imbittered by affliction, and his soul overwhelmed with sorrows ; yet, withal, as one whom no trouF bles could induce to renounce his trust and confidence in the pro- mises of God concerning him, when he repeateth his resolutions of adhering to the divine law, setting forth its various excellencies, and the comforts which it afforded him in the days of adversity ; when he complaineth of that implacable malice, and unrelenting fury, with which he was pursued by Saul and his attendants, by Doeg the Edomite, by rebellious Absalom, traitorous Ahitophel, &c. and when, contrary to all appearances, he predicteth their destruction, with his own final exaltation ; in expounding the Psalms of this cast and complexion, it hath been my endeavour to direct the reader's thoughts to parallel circumstances, which present them- selves in the history of the true David ; his sorrows and sufferings ; his resignation under them all ; his obedience to the will of his Fa- ther; the temper and behaviour of his betrayers and murderers; the prophecies of judgments to be inflicted upon them, and of glory to be conferred upon him. As the Psalter was the liturgy of the Jewish church, of which our Lord was a member, and to which he therefore entirely conformed, during his abode and hu- miliation upon earth, he might pour forth his complaints and " ofler up his prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears,"t in the very words which his progenitor David had before used un-

* Preface to An Essay fowiirds a New English Version of (he Book of Psalms, by the Rev. Mr. Mudge. f Heb. V. 7.

PREFACE. xxxvii

dor his own troubles, but which were given by inspiration, with a viovv to the case of tliat blessed person, whom, in those troubles, he had the honour to prefigure.

Otiier Psalms there are, which disclose far diflerent scenes. In ihem, the sorrows of David are at end, and the day of his deli- verance hath already dawned. The heavens are opened, and Je- hovah appeareth in the cause of his afflicted servant. lie de- scendeth from above, encompassed with clouds and darkness, pre- ceded by fire and hail, proclaimed by thunder and earthquake, and attended by lightnings and whirlwinds. The mountains smoke, and the rocks melt before him ; tlie foundations of the globe are uncovered,- and the deep from beneath is moved at his presence. The adversary is dismayed and confounded ; opposition, in the height of its career, feels the blast through all its powers, and instantly withers away. The anointed of God, according to his original designation, is at length elevated to the throne; his sceptre is extended over the nations; the temple is planned by him, and erected by his son; the services of religion are appointed in per- fect order and beauty : Jerusalem becometh a praise in all the earth; and the kingdom is established in honour, peace, and feli- city. If in Psalms of the former kind the holy Jesus might be- hold those persecutions and sufferings under which he was to be humbled, and to mourn, during his pilgrimage here below; in Psalms of this latter sort he might strengthen and console himself, as a man " touched whh the feelings of our infirmities, and tempted in all points like as we are," by viewing " the glory that should follow ;" by contemplating the manifestation of the Father in fa- vour of his beloved Son; his own joyful resurrection, triumphant ascension, and magnificent inauguration; the conversion of the world, and the establishment of the church; events, which were foreshadowed by those above-mentioned; and to which, when the strongest expressions made use of by the divine Psalmist are ap- plied, they will no longer appear hyperbolical ; especially if we bear in mind, that tliese prophetic descriptions wait for their full and final accomplishment at that day, when the mystical " body of Christ," having " filled up that which is behind of his afflic- tions,"* shall also, amidst the pangs and convulsions of departing nature, arise from the dead, and ascend into heaven ; where all the members of that body, which have been afflicted, and have

• Col. i, 24.

xxxviii PREFACE.

mourned with their Lord and Master, shall be comforted and glo- rified together with him.*

In somo of the Psalms, David appears as one suffering for his sins. AVhen man speaks of sin, he speaks of what is his own ; and therefore, every Psalm, where sin is confessed to be the cause of sorrow, belongs originall}' and properly to us, as fallen sons of Adam, hke David, and all other men. This is the case of the fifty-first, and the rest of those which are styled Penitential Psalms, and have always been used in the church as such. Some- times, indeed, it happens, that we meet with heavy complaints of the number and burthen of sins, in Psalms, from which passages are quoted in the Nev/ Testament as uttered by our Redeemer, in which there seems to be no change of person from beginning to end. We are assured, for instance, by the apostle, Heb. x. 5. ' and the sixth, seventh, and eighth verses of the fortieth Psalm, " Sacrifice and oflering thou didst not desire," &c. are spoken by Messiah, coming to abolish the legal sacrifices, by the oblation of himself once for all. The same person, to appearance, continues speaking, and, only three verses after, complains in the following terms; ^-Innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine ini- quities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up ; they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me." So again, there are no less than five quotations from dilTerent parts of the sixty-ninth Psalm, all concurring to inform us, that Christ is the speaker through that whole Psalm. Yet the fifth verse of it runs thus ; " O God, thou knowest my foolishness and my CDu^x guiltiness is not hid from thee." The solution of this difficulty given, and continually insisted on, in the writings of the Fathers, is this; that Christ in the day of his passion, standing charged with the sin and guilt of his people, speaks of such their sin and guilt, as if they were his own, appropri- ating to himself those debts, for which, in the capacity of a surety, he had made himself responsible. The lamb, which, under the law,

* Neque prrctcrmittendum illud Aiigustini passim; tunc Psalmos videri suavissimos, ac divinissima luco perfiisos, cijni in his caput et membra. Christum el Ecclcsiam, sive aperte propalatos, sive latentor designates in- lellininuis. Quarc iteriun attjue iteruni eiiganuis auimos; atqiic ubi atquc Davidcin Soloinonem ; ubi Davidis hostes, Satllem, Achito])Iielem, alios; ubi bella et parcm, captivitafem libcrtatem, ac caetera ejusmodi audimus ; turn animo infigamus Christum, Ecclesiam laboribus periculisquc excrcitam, atque inter adversa ct piospera peresfrinanfcm ; tum sanctorum persecu- torcs, lion mod5 visibiles, sed ctiam in visibilcs illas atquc aOreas pofoslalcs, pugnas«|iie in hac vita perpctcs, ac sccutiiran postea pacem sempiternam. Rossuet Disscrtnf. in Psalm, ad riii.

PREFACE. xxxix

was offered for sin, took the name □C'N " guilt," because the guilt contracted by the oflerer, was transferred to that innocent crea- ture, and typically expiated by its blood.* Was not this exactly the case, in truth and reality, witli the Lamb of (JotI? '' lie did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; but he bare our sins in his own hotly on the tree.t He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.":}: Christ and the church coni|)ose one mystical person, of which he is the head, and the church the body : and as the body speaks by the head, and the head for the body, he speaks of her sin, and she of his righteousness; which consideration is at the same time a key to any claims of righteousness made in the Psalms by her, and to any confession of sin made by him. This seems to be a satisfactory account of the matter. Such at least, appears to have been the idea generally adopted and received, in the fust ages of the Christian church; a circumstance, which it is jiresumed, will be deemed a sufficient apology for the author, if in the explication of such passages, he hath ventured to proceed accordingly. Nay, and even in reciting the Penitential Psalms, when the imhappy suf- ferer is ready to sink down under that weight of wo which sin hath laid upon him, if he will extend his thoughts, as he is sometimes directed to do, to that holy and most innocent person, who felt and sorrowed so much for us all, he will thereby lurnlsh himself with the best argiunent for patience, and an inexhaustible source of com- fort. Nor can it, indeed, well be imagined, that our blessed Lord, as a member of the Jewish church, and an attendant on the service of the synagogue, though conscious to himself of no sin, did not frequently join with his " brethren according to the flesh," in the repetition of the Penitential as well as the other Psalms, on the days of humiliation and expiation, when the use of them might be prescribed. If from his circumcision to his crucifixion he " bare our sins in his own body ;" why should it be thought strange, that he should confess them, on our behalf, with his own mouth?

The offence taken at the supposed uncharitable and vindictive spirit of the imprecations which occur in some of the Psalms, ceases immediately, if we change the imperative for the future, and read, not '' let them be confounded," &c. but, " they shall BE confounded," &c. of which the Hebrew is equally capable. Such passages will then have no more dilriculty in them, than the other frequent predictions of divine vengeance in the writings of

• See Lev. V. 6. t I Pet. ii. 22 t2Cor. vl2l.

x\ PREFACE.

the propliets, or denunciations of it in the gospels, intended to warn, to alarm, and to lead sinners to repentance, that they may Hy from the wrath to come. This is Dr. Hammond's observa- tiun ; who very properly remarks, at the same time, that in many- places of this sort, as particularly in Psalm cix. (and the same may be said of Psalm Ixix.) it is reasonable to resolve, that Christ himself speaketh in the prophet; as being the person there prin- cipally concerned, and the completion most signal in many cir- cumstances there mentioned ; the succession, especially of Matthias, to the apostleship of Judas. It is true, that in the citation made by St. Peter from Psalm cix. in Acts i. 20. as also in that made by St. Paul from Psalm Ixix. in Rom. xi. 9. the imperative form is preserved; " let his habitation be void,'' &c. " let their table be made a snare," &c. But it may be considered, that the apos- tles generally cited from the Greek of the LXX. version; and took it as they found it, making no alteration, when the passage, as it there stood, was sufficient to prove the main point which it was adduced to prove. If the imprecatory form be still contended for, all that can be meant by it, whether uttered by the prophet, by Messiah, or by ourselves, must be a solemn ratification of the just judgments of the Almighty against his impenitent enemies, like what we find ascribed to the blessed spirits in heaven, when such judgments were executed, Rev. xi. 17, 18. xvi. 5, 6, 7. See Merrick's Annotations on Psalm cix. and Witsii Miscellan. Sacr. Lib. I. Cap. xviii. Sect. 24. But by the future rendering of the verbs, every possible objection is precluded at once. This method has therefore been adojjted in the ensuing commentar}^

Of the Psalms which relate to Israel, some are employed in ce- lebrating the mercies vouchsafed them, from their going forth out of Egypt to their complete settlement in Canaan. These were the constant standing subjects of praise and thanksgiving in the Israelitish church. But we are taught by the writers of the New Testament, to consider this part of their history as one continued figure, or allegory. We are told, that there is another spiritual Israel of God ; other children of Abraham, and heirs of the promise ; another circumcision ; another Egypt, from the bond- age of which they are redeemed ; another wilderness, through which they journey ; other dangers and diiriculties, which there await them ; other bread from heaven, for their support ; and another rock to supjjly th(>m with living water ; other enemies to overcome ; another land of Canaan, and another Jerusalem, which (hey are to obtain oiul to possess for ever. In the same light are

PREFACE. xli

to be viewed the various provocations and punishments, captivi- ties and restorations of old Israel afterwards, concerniiis; which it is likewise true, that they " happened unto them for ensaniplis," * types, or figures, " and were written for our admonition."! Care has therefore been taken, to open and apply, for that salu- tary purpose, the Psalms which treat of the above-mentioned par- ticulars.

