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he always did the things which pleased his Father; wherefore be rewarded him.

Ver. 23. "I was also upright before him."-In heart and conversation, being sincere and faithful; so David was in the sight of God; but this is much more true of Christ, in whom there was no unrighteousness nor guile, neither in his heart, nor in his lips: he was of perfect integrity, and faithful in all things to him that appointed him.

"And I kept myself from mine iniquity."]-It is best here also to apply these words to Christ; for though he had no iniquity of his own, yet he had the iniquities of his people on him, as their surety, and which he calls mine, Psalm xl. 12.

Ver. 25. "With an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright."]-An upright man, as the word used signifies, is a perfect man, not absolutely, but comparatively; not in himself, but in Christ; perfect with a perfection of parts, but not of degrees: he is one that is upright in heart, sincere, and without hypocrisy. This may also be interpreted of Christ, who is in the highest and fullest sense per fect, upright, and sincere, and faithful to him that appointed him; and as he has been faithful in all his covenant engagements with his Father, so his Father has been faithful to him in making good all he promised him, both with respect to his own glory, and the happiness of his people; see Isaiah liii. 10-12. John xvii. 4, 5. Phil. ii. 9, 10.

Ver. 26. "With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure."-This may likewise be understood of Christ, who in his human nature is pure from all sin, both original and actual. He indeed took upon him the sins of his people, and bore them and made satisfaction for them, and brought in everlasting righteousness; which being done, God has shewn himself pure to him, by justifying, acquitting, and discharging him from all such sins; by accepting his righteousness, and imputing it to those for whom he wrought it.

Ver. 29. "For by thee I have run through a troop."] -The word, as some Jewish writers observe, comes from a root which signifies to break in pieces, and is fitly used for the destroying or cutting in pieces a troop of the enemy, and is true of Christ when he engaged with the troops of hell, and broke the squadrons of the infernal fiends, and spoiled or disarmed principalities and powers, and triumphed over them on the cross, and made a shew of them openly, when he dragged them at his chariot-wheels, and led captivity captive.

Ver. 30. "As for God, his way is perfect."]-Such is his way of grace, and method of salvation, that it is agreeable to all his perfections, and according to his purposes, counsel, and covenant; this being resolved on in his breast, contrived by his wisdom, and concluded on in the covenant, has been effected and finished by his Son, and his inward way of working upon the heart, though at present imperfect, will be completed; he is a rock, and his work is perfect, and all his ways are judgment; whatever way or method he contrives and enters upon, whether in providence or grace, he pursues and brings to an issue; for he is an omnipotent, omniscient, and unchangeable Being.

Ver. 32. "It is God that girdeth me with strength."] -Hannah's song is again referred to. In 2 Sam. xxii. 33. the words are, "God is my strength and power;" they are true of Christ, the man of God's right hand, whom he promised to strengthen, and whom he has made strong for himself. Psalm 1xxx. 17. and lxxxix. 21.

"And maketh my way perfect."]-Or safe, or prosperous. This has been verified in Christ, who has conquered sin, satan, the world, death, and the grave; for this is not to be understood of the way and course of David's life and conversation, which was not unspotted, but had many ble-mishes and imperfections in it, which he often confesses, and bewails.

Ver. 33. "And setteth me upon my high places."]The towers and fortresses, and strong and fortified places, where he was fafe from his enemies; and, in a spiritual sense, this may design the everlasting love of God, the cove nant of grace, its blessings and promises; and Christ himself, with the fulness of grace in him, on which believers may be said to be set, when their faith is directed to them, and they live and dwell upon them; see Hab. iii. 19. Isaiah xxxiii. 16. and the words were fulfilled in Christ, when God highly exalted him at his right hand, and set him above all principalities, and made him higher than the heavens.

Ver. 35. Thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation."]-Meaning either temporal salvation, which was a shield to him when he had no outward one, as when he fought with Goliath, and was what preserved him in all his battles at other times; or spiritual salvation, which is of the Lord, of his contriving, effecting, and applying, and in which his glory is concerned; interest in which is a free gift of his, as are the knowledge, application, and possession of it; and this is a shield which saves from sin, from all siu,

and the damning power of it; keeps off the curses of the law, secures from wrath to come, and repels satan's tempta tions. The words may be applied to Christ, who, though he was not saved from dying, yet was preserved in the day of salvation, and was not suffered to see corruption in the grave, and was quickly delivered from the power and dominion of it.

"And thy right hand hath holden me up."]-Christ may be said to be the right hand of God, being as dear to him as his right hand, and being exalted at it; and because by him he communicates all good things to his people, and with him upholds and sustains them; or else it designs the mighty power of God, which is often signified by it, Psalm xx. 6. and xliv. 3.

Ver. 36. "Thou hast enlarged my steps under me."] -Which is opposed to those straitened circumstances in which the psalmist was, ver. 4, 5. and is expressive of deliverance from his enemies, by whom he was surrounded, be sieged, and shut up; see Psalm xxxi. 8. and of freedom of walking at large, without being straitened for room, or interrupted by others, Prov. iv. 12. and of safety in standing: all which is true in a spiritual sense of believers in Christ, who being delivered by him out of the hands of their enemies, serve the Lord without fear in righteousness and holiness, walk at liberty by faith in Christ, and up and down in the name of the Lord their God, and have their feet esta blished upon the Rock of Ages.

Ver. 44. "As soon as they bear of me, they shall obey me."-That is, as soon as they should hear of Christ, through the preaching of the word, by which faith would come, they should readily and at once receive, embrace, and profess the gospel, and yield a cheerful submission to the ordinances of it; and which has had its accomplishment among the gentiles, Acts xxviii. 28. and xiii. 42, 44, 48.

The strangers shall submit themselves unto me."]— Meaning the same persons as before, the gentiles, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenant of promise, who should submit to Christ, to his gospel, to his righteousness, and to the sceptre of his king. dom.

Ver. 45. "The strangers shall fade away."]-Like the leaves of trees in autumn, when they fall and perish; to which hypocrites and nominal professors are compared, Jude 12.

"And be afraid out of their close places."]-Their towers and fortified places, or the rocks and mountains to which they betake themselves for shelter; but, as not think. ing themselves safe enough, through fear and dread, come out of them; see Micah vii. 17.

Ver. 46. "The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted."]-God was the God of his salvation in a temporal sense, saving him daily from his many enemies, and in a spiritual sense being the contriver, author, and applier of it to him; on which account he would bave him be exalted, both by himself, and in the high praises of his people, ascribing the whole of salvation to him, and giving him all the glory of it.

Ver 48." He delivereth me from mine enemies."]All believers are delivered out of the hands of their enemies by Christ, as that they can serve the Lord without fear; and so Christ himself is delivered from all his enemies, being raised from the dead, and set at the right hand of God, where he must reign till all enemies are put under his feet.

Ver. 50. "Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and sheweth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore."]-Which may be understood either of David literally, who was the Lord's anointed, and to whom God shewed mercy in various instances; and then by his seed is meant the Messiah, who was of his seed, according to the flesh or of the Messiah, whose name signifies anointed, and who is often called David, Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. and xxxviii. 24, 25. Hos. iii. 5. and so some of the jewish doctors from this verse prove that the name of the Messiah is David; and by his seed are meant his spiritual seed, all the elect of God, who are given him as his children, to whom he stands in the relation of the everlasting Father: and as mercy is kept with him for evermore, Psalm lxxxix. 28. so it is shewn to them in regeneration, in the forgiveness of their sins, and in their everlasting salvation,

PSALM XIX.

The prophet here is proclaiming the divinity of Christ. He is that shining forth of the Father's glory, (and in other places stiled emphatically, the Glory) by whom he made all things, and whose power we are here called to consider and admire in those works of his hands, the

heavens and firmament. From the material sun, therefore, we are through grace to be raising our thoughts to that glorions, "Sun of righteousness," for whom there really is a tabernacle fixed in the hea vens, and who graciously came forth rejoicing, as a mighty one, prepared to enlighten all the dark corners of the earth, and to deliver that perfect doctrine, word, or law, which enlightens the eyes, and converts the soul: by the consideration of which the prophet here leads us to beg mercy for our wanderings and transgressions; a deliverance also from presumptuous sins, and such grace as may render both our words and thoughts acceptable to our merciful Redeemer; for this psalm is a sweet contemplation of the glory of God's wisdom, power, and goodness, shining in the creation, and of the glory of his holiness and rich grace, shining through his word and ordinances to his church.

VER. I. "The heavens declare the glory of God."} -Are declaring who that person stiled the glory is; that he is very God, as having made them and all things; and that this title, the glory, denotes the Son of God, or Christ, we seem to have full proof, from Psalm xxiv. 7—10. and xxix. 3. and many other places in the old testament, so also from several passages in the new, particularly in James ii. 1. where the words literally rendered are, "Have not the faith of the Lord Jesus, the glory, with respect of persons." This sense indeed is a little obscured in our translation, which supplies and renders it the Lord of glory; but in the vulgate latin, and the interlineary version, it is as it ought to be, the glory. The prophet's design here, therefore, seems to have been to represent Christ, the Messiah, though condescending to become (as he is often in other parts of this book described) "a man of sorrows;" yet as that glory of the Father who made the heavens, and shines forth in all the works of nature, and who therefore is very God and indeed if we read the words cabod el (as they seem to stand) the literal rendering is, "The heavens declare the glory (that is, the Messiah) to be God.'

Ver. 2. "Day unto day uttereth speech."]-This with the following clause, " and night unto night sheweth knowledge," some understand of the constant and continued succession of day and night, which declares the glory of God, and shews him to be possessed of infinite knowledge and wisdom, and which brings a new accession of knowledge to men others, of the continual declaration of the glory of God, and of the knowledge of him made by the heavens and the firmament, the ordinances of which always continue; the sun for a light by day, and the moon and stars for a light by night; and so night and day constantly and successively proclaim the glory and wisdom of God; but

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