from whence he is." And again, "thou art | The Son of God himself, in the midst of a Samaritan, and hast a devil. John, i. 11. sorrows and sufferings, has recourse to prayer, ix. 29. viii. 48. The ground of all this en- pleading for his church the "mercies" of the mity was the "zeal" of Christ for the refor- Father, set forth in the promises, and his mation and purification of the church, which "truth," engaged to make those promises he manifested in his reproofs and exhortations, good, in the "salvation" of his chosen, as also by the emblematical act of driving the through their head and representative. The buyers and sellers out of the temple. Upon "acceptable time," in which Christ prayed, this latter occasion, the evangelist tells us, was the time when he offered the great propi"his disciples remembered that it was tiatory sacrifice. Through the merit of that written," that is, it was predicted of Messiah sacrifice it is, that we have an "acceptable in this Psalm, "The zeal of thine house hath time, and a day of salvation," allowed us. eaten me up" John ii. 17. Therefore, as Behold, Now is that time, behold Now is that he adds immediately, "the reproaches of them day! Let us not delay one moment to use that reproached thee fell on me." In ca- and improve it aright. lumniating and blaspheming the works of the Son of God, the Jews reproached both the Father who gave him those works to do, and the Spirit by which he did them all which reproaches fell on the man Christ, as the visible instrument employed in the doing of them. This last passage is thus quoted and applied by St. Paul-"Even Christ pleased not himself: but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell Rom. xv. 3. The usage our Lord met with from his brethren, because of his zeal for the house of God, should comfort those who meet with the same usage, on the

on me :"

same account.

10. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. 11. I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. 12. They that sit in the gate speak against me: and I was the song of the drunkards.

14. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters 15. Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

Messiah petitions for deliverance from calamities, under the same images which were employed at the beginning of the Psalm, to describe those calamities. The purport of the petition is, that the sins of the world, and the sufferings due to them, may not finally overwhelm him, nor the grave "shut her mouth upon him" for ever; but that the morning of his resurrection may at length succeed the night of his passion. Such is also the hope and the prayer of the church, and of the Christian, here below.

16. Hear me, OLORD, for thy loving kindness is good: turn unto me, according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. 17. And hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. 18. Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of mine enemies. 19. Thou hast known my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor: mine enemies are all before thee.

To expiate the sins of his creatures, the King of glory became a man of sorrows; he put on mortal flesh, as a penitential garment; he fasted and prayed, and mourned, and wept, and humbled himself to the dust, as if he had been the offender, and we the righteous persons that needed no repentance. And what return was made As afflictions increase, the prayers are rehim? "It was to his reproach, and he doubled. Christ pleads with the Father for rebecame a proverb to them," for whom he suf- demption from death, on account of his divine fered. 66 They that sat in the gate," or, on the "loving kindness and mercy; " of his own "judgment-seat," which used to be in the great "trouble;" of his " enemies," that they gates of cities, even the senators and judges might be either converted or confounded; of of the land, the chief priests and elders, the" reproach, shame, and dishonor" under"spake against him," with cool and deliberate gone by him, that they might be wiped off, and malice; while he was "the song of the done away; of the wrong he suffered from his drunken" and profligate, who more grossly adversaries, whose iniquitous proceedings were insulted and derided him. The true follow-"all before God," and known unto him. Deers of the holy Jesus will often experience the like treatment, from an evil and adulterous generation.

13. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercies hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

liverance from tribulation and persecution, is prayed for by the church, and by her faithful children, upon the same grounds.

20. Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none,

21. They

gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

The argument urged by Christ, in these most affecting words, is, that in the extremity of his passion, he was left alone, without a comforter, a friend, or attendant; while all that were round about him studied to infuse every bitter and acrimonious ingredient into his cup of sorrows. This was literally as well as metaphorically true, when "they gave him to drink vinegar mingled with gall." See Matt. xxvii. 34. John, xix. 28. Such are the comforts often administered, by the world, to an afflicted and deserted soul.

22. Their table shall become a snare before them; and that which should have been for their welfare, Heb. their peace offerings, shall become a trap.

At this verse beginneth a prediction of those dreadful judgments which heaven has since inflicted upon the crucifiers of the Lord of Glory. By their "table becoming a snare, and their peace offerings a "trap," is pointed out the consequences of the Jews adhering to the legal services, in opposition to him who is "the end of the law, for righteousness." After his suffering and exaltation, to continue under the law, became not only unprofitable, but destructive, inasmuch as it implied a denial of Messiah's advent, and a renunciation of every evangelical benefit and blessing. The religion of God's own appointment was an abomination to him, when reduced to the form of godliness, deserted by its power. Christians, who pride themselves in the one, while they deny and deride the other, would do well te consider this.

to the earth. "The veil remaineth yet upon their hearts," in the reading the Old Testament; nor can they see therein "the things which belong unto their peace." These last two verses are cited, as spoken of Israel, by St. Paul, Rom. xi. 9, 10. Afflict us, blessed Lord, if thou seest it good for us to be afflicted only take not from us, in our affliction, the "light" of thy truth, and the "strength" of thy grace.

24. Tkou wilt pour out thine indignation upon them, and thy wrathful anger will take hold of them.

Never was "indignation so poured out," never did "wrath so take hold" on any nation, as on that, which once was, beyond every other, beloved and favored. "The wrath," says St. Paul, 1 Thess. ii. 16, "is come upon them to the uttermost, is reλs, to the end," to the very last dregs of the cup of fury. Let every church which boasteth of favors bestowed, and privileges conferred upon her, remember the consequences of their being abused by Jerusalem; and let every individual do the same.

25. Their habitation shall be desolate, and none shall dwell in their tents.

Our Lord seems to have had this passage in his view, when he said to the Jews," Behold, your house is left unto you desolate :" Matt. xxiii. 38. Jerusalem was by the Roman armies destroyed from the foundations. It hath been since indeed rebuilt, and inhabited by Gentiles, by Christains, and by Saracens, but no more by the Jewish people. It is remarkable, that this verse is applied, Acts, i. 20, to Judas, considered as the head and representative of that apostate nation, which rejected and delivered up its Prince and Saviour to be crucified. "He was guide to They who loved darkness rather than light them that took Jesus:" Acts, i. 16. The by the righteous judgment of God, were per-punishment therefore, as well as the sin of mitted to walk on in darkness, while the blind Israel, is portrayed in his person, and the led the blind. And such still continues to same prophecy is applicable to him and to be the state of the Jews, notwithstanding that his countrymen.* intolerable weight of woe which made" their loins to shake," and bowed down their backs

23. Thou wilt darken their eyes that they shall not see; and make their loins continually to shake.

*I have taken the liberty to give a future rendering to the verbs in this and the following verses. That they are to be so understood, saith Dr. Hammond, i. e. in the future sense, by way of prediction, and not as an imprecation, see St. Aug. de Civ. 1, xvii. c 19. "Hæc non optando sunt dicta, sed optandi specie, pro phetando-These things are not said by the way of wishing, but under the show or scheme of wishing by prophecy." And indeed the Hebrew is in the future, and is most fitly rendered, "shall be." Andso doth the Jewish Arab interpreter observe, that such seeming imprecations as here and elsewhere occur in this book of Psalms are not so much by way of imprecation, as by way of prophecy, or prediction of what in God's best judgments would certainly befall man. HAM in loc.

26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.†

The cause of the foregoing calamities, inflicted on the Jews, is here assigned,

* "Fiat habitatio eorum deserta "-De Juda proditore exponitur, Act. i. 20. Congruit etiam Judæis, eversa Hierosolyma, quod Christus predixerat: "Ecce relinquetur vobis domus vestra deserta." Luc. xiii. 35. BossUET.

† Datur his in verbis ratio longe maxima et gravissima, propter quam Judæi terra sua essent ejiciendi, ac nomine et prerogativis populi Dei privandi, quia nimirum "eum persequuntur, quem a Deo percussum" vident, hoc est, quem vident ira Divina maximopere pressum, et ad summa adnuoviav redactum. VITRINGA, Observat. Sacr. lib. ii. cap. 9.

namely, that, instead of mourning and sym-am poor and sorrowful;" "poor," for he was pathizing with Messiah, in the day when divested of his very garments; "sorrowful," Jehovah laid on him the iniquities of us all, for he was covered over with stripes and and afflicted him for our sakes, they, by wounds. But he knew the hour was coming reproaches and blasphemies, aggravated his when the salvation of God would raise him sufferings to the uttermost; and afterwards from the dead, and "set him up on high." continued to use his disciples in the same Thus should a disciple of Jesus depart out of manner. It were to be wished that the sor- the world, joyfully relinquishing its goods, rows of the penitent, when wounded with a patiently bearing its evils, and confidently sense of sin, never subject him to the scorn expecting a resurrection to glory. and contempt of those who would be thought Christians.

27. Thou wilt add iniquity to their iniquity; and they shall not come into thy righteousness.

As they added affliction to the afflictions of Christ, so God permitted* them to go on, blinded and deserted, in their wickedness, "adding sin to sin," filling up the measure of their fathers, still obstinately refusing to come into the church, and partake of the "righteousness" which is by faith. From all thy judgments, good Lord, deliver us; but, above all, from that which punishes one sin with another, and seals up the reprobate to destruction.

28. They shall be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

30. I will praise the name of God with a song, and magnify him with thanksgiving.

Here, as in the xxiid, and many other Psalms, the scene changes from sorrow to joy; from a state of suffering to one of triumph; from the passion to the resurrection. Jesus, risen from the dead, declares his resolution of praising and magnifying the Father, for the salvation of the world, happily accomplishd by his labors and sufferings, which were now for ever at an end. The church does the same incessantly, on earth and in heaven.

31. This also shall please the LORD, better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

A bullock was in its prime for sacrifice, under the law, when it began to put forth its "horns and hoofs." The infinite distance, therefore, in point of value, between the best legal sacrifices, and those of obedience, love, and praise, as offered by Christ, and through him by his church, under the Gospel, is pointed out in this verse. See Psal. xl. 6, &c. 1. 23.

lasting joy and comfort in the glad tidings of salvation; all mankind are exhorted to "seek after God," as manifested in the Gospel of his Son; and the reward promised is "life" spiritual and eternal.*

By "the book of the living," in which the names of the "righteous are written," is to be understood the register of the true servants and worshippers of God, of those who are "justified," or made "righteous," through 32. The humble shall see this, and be glad : faith. In this register, the names of Abra- and your heart shall live that seek God; or, ham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancient fathers of Be seeking God, and your heart shall live. the Israelitish race, with their true children, It is foretold, that the "humble," or the stand recorded; but the degenerate and apos-"poor in spirit," i. e. the meek and lowly tate Jews have been long since "blotted out;" followers of the holy Jesus, should find everthey are no longer the peculium of heaven; nor have they any part or portion in the inheritance of the sons of God. Thus Ezekiel "They shall not be in the assembly of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel :" xiii. 9. And our Lord, in his conversations with the Jews, took every opportunity to tell them, that they, for their unbelief, should be "cast out," and that the Gentiles, obeying the call of the Gospel, should come from all quarters of the world, and "sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God." 29. But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy saving health, O God, or, thy salvation shall, or, can, set me up on high.

Messiah returns to the subject of his own sufferings, which were not a little enhanced by the consideration, that so many of his people would not be the better for them. "I

* Deserendo, et permittendo, non operando; ut Theologi norunt. BossUET.

33. For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

An argument for our "seeking after God," is the experience of patriarchs, prophets, and saints, who in all ages have sought, and found him, by repentance and faith and that the LORD "despiseth not his prisoners," is evident from what he did and suffered, to deliver their souls from the bondage of sin, their bodies from the prison of the grave, and both from the dungeon of hell. Therefore,

34. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas and every thing that moveth therein. The mercies of God in Christ are such, that

they cannot worthily be praised by anything less than an universal chorus of the whole old and new creation; and what should such a chorus celebrate, but those mercies by which all things have been made, preserved, and redeemed?

