murderers; who, instead of taking up a reproach, and listening to the calumniator, cast him out, and silenced him, by erasing the hand-writing that was against us, and nailing the cancelled indictment to the cross;

4. In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the Lord: he that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

Who rejected the wicked, however rich and honourable; and chose the well-inclined, however poor and contemptible in the world; who having, by covenant with the Father, engaged to keep the law, and to taste death for every man, went willingly and steadily through this work, and surmounted every obstacle which could be thrown in his way, until he declared, concerning the task appointed him, 'It is finished.'

5. He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent.

Who was so far from desiring to amass the earthly mammon, that he would touch none of it; and received the true riches, only that he might bestow them upon others; who, instead of taking a reward against the innocent, died for the guilty; and whose sentence, when he shall sit on the throne of judgment, will be equally impartial and immutable.

6. He that doeth these things, shall never be moved.

In the above comment, it was thought most advisable to open and display the full extent of what was both enjoined and forbidden, by exemplifying

each particular, as receiving its utmost completion, in the character and conduct of our blessed Lord. And whoever shall survey and copy these virtues and graces, as they present themselves in his life, will, it is humbly apprehended, take the best and shortest way to the heavenly Zion, and make that use of the fifteenth Psalm, which the Church may be supposed to have had in view, when she appointed it as one of the proper Psalms for Ascension-day.

PSALM XVI.

ARGUMENT.-Upon whatever occasion, or in whatever distress, David might compose this Psalm, we are taught by St. Peter and St. Paul, Acts, ii. 24. and xiii. 35. to consider him as speaking in the person of Christ our Lord, of whom alone the latter part of the Psalm is true. The contents are, 1. a prayer for support; 2, 3. a declaration of love to the saints; 4. a protestation against idolaters; 5-8. acts of love, joy and confidence in Jehovah; and 9-11. one of hope in an approaching resurrection and glorification.

1. Preserve me, O God; for in thee do I put my

trust.

These words are evidently spoken by one in great distress, who addresses himself to heaven for support under his sufferings, pleading his confidence in God, still unshaken by all the storms that had set themselves against it. This might be the case of David, and may be that of any believer. But since the Psalm is a continued speech without change of person, we may consider the whole as uttered by Him who only could utter the concluding verses, and who in this first verse makes his

supplication to the Father, for the promised and expected deliverance.

2. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; 3. But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

In the Chaldee and Syriac, the latter clause of the former of these two verses is rendered-' My goodness is from thee.' An ingenious writer thinks the Hebrew will bear this sense, in the elliptical way, thus- My goodness; shall I mention that? By no means; it is all to be ascribed to thee.' The goodness of man is all derived from God, and should be extended to his brethren. That of Messiah owed its original to his union with the Divinity; and promoted the salvation of those to whom it was communicated, that is to say, of those who thereby became the saints and excellent ones in the earth.' For their sakes obedience was performed, and the propitiation made, by the Son of God, because he loved them with an everlasting love, and placed all his delight' in making them happy. He rejoiced in 'the habitable parts of the earth, and his delights were with the sons of men.' Prov. viii. 31.

4. Their sorrow shall be multiplied that hasten after another god their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

Christ denounceth vengeance against those who should make to themselves other gods, run after other saviours, or suffer any creature to rival him in their affections; declaring of such, that their offerings should not be presented by him to the

Father, nor should they be partakers of the benefits of his intercession. Even the bloody sacrifices of the law, instituted for a time by God himself, became abomination to him when that time was expired, and the one great sacrifice had been offered upon the altar of the cross.

5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup; thou maintainest my lot. 6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

The true David, anointed to his everlasting kingdom, yet first a man of sorrows and a stranger upon earth, prefers the promised inheritance of the church, that spiritual kingdom, city, and temple of Jehovah, before all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them; he is sure that Jehovah will maintain his lot, that he will both give and preserve to him this his patrimony; and therefore rejoices at the divine beauty and excellency of the heavenly Canaan. And hence the Christian learns wherein his duty and his happiness consist; namely, in making choice of God for the portion of his inheritance and of his cup,' for his support and for his delight; in preferring the spirit to the flesh, the church to the world, and eternity to time.

7. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel; my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. The person speaking here blesses Jehovah for communicating that divine counsel,' that celestial wisdom, by which he was incited and enabled to make the foregoing choice and resolution. In the latter part of the verse is intimated the mode of these gracious and spiritual communications,

which in the dark seasons of adversity were conveyed to the inmost thoughts and affections of the mind, thereby to instruct, to comfort, and to strengthen the sufferer, until his passion should be accomplished, and the morning of the resurrection should dawn, in which, as we shall see, all his hope and confidence were placed.

8. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

The method taken by Christ as man, to support himself in time of trouble, and persevere unto the end, was to maintain a constant actual sense of the presence of Jehovah, whom when he thus saw standing at his right hand, ready, at the appointed hour, to succour and deliver him, he then feared not the powers of earth and hell combined for his destruction. Why are our fears great, but because our faith is little ?

9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; my flesh also shall rest in hope.

Through confidence in the almighty power engaged on his side, joy filled the heart of Christ, and rendered his tongue an instrument of giving glory to Jehovah in the midst of his sufferings; because when they were ended, as they must soon be, his flesh was only to make its bed, and rest awhile, in the grave, after the labours of the day, in sure and certain hope of a speedy resurrection and glorification. This same consideration is to the afflicted, the sick, and the dying Christian, a never-failing source of comfort, an inexhaustible fountain of joy: sin and infidelity are the enemies, who would fill it with earth.