Ver. 7. "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion."-By whom is meant the Messiah, the Saviour of Israel, of all the elect of God, whether jews or gentiles; and who is so called because the salvation of them was put into his bands, and he undertook it, and because he is the captain and author of it, and it is in him, and in no other. The comfort of the godly is from the hope of Christ's coming, in whom the redressing of this evil, and of all other, is to be found, for whose coming he wisheth. It is true, the sending of deliverance unto the distressed people of God in Saul's time, by bringing David to the kingdom, was worthy to be wished for; but this could not fill up the measure of the wish here stirred up by the Spirit; therefore we must look to the substance in Christ, in whom this wish and prayer hath full accomplishment, which in effect is, O that Christ, the Saviour of Israel, were come out of Zion! And this same wish closeth the fifty-third psalm also, where salvations of Israel in the plural number is set down, to note the perfection of salvation which cometh only by Christ, at whom the very form of the Hebrew wishing doth look, as pointing at the person which shall give all sort of salvation to Israel, Who shall give. Now there was a coming of Christ in the flesh unto Sion, foretold by the Spirit, Zech. ix. 9. and this is supposed in this wish; for Christ must be in Sion before he comes out of it. Whence learn that Christ is the salvation of Sion, both figuratively and properly called so, as well before he came as after; for here he is regarded as the "salvation of Israel," in whom all our salvation, jews or gentiles, is founded. Whosoever seeth him afar off, cannot choose but long for a farther manifestation of him, for perfecting the blessedness of his people: "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion."

PSALM XV.

The scope of this short, but excellent psalm is, to shew us the way to heaven. Christ, who is himself the way, and in whom we must walk, as our way, has also shewn us the same way that is here prescribed. (1.) By the question, ver. 1. we are directed and excited to enquire the way. (2.) By the answer to that question in the rest of the psalm, we are directed to walk, ver. 2, 3, 4, 5. (3.) By the assurance given in the close of the psalm, of the safety and happiness of it, we are encouraged to walk in that way, ver. 5.

VER. 1. "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?"] -The question is propounded about the marks of the sin cere believers, those in covenant with God, the true professors of religion, who they are who shall not be cast out from the society of God's true church. Whence learn, first, the tabernacle pitched by Moses, and the hill of Sion, where the tabernacle and the temple were at last settled, was a type of the true church, and of communion with God in Christ the Mediator, a type of God incarnate, dwelling and exercising all his offices in his church, and of the heavenly condition of his people called out of the world, and lifted up towards him, designed under the name of God's tabernacle, and God's holy hill. Secondly, some of those who profess to be of his fellowship may be thrust out from it again, and debarred from all communion with God, when others shall remain in this state, and not be removed: for the question. is moved, what are the evidences of the members of the church invisible? and who are they who shall abide in God's tabernacle, and dwell in his holy hill? Thirdly, only the Lord, who searcheth the heart, can put the difference between the true and the false; for this cause the question is propounded to God, "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle?" Though it is better to be understood of Christ as man, than of the believer.

PSALM XVI.

This psalm has much of Christ; it begins with such expressions of devotion as may be applied to Christ, but concludes with such confidence of a resurrection, (and so timely a one as to prevent corruption) as must be applied to Christ, to him only, and cannot be understood of David, as both the apostles, Peter and Paul, have observed, Acts ii. 24.-xiii. 36. plainly teaching us, that the person speaking in this psalm is the blessed man Christ Jesus. Him, therefore, with humble awe and reverence, we are to behold begging here (as man) support in that great work for which he came into the world, ver. 1-3. declaring, ver. 5-7. his delight in his heritage, the church, they, even the excellent, or illustrious ones, those whom thou by the power of thy grace shalt make to excel; "all my delight is in them."

VER. 1. "Preserve me, O God."]-Prayer is proper to Christ as man; he offered up many prayers and supplications to God, even his Father, and his God, and as the strong and mighty God, as the word here used is commonly rendered by interpreters; with whom all things are possible, and who

is able to save; see Heb. v. 7. The graces of faith and hope were implanted in the heart of Christ, as man, who had the gifts and graces of the Spirit without measure bestowed on him, and these very early appeared in him, and shewed themselves in very lively exercise, Psalm xxii. 7. Luke ii. 49, and were in a very eminent manner exercised by him a little before his death, in the view of it, and when he was under his sufferings, and hung upon the cross, Isaiah I. 6-9.

Ver. 2. "O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, my goodness extendeth not to thee."]-Some take these to be the words of David speaking to the Lord, saying, that his goodness did not extend to him, but to the church: but they are rather to be understood of Christ speaking to his Father in the covenant of redemption, that his mediatorial goodness did not extend to him, but to his church; and it denotes his love, grace, and goodwill towards them, shewn in his incar nation, sufferings, and death, and the blessings of goodness which come thereby, such as a justifying righteousness, for. giveness of sin, peace and reconciliation, redemption, salvation, and eternal life.