What is said in the Psalms occasionally of the law and its ce- remonies, sacrifices, al)hitions, and purifications ; of the taberna- cle and temple, with the services therein performed ; and of the Aaronical priesthood ; all this Christians transfer to the new law; to the oblation of Christ; to justification by his blood, and sancti- fication by his Spirit ; to the true tabernacle or temple, not made with hands ; and to what was therein done for the salvation of the world, by Him who was, in one respect, a sacrifice; in ano- ther, a temple ; and in a third, an high priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedek. That such was the intention of these legal figures, is declared at large in the Epistle to the Hebrews ; and they are of great assistance to us now, in forming our ideas of the realities to which they correspond. " Under the Jewish economy," says the excellent J\Ir. Pascal, " truth appeared but in figure; in heaven it is open, and without a veil; in the church militant it is so veiled, as to be yet discerned by its correspon- dence to the figure. As the fiijure was first built upon the truth, so the truth is now distinguishable by the figure." The variety of strong expressions used by David, in the nineteenth, and the hun- dred and nineteenth Psalms, to extol the enlivening, saving, heal- ing, comforting efficacy of a law, which, in the letter of it, whether ceremonial or moral, without pardon and grace, could minister nothing but condemnation, do sufficiently prove, that David understood the spirh of it, which was the gospel itself,^

*Gr. t 1 Cor. s. 11.

i llrcc inter, vcri et spiritnalcs JiKhTi, hoc est, ante Christum Christi discipuli, altiora coE^itabant, ct rcrum c.Tlestium Sacramenta vcnerati, no- vam Jerusalem, novum Templum, novam arcam hitucbantur. liossuet Disstrlal. in Psal. Cap. i. — Lex, juxta Spiritum accepta, ipsuni erat Evan- gelium, sub veteribus fij^uris delitescen.s, et ccremoniarum \c\\s obloc'fum, ab ipso quidem Mose (imprimis in Deuteronomio) aliquatenus et pro tem- porum ratione explicatum, a Proplictis ver5 succedentibus (ut visum est Divinse Sapientia-) dilutidius ostensum, demum a Christo et Apostolis ple- nissime et luce ipso Sole clariori patefactum. Bulli Opera per Grnbe, p. 614. — If the Jews, as our Saviour tells tlicm, " tliou^ht tijey had eternal life in their scriptures," they must needs have understood (hem in a spi- ritual sense: and I know not what other spiritual sense, that shonkl had them to the expectation of eternal life, they could put on tiuir scriptures, but that prophetic or tvpical sense, which respcctetl the Mes.'slah. Jesus G

xlii PREFACE.

And if any who recited those Psalms, had not tlie same idea, it was not the fault of the law, or of the Psalms, of Moses, or of David, or. of him who inspired both, but it was their own ; as it is that of the Jews at this hour, though their prophecies have now been fulfilled, and their types realized. " He that takes his esti- mate of the Jewish religion from the grossness of the Jewish mul- titude," as the last cited author observes, " cannot fail of making a very wrong judgment. It is to be sought for in the sacred writings of the prophets, who have given us sufficient assurance, that they understood the law not according to the letter. Our religion, in like manner, is true and divine in the gospels, and in the preaching of the a})ostles ; but it appears utterly disfigured in those who maim or corrupt it."

Besides the figures supplied by the children of Israel, and by the law, there is another set of images often employed in the Psalms, to describe the blessings of redemption. These are bor- rowed from the natural world, the manner of its original produc- tion, and the operations continually carried on in it. The visible works of God are formed to lead us, under the direction of his word, to a knowledge of those which are invisible; they give us ideas, by analogy, of a new creation rising gradually, like the old one, out of darkness and deformity, until at length it arrives at the perfection of glory and beauty : so that while we praise the Lord for all the wonders of his power, wisdom, and love, dis- played in a system which is to wax old and perish, we may there- in contemplate, as in a glass, those new heavens, and that new earth, of whose duration there shall be no end.* The sun, that fountain of life, and heart of the world, that bright leader of the armies of heaven, enthroned in glorious majesty ; the moon shin- ing with a lustre borrowed from his beams ; the stars glittering by night in the clear firmament ; the air giving breath to all things that live and move; the interchanges of light and darkness; the course of the year, and the sweet vicissitude of seasons; the rain and the dew descending from above, and the fruitfulness of the earth caused by them ; the bow bent by the hands of the Most

expressly asserts, at the same time, that their " scriptures testified of him." How generally they did so, he explained at large, in that remark- able conversation with two of his disciples after his resurrection ; wlien "beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto ihem in ALL the scriptures the tilings concerning himself." Ilurd's Iidrod. to llif aiudy of lilt Prophecies, Serm. ii.

* Road nature : nature is a friend to trutli ; Wature is Cin'istian, preaches to mankind; And bids dead matter aid us in our creed. youNC.

PREFACE. xliii

High, which compasscth the heaven about with a glorious circle ; the awful voice of thunder, and the piercing power of lightning ; the instincts of animals,* and the qualities of vegetables and mi- nerals; the gieat and wide sea, with its unnumbered inhabitants; all these arc ready to instruct us in the mysteries of faith, anil the duties of morality.

They speak llieir Maker as they can,

But want and ask the tongue of man. Parneli..

The advantages of Messiah's reign arc represented in some of the Psalms under images of this kind. We behold a renovation of all things, and the world, as it were, new created, breaks forth into singing. The earth is crowned with sudden verdure and fertility; the field is joyful, and all that is in it; the woods re- joice before the Lord ; the floods clap their hands in concert, and ocean fills up the mighty chorus, to celebrate the advent of the great King.

Similar to these, arc the representations of spiritual mercies by temporal deliverances from sickness, prison, danger of perishing in storms at sea, and from the sundry kinds of calamity and death to which the body of man is subject; as also by scenes of domestic felicity, and by the flourishing state of well-ordered communities, especially that of Israel in Canaan, which, while the benediction of Jehovah rested upon it, was a picture of heaven itself. — The foregoing, and every other species of the sacred im- agery, if there be any other not hitherto included, it hath been

* " I believe a g^ood natural pliilosopher might show, with great reason and probability, that there is scarce beast, bird, reptile, or insect, that does not, in each particular climate, instruct and admonish mankind of some necessary truth, for their happiness either in body or mind." Dr. Cliei/ne's Philosophical Conjectures on the "preference of Vegetable Food, p. 73. That which a celcbiated \\ riter lias often observed concerning a poet, may per- haps be equally applicable to a divine — " To him nothing can be useless. Whatever is beautiful, and whatever is dreadful, should be familiar to his imagination : he should be conversant with all that is awfully vast or ele- gantly little. The plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, the mine- rals of tlie earth, and meteors of the sky, shouh'l all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety ; for every idea is useful for the enforce- ment or decoration of moral or religious truth ; and he who knows most, will have most power of diversifying his scenes, and of gratifying his rea- der with remote allusions, and unexpected instruction. By him, therefore, no kind of knowledge should be overlooked. He should range mountains and deserts for images an<l resemblances, and picture upon his mind every tree of the forest, and flower of the valley; the crags of the rock, and the ma/.cs of the stream." Rassei.as, Chap. x. The reader may see this ex- emplified in some " Disquisitions on Select Subjects of Scripture," by my worthy friend, the Rev. Mr. Jones, whose labours make it evident, that tnu- Philosophy will ever be the handmaid of true divinity.

xliv- PREFACE.

the author-s main endeavour to illustrate. And a view of what is done in this way, will, it is humbly hoped, afford some reason 1o think there may not be that necessary connexion, which a late noble writer has been pleased to suppose, between devotion and DiLNESs.

The Psalins which remain, are such as treat in plain terms, without figures or examples, of wisdom and folly, righteousness and sin; the happiness |)roduced by one, and the misery caused by the other; of particular virtues and vices; of the vanity of human life; of the attributes of God ; of that patience with which the faithful should learn to bear the sight of wickedness triumph- ant, in this world, looking forward to the day of final retritiu- tion; and subjects of the like nature. As Psalms of this kind call for little in the expository way, the general doctrines or pre- ce|)ts implied in the/n, or suggested by them, are drawn forth in short reflections, attempted after the manner of those made by fa- ther Quesnel on each verse of the New Testament. The o})por- tunity of doing this, where nothing else seemed to be required, and indeed of doing, upon ever^^ occasion, what did seem to be re- quired in any way, was the reason for throwing the work into its present form, rather than that of a paraphrase, or any other. Some repetitions, in a performance of this sort, are unavoidable. But a commentary on the book of Psalms is not to be read all at once;* and it was thought better to give the exposition of each Psalm complete in itself, than to refer the reader elsewhere ; which, therefore, is only done, when passages of a considerable length occur in two Psalms, without any material difference.

Such is the method the author has taken, such the authorities upon which he has proceeded, and such the rules by which he has directed himself. If consistency and uniformity in the com- ment have been the result, they will aflbrd, it is hoped, no con- temptible argument on its behalf; since it is scarce possible to ex- pound uniformly, on an erroneous plan, so great a variety of figu- rative language as is to be found in the book of Psalms.t

" The most profitable way of rcadinfr it, perhaps, would bp, by small portions, often reviewing the text and the comment, and compaiinjsc them earefully togetlier ; at times when the mind is most Tree, vacant, and calm; in the morniiifi, more especially, to prepare and fortify it for tlie business of the day ; and in the evening, to recompose, and set it in order, for tlie approaching season of rest.

t The student in Theology, who is desirous for farther information upon a subject so curious, so entertaining, and so interesting, as that of

PREFACE. xlv

Let us stop, for a moment, to contemplate tlie true character of these sacred hymns.

Greatness confers no exemption from the cares and sorrows of life. Its share of them frequently bears a melancholy proportion to its exaltation. This the Israelitish monarch experienced. He sought in piety that peace which he could not find in empire, and alleviated the disquietudes of state with the exercises of de- votion.

His invaluable Psalms convey those comforts to others which they afforded to himsell". Composed upon particular occasions, yet designed for general use; delivered out as services for Israelites under the law, yet no less adapted to the circumstances of Chris- tians under the gospel; they present religion to us in, the most en- caging dress ; communicating truths which philosophy could never investigate, in a style which poetry can never equal ; while history is made the vehicle of prophecy, and creation lends all its charms to paint the glories of redemption. Calculated alike to profit and to please, they inform the understanding, elevate the aflec- lions, and entertain the imagination. Indited under the influence of Him, to whom all hearts are known, and all events foreknown, they suit mankind in all situations, grateful as the manna which descended from above, and conformed itself to every palate. The fairest productions of human wit, after a kw perusals, like ga- thered flowers, wither in our hands, and lose their fragrancy : but these unfading plants of paradise become, as we are accustomed to them, still moie and more beautiful ; their bloom appears to be daily heightened; fresh odours are emitted, and new sweets ex- tracted from them. He who hath once tasted their excellencies, will desire to taste them again ; and he who tastes them oftenest, will relish them best.

