they require, or which they publish; the righteousness revealed in the gospel, which is the righteousness of Christ: see note on ver. 142.

Ver. 147. "I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried."-That is, he awoke and got up, and prayed, before the day broke, the morning looked forth, or the sun arose: he was early as well as earnest in his supplications to God; Psalm v. 3. Iv. 17. as Christ, his antitype, rose early in the morning, a great while before day, and went out to a solitary place, and prayed, Mark i. 35.

"I hoped in thy word."]-Which is a great encou ragement to prayer, so is the grace of hope though a man can only put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope; and especially when it is grounded on the word of promise, that God will hear and answer his people, when they call upon him in a time of trouble: and particularly hope in Christ, the essential Word, is a great encouragement; many encouraging arguments to prayer are taken from the person, office, advocacy, and mediation of Jesus Christ, Heb. iv. 14, 16. and x. 19-23.

Ver. 153. "Consider mine affliction, and deliver me."] -Or, look upon mine affliction, as in Psalm xxv. 18. The Lord seems as if he did not, when he does not grant his gracious presence to his people, or does not arise to the help and deliverance of them, so soon as they desire and expect: but he always sees and beholds their afflictions; he cannot do otherwise, since he is the omniscient God; and not only so, but he is the author, appointer, and orderer of them; yea, he looks upon them with an eye of pity and compassion, which is what is here prayed for: he sympathizes with his people in all their afflictions, supports them under them, pays kind visits to them, sanctifies his hand, and in his own time delivers them out of all.

Ver. 154. "Plead my cause and deliver me.”]→ Christ is the advocate of his people, their Redeemer, who is mighty, and pleads their cause against the accusation of satan, the charges of law and justice, and the condemnation of their own hearts, as well as defends their innocence from the calumnies of wicked men, and rights their wrongs, and redresses their grievances.

"Quicken me according to thy word."]-See note on ver. 25.

Ver. 160. "Thy word is true from the beginning."Every word of promise God made from the beginning of the world, and in any period of time, to Adam, to Abraham, to

the Israelites, or to any other person or persons, was true in itself, and faithfully performed, not one ever failed; parti cularly the promise, concerning the Messiah, made to Adam in Eden, and which has been spoken of by all the prophets which have been since the world began, Gen iii. 15. Luke i. 70.

Ver. 162. "I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil"]-At having it, which is a distinguishing blessing all are not favoured with, and is an inestimable treasute, a field in which a treasure lies, which those that find rejoice at, and especially at the understanding of it; for such only delight in it who spiritually understand it, or bave an application of it to them, find it, and eat it, and then it is the joy and rejoicing of their hearts. The doc trines of it are matter of great joy, particularly which concern the grace of God, the person of Christ, and peace, pardon, righteousness and salvation, by him, and the several promises of it, which are exceeding great and precious, and when opened and applied in a time of need, occasion great joy, such as is expressed at finding a great spoil, when much substance comes into the bands of the conqueror, as well as victory. The word is a part of the believer's spiri tual armour, by which he overcomes his enemies, as well as it acquaints him with the conquest Christ bas obtained over them, and made him a sharer in, and directs him to usearchable riches, to things more valuable than thousands of gold and silver; so that he has great reason to rejoice at it in such a manner indeed! Isaiah ix. 2, 3, 6.

Ver. 164. "Seven times a day do I praise thee."]Praise is comely for the saints, delightful and well-pleasing to God, being offered up in faith and through Christ, and should be frequent, since our mercies, temporal and spiri tual, are daily renewed; and therefore we should always, in every thing, for every thing, and at all seasons, give thanks to God, Eph. v. 20.

Ver. 165. Great peace have they which love thy law."]-Great prosperity, especially prosperity of soul, inward peace, peace of conscience, peace in Christ and from him, flowing from his blood, righteousness and sacrifice, and a view of interest therein, which is usually enjoyed in a way of believing, and frequently had in the ways, worship, and ordinances of God.

Ver. 171. "My lips shall utter praise."]—Like water flowing from a fountain, as the word signifies. The heart of a good man is like a fountain of water, abounding with

good things, and his mouth is a well of life; out of the abundance of grace and good things in his heart, his mouth speaks, Johniv. 14. Prov. x. 11. Matt. xiii. 34, 35. and particularly his heart is filled with praise and thankfulness for the many blessings of providence and grace enjoyed; his lips shew it forth; it comes flowing from him freely and readily, without force and compulsion, largely and plentifully, constantly and continually, and with great vehemence and strength, as streams from a fountain.

Ver. 172. "My tongue shall speak of thy word."]— Of the promises of it in particular, of the worth and value of them, of their suitableness and use, and of the faithful fulfilment of them; and of the doctrines of the word, espe cially those which relate to the grace of God, and salvation by the Messiah; and also of the precepts of the word, as follows: "For all thy commandments are righteousness."

