rection: others understand it rather of the tried, afflicted, and flourishing christian.

Ver. 13. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord."-Or being planted, that is, every one of the righteous before mentioned: such are they that are transplanted out of the wilderness of the world, and are grafted into Christ, and are rooted in him, and are planted together, in the likeness of his death and resurrection; have the graces of the Spirit of God implanted in them, and have received the ingrafted word; and, in consequence of all this, are grafted into the olive-tree, the church.

Ver. 14. "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age."-Having a place in the house of the Lord, they are satisfied with the goodness and fatness thereof, and are made to drink of the river of divine pleasure; and being in the courts of the Lord, where a feast of fat things is provided for them, they eat and feed, and so thrive and flourish; the allusion is to fat and flourishing palm-trees.

PSALM XCIII.

This short psalm sets forth the honour of the kingdom of God among men, to his glory, the terror of his enemies, and the comfort of all his loving subjects. And it relates both to the kingdom of his providence, by which he upholds and governs the world, and especially to the kingdom of his grace, by which he secures the church, sanctifies and preserves it. The administration of both these kingdoms is put into the hands of the Messiah, and to him the prophet here bears witness, and to his kingdom, speaking of it as present, because sure; and because, as the eternal word, even before his incarnation, he was Lord of all. Concerning God's kingdom glorious things are here spoken. In singing this psalm, we forget ourselves if we forget Christ, to whom the Father has given all power both in heaven and in earth.

VER. 1. "The Lord reigneth."]-The King Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true Jehovah, God over all, the Lord God omnipotent; he has reigned, he was set up as king from everlasting; he reigned throughout the whole old testament dispensation; he was promised and prophecied of as a king; he came as such, in human nature, into the world, though his kingdom was not with observation; when he ascended to heaven, he was made or declared Lord and Christ, and was crowned with glory and honour,

Ver. 2. "Thy throne is established of old."]-Or prepared from eternity; Christ was set up, and anointed as king from everlasting; he had a kingdom appointed and prepared for him so early; and his throne which is prepared in the heavens, is an established one; it is for ever and ever; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom: of his government, and the increase of it, there is no end.

"Thou art from everlasting."]-As a divine person, as God.

Ver. 4. "The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters."]-Christ is the Most High; he is God over all, higher than the highest; he is, as King, higher than the kings of the earth: he is in the highest heavens, and higher than they; he is highly exalted, as Mediator, at the right hand of God; he is a mighty God, and mighty Saviour; yea, he is Almighty, and therefore mightier than all his enemies, and the noise they make, and the force they use; he is stronger than the strong man armed; than satan, and all his principalities and powers; than all the persecuting princes and potentates of this world; than antichrist, and all the antichristian states.

PSALM XCIV.

In this psalm the prophet personates the church, which is here beseeching Jehovah to prove himself the God of recompence, and complaining of the long-continued violence of the wicked, ver. 1-7. Then, reproving their ignorance, ver. 8-11. she reminds us of the benefit of patience, and of the certainty of deliverance, not only from the oppressions of the wicked, but even from the silence of the grave, ver. 12-19. After which (amazed at the crowding of the wicked to condemn her glorious head, the Just One; which they did on the fourth day of the week, the day on which the Jews had been led by some of their prophets to use this psalin, and for which it is entitled by the Septuagint) she still assures herself of protection, and warns them of the vengeance which they were bringing upon themselves.

VER. 19. "In the multitude of my thoughts within me."]-The word for thoughts is used of branches of trees, thick and intwined, and so denotes perplexed and distressing thoughts; thoughts concerning Christ, the Saviour; that he is the Saviour of others, but not of them; that he is able to save, but they cannot think he is willing to save such vile sinners as they are: thoughts concerning the work of the Spirit of God upon them; calling it in question,

fearing it was never begun, because of the power and prevalence of sin and corruption in them: thoughts concerning their present and future state; how it is with them now, and how it will be with them hereafter; how they shall pass through the troubles and difficulties of this world, and pass over Jordan's river, or get through the valley of the shadow of death; and how they shall appear before the judgment seat of God; and how things will be with them to all eternity: these are some of the perplexing and distressing thoughts, a multitude of which rise up at times in the minds of God's people, who yet are favoured with the same gracious experience the psalmist was, expressed as follows.