And now could the author flatter himself, that any one would

the figurative language of Scripture, the principles on which it is founded, and the best rule to be observed in the sober and rational interpretation of it, may find satisfaction by consulting the following authors —

Low-th's Prelarc to his Commentary on the Prophets.

Lowth Pralect. de Sacr. Pocs. Hcb. Pra;lect. iv. — xii.

Pascal's Thoughts, Sect. x. — xiv.

Hurd's Introd. to the Study of the Prophecies, Serm. ii. iii. iv.

Vitringa Observaf. Sacr. Lib. vi. Cap. xx. et Lib. vii.

Prwfat. ad Comment, in .lesaiam.

Glassii Philologia Sacr. Lib. ii.

Witsii Miscellan. Sacra. Tom. I. Lib. iii. Cap. iii. Lib. ii. Dis.scrt. i. ii (Econom. Fad. Lib. iv. Cap. vi. — x.

AVaterland's General Preface to Scripture VindkateJ

xlvi PREFACE.

take half the pleasure in reading the fblloAving exposition, which he hath taken in writing it, he would not fear the loss of his labour. The employment detached him from the bustle and hurry of life, the din of politics, and the noise of folly; vanity and vexation flew away for a season, care and disquietude came not near his dwelling. He arose, fresh as the morning to his task; the silence of the night invited him to pursue it; and he can truly say, that food and rest were not preferred before it. Every Psalm improved infinitely upon his acquaintance with it, and no one gave him un- easiness but the last ; for then he grieved that his work was done. Plappier hours than those which have been spent on these medita- tions on the Songs of Sion, he never expects to sec in this world. Very pleasantly did they pass, and moved smoothly and swiftly along : for, when thus engaged, he counted no time. They are gone, but have left a relish and a fragrance upon the mind, and the remembrance of them is sweet.

But, alas, these are the fond eftusions of parental tenderness. Others will view the production with very different eyes, and the harsh voice of inexorable criticism will too soon awaken him from his pleasing dream. He is not insensible, that many learned and good men, whom he does not therefore value and respect the less, have conceived strong prejudices against the scheme of in- terpretation here pursued; and he knows how little the generality of modern Christians have been accustomed to speculations of this kind ; which it may likewise, perhaps, be said, will give oc- casion to the scoffs of our adversaries, the Jews and the Deists. Yet, if in the preceding pages it hath been made to appear, that the application of the Psalms to evangelical subjects, times, and circumstances, stands upon firm ground; that it may be prose- cuted upon a regular and consistent plan ; and that it is not only expedient, but even necessary, to render the use of them in our devotions rational and profitable; will it be presumption in him to hope, that upon a calm and dispassionate review of the matter, prejudices may subside and be done away ? If men, in these days, have not been accustomed to such contemplations, is it not high time they should become so ? Can they begin too soon to study and make themselves masters of a science, which promises to its votaries so much entertainment as well as Improvement ; which recommends the scriptures to persons of true taste and genius, as books intended equally for our delight and instruction; which demonstrates the ways of celestial \\ isdora to be ways of plea-

PREFACE. xlvii

santness, and all her paths to be peace indeed ! From the most sober, deliberate, and attentive survey of the sentiment which prevailed, npon this point, in the (irst ages of the chmxh, when the apostolical method of citinjr and expounding the Psalms was fresh upon the minds of their followers, the author cannot but be confident, that his commentary, if it had then made its appear- ance, would have been universally received and approved, as to the general design of it, by the whole Christian world. And however the Jews, in their present state of alienation and unbe- lief, may reject and set at nought such applications of their scrip- tures to our Messiah, and his chosen people, as they certainly will do; he is not less confident, lliat, whenever the happy ai\d glorious day of their conversion shall come, and the veil shall be taken from their hearts, they will behold the Psalter in that light in which he has endeavoured to place it.* As to the Deists, they, while they continue such, can have neither lot nor part in this matter; for giving no credit to the scripture account of things, either in the Old Testament or the New, to discourse with them concerning a connexion and analogy subsisting between the one and tlie other, is to reason about a fifth sense with a man who has only four. For the conviction both of the Jews and Deists, other arguments are to be urged; arguments from undeniable mi- racles openly wrought, and plain prophecies literally fulfilled. Such proofs are " for them that believe not." And such have been repeatedly urged, in their full force, by many able cham- pions, who have stood forth (success evermore attend their la- bours!) in defence of the Evidences of Christianity. Expositions

* "If this appear to be the case in so many of the P.sahn« (namely, that tJiey are predictive ol' Messiali), liow strongly docs it justify the Lord's appeal to them, as treating of Him ? And what a noble argument may hence arise for the conviction and conversion of that extraordinary people, to whom they were originally communicated, when once the reil thai is on their hearts shall be taken away, as by the same spirit of prophecy we are assured it shall I" The Bishop of Carlisle's Theory of Religion, p. 176, 6th edit. — With what transports of zeal and devotion, of faith and love, will they recite these holy hymns, in the day when the whole body of the Jews, returning to the Lonl tiicir God, siuiU acknowledge their unparal- leled crime in the murder of their King, and their penitential sorrow for the same, perhaps, as his Lordship intimates, in the words of the fifty-.first Psalm ; '' deliver me from blooil-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salva- »ion; and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For (hou desircst not sacrifice, else would I give it; thou deliglitest not in burnt-oflering. 'llie sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. O do. good in th}- good pleasure to Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem !"

xlviii PREFACE.

and meditations, like those in the subsequent pages, serve not, nor are intended to serve, " for them who believe not, but for them who believe;"* who will exercise their faculties in discerning and contemplating the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and who are going on unto perfection; to increase their faith, and inflame their charity : to delight tlieni in prosperity, to comfort them in adversity, and to edify them at all times. Such effects, the author doubts not, wiU be experienced by believers, who will read his book with an honest and good heart, with seriousness and atten- tion ; for though he humbly trusts it will not be deemed altogether unworthy a place in the libraries of the learned, he builds chiefly on that approbation which he is solicitous it should receive in the closets of the devout; as considering, that it is love, heavenly LOVE, which " never faileth ; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whe- ther there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in j)art shall be done away."t They who find not the wished-for satisfaction in one proportion, will find it in another ; they who disajiprove of an interpretation at the first reading, may perhaps approve of it at the second; and they who still continue to disapprove of some particulars, will not there- fore disdain to accept the benefit of the rest. He has written to gratify no sect or party, but for the common service of all who call on the name of Jesus, wheresoever dispersed, and however distressed upon the earth. When he views the innumerable un- happy difierences among Christians, all of whom are equally op- pressed with the cares and calamities of life, he often calls to mind those beautiful and affecting words, which Milton represents Adam as addressing to Eve, after they had wearied themselves with mu- tual complaints and accusations of each other : —

But rise ; let us no more contend, nor blame

Each other, blani'd enough elsewlicre ; but strive

In offices of love, how wo may lighten

Each other's burden in our shiue of wo. B. x. V. 958.

Enough has been given to the arts of controversy. Let some- thing be given to the studies of piety and a holy life. If we can once unite in these, our tempers may be better disposed to unite in doctrine. When we shall be duly prepared to receive it, " God nuiy reveal even this unto us."' To increase the number of dis-

" 1 Cor. xiv. 22. f 1 Cor. xiii. 7.

PREFACE. xlix

putes among us, is, therefore, by no means the intent of this pubh- cation. The author having, for many years, accustomed himself to consider and apply the Psalms, while he recited them according to the method now laid down, has never failed to experience the unspeakable benefit of it, both in public and in private; and would wish, if h so pleased God, that death might find him employed in meditations of this kind.* He has likewise frequently taken oc- casion, in the course of his ministry, to explain a Psalm upon the same plan, from the pulpit ; and whenever he has done so, whe- ther the audience were learned or unlearned, polite or rustic, he has generally had the happiness to find the discourse, in an espe- cial manner, noticed and remembered. But still, many may be of a dift'erent opinion, who niciy conscientiously believe the doc- trines, and practise the duties of the gosj^el, whether they see them shadowed out in the Psalms or not. Such will enjoy their own liberty, and permit their brethren to do the same. Or, if they shall think it necessary to take up the polemical pen, he desires only to receive that treatment which he has himself shown to every writer, cited, or referred to by him.t Instead of engaging in a tedious, and, perhaps, unprofitable altercation upon the sub- ject, he feels himself, at present, much rather inclined, in such a case, to follow, at his proper distance, the amiable example of his greatly respected Diocesan, who reprinted in England the objec- tions made by a foreign Professor to some parts of his Lectures on the Hebrew poetry, and left the public to form its own judgment between them.| From that public, the author of the following

* " I have lost a world of time," said the learned Salinasius, on his death- bed; '• if I had one year inoic, I would spend it in reading David's Psalms, and Paul's Epistles."

t Dctur ijrltur erratis meis venia: Ipse demum exemplo mco mihi pro- sim, qui ncminem eorum, a quibiis dissenscrim, coiitumeliis aHeci ; qui non, vitio Criticorum, in diversae sententia; propugnatores acriter invectus sum; qui dcnique earn veniam auteccssoribus meis libens tribui, quam ab lis, qui hwc in manus sumturi sint, velim impetrare. Pearce in Prcefat. ad edit. Cic. de Oratore.

I " In his si qua; sunt qute mihi minus persuasit Vir Clarissimus, ea ma- lui hoc modo libero Lectoruin nostroruui judic:io pcrmittere, quam in dis- ceptationcm ct controvcrsiam, injucundum, et fortasse infructuosam vo- lare." Loiiih, in Prafal. ad edit. 2dinn Praiecl. de Sacra Poesi Hebraorum. — " Authors should avoid, as much as they can," says another very learned critic, " replies and rejoinders, the usual consequences of which arc, loss of time, and loss of temper. Happy is he who is eng'ag'ed in controversy with his own j)assions, and comes oft" superior ; who makes it his endea- vour, that his follies and weaknesses may die before liim, and who daily meditates on inortality and immortality." Jorlin's Preface to his Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, p. xxxiv

7

I PREFACE.

work is now to expect the determination ol" his late. Should its sentence be in his disfavour, nothing farther remains to be said, than that he has honestly and faithfully endeavoured to servo it, to the utmost of his power, in the way in which he thought himself best able ; and to give the world some account of that time, and those opportunities, which, by the Providence of a gracious God. and the munificence of a pious Founder, he has long enjoyed iu the happy retirement of a college.

That tlic Reador may the more easily turn to such Psalms as will best suit the present state of his mind, according to the difler- ent circumstances, whether external or internal, into which by the changes and chances of life, or the variations of temper and disposition, he may, at any time, be thrown, the common Ta- ble of Psjilms, classed under their several subjects, is here sub- joined.

PkA>£RS.

I. Prai/€rs for Pardon of Sill. Psalm <), 25, 3S, 51, 130. Psabns, stvled Pi.mlenlial, 6, 32, 38,51, 1U2, 130, 143.

II. Prayers composed when the Psalmist was deprived of an op- portunity of the public exercise of religion. Psalm 42, 43, 63, 84.

III. Prayers wherein the Psalmist seems extremely dejected, though not totally deprived of consolation under his afflictions. Psalm 13, 22, 69, 77, 88, 143.

IV. Prayers wherein the Psalmist asketh help of God, in considera- tion of his own integrity, and the uprightness of his cause. Psalm 7, 17, 26, 35.

V. Prayers expressing the firmest trust and conlidence in God under afflictions. Psalm 3, 16, 27, 31, 54,56, 57, 61, 62, 71, 86.

VI. Prayers composed when the peo- ple of God w ere under affliction or persecution. Psalm 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 89, 94, 102, 123, 137.

VII. The following are likewise Prayers in time of trouble and af- lliction. Psalm 4, 5, 11, 28, 41, 55, 59, 64, 70, 109, 120, 140, 141, 142.

VIII. Prayers of intercession. Psalm 20, 67, 122, 132, 144.

Psalms of Thanksgiving.

J. Thanksgivings for Mercies vouch- safed to particular persons. Psalm 9, 18, 22, 30, 34, 40, 75, 103, 108, 116, 118, 138, 144.

II. Tli-anksgivivgs for mercies vouch- safed to tlie Israelites in general, Psalm 45, 48, 65, 66, 68, 76, 81,

84, 98, 105, 124, 126, 129, 135, 136, 149.

Psalms of Praise and Adoration, dis- playiii'j; the Attributes of God.

I. General acknowledgments of God's Goodness and Mercy, and particu- larly his care and protection of good men. Psalm 23, 34, 36, 91,

100, 103, 107, 117, 121, 145, 146.

II. Psalms displaying the Power, Majesty, Glory, and other attri- butes of the Divine Being. Psaim 8, 19, 24, 29, 33, 47, 50, 65, 66, 76, 77, 93, 95, 96, 97, 99, 104, 1 1 1 , 1 13, 114, 115, 134, 139, 147, 148, 150

Instructive Psalms. i. The diflerent characters of good and bad men ; the happiness of the one, and the miseries of the other, are represented in the fol- lowing. Psahn 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 24, 25, 32, 34, 36, 37, 50, 52, 53, 58, 73, 75, 84, 91, 92, 94, 112, 119, 121, 125, 127, 128, 133.

II. The excellence of God's Law-. Psalm 19, 119.

III. The vanity of human life. Psalm 39, 49, 90.

IV. Advice to magistrates. Psalm 82, 101.

V. The virtue of humility. Psalm 131.

Psalms more eminently and directly

prophetical. Psalm 2, 16, 22, 40, 45, 68, 72, 87,

101, 118.

Historical Psalms. Psalm 78, 105, 106

COMMENTARY

FIRST DAY.— MORNING PRAYER. PSALM I.

This Psalm, which is generally looked upon by expositors as a preface, or introduction to the rest, describes the blessedness of the righteous, con- sisting, ver. 1, negatively, in their abstaining from sin; 2. positively, in holy meditation on the scriptures, productive of continual growth in grace, which 3. is beautifully represented under an image borrowed from vegetation ; as 4. is the opposite state of the unbelieving and ungodly, by a comparison taken from the threshing-floor. The two last verses foretel the final issue of things, with respect to both good and bad men, at the great day.

T/^ER. 1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

The Psalter, like the sermon on the mount, openeth with a " beatitude," for our comfort and encouragement, directing us immediately to that happiness, which all mankind, in different ways, are seeking and inquiring after. All would secure them- selves from the incursions of misery ; but all do not consider, that misery is the offspring of sin, from which it is therefore necessary to be delivered and preserved, in order to become happy, or " blessed." The variety of expressions here used by David, in- tiraateth to us that there is a gradation in wickedness : and that

54 A COMMENTARY Psal. I.

he who would not persist in evil courses, or commence a scoffer at the mystery of godliness, must have no fellowship with bad men : since it is impossible for any one who forsakes the right path to say whither he shall wander ; and few, when they begin to " walk in the counsel of the ungodly," propose finally to sit down in the '' seat of the scornful." O thou second Adam, who alone, since the transgression of the first, hast attained a sinless perfection, make thy servants " blessed," by making them righteous, through thy merits and grace !

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

He who hath once brought himself to '•' delight" in the scrip- tures, will find no temptation to exchange that pleasure for any which the world or the flesh can offer him. Such a one will make the lively oracles of God his companions by day and by night. He will have recourse to them for direction, in the bright and cheerful hours of prosperity; to them he will apply for comfort, in the dark and drear}' seasons of adversity. The enemy, when advancing to the assault, will always find him well employed, and will be received with — " Get thee behind me, Satan !" When the law of God is the object of our studies and tneditations, we are con- formed to the example of our Redeemer himself, who, as a man, while he '• increased in stature," increased likewise " in wisdom," and grew powerful in the knowledge of the law which he was to fulfil, and of those prophecies which he was to accomplish; so that, at twelve years of age he appeared to " have more understanding than cdl his teachers : for the divine testimonies had been his medi- tation," Psalm cxix. 99.

3. And he shall he like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that hringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not zvither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

By continual meditation in the sacred writings, a man as natu- rally improves and advances in holiness, as a " tree" thrives and flourishes in a kindly and well watered soil. All the " fruhs" of righteousness show themselves at their proper " season," as oppor- tunity calls for them; and his words, which are to his actions what the " leaves" are to the fruit, fall not to the ground, but are profitable, as well as ornamental. Every thing in him and about him serves the pur})ose for which it was intended ; his brethren are benefited by him, and his Maker is glorified. How eminently is this the case with that tree of life, which Jehovah planted in

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 5r>

tlie midst of his new paradise, by the waters of comfort; a tree whicli sprung out of the earth, but its height reached to heaven, and its breadth to the ends of the world; its shadow is for the pro- tection, its fruit for the support, and its leaves for the healing of tlie nations. It flourishes in immortal youth, and blooms for ever in unfading beauty. See Rev. xxii. 2.

4. T/ie ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, u'hich the wind driveth away.

In the foregoing description of the riglitcous, all appeared ver- dant and fruitful, lovely and enduring; but here, by way of con- trast, we are presented with nothing but what is withered and worthless, without form or stability, blown about by every wind, and at lengtli finally dispersed from the face of the earth, by the breath of God's displeasure, and driven into the fire prepared for it. Such is the state, such the lot of the <* ungodly;" and so justly are they compared to " chaff."

5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

A day is coming, when the Divine Husbandman shall appear with his " fan in his hand," and shall " thoroughly purge his floor." The wheat, which shall stand the winnowing of that day, will be gathered into the celestial granary ; while the chafl', for ever sepa- rated from it, shall be hurried out of the floor, and carried, bv a mighty whirlwind, to its own place. Then shall there be a '•' congregation of the righteous," in which " sinners shall not stand." At present wheat and chafl* lie in one floor; wheat and tares grow in one field; good and bad fishes are compre- hended in one net; good and bad men are contained in the vi- sible church. Let us wait with patience God's time of sepa- ration.

G. For the Lord hioweth the icay of the righteous; hut the icay of the ungodly shall perish.

In the present scene of confusion, we may bo, and often are, deceived in the judgment we form of men. ' But it cannot be so with the Omniscient. " The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are his," 2 Tim. ii. 19. Their good deeds are not unobserved, nor will they be forgotten by him. His eye seeth them in secret, and liis hand will reward them openly, in the day of final retribution: when crowns of glory shall sparkle on the heads of the righteous, but shame and torment shall be tire portion of the wicked : " the way of the ungodly shall perish."-

56 A COMMENTARY Psal. II.

PSALM II.

ARGUMENT.

David, seated upon the throne of Israel, notwithstanding the opposition made against him, and now about to carry his victorious arms amongst the neighbouring heathen nations, may be supposed to have penned this, as a kind of inauguration Psalm. But that a " greater than David is here," appears not only from the strength of the expressions, which arc more properly applicable to Messiah than to David himself; but also from the citations made in the New Testament: the appointment of the Psalm by the church to be read on Easter day ; and the confessions of the Jewish Rabbles. It treats therefore, 1 — 3. of the opposition raised, both by Jew and Gentile, against the kingdom of Jesus Chiist; 4 — 6. of his victory, and the confusion of his enemies ; 7 — 9. after his resurrection, he pieaches the gospel, and 10 — 12. calls the kings of the earth to accept it; de- nouncing vengeance against those who shall not do so, and pronouncing a blessing on those who shall.

1 . Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed, saying,

The true David is introduced, like his ancestor of old, expos- tulating with the nations, for their vain attempts to frustrate the divine decree in his favour. These two verses are cited, j^^cts iv. 25. and thus expounded — " Lord — of a truth against the holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel deter- mined before to be done." Persecution may be carried on by the people, but it is raised and fomented by kings and rulers. After the ascension of Christ, and the eftiision of the Spirit, the whole power of the Roman empire was employed in the same cause, by those who, from time to time, swayed the sceptre of the world. But still, they who intended to extirpate the faith, and destroy the church, how many and how mighty soever they might be, were found only to " imagine a vain thing." And equally vain will every imagination be, that exalteth itself against the counsels of God for the salvation of liis people.

3. Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

These words, su|)posed to be spoken l)y the powers in arms

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 57

against Messiah, discover to us the true ground of opposition, namely, the unwillingness of rebellious nature to submit to the obligations of divine laws, which cross the interests, and lay a restraint upon the desire of men. Corrupt affections are the most inveterate enemies of Christ ; and their language is, " We will not have this man to reign over us."' Doctrines would be readily believed, if they involved in them no precepts ; and the church may be tolerated by the world, if she will only give up her dis- cipline.

4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.

By these and such like expressions, which frequently occur in the scripture, we are taught, in a language which we understand, because borrowed from ourselves, and our manner of showing contempt, how the schemes of worldly politicians appear to him, who, sitting upon his heavenly throne, surveys at a glance what- ever men are doing, or contriving to do, upon the earth. This is the idea intended to be conveyed ; and from it we are to separate all notions of levity, or whatever else may oflend when applied to the Godhead, though adhering to the phrases, as in use among the sons of Adam. The same is to be said with regard to words which seem to attribute many other human passions and affections to the Deity : as for instance, these which follow —

5. I'hen shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and t^ex them in his sore displeasure. 6. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.

The meaning is, that by pouring out his indignation upon the adversaries of Messiah, as formerly upon those of David, God would no less evidently convict and reprove their folly and im- piety, than if he had actually thus spoken to them from his eter- nal throne above; " Yet, notwithstanding all your rage against him, have I raised from the dead, and exalted, as the head of the church, my appointed King Messiah ; in like manner as I once set his victorious representative David upon my holy hill Sion in the earthly Jerusalem, out of the reach of his numerous and im- placable enemies." Let us reflect, for our comfort, that He who raised up his Son Jesus, has promised to raise up us also who be- lieve in him; and that the world can no more prevent the exalta- tion of the members, than it could prevent that of the Head.

J. I will declare the decree : Hie Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. -8

5S A COMMENTARY Psal. II.

Jesus, for the suffering of death, crowned with honour and immortahty, upon the holy hill of Zion, in the new Jerusalem, now " declares the decree," or preaches the gospel of the ever- lasting covenant. His part in the covenant was performed by keeping the law, and dying for the sins of men. Nothing there- fore remained, but the accomplishment of the promise made, to him by the Father, upon those conditions. One part of this pro- mise was fulfilled, saith St. Paul, " in that he bad raised up Jesus again ; as it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee," Acts xiii. 33. Another part was fulfilled at the ascension of Christ, and his inauguration to an eter- nal kingdom, and an unchangeable priesthood, as the true Melchi- zedek. King of righteousness, King of peace, and the Priest of the most high God. The next article in the covenant on the Fa- ther's side, was the enlargement of Messiah's spiritual kingdom, by the accession of the nations to the church. And accordingly, this was the next thing which " Jehovah said unto him," after having proclaimed his Sonship and pre-eminence; as we find by the following verse.

8. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inhe- riiancej and the iittermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Christ was to enter upon the exercise of theintercessorial branch of his priestly office, with a request to the Father, that the " hea- then world might be given for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth lor his possession," in return for the labours he had undergone, and the pains he had endured ; as also to supply the place of the Jews, who were his original " inheritance and possession," but were cast ofl", because of unbelief. That such request was made by Christ, and granted by the Father, the per- son who writes this, and he who reads it, in a once Pagan, h\\\ now Christian island, are both witnesses.

9. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessel.

The irresistible power and inflexible justice of Christ's king- dom are signified by his " ruUng with a rod of iron ;" the impo- tence of those who presume to oppose him, is com])ared to that o! " a potter's vessel," which must fly in pieces at the first stroke of the iron rod. The power of Christ will be manifested in all, by the destruction either of sin or the sinner. The hearts whicii now yield to the iminessions of his Spirit, are broken only in or- der to be formed anew, and to become vessels of honour, fitted (ox

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 59

the Master's use. Those which continue stubborn and hardened, must be dashed in pieces by the stroke of eternal vensreance.

10, Be loise now therefore, 0 ye kings : be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

The decree of the Father, concerning the kingdom of the Son, being thus promulgated by the latter, an exhortation is made to the kings of the earth, that they would learn true wisdom, and suffer themselves to be instructed unto salvation ; that they would bow their sceptres to the cross of Jesus, and cast their crowns before his throne; esteeming it a far greater honour, as well as a more exalted pleasure, to serve Him, than to find themselves at the head of victorious armies, surrounded by applauding nations.

12. Kiss ihe Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, ichcH his wrath is Idndled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Christ beseeches kings, no less than their subjects, to be recon- ciled to him, and by him to the Father: since a day is at hand, when mighty men sliall have no distinction, but that of being mightily tormented. And then will be seen the " blessedness" of those who '•' put their trust in-' the Lord Jesus. For when the glory of man shall fade away as the short-lived flower of the field, ;md when all that is called great and honourable in princes shall be laid low in the dust, he shall give unto his faithful servants a crown without cares, and a kingdom which cannot be move<l.

PSALM IIL

ARGUMENT.

This Psalm is said to have been composed by David, when he fled from his son Absalom. Thus circumstanced, lie expresses himself in terms well adapted to the parallel case of the Son of David, persecuted by rebelli- ous Israel; as also to that of his church, suffering tribulation in the world 1, 2. He complains, in much anguish, of the n'mltitude of his enemies, and of the reproaciies cast upon him, as one forsaken by God; but, 3. de- clares, notwithstanding, his sure trust in the Divine promises; 4, 5. he rcUrtes the success of his prayers, 6 — 8. derides the impotent malice of his enemies, and ascribes salvation to Jehovah.

1. Lord, lioio are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me.

David is astonished to find that " tlie hearts of the men of Is- rael are after Absalom;" 2 Sam. xv. 13. that his coimsellors are

60 A COMMENTARY Psal. III.

revolted, and his friends falling ofl' continually; and that the king of Israel is forced to leave his capital mourning and weeping. Thus, led forth out of Jerusalem by his own children in arms against him, the holy Jesus went, forsaken and sorrowing, to the cross, in the day of trouble. Thus is the church oftentimes opposed and be- trayed by her sons, and the Christian by his passions and affections. So true it is that " A man's foes are they of his own household." But he, who by prayer engages the assistance of Jehovah, will rise superior to them all.

2. Mmiy there be ivhick say of my soul, There is no help for him in God.

Affliction and desertion are two very different things, but often confounded by the world. Shimei reviled David, as reprobated by Heaven ; and the language of the Shimeis afterward, concerning the Son of David, was, " He trusted in God ; let him deliver hira now, if he will have him." See 2 Sam. xvi. 8. Matt, xxvii. 43. The fearful imaginations of our own desponding hearts, and the suggestions of our crafty adversary, frequently join to help for- ward this most dangerous temptation, in the hour of sorrow. What therefore hath faith to offer ? We shall hear —

3. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me ; my glory , and the lifter up of my head.

Such is the answer of David, and of all the saints, but above all, of the King of saints, to the temptation before mentioned. Je- hovah is a " shield" against this, and all other fiery darts, shot by Satan and his associates : he is the " glory" of Christ and the church, with which they will one day be seen invested, though for a season it appear not to the world, any more than did the royalty of David, when, weeping and barefoot, he went up mount Ohvet: 2 Sam. XV. 30. the same Jehovah is " the lilter up of our heads," by the gift of holy confidence, and the hope of a resurrection through that of Jesus Christ, prefigured by the triumphant and happy return of David to Jerusalem.

4. / cried unto the Lord tvith my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.

David, driven from Jerusalem, still looked and prayed towards the " holy hill" of Sion. Christ, when a stranger on the earth, " made supplication, with strong crying," to his Father in heaven. Christ was heard for his own sake ; David was heard, and we shall be heard, through him.

5. I laid we down and slept j J aivaked,for the Lord sustained nie.

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. Gl

Behold David, in the midst of danger, sleeping without fear ; se- cure through the Divine protection, of awaking to engage and van- quish his enemies. Behold the Son of David composing himself to his rest upon the cross, that bod of sorrows; and commending his spirit into the Father's hands, in full confidence of a joyful resur- rection, according to the promise at the time appointed. Behold this, O Christian, and let faith teach thee how to sleep, and how to die ; while it assures thee, that as sleep is a short death, so death is a longer sleep ; and that the same God watches over thee, in thy bed and in thy grave.

6. / ipill not be afraid of ten thmtsands of people, that have set themselves against we round about.

Faith, revived and invigorated by prayer, and fixed on God alone, is a stranger to foar in the worst of times. The innumerable ex- amples of saints rescued from tribulation, and above all, the resur- rection of the Son of God from the dead, render the believer bold as a lion, although the name of his adversary be "legion."

7. Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God; for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

The church, through Christ, prayeth in these words of David, that Jehovah would arise, as of old time, in the power of his might; that he would finally break the power of Satan and his adherents ; pluck the spoil out of the jaws of those beasts of prey ; and work that glorious deliverance for the members, which is already wrought for the Head of the body mystical.

8. Salvation belongeth, or, be ascribed unto the Lord; thy blessing is, or, be upon thy people.

The Psalm ends with an acknowledgment, which ought always to fill the heart, and upon every proper occasion, to flow from the mouth of a Christian ; namely, that " salvation" is not to be had from man, from the kings of the earth, or the gods of the heathen , from saints or angels, but from Jehovah alone; to whom alone, therefore, the glory should be ascribed. If He will save, none can destroy ; if He will destroy, none can save. Let Balak, then, curse Israel, or hire Balaam to curse them for him ; be but " thy blessing," O Lord, upon thy people, and it sufliceth.

62 A COMxMENTARY Psal. R^

PSALM IV.

ARGUMENT.

The person spcakinj in this Psalm, 1. prayeth to be heard by God ; 2. coii- vinceth the world of sin; 3. declareth the righteous to be under the Di- vine protection ; 4, 5. prcscribcth solitude and meditation, ns the proper means to lead men to repentance and faith ; 6. showeth, that in God aloiie peace and comfort are to be found, and 7. how superior the joys of the Spirit are to those of sense; 8. reposeth himself, in full assurance of faith, on the loving-kindness of the Lord.

1. Hear me vhcn I call, O God of my righteousness : thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.

The church, like David, "calls" aloud, as one in great affliction, for God's assistance : she addresses him as the " God of her righ- teousness," as the fountain of "pardon and grace; she reminds him of that spiritual liberty, and " enlargement" from bondage, which he had purchased for her, and oftentimes wrought in her; and con- scious of her demerits, makes her prayer for "mercy."

2. O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing, or

falsehood?

If the Israclitish monarch conceived he had just cause to expos- tulate with his enemies, for despising the royal majesty with which Jehovah had invested his Anointed; of how much severer reproof shall they be thought worthy, who blaspheme the essential " glory" of King Messiah, which shines forth by his Gospel in the church? Thou, O Christ, art everlasting truth ; all is "vanity and false- hood," transient and fallacious, but the love of thee!

3. But knoif that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself; the Lord will hear tvhcn I call unto him.

Be the o))inions, or the practices of men what they will, the counsel of the Lord shall stand. Is David " set apart" for the kingdom of Israel ? Saul shall not be able to detain, nor Absalom to wrest it from him. Is Messiah ordained to be King of the Israel of God? Death and hell shall not prevent it. Are his disciples appointed to rvign with him? Infallibly they shall. Our Interces- sor is already on high ; i-ind for his sake, " the Lord will hear us when we call upon him." What, then, can be said for us, if we neglect to call ujjon him ?