35. For God will save Sion, and build the cities of Judah, that they, i. e. men, may dwell there, and have it in possession.

The salvation and edification of the church followed the passion and resurrection of Christ. "God will save Sion," that is, the church, which at first consisted of the apostles, who were Jews, and others of that nation by them converted to the faith. "And build the cities of Judah," or cause churches to arise in all the world, which shall from thenceforth take the names, and inherit the privileges, of "Israel and Judah; that men," even such as God shall call from among the nations, "may dwell there," as citizens of the new Jerusalem, "and," instead of the rejected Jews, "have it in their possession."

36. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

safed him from his birth; 7, 8, his being deserted and given up by man; 9, his old age; 10, 11, the taunts and insults of his adversaries: 12, he repeateth his request; 13, prophesieth the downfall of his enemies; declareth, 14, his hope, 15, his gratitude, 16, his faith; 17, 18, wisheth to be preserved, that he might show forth the power and glory of God, whose righteousness and marvellous acts, 19, he extolleth, and thence, 20, 21, promiseth himself a final redemption from all his troubles, and a restoration to honor and comfort; when, 22-24, he shall sing and speak the praises of the Lord.

1. In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be put to confusion.

The promises of salvation are made to those who, renouncing all confidence in the world and themselves, "trust" in God alone for it. For this reason the Psalmist so often begins his prayer with a declaration of his "faith," which is to the soul in affliction, what an anchor is to a ship in distress.

2. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thy ear unto me, and save me.

The continuation of the church in the posterity of the faithful, is here predicted. Accordingly, the descendants of the proselyted A second argument, here used, is the Gentiles have been in possession of the Gospel righteousness" of God, who cannot but be privileges, for above 1700 years. And thus faithful and just to his own gracious word. it will be, while they abide in the faith, and By that word, he had engaged to establish the "love the name" of Jesus. Should the Gen-temporal throne of David, and the eternal tiles apostatize as the Jews did, and the Jews throne of the Son of David. And, by the be converted as the Gentiles were, then the same word, he has engaged to bring those Gospel would go from the Gentiles to the who believe in him, through sufferings, to Jews, as before it went from the Jews to the glory. Gentiles; then would there "come out of Sion the Deliverer, to turn away ungodliness from Jacob." Rom. xi. 26.

PSALM LXX.

THE words of this Psalm occur, without any material variations, in Ps. xl. verse 13, to the end. The reader is therefore referred thither for the exposition; as before, in the case of the liiid and xivth Psalms.

FOURTEENTH DAY.-MORNING

PRAYER.

PSALM LXXI.

ARGUMENT.

3. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.

The protection of the Almighty, to which the troubled soul "resorts" by faith and prayer, is compared to that which a well fortified castle, or town, affords to those within it, in time of war. And the plea, upon which this petition is enforced, is in a manner the same with the former, namely, the declared purpose of God to be the Saviour of his servants; "Thou hast given commandment to

save me."

4. Deliver me O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

THE Psalmist, sorely distressed in his old age The divine assistance is implored by the (see ver. 9, and 18.,) by the rebellion of Psalmist, thirdly, on the foot of the goodness Absalom, which was his great affliction at of his cause, and the iniquity of his enemies. that period of life, ver. 1, prayeth for the Such were Absalom, Ahithophel, &c. to divine assistance, pleading, 2, God's right- David; Judas and the Jews to Christ; and eousness, 3, and promise; 4, the iniquity such are the world, the flesh, and the devil, of his persecutors; 5, 6, the mercies vouch-to the Christian. Against them he is to

pray and fight continually; ever remember-| They who saw David ascending Mount ing that wickedness is at least as dangerous Olivet in tears, when Absalom had driven when it tempts, as when it persecutes; and can smile, as well as frown, a man dead. 5. For thou art my hope, O LORD God; thou art my trust from my youth. 6. By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels; my praise shall be continually of thee.