"Thy comforts delight my soul."]-Such as flow from the love of God, shed abroad in the heart, from the presence of God enjoyed; from the exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel; from Christ, and the things of Christ shewn, brought home and applied by the Spirit; his persons, offices, fulness, righteousness, blood, and sacrifice; all which are a fund of divine consolation to a distressed mind: these are the consolations of God, of which he is the provider, author, and giver, and therefore called "the God of all comfort:" they come from Christ, the "consolation of Israel," and by the Spirit, the comforter, who sheds abroad the love of God in the heart; reveals Christ, and the things of Christ; opens and applies the promises; wherefore these comforts are called the "comforts of the Holy Ghost;" and they are usually enjoyed by means of the word and ordinances, which are "breasts of consolation ;" and these are not small, but strong, and even everlasting, and which delight the soul:" worldly comforts may delight the animal part, and please the senses, but not delight the soul, especially a wounded spirit, a distressed mind; but these will satiate the weary soul, and replenish the sorrowful soul with a "joy unspeakable, and full of glory:" the psalmist may here personate the church in the latter day, when in the midst of her troubles, and many distressing thoughts concerning the issue of things; the comforts of God, from his promises, will delight her; ver. 14, 15.

PSALM XCV.

This psalm is calling Israel to praise Jehovah, the rock of their salvation; the great God, and King of all the gods; their maker, and still the same; still ready to own them for his people if they will hearken to his voice, though they rejected him, and crowded (as the foregoing psalm represents them) to get him condemned, when he appeared and was manifested in the flesh as the Just One, ver. 1 −7.

VER. 1. "O come, let us sing unto the Lord."]—To Jehovah, the Messiah, the Lord our righteousness; setting forth, in songs of praise, the glory of his person, the riches of his grace, and our thankfulness to him for spiritual mercies by him: Christ is to be the subject of our spiritual songs, and is the person to whose honour and glory they should be directed: in the new testament we are instructed to sing unto the Lord, the Lord Christ, Eph. v. 19. Col. iii. 16.

"Let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation."]-To Christ, the rock, 1 Cor. x. 4. a rock, for height, being higher than the saints, than the kings of the earth, than the angels in heaven, than the heavens themselves; for strength, being the mighty God, and mighty Saviour; for shelter, being the saints security from avenging justice and wrath to come: a rock, on which the church and all believers are built, and which endures for ever, the rock of salvation.

Ver. 2. "Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving."-Come with sacrifice of praise, there being no other in the days of the Messiah, all ceremonial sacrifices being put an end to, when his sacrifice was offered up.

Ver. 7. "For he is our God."]-God over all blessed for ever, truly and properly God, and therefore to be wor shipped: our God; in whom we have interest, who became our head and surety in covenant; took upon him our nature, is our Immanuel, God with us, which increases the obligation to worship him; these are the words of new testament saints.

"And we are the people of his pasture."]-For whom he has provided a good pasture; whom he leads into it, and feeds in it, even by the ministry of the word and ordi

nances.

Ver. 8. "Harden not your heart."]-Against Christ, against his gospel, against all the light and evidence of it. There is a natural hardness of the heart, owing to the corruption of nature; and an habitual hardness, acquired by a constant continuance and long custom in sinning; and there is a judicial hardness, which God gives men up unto. There is a hardness of heart, which sometimes attends God's own people, through the deceitfulness of sin gaining upon them; of which when sensible they complain, and do well to guard against. Respect seems to be had here to the hardness of heart in the Jews in the times of Christ and his apostles, which the Holy Ghost foresaw, and here dehorts from.

Ver. 9. "When your fathers tempted me."]-Or, where, that is, in the wilderness, particularly at Meribah and Massah; it was Christ they tempted, as appears from 1 Cor. x. 9. Proved me; had proof of his power, goodness, and mercy, in providing for them, and in the preservation of them or tried him, his patience, long-suffering, and forbearance, by their repeated provocations of him.

Ver. 10. "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation."]-The generation of the wilderness, as the Jews commonly call them, and which was a stubborn and a rebellious one, whose heart and spirit were not right with God, Psalm 1xxxviii. 8. wherefore speaking after the manner of men, God was grieved with them, as he was with the old world, Gen. vi. 6. or he was weary of them; which appears in the clearest light when we consider it as spoken of Christ in his human soul, or as God-man.

Ver. 11. "Unto whom I sware in my wrath."]-Being angry with them, he sware for the confirmation of what he said; the form of the oath was, "as truly as I live;" he sware by himself, for he could swear by no greater; Numb. xiv. 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, 35.

PSALM XCVI.

This psalm (being a part of what king David delivered in the presence of the Levites, on his bringing up the ark) is a most earnest call to praise the Lord in his sanctuary; declares his power and glory; expresses a lively hope of his salvation, and prophecies that he will reign over all nations, and judge the world in righteousness; which, on that occa