4. Stand in awe, II eb. tremble and sin not; commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 63

The enemies of Christ, as well as those of David, are here called to repentance, and the process of conversion is described. The above-mentioned consideration of tlie Divine counsel, and the cer- tainty of its being carried into execution, by the salvation of the righteous, and the confusion of their enemies, makes the wicked " tremble." "' The fear of the Lord is tiie beginning of wisdom :" it arrests the sinner in his course, and he " sins not ;" he goes no farther in the way of sin, but slops, and reflects upon what he has been doigg: he " communes with his own heart upon his bed, and is still;" his conscience sudors him not to rest in the night, but takes the advantage of solitude luid silence, to set before him his trans- gressions, with all the terrors of death and judgment; stirring him up to confess the former, and deprecate the latter, with unfeigned compunction and sorrow of heart? to turn unto the Lord and do works meet for repentance : to learn to do good, as well as to cease from doing evil.

5. Offer the sacrifices of rightcous/icss, and put ijour trust in the Lord.

The Jews are no longer to offer the shadowy sacrifices of their law, since He, who is the substance of them all, is come into the world. The Gentiles are no more to offer their idolatrous sacri- fices, since their idols have fallen before llie Cross. But returning sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are to oiler the same '' sacrilices of" evangehcal" righteousness;" not " putting their trust" in them, but '' in the Lord" Jesus, through whose Spirit they are enabled to offer, and through whose blood their oflerlngs are acceptable unto God. Faith, hope, and charity, mutually strengthen each other, and compose ••' a threefold cord," which " is not easily broken."

(j. There be inaiuj that say, Who will shew us eiTty good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

The two former verses were addressed to rebellious sinners, in- viting them to repentance and reformation. This seems to relate to the righteous, who, in times of calamity and persecution, like the friends of distressed David, are tempted to despond, on se(iing no end of their troubles. The Psalmist therefore presciibes prayer to all such, as an antidote against the temptation ; he directs them, in the darkest night, to look towards heaven, nor doubt the return of day, when the rising sun shall diffuse light and salvation, and sorrow and sighing shall fly away. How many are continually asking the question in this verse? How few applying to Him who alone can give an answer of pence and comfort.

64 A COMMENTARY Psal. V.

7. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

No sooner is the prayer preferred, but the answer is given; and the devout soul declares herself to experience a joy in the midst of tribulation, far superior to the joy with which men rejoice in the time of harvest, or that of vintage: a joy, bright and pure, as the regions from whence it descends. Such is the difference between the bread of earth, and that of heaven; between the juice of the grape, and the cup of salvation. Teach us, O Lord, to discern this difference, and to choose aright.

8. / tcill both lay me down in peace, and sleep : for thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in safety.

This conclusion affords anijile matter for profitable and delight- ful meditation, if it be considered, first, as spoken by David, or any other believer, when lying down to rest, full of the joys of a good conscience, and faith unfeigned; secondly, as pronounced by the true David, when composing himself to his rest, in certain hope of a resurrection. And happy the Christian, who having nightly, with this verse, commhted himself to his bed, as to his grave, shall at last, with the same words, resign himself to his grave as to his bed, from which he expects in due time to arise, and sing a morning hymn wiih the children of the resurrection.

PSALM y.

ARGUMENT.

The Psalmist in affliction, 1 — 3. continues, and resolves to continue, instant in prayer; 4 — 6. declares the irreconcilable hatred which God bears to sin, and 7. his own confidence of being accepted; 8. he petitions lor grace to direct and preserve him in the way ; 9. sets forth the wickedness of his enemies; 10. foretels their punishment, and 11, 12. the salvation of the faithful.

1 . Give ear to my woi-ds, 0 Lord ; consider my meditation, or, my dove-like mournings.

Although nothing can really hinder or divert the Divine atten- tion, yet God is represented as " not hearing," wlicn either the person is unacceptable, or the petition improper, or when he would thoroughly prove the faith and patience of the petitioner. Christ, the church, and the believing soul, are all in scripture styled '■ doves," from their possessing the amiable proi)erties of that

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 65

bird of meekness and innocence, purity and love. The " mourn- ings" of such are always heard and attended to in heaven.

2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God: for unto thee will I prny.

The voice of the suppliant's cry will be in proportion to the sense which he hath of his sin. Whom should a subject solicit, but his King? to whom should a sinner pray, but to his God? Let us often think upon the strong cryings of him who suffered for the sins of the world, and upon that intercession, by which the pardon of those sins was procured.

3. My voice slialt thou hear in the inorning, O Lord; in the morning mil I direct my prayer, II<>b. dispose, or set myself in order, unto, or for thee, and will look up.

He who is in good earnest, and hath his heart fully bent upon the work of salvation, like other skilful and diligent artificers, will be '''early" in his application to it; he will get the start of the world, and take the advantage of the " sweet hour of prime," to " dispose," and " set himself in order," for the day. What is a slothful sinner to think of himself, when he reads, concerning the holy Jesus, that " in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed!" Mark i. 35.

4. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in ivickedness / neither shall evil dwell with thee.

The Psalmist was encouraged to make his early prayers to God in the day of trouble, upon this consideration, that his righteous cause must finally prosper, and the Divine counsels be accom- plished in his exaltation, and the depression of his enemies, who were likewise the enemies of God, The same was the case and the confidence of a suflering Messiah ; and such is that of his church and people in the world, where " wickedness" may prosper, and *'evil" not only live, but reign. Nevertheless, we know that " God hath no pleasure" in them, nor shall they " dwell with him," as we hope to do.

5. The foolish, Heb. mad, shall not stand in thy sight : thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6. Thou shalt destroy them t/iat speak leasing, or falsehood ; the Lord doth abhor the blood' thirsty and deceitful man.

No objects of the senses can be so nauseous to them, as the va- rious kinds of sin are in the sight of God. O could we but think, as he does, concerning these, we should rather choose " madness" 'han trangression. and a*; soon fall in love with a plague-sore, as a. n

66 A COMMENTARY Psal. \ -

temptation. '' I'alseliood, blood-thirstiness, and deceitfulness,'' are marked out as cliaracteristical of the enemies of David, of Christ, and the church ; and the history evinces them so to have been. Let us never go within the infection of such pestilential crimes.

•7. But as for me, I will come into thtj house in the multitude of thy mercy : and in thy fear toill I icorship towards thy holy temple.

Wisdom, righteousness, truth, mercy, and sincerity, form a character the reverse of that drawn in the preceding verses, and such an one as God will accept, when appearing before him in his house, and offering with humility and reverence the sacrifices of the new law, as David did those of the old, through faith in him who alone filled up the character, and procured acceptance for believers and their oblations.

8. Lead me, 0 Lord, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies ; make thy way strait before my face.

The child of God, admitted into his holy temple, there prefers this petition, praying to be led by the Divine Spirit in a course of holy obedience, all impediments being removed out of the way, which otherwise might obstruct the progress, or cause the fall of one beginning to walk in the path of life; of one who had many " enemies" ready to contrive, to take advantage of, to rejoice and triumph, in his ruin. Thus a man's enemies, while they oblige him to pray more fervently, and to watch more narrowly over his conduct, oftentimes become his best friends.

9. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth, their inumrd. part is very wickedness ; their throat is an open sepulchre ; they flatter loith their tongue.

A part of this verse is cited, Rom. iii. 13. together with several other passages from the Psnlms and prophets, to evince the depra- vity of mankind, whether Jews or Gentiles, till justified by faith, and renewed by grace. It is plain, therefore, that the description was designed for others, besides the enemies of the literal David, and is of more general import, reaching to the world of the un- godly, and to the enemies of all righteousness, as manifested in the person of Messiah, and in his church. The charge brought against these is, tliat '• truth" and " fidelity" were not to be found in their dealings with God or each other; that their "inward parts" were very wickedness; their first thoughts and imagina- tions were defiled, and the stream was poisoned at the fountain ; that their "throat was an open sepulchre," continually emitting.

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. Of

in obscene and impious languajrc, tiie noisome and infectious exha- lations of a putrid iieart, entombed in a body of sin ; and that ii iver they put on the appearance of goodness, they '• flattered witli their toneue," in order the more effectually to deceive and destroy. So low is human nature fallen! "Othou Adam, what hast thou done? For though it was thou that sinned, thou art not fallen alone, but we all that come of thee." 2 Esd. vii. 48.

10. Desiroi/ thou them, 0 God ; let them fall by their own rounscL' : cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions,

for thvji have rebelled against thee.

Concerning passages of this imprecatory kind in the book of Psalms, it is to be observed, that they are not spoken of private and personal enemies, but of the opposers of God and his Anointed ; nor of any among these, but the irreclaimable and finally im- penitent; and this by way of prediction rather than imprecation; which would ajipear, if the original verbs were translated uniformly in the future tense, as they might be, and indeed, to cut off all occasion from them which desire it, should be, translated. The verse before us would then run thus, " Thou wilt destroy them, O God; they shall perish by their own counsels; thou wilt cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have re- belled against thee." The words, when rendered in this form, contain a prophecy of the infatuation, rejection, and destruction of such as should obstinately persevere in their opposition to the counsels of heaven, whether relating to David, to Christ, or to the church. The fate of Ahitophcl and Absalom, of Judas and the Jews, should warn others not to offend after the same example.

1 1 . But let all those that trust in thee rejoice ; let them ever shout for joy, because thou dcfendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. Heb. All they that trust in thee shall rejoice, &c.

As the last verse foretold the perdition of the ungodly, this de- scribes the felicity of the saints; who, trusting in God, rejoice evermore, and sing aloud in the church the praises of their Saviour and mighty defender; the love of whose name fills their hearts with joy unspeakable, while they experience the comforts of grace, and expect the rewards of glory.

12. For thou, Loud, wilt bless the righteous; with favour zoilt thou compass him as with a shield.

The " blessing" of God descends upon us through Jesus Christ ^- the righteous" or "just one," as of old it did upon Israel through David, whom, for the benefit of his chosen, God protected, deli-

68 A COMMENTARY Psal. VI.

vered, and placed upon the throne. Thou, O Christ, art the righ- teous Saviour, thou art the King of Israel, thou art the blessed of Jehovah, the fountain of blessing to all believers, and thy " fa- vour" is the defence and protection of the church militant.

FIRST DAY.— EVENING PRAYER. PSALM VI.

ARGUMENT.

This is the first of those Psalms which are styled Penitential. It contains, 1. deprecation of eternal vengeance, and 2, 3. a petition for pardon j which is enforced from a consideration of the penitent's sufferings ; 4, from tliat of the Divine mercy ; 5. from that of the praise and glory which God would fail to receive, if man were destroyed; 6, 7. from that of the penitent's humiliation and contrition. 8 — 10. the strain changes into one of joy and triumph, upon the success and retmn of the prayer.

1. O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

Let us suppose a sinner awakened to a true sense of his condi- tion, and looking around him for hel}). Above is an angry God preparing to take vengeance ; beneath, the fiery gulf ready to re- ceive him; without him, a world inflames; within the gnawing worm. Thus situated, he begins, in extreme agony of spirit, " O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure." He expects that God will " rebuke" him, but only prays that it may not be in " anger," finally to destroy him ; he desires to be chastened, but chastened in fatherly love, not in the "hot displeasure" of an inexorable judge. As often as we are led thus to express our sense of sin, and dread of punishment, let us reflect on Him whose righteous soul, endued with a sensibility pe- culiar to itself, sustained the sins of the world, and the displeasure of the Father.

2. Have mercy ujwn me, O Lord, fur I am weak : 0 Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed, Ileb. shaken or made to tremble.

The penitent entreats for mercy, first, by representing his pitia- ble case, under the image of sickness. He describes his soul as deprived of all its health and vigour, as languishing and fainting, by reason of sin, which had eat out the vitals, and shaken all the powers and supporters of the spiritual frame, so that the breath of life seemed to be departing. P^.nough, however, was left, to sup-

Day I. E. P. ON THE PSALMS. 69

plicate the healing aid of the God of mercy and comfort; to peti- tion for oil and wine at the hands of the Physician of spirits. How happy is it for us, that we have a Physician, who cannot but be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, seeing that he him- self once took them upon him, and suffered for them even unto the death of the cross, under which he '* fainted,'' and on which •' his bones were vexed."

3. My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O Lord, how long? Anotlier argument is drawn from the sense which the penitent

hath of this Iiis woful condition, and the consternation and anxiety produced thereby in his troubled mind. Those cause him to fly for refuge to the hope set before him. " Hope deferred maketh the heart sick ;'" he is therefore beautifully represented as crying out, with a fond and longing impatience, " but thou, O Lord, how long ?" His strength is supposed to fail him, and the sentence is left imperfect. Wliat, blessed Jesus, were thy " troubles," when to thy companions thou saidst, " JMy soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death !" By those thy sorrows we beseech thee to hear the voice of thine afllicted church, crying to thee from the earth, " My soul also is sore troubled; but thou, O Lord, how long?"

4. Return, 0 Lord, deliver iny soul^ O save me for thy mercies' sake.

A third argument is formed ujion the consideration of God's " mercy ;" for the sake of which, as it is promised to penitents, he is requested to ^' return," or to turn himself towards the suppliant ; to lift up his countenance on the desponding heart ; to " deliver" it from darkness and the shadow of death, and to diffuse around it light and life, salvation, joy, and gladness, like the sun in the morn- ing, when he revisits a benighted world, and calls up the creation to bless the maker of so glorious a luminary, so bright a repre- sentative of redeeming love.

5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who sliall give thee thanks?

The fourth argument proceeds upon a supposition that God cre- ated man for his own glory, which, therefore, would be so far di- minished, if man were permitted finally to perish. The body could not glorify God, unless raised from the dead: nor could the soul, if left in hell. The 'voice of thanksgiving is not heard in the grave, and no hallelujahs are sung in the pit of destruction. This plea, now urged by the church, was urged for her without all doubt, by her Saviour in his devotions, and prevailed in his mouth, as through him, it will do in hers.

ro A COMMENTARY Psal. VI.

6. I am weary with my groaning ; all the night make I my bed to siviin ; I water my couch with my tears.

The penitent is supplied with a fifth argument, by the signs and fruits of a sincere repentance, which put themselves forth in him. Such was his sorrow, and such revenge did he take upon himself, that for every idle word he now poured forth a groan, like him that is in anguish through extremity of bodily pain, until he was " weary," but yet continued groaning; while the sad remembrance of each wanton folly drew a tear from the fountains of grief. The all-righteous Saviour himself wept over sinners : sinners read the story, and yet return again to their sins !

7. Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old be- cause of all mine enemies.

Grief exhausts the animal spirits, dims the eyes, and brings on old age before its time. Thus it is said concerning the man of sor- rows, that '• many were astonished at him, his visage was marred more than any man, and his form was more than the sons of men," Isaiah lii. 14. How long in these times, might youth and beauty last, were godly sorrow their only enemy ?

8. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for the Lono hath heard the voice of my weeping. 9. The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord will hear, or hath heard, my prayer.

Repentance having performed her task, having taught l>er votary to forsake sin, and to renounce all communication with sinners, now gives place to faith, which appears with the glad tidings of pardon and acceptance, causing the penitent to rejoice in God his Saviour, with joy unspeakable; and inspiring his heart with vigour and resolution to run his course in the way of righteousness. Risen to newness in life, he defies the malice, and predicts the final over- throw of his spiritual adversaries.

10. Lict all mine enemies, or, all mine enemies shall be ashamed, and sore vexed; let them, or, they shall return, and be ashamed suddenly.

Many of the mournful Psalms end in this manner, to instruct the believer, that he is continually to look forward, and solace himself with beholding that day, when his warfare shall be accom- plished ; when sin and sorrow shall be no more ; when sudden and everlasting confusion shall cover the enemies of righteousness; when the sackcloth of the penitent shall be exchanged for a robe of glory, and every tear become a sparkling gem in his crown ; when to sighs and groans shall succeed the songs of heaven set to angelic harps, and failh shall be resolved into the vision of the Ahnisihlv.

Day!. E. p. ON THE PSALMS. 71

PSALM VII.

ARGUMENT.

Oaviil is said to have roinposod tliis Psalm conccrninsTthc words or tlie mat- ter of Cush tlio Ben jamito. Whether Saul, or Shiinei, or any one else, he intcMidcd under this name, it is sufficiently clear, that David had been maliciously aspersed and calunniiated by such a person ; that the Psalm was written to vindicate himself from the imputation, whatever was the nature of it; and consequently may be considered as the appeal of the true David and his disciples against the grand accuser and his associates. The person speakinc:, 1, 2. declares his trust to be in God; 3 — 5. pro- tests his innocence; 6 — 8. desires that judgment may be given in the cause; 9, 10. prays for the abolition of sin, and the full establishment of righteousness; 11 — 13. sets forth the Divine judgfnients against sinners ; 14 — 16. describes the beginning-, progress, and end of sin, with, 17. the joy and triumph of the faithful.

1. O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust; save me from (dl them that persecute me, and deliver me.

To a tender and ingenuous spirit, the " persecution" of the tongue is worse tlian that of the sword, and with more difficuhy submitted to; as indeed a good name is more precious than bodily life. Ke- lievers in ever}- age have been persecuted in this way; and the King of saints often mentions it as one of the bitterest ingredients in his cup of sorrows. Faith and prayer are the arms with which this formidable temptation must be encoimtered, and may be over- come. The former assures us, that God can " save and deliver" us from it; the latter induces him so to do.

2. Lest he tear my soul like a lion rending it in pieces, tohile there is none to deliver.

The " lion," of whom David stood in fear, was probably Saul, roiised, by a false accusation, to destroy him. The rage of tyrants is often in the same manner excited against the church. And we all have reason to dread the fury of one, who is " the roaring lion," as well as the " accuser of the brethren." From him none can de- liver us, but God only.

3. O Lord 7ny God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands ;

David makes a solemn appeal to God, the searcher of hearts, as judge of his innocence, with regard to the particular crime laid to his charge. Any person, when slandered, may do the same. But Christ only could call upon Heaven to attest his universal upriglit- nes-;. In his "hands" there was " no iniquity;" all his works

72 A COMMENTARY Psal. VII.

were wrought in perfect righteousness ; and when the prince of this world came to try and explore him, he found nothing whereof justly to accuse him. The vessel was thoroughly shaken, but the liquor in it continued pure.

A. If I have reu'ctrded evil unto him that was at peace loith me ; yea, I have delivered him that tvithout cause is mine enemy.

David i)robably alludes to the life of Saul, which was twice pre- served by him, when he had been pressed by his attendants to em- brace the opportunity of taking it away. See 1 Sam. xxiv. xxvi. Of the Son of David St. Paul says, " in this he commended his love to us, that when we were sinners, he died for us," Rom. v. 8. In so exalted a sense did he " deliver him that without cause was his enemy." Wretched they who persecute their benefactor; happy he who can reflect, that he has been a benefactor to his persecutors.

5. Let the enemy jiersecttfe my soul, and fake it; yea, lei him tread down my life upo7i the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust.

These are the evils which David imprecates on himself, if he were such as his adversaries represented him ; persecution, appre- hension, death, and disgrace. Christ, for our sakes submitting to the imputation of guilt, suffered all these; but being innocent in himself, he triumphed over them all ; he was raised and released, glorified and adored; he pursued and overtook his enemies, he conquered the conquerors, and trampled them under his feet ; and he enableth us, through grace, to do the same.

6. Arise, 0 Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for 7ne to the judgment that thou hast commanded.

To a protestation of innocence succeeds a prayer for judgment upon the case, which is formed on lliese two considerations; first, the unreasonable and unrelenting fury of the persecutors ; secondly, the justice which God has " commanded" others to execute, and which therefore he himself will doubtless execute upon such occa- sions. How did he " awake," and " arise," and " lift up himself to judgment," on the behalf of his Anointed, in the day of the re- surrection of Jesus, and the subsequent confusion of his enemies } And let injured innocence ever comfort itself with the remembrance of another day to come, when, every earth-born cloud being re- mov(!d, it shall dazzle its oppressors with a lustre far superior to that of a noon-day sun.

7. So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about : for their sakes, therefore, return thou on high.

Day I. E. P. ON THE PSALMS. 73

Tlie meaning- is, tliat a visible display of God's righteous judg- ment would induce multitudes who should. behold, or hear of it, to adore and glorify him. For their sakes, therefore, as well as that of the sufferer, he is entreated to reascend the tribunal, as formerly, and pronounce the wished-for sentence. Thus the determination of the cause between Jesus and his adversaries, by his resurrection, and " return- on high," brought " the congregation of the nations" around him, and eflected the conversion of the world. Nor, in iiuman affairs, docs any thing more advance the reputation of a people among their neighbours, than an equitable sentence in the mouth of him who sitteth in judgment.

8. The L.0V1.D shall judge the people: judge mc, O Lord, ac- cording to my righteousness,) and according to mine integrity that is in me.

Conscious of his '•' righteousness and integrity," as to the mat- ter in question, David desires to be judged by him, who is to judge the world at the last day. How iew,, among Christians, have seri- ously and deliberately considered, whether the sentence of that day is likely to be in their favour ! Yet, how many, with the utmost composure and self-complacency, repeat continually the words of this Psalm, as well as those in the Te Deum, " We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge!" Legal, or perfect righteousness and integrity are peculiar to the Redeemer; but evangelical righte- ousness and integrity all must have, who would be saved.

0. O let the micLedness of the wiched come to an end ; hut esta- blish the just : or, the wickedness of the wicked shall, &c. :for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. 10. My defence is of God, toho savelh the upright in heart.

It is predicted that wickedness w'ill, in the end, be abohshed, and the just immoveabiy establisiied, hy Him who know-eth intimately the very thoughts and desires of both good and bad men, and will give to each their due reward. How can we doubt of this, when it has pleased God to afford so many examples and preludes to it, in his dispensations of old time ? The righteous cause hath already triumphed in Christ; let us not douljt, but that it will do so in the church. Happy the man, whose hope is therefore in God, because " he saveth the upright in heart."

11. God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

The sense seems to be, that there are daily instances in the world of God's favour towards his people; as also of his displeasure against 'he ungodly, who are frequently visited by sore judgments, and taken 10

74 A COMMENTARY Psal. VII,

away in their sins. In this Ught we should consider and regard all history, whether that of our own age and nation, or of any other.

12. If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13. lie hath also prepared for him the instru- ments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.

The sinner, who is not converted by the vengeance inflicted on others, will himself at length be made an example of. The wrath of God may be slow, but it is always sure. In thoughtless security man wantons and whiles away the precious hours ; he knows not that every transgression sets a fresh edge on the sword, which is thus continually whetting for his destruction; nor considers, that he is the mark of an archer who never errs, and who, at this very instant, perhaps, has fitted to the string that arrow which is to pierce his soul with everlasting anguish.

14. Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falsehood.

This is not to be understood as if " travail" were previous to " conception.'' The first is a general expression; " Behold, he travaileth with iniquity;" the latter part of the verse is more par- ticular; as if it had been said, " and having conceived mischief, he bringeth forth falsehood." When an evil thought is instilled into the heart of a man, then the seed of the wicked one is sown; by admitting, retaining, and cherishing the diabolical suggestion in his mind, he " conceiveth" a puipose of " mischief;" when that pur- pose is gradually formed and matured for the birth, he " travaileth with iniquity;" at length by carrying it into action, " he bringeth forth falsehood." The purity of the soul, like that of the body, from whence the image is borrowed, must be preserved by keeping out of the way of temptation.

15. He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. l6. His mischief shall retmm upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come doicn upon his oion pate.

All the world agrees to acknowledge the equity of that sentence which inflicts upon the guilty the punishment intended by them for the innocent. No one pities the fate of a man buried in that pit which he had dug to receive his neighbour; or of him who owes his death-wound to the return of an arrow shot against Heaven. Saul was overthrown by those Philistines whom he would have made the instruments of cutting ofi" David. Haman was hanged on his own gallows. The Jews who excited the Romans to crucify Christ, were themselves, by the Romans, crucified in crowds. Striking instances these of the vengeance to be one day executed

Day I. E. P. ON THE PSALMS. 75

on all tempters and persecutors of others; when men and ancrels shall lift up their voices, and cry out together '' Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are thy judgments."

17. I will praise the Lord according to his righteousness ; and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high.

Whatever doubts may at present arise concerning the ways of God, let us rest assured that they will all receive a solution; and that the " righteousness"' of the groat Judge, manifested in his final determinations, will be the subject of everlasting hallelujahs.

PSALM vin.

ARGtJMENT.

This is the first of those Psalms which the church has appointed to be read on Ascension-day. It treats, as appears from Heb. ii. 6, &lc. of the won- derful love of God, shown by the exaltation of our nature in Messiah, or the second Adam, to the rig^ht hand of the Majesty on high, and by the subjection of all creatures to the word of his power.

1. O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! who hast set thj glory above the heavens.

The prophet beholds in spirit the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow; like St. Stephen afterward, he sees hea- ven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God ; the sight fills his heart with wonder, love, and devotion, which break forth in this address to " Jehovah," as " our Lord ;" for such he is by the twofold right of creation and redemption, having made us, and pur- chased us. On both accounts, " how excellent," how full of beauty and honour is his name, diffused by the gospel through " all the earth !" But more especially do men and angels admire and adore him for the exaltation of his •• glory," the glory of the only begot- ten, high " above the heavens," and all created nature, to the throne prepared for him before the foundation of the world.

2. Out of the mout h of ha bcs and sucklings hast thou ordained^ Heh. founded, or constituted, strength, because of thine enemies^ that thou mightest still the enemy and avenger.

This verse is cited by our Lord, Malt. xxi. l6. and applied to little children in the temple, crying, " Ilosannah to the Son of Da- vid !" which vexed and confounded his malignant adversaries.

The import of tiie words, therefore, plainly is, that the praises of Messiah, celebrated in the church by his children, have in them a strength and power which nothing can withstand ; they can abash

76 A COMMENTARY Psal. VIII.

infidelity, when at its greatest heiglit, and strike hell itself dumb. In the citation made by our Lord, which the evangelist gives from the Greek of the LXX. we read, " thou hast perfected praise," which seems to be rather a paraphrase than a translation of the Hebrew, literally rendered by our translators, '' thou hast ordained strength."

3. Jflicn I consider thy heavens, the work of thi) fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained: 4. J^hat is man. that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou vi- sitest him?

At the time of inditing this Psalm, David is evidently supposed to have had before his eyes the heavens, as they appear by night. He is struck with the awful magnificence of the wide extended firmament, adorned by the moon walking in brightness, and ren- dered brilliant by the vivid lustre of a multitude of shining orbs, differing from each other in magnitude and splendour. And when, from surveying the beauty of heaven, with its glorious show, he turrit to take a view of the creature man, he is still more affected by the mercy, than he had before been by the majesty of the Lord : since far less wonderful it is, that God should make such a world as this, than that He, who made such a world as this, should be '• mindful of man," in his fallen estate, and should '' visit" human nature with his salvation.

5. For thou hast inadc him a little, or, for a little while, lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands : thou hast put all things under his feet.

On these two verses, with that preceding, St. Paul has left us the following comment. " One in a certain place testified, saying. What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? or the son of man that thou visitest him ? Thou madest him a little lower than [?H«rjO-. a little while inferior to] the angels; thou crowncst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who M'as made a little lower tlian the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour," Heb. ii. 6, &c. See also 1 Cor. xv. 27-

7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8. The fold of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsover passeth through the paths of the seas.

Day I. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 77

Adam, upon his creation, was invested with sovereign dominiDU over the creatures, in words of the same import with these ; Cen. i, 28. which are therefore here used, and the creatures particuhuized, to inform us, that what the fust Adam lost by transgression, the second Adam regained by obedience. That " glory" which was « set above the heavens," could not but be over all things on " the earth." And accordingly, we hear our Lord saying, after his resur- rection " All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," Matth. xxviii. 18. Nor is it a speculation unpleasing, or unpro- fitable, to consider, that he who rules over the material world, is Lord also of the intellectual, or spiritual creation, represented thereby. The souls of the faithful, lowly and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who, like oxen, are strong to labour in the church, and who, by expounding the word of life, tread out the corn for the nourishment of the [)cople, own him for their kind and beneficent master ; nay, tempers fierce and untractable as the wild beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will; spirits of the angelic kind, that, like the birds of the air, traverse freely the su- perior region, move at his command ; and those evil ones, whose ha- bitation is in the deep abyss, even to the great Leviathan himself; all, are put under the feet of King Messiah ; who " because he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, was therefore highly exalted, and had a name given him above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, whether of things in heaven, or things on earth, or things under the eartli ; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father," Phil. ii. 8, &c. 9. 0 Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! Let therefore the universal chorus of men and angels join their voices together, and make their sound to be heard as one, in honour of the Redeemer, evermore praising him, and saying, O Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Righteousness, Peace and Glory, King of kings, and Lord of lords, how excellent, how precious, how lovely, how great and glorious is thy Name, diffused over all the earth, for the salvation of tliy chosen. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and un- to the Lamb, for over and ever. And let heaven and eartii say, Amen.

7» A COMMENTARY Psal. IX.

SECOND DAY.— MORNING PRAYER. PSALM IX.

ARGUMENT. This Psalm consists of two parts, a thanksgiving, 1 — 12; and a prayer^ 13 — 20. Upon what particular occasion it was composed, is not known ; probably, to celebrate the victories gained by David over the neighbour- ing nations, after God had exalted him to be king in Sion. See ver. 11- But most certainly the Psnlm was intended for the use of tlie Christian church ; and she continually, by using it, 1, 2. declares her resolution to celebrate the praises of her God ; since 3, 4. her enemies were vanquished, and her cause was carried; 5, 6. the empire of Satan was subverted, and 7, 8. the kingdom of Christ established; 9, 10. affording to believers refuge and salvation, for all these blessings. 11. Christians are excited to praise their Redeemerj who 12. forgets notliing that is done or suffered for his sake. 13, 14. the church petitions for final deliverance from the world, and the evil thereof; 15, Iti. building her hope ii])on the mercies already received; 17, 18. she foretels the destruction of the wicked; and 19, 20. prays for the manifestation of God.

1. I icill praise thee, 0 Lord, icith my wJiole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

In this animated and exahed hymn, the church begins with de- claring her resolution to " praise Jehovah," as the author of her salvation ; and that, neither coldly, as if the salvation were little worth, nor partially, reserving a share of the glory of it to herself; but with the " whole heart," with an affection pure and flaming, like the holy fire upon the altar. She is determined to "show forth" to the world, for its conviction and conversion, " all his marvellous works," the most "marvellous" of which are those wrought for, and in the souls of men. Outward miracles strike more forcibly upon the senses ; but they are introductory only to those internal operations, which they arc intended to represent.

2. / loill he glad and rejoice in thee : I xvill sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

Christians are taught to "be glad and rejoice," not in abundance of wealth, or plenitude of power, not in the pleasures of sense or the praise of men, but in God their Saviour; and their joy is as far superior to the joy of the worldly, as the object of one is to that of the other. He who, with the spirit and the understanding, as well as with the voice, "sings praise to thy name, O Most High," is em- ployed as the angels are, and experiences a foretaste of the de- light they feel.

3. When mine enemies are driven hack, they shall fall, or, they stumble, or fall; and perish at thy presence.

Day ir. M. P. ON THE PSALMS. 79

The cluirch begins to explain the subject of her joy, which is a victory over her "enemies;" a victory not gained by herself, but by the " presence of (iod" in the midst of her. The grand enemy of our salvation was first vanquished by Christ in the wilderness, and "driven back," with the words "Get thee behind me, Satan." The same blessed person afterwards completely triumphed over him upon the cross, when the " prince of this world was cast out." This is that great victory, which we celebrate in psalms, and hynms, and spiritual songs, from generation to gcneralif)n ; and, through faith in him who achieved it, we are likewise enabled to fight, and to overcome.

4. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou safest in the throne judging right.

The same important transaction is here described in forensic, ;is before it was in military terms. Satan