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Ver. 175. "Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee."] -It is our blessed Mediator, I humbly conceive, who is here also speaking, and concluding thus his gracious intercessions for his church, dear to him as his own soul, and therefore interceded for as such. Let it live,' he says; spare it, notwithstanding all its wanderings; For I do not forget thy commands, but am still labouring to bring thy lost sheep back unto thee.' It is therefore, plainly, a double character, which the person here speaking sustains. In his own person he was just and righteous, and so could say, here and elsewhere, I have not forgot thy commands: but being head of a body subject to wanderings, and straying often "as a lost sheep," he says also, as such, "Thy servant seek;" let my soul, my church, be still the object of thy care, be seeking and bringing back every lost sheep to thy blessed fold. In a qualified sense, indeed, David might say of himself, that he had not forgot the commands, as he was still remembering them, and desiring to perform better obedience, in true repentance for his past wanderings; and in this sense every true penitent may apply the words to himself: but when taken in their true and proper sense, they seem to suit none but our blessed Head, pleading his own most earnest desire and care in performing the great work which his Father had given him to do, in order to obtain mercy for his poor wandering members. Nor may it be objected that the person here speaking stiles himself "the servant of the Lord;" for that is one of the distinguishing titles of the Messiah: and having thus taken the form of a

servant, he is often represented using the words of a ser

vant.

Ver. 176. "I have gone astray like a lost sheep."]In desert places, as it is the nature of sheep to do. A sheep he was, a sheep of Christ, given him by the Father; known by him, and that knew him; knew his voice and followed him; a sheep of his hand and of his pasture: one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, who had been lost in Adam, though recovered by grace, and had gone astray before conversion, but now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of souls, and since conversion had gone astray from the Shepherd and fold, from the word and precepts of it, through the prevalence of corruption, the snares of the world, and the temptations of satan, which he both deprecates and owns, ver. 10, 67.

PSALM CXX.

This Psalm is the first of those fifteen, which are here put together under the title of Songs of degrees. Some conjecture that they are so called from their singular excellence; as the song of songs, so the song of degrees, is a most excellent song, in the highest degree. Others, from the tune they were set to, or the musical instruments they were sung to, or the raising of the voice in singing of them, some think they were sung on the fifteen steps or stairs, by which they went up from the outward court of the temple to the inner: others, at so many stages of the people's journey, when they returned out of captivity. In this Psalm we may see the church, with all her true children, aspiring and breathing after deliverance from the Babel of this world, and their pilgrimage here, among the enemies of the peace and salvation of God: who, in the doom denounced on the deceitful tongue, (that is, on satan, that father of lies) may see their own.

VER. 5. "Wo is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar."]-Kedar signifies blackness: which shews the dwelling of a child of God among the enemies of the word and ways of God is grievous to him; or it may denote the blackness and burden of his own cor. ruptions.

Ver. 6. "My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace."]-That is, with those that hate the God of peace, against whom their carnal minds are enmity itself; Christ, the prince of peace, the man, the peace, who bas made peace by the blood of his cross, whom the world bates; the sons of peace, the quiet in the land, against whom the wicked devise evil things; the gospel of peace,

which the natural man abhors as foolishness; the way of peace, pardon, and salvation by Christ, which carnal men know not, and do not approve, and the ordinances of the gospel, which are paths of peace.

PSALM CXXI.

The prophet here, ver. 1, 2. represents the church, and every member of it who is truly seeking the Jerusalem which is above, as raising their eyes and hearts to him who is their never failing help, even the Maker of heaven and earth: of whose protection he assures them in ver. 3–8.

VER. 4. "Behold, he that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."]-He that kept Israel or Jacob when asleep, and appeared to him in a dream, and promised to keep him in all places, and did; who found his posterity in the wilderness, and kept them as the apple of his eye he keeps his spiritual Israel, whom he has chosen, redeemed, and calls; and he that is in general their keeper, is the keeper of every particular believer, who may promise themselves the utmost safety under his care; since, though he may sometimes seem to sleep, (that is, not appear to hear their prayers,) when he withdraws his gracious presence, defers help, and does not arise so soon to the assistance of his people, as they wish for and expect; yet he does not in reality sleep, (that is, forget his people, nor his promise to them,) nor is any ways negligent of them.

Ver. 5. "The Lord is thy keeper."]-This explains more fully who it is that keeps Israel and particular believers, and confirms the same; not a creature, but the Lord; Christ, the Word, and wisdom of God; who is the keeper of his people by the designation of his Father, who has put them into his hands to be kept by him; and by their full will and consent, who commit the keeping of their souls to him; for which he is abundantly qualified, being able as the mighty God; faithful to him that has appointed him; tender and compassionate to those under his care, whom he keeps as the apple of his eye; and diligent and constant, for he keeps them night and day, lest any hurt them; he keeps them as they are his flock, made his care and charge; as they are the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts;