history of Korah's rebellion and punishment, of the fiery serpents, and of Israel and Moab: see Numb. xvi. xx. xxi. xxv. The Israelites, in this particular, resembled their great persecutor Pharaoh; their repentance, which came with the divine judgements, went also away with them, and appeared no more. By night the dew falleth from heaven, and refresheth the weary ground, and causeth the green herb and the flower of the field to revive and spring; but in the morning the sun ariseth with a burning heat, and presently the dew is evaporated, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, and the ground again becometh parched and dry, as before. Thus it is with man. Adversity is the night, and grace is the dew, by which his heart is made tender and religious, and good resolutions are formed, and begin to shoot; but returning prosperity has the force and effect of a summer sun: at its presence piety vanisheth, resolutions come to nothing, and the heart is once more hardened. "O Ephraim," exclaims Jehovah by his prophet, "what shall I do unto thee? O Judah, what "shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is as a "morning cloud, and as the early dew it passeth away:" Hos. vi. 4. Who, that hath been conversant in the house of mourning, and about the bed of sickness, but must have seen frequent instances of a temporary and deceitful repentance? Whose heart doth not reproach him with some of these backslidings of Israel? In the day, therefore, of health, and strength, and prosperity, before the indignation of Heaven break forth, and the right-aiming thunderbolts fly abroad, from a motive of love, not of fear, Ꭰ

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let us seek early after God, and return from our "sins, remembering the rock of our salvation, and "the high God, our Redeemer." Thus may we entertain some hope, that our conversion is sincere ; that we do not " flatter and lie" unto our Maker; that our heart is right with him," and we shall continue" steadfast in his covenant." And then, a plant that is set and lives in the heat of the day, how will it thrive and flourish under the cool and moist influences of night!

38. But he being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. 39. For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind, or breath, that passeth away, and cometh not again.

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Had God stirred up all his wrath," the Israelites must have been exterminated in the wilderness. But then the promises made to Abraham, of mercy and compassion" to them, and by them to all mankind, had failed. Therefore they were "forgiven," and not destroyed:" judgement was executed, from time to time, upon the person of offenders; but still a remnant was left; the nation subsisted, until the Seed came to whom the promise was made. Nay, although, in consequence of their last and greatest crime, their polity was subverted with their city and temple, the race is yet marvellously preserved ; and, we trust, preserved for mercy to be shown them in the last days. Be not angry, O Lord Jesu, for ever with them, or with us; but remember of what materials we are made, and into what a state we are

fallen; how weak and how frail we are; how liable to be seduced into sin, and blinded by error: remem ber this, O Lord, and forgive us; and teach us to remember it, that we may forgive one another.

40. How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! 41. Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. 42. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the hand of the enemy: 43. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

The question which the Psalmist here asks, concerning Israel in the wilderness, is elsewhere asked by him concerning mankind in general: "Who can "tell how oft he offendeth?" Ps. xix. 12. God informs Moses, who had interceded for the people, and, in the name of the great Mediator, obtained their pardon, that "those men which had seen his “glory, and his miracles which he did in Egypt and " in the wilderness, had tempted him ten times, and "had not hearkened to his voice:" Numb. xiv. 22. Forgetfulness of the mercies of redemption is the beginning of sin; and though every one knows how to resent and detest the crime of ingratitude in another, he yet thinks that his best benefactor will overlook the most flagrant instances of it in himself.

44. And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink. 45. He sent divers sorts of flies, Heb. a mixture, whether of beasts, or insects, noisome and destructive, among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. 46. He gave also their increase

unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust. 47. He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with frost. 48. He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts, or, flashes of lightning.

1

The Psalm goes back to the subject of Israelitish ingratitude, mentioned at the beginning, verse 11, 12. in order to introduce an account of the miracles wrought in Egypt previous to the exodus. These miracles were intended to evince the superiority of Jehovah over the elements and powers of nature, which at that time were objects of worship amongst the Egyptians, but plainly appeared to act at the command of Moses, in subordination to their great Creator, the God of the Hebrews. In the heavens, on the earth, and in the waters, supremacy and independency were demonstrated to belong to him only ; fire and air, thunder and lightning, wind, rain, and hail, obeyed his word: rivers became blood, and their inhabitants perished; insects and animals left their wonted habitations, to destroy vegetables, or torment man: so that wherever the gods of Egypt were supposed to reside, and to exert their influences in favour of their votaries, in all places, and all circumstances, victory declared for Jehovah. Hence modern as well as ancient idolaters may learn not to put their trust in the world, but in him who made, and who can and will destroy, it; whose power can render the most insignificant of his creatures instruments of his vengeance, and, in a moment, arm all the elements against sinners; and whose mercy will employ that power in the final salvation of the church; when, as

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the author of the book of Wisdom expresseth it, He shall make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies, and the world shall fight for him against the unwise:" Wisdom v. 17. 20. The curious and striking reflections which that author makes on the plagues of Egypt, in chap. xi. xvii. xviii. xix. are well worthy an attentive perusal. It is also to be observed, that St. John describes the judgements of the last days in terms plainly alluding to those poured out upon the Egyptians, " as locusts " and frogs, blood and darkness," &c. See Rev. ix. and xvi. et al. Under these images are represented, false teachers and erroneous doctrines, carnality and ignorance, and, in a word, whatever contributes to ravage the moral or spiritual world, to deface the beauty of holiness, and destroy the fruits of faith. And of all the divine judgements, these are by far the most dreadful, though generally the least dreaded." 49. He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

Some of the Egyptian plagues having been specified in the foregoing verses, others of them are here thrown together, and the whole scene is affirmed to have been a full display of wrath and vengeance, executed upon the oppressors of the church by

,מלאכים

רעים

DON, "evil angels, agents, or messengers :" whether by this expression we understand the material instruments of divine displeasure; or angels employed as ministers of vengeance; or the actual appearance and ministration of evil spirits, suffered to torment the wicked in this world, as they certainly