Ver. 3. "But to the saints that are in the earth."]-Who are sanctified or set apart by God the Father in election; whose sins are expiated by the blood of Christ in redemption, and who are sanctified or made holy by the Spirit of God in effectual vocation, and who live a holy life and conversa tion: these are said to be "in the earth," to distinguish them from the saints in heaven, to whom the goodness of Christ extends; and it may also distinguish them from the angels in heaven, who are called saints, Deut. xxxiii. 2. It may point out the place of their abode, scattered up and down in the earth, and shew that the love, grace, goodness, and kindness of Christ reach to them in the present state of things, notwithstanding all their meanness and imperfection in themselves.

"In whom is all my delight."]-Christ's delights were with these sons of men before the world was, and have always continued with them: they are his hephzibah and beulah, as in Isaiah lxii. 4. hence he became incarnate, and suffered and died for them, and makes application of all the blessings of his grace and goodness to them.

Ver. 5." The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup."]-This is said by Christ as a priest, and in allusion to the Levitical priests, who had no inheritance in the land of Canaan with their brethren, but the Lord was

their portion, and their inheritance, Num. xviii. 20. Deut. xviii. 1, 2. and it expresses the strong love and affection Christ had for the Lord as his God, the delight and pleasure he had in him, and the satisfaction he had in the enjoyment of him and communion with him, and that it was his meat and drink to serve him, and do his will.

Ver. 6. "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places." The sense is, that Christ's portion lies among or in pleasant persons; such as were so to him, as he saw them in his Father's purposes and decrees; and as they are clothed in his righteousness, washed in his blood, and adorned with the graces of his Spirit, and as they will be as a bride adorned for him in the new Jerusalem state; for rather persons than places are here meant; though as the bounds of the saints' habitations are set, and they are known to Christ, so they were pleasant to him, and he took delight and rejoiced in the very spots of ground where he knew they would dwell, Prov. viii. 31.

Ver. 8. "I have set the Lord always before me."]-As Christ is set before men in the gospel, to look unto as the object of faith and hope, to trust in and depend upon for life and salvation, so Jehovah, the Father, is the object which Christ set before him and looked unto in the whole course of his life here on earth: he had always an eye to his glory, as the ultimate end of all his actions; to his will, his orders, and commands, as the rule of them; to his purposes, counsel, and covenant, to accomplish them; and to his power, truth and faithfulness, to assist, support, and encourage him in all his difficulties and most distressed circumstances.

Ver. 9. "Therefore my heart is glad."]-The phrase designs Christ's glorifying God, and singing his praise with joyful lips, among his disciples, a little before his sufferings and death.

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My flesh also shall rest in hope."]-In the grave; which as it is a resting-place to the members of Christ, from all their sorrow, toil, and labour here, so it was to Christ their head, who rested in it, on the jewish sabbath, that day of rest, and that both in safety, as the word used may signify, and in hope of his resurrection from the dead, as follows.

Ver. 10. "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell."]Meaning, not in the place of the damned, where Christ never went, nor was; for at his death his soul was committed to his Father, and was the same day in paradise; but rather, the state of the dead, the separate state of souls after death,

the invisible world of souls, where Christ's soul- was; though it was not left there, nor did it continue, but on the third day returned to his body again.

The reasons of the christian's joy is the assurance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, his head, through whom he hopes to be raised in his own order and time. Whence learn, first, a believer is so nearly joined with Christ, that he may give to him the styles of what is nearest and dearest to him, and call him his very life and soul, as here David saith of Christ, who was to rise again, Acts ii. 25. "Thou wilt not leave my soul, or my life, in the grave." And by this means he also is assured of his own resurrection; for our life and soul is bound up in Christ: our life is hid with God in Christ, especially in respect to that wherein he standeth in our room, such as in his suffering, rising, and reign. ing as our surety. Secondly, the body of Christ was not only to rise from the dead, but could not so much as putrify in the grave; for Christ saith, "Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption."

Ver. 11. "Thou wilt shew me the path of life.”]— Not the way of life and salvation for lost sinners, which is Christ himself; but the resurrection of the dead, which is a passing from death to life, never to die more, as he was: now the view, the faith, and hope of this, of not being left in the grave so long as to see corruption, and of being raised from the dead to an immortal life, caused joy and gladness in Christ, at the time of his sufferings and death, as well as what follows.

"In thy presence is fulness of joy."]-Christ being raised from the dead ascended to heaven, and was received up into glory, into his Father's presence, and is glorified with his own self, with his glorious presence, for which he prayed, John xvii. 5. and which fills his human nature with fulness of joy, "with a joy unspeakable and full of glory;' see Acts ii. 28. and as it is with the head, it will be with the members in some measure.