teen, he saw in the cottage of a Scots gardener, a small detached volume of Leighton's Sermons; without the title-page, or any mark to indicate the author. Taking it up, and being much struck with the first page, he enquired of the possessor, whether he knew the author? " No, Sir," was the reply; but, that book has been blessed to my soul, and must have been written by some great and good man." He never rested till he discovered the author, and procured all his works then published. Now, after the lapse of thirty years, and having read the discourses often, his esteem is increased; and he shall ever reckon it a signal honour conferred upon him, to have been, in any degree, instrumental in diffusing the knowledge and usefulness of such pure and precious productions. That the divine blessing may accompany them in the experience of every reader, when the hand which now writes shall be mouldered in the dust, is the cordial desire, and fervent prayer of,

Weston-place, August 30, 1807. S

GEORGE JERMENT.

MEDITATIONS

CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL,

ON

PSALM IV.

TITLE, To the chief Musician on Neginoth, a Psalm of David.

MAN

ANY of the calamities of good men look like miseries, which yet on the whole appear to have conduced greatly to their happiness; witness the many prayers which they poured out in those calamities; the many seasonable and shining deliverances which succeeded them, and the many hymns of praise they sung to God their deliverer: so that they seem to have been cast into the fire on purpose that the odour of their graces might diffuse itself all abroad.

The seventy Greek Interpreters seem to have read the word which we render to the chief musician, something different from the reading of our present Hebrew copy, i. e. Lemenetz, instead of Lemenetzoth; and therefore they render it, s TEG, as the Latin does in finem, to the end. From whence the Greek and Latin Fathers imagined that all the Psalms which bear this inscription, refer to the Messiah, the great End and the accomplishment of all things; a sentiment which was rather pious than judicious, and led them often to wrest several passages in the Psalms by violent and unnatural glosses: yet I would not morosely reject all interpretations of that VOL. V. B

kind, seeing the apostles themselves apply to Christ many passages out of the Psalms and other books of the Old Testament, which if we had not been assured of it by their authority, we should hardly have imagined to have had any reference to him. Nor is it probable that they enumerated all the predictions of the Messiah, which are to be found in the prophetic writings, but only a very small part of them, while they often assure us that all the sacred writers principally center in him; and it is certain the passage out of this Psalm which Austin, and some others, suppose to refer to Christ, may be applied to him without any force upon the expression, Oye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? And what follows they explain with the same reference, Know that the Lord has in a wonderful manner separated his Holy One unto himself. Others however render the title in a different manner (victori) to the conqueror. Moderns translate it præcentori, or præfecto musica, to the chief musician, or him who presided over the band of musicians, which after all seems the most natural interpretation. The word Neginoth, which is sometimes rendered stringed instruments, did no doubt signify instruments of music which were struck to give their sound, as Nehiloth, in the title of Psalm v. seems, though not without some little irregularity in the etymology, to signify instruments of wind music. The Psalm was written by David, as a summary of the prayer he had poured out before God, when some exceeding great affliction seemed to besiege him on every side, whether it were the persecution of Saul, or the conspiracy of Absalom his

son.

*They read it gravi corde, as expressive of the stupidity of heart which the rejecting of Christ and his gospel manifests.

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

Hear me.] Behold the sanctuary to which this good man betook himself, in all the afflictions of his life; a sanctuary, which therefore he sets off, by accumulating a variety of expressive titles all to the same purpose", My rock, my fortress, my strength, my deliverer, my buckler, &c. He is indeed a place of refuge to his children; and therefore, as Solomon expresses it, In the fear of the Lord is a strong confidence. There seems something of an Enigma in that expression, confidence in fear, yet the thing itself is most true. And again, The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. And they who know not this refuge are miserable; and when any danger arises, they run hither and thither, as Antoninus beautifully expresses it, μυιάων έπλομενων διαδρομαῖς, They fly and flutter they know not whither." The life of man upon earth is a warfare; and it is much better, in the midst of enemies and dangers, to be acquainted with one fortress than with many inns. He that knows how to pray may be pressed, but cannot be overwhelmed *."

Hear me O Lord, hear my prayer.] He did not think it enough to have said this once, but he redoubled it. He who prays indeed is seriously engaged in the matter, and not only seriously, but vehemently too; and urges the address, because he himself is urged by his necessities and difficulties, and the ardent motion of his own desire and affection, and let it be observed, that these are the only prayers that mount on high, and offer a kind of grateful violence to heaven. Nor does the divine goodness grant any thing with greater readiness and delight, than the blessings which seem, if I may be allowed h Psal. xviii. 1. i Prov. xiv. 26. * Premi potest, non potest opprimi.

Prov. xviii. 10.

the expression, to be forced out and extorted by the most fervent prayer. So that Tertullian used to say, "That, when we pray eagerly, we do as it were combine in a resolute band, and lay siege to God himself." These are the perpetual sacrifices in the temple of God (Ovrías λey mal) rational victims, prayers and intermingled vows, flowing from an upright and pure heart: but he who presents his petitions coldly, seems to bespeak a denial: for is it to be wondered at, that we do not prevail on God to hear our prayers, when we hardly hear them ourselves while we offer them? How can we suppose that such devotions should penetrate heaven, or ascend up to it? How should they ascend when they do not so much as go forth from our own bosoms, but like wretched abortives, die in the very birth? But why do I say that they do not go out from the inward recesses of our bosoms? alas! they are only formed on the surface of our lips, and they expire there, quite different from what Homer ascribes to his wise and eloquent Ulysses, when he says,

Θσα τε μεγάλίω ἐκ ςήθες δεν

Forth from his breast he poured a mighty cry.

Thou God of my righteousness.] "Oh God who art righteous thyself, and art the patron of my righteousness, of my righteous cause, and of my righteous life;" for it is necessary that both should concur, if we desire to address our prayers to God with any confidence: not that depending upon this righteousness, we should seek the divine aid and favour, as a matter of just debt; for then, as the apostle argues, it were no more of grace'.

Our prophet is certainly very far from boasting of his merits; for here he so mentions his righteousness, as at the same time to cast himself upon the divine mercy, Have mercy upon me, exercise thy propitious clemency towards me; and this is indeed the *Precantes veluti stipato agmine Deum obsidere. Rom. xi. 6.