PSALM XXXIX. THE Church of England hath made this psalm part of her service at the interment of the dead; and no doubt the scenes of affliction and death furnish a striking comment upon it. The Psalmist, in a state of distress and persecution, from whatever quarter, leads us to such a train of pious meditations, as such a state may be supposed naturally to suggest to a devout mind. 1 I SAID, I will look to my ways, 2 With silence I as dumb became, From speaking good; but then the more 3 My heart within me waxed hot; The fire did burn; and from my tongue 4 Mine end, and measure of my days, O LORD, unto me show Verses 1-3. I said, I will take head to my ways, &c. The Psalmist abruptly begins with expressing his resolution to keep silent in the presence of his enemies who were ever ready to insnare him in his words. But this silence, considering that it deprived him of opportunities of instructing and admonishing others, gave him great distress. Yet this fire of true charity, becoming, like other fire, more intense by being long confined, broke forth in the sequel of this psalm. And did not our LORD often find himself before characters that so resembled swine, that they were ever ready to trample the gems of heavenly wisdom under foot? Verse 4. LORD, make me to know mine end, &c. The practical knowlege of the short and uncertain duration of human life, and of the grand end of our existence, is necessary to impress our minds with a due sense of our frailty, and to promote the ends of true religion. The last clause is rendered-How long, or how little time I have, or shall continue, viz. on earth. We ought to spend each day as our last. What is the same; that I thereby 5 Lo, thou my days an handbreadth mad'st; As nothing: sure each man at best Is wholly vanity. Sure each man walks in a vain show; He heaps up wealth, and doth not know. 7 And now, O LORD, what wait I for? 8 Free me from all my trespasses, The fool's scorn make not me. Verse 5. Behold thou hast made my days as an hand breadth, &c. It is a consolation under the trials of this state that human life is so very short, when they will be all over to the righteous. The hand breadth or span is a measure ever before our eyes, and should ever remind us of our approaching end. Before God or contrasted with his absolute duration, the longest life here is as nothing; yea, all the divisions of time are lost before him like a whisper in a peal of thunder. Verily every man at his best, or settelled estate, is altogether vanity, emptiness and insignificance. Can we then suppose for a moment that God intends nothing better than this vanity for the great mass of his intelligent offspring throughout all du ration? Verse 9. Surely, every man walketh in a vain shew, or in a shadowy image: &c. All that this world can boast is but the dead image, or fleeting shadow of happiness. The shadows created by the interposition of clouds, totally disappear and lose their very existence at the return of night. See Job xiv. 2. Disquieted in vain, troubled, make a bustling noise, or tumult. Know not who shall gather them, whether their children, or strangers, friends or enemies, shall possess their riches. Verses 7, 8. And now, O LORD, what wait I for? &c. In vain is happiness expected from such precarious possessions; and therefore true wisdom consists in looking for this from God alone, as the Psalmist here does. What a poor object is a man of the world at best, who confines his hopes, regard and pursuits to the present state! To the enjoyment of happiness deliverance from sin, in its guilt and power, is necessary; and if a professor contents himself with any thing short of this, he becomes the reproach of the foolish, an object of scorn to infidels, and that by the righteous judgment of God. How earnest then should we be that he would deliver us from all our transgressions, and not make us the reproach of the foolish? 9 Dumb was I, op'ning not my mouth, 10 Thy stroke take from me; by the blow 11 When with rebukes thou dost correct Thou wastes his beauty like a moth: 19 Attend my cry, LORD, at my tears I sojourn as my fathers all, And stranger am with thee. 13 O spare thou me, that I my strength Before from hence I do depart, And here no more remain. Verses 9, 10. I was dumb &c. Be who or what will the instrument in our affliction, let us not overlook the hand of God in it; for to repine at the former, would be to act like the dog that snarls at the stone thrown at him, but observes not the hand that threw it; but to complain of the latter, would be no less foolish than impious. While, like Aaron, we hold our peace under the rod, let us avail ourselves of the privilege of praying, Remove thy stroke away from me, yet with resignation, and be thankful we are allowed to complain to him, though not of him-I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. How soon can that blow bring down the strong, and level the haughty with the dust! Verse 11. When thou with rebukes &c. God's rebukes, as Poole justly observes, are punishments, as Ps. vi. 1. lxxvi. 6. But in correcting man for iniquity, and making his beauty to consume away like a moth, retor"mation, and not destruction, is his object; which must finally be attained. That vanity which every man is said to be, with a note of asseveration, cannot adhere to any man without end; else the Creator had brought them into existence in vain, or to no valuable purpose. In verse 12. he urges attention to his prayers, which were accompanied with tears, from the consideration that he was a stranger and sojourner, as all his fathers were, particularly the patriarchs, the fathers of the Jew ish nation. The phrase with thee, may denote, in thy sight, or in reality, or that the period of his sojourning was with God, and wholly under his direction and control, while no human being however, had a right to interfere with his liberty, or property even in the land of his pilgrimage. Saints on earth may be called strangers with God, because at a distance from their proper and last abode, and the inheritance intended for them in the heavenly kingdom. PSALM XL. LET the reader compare verses 6, 7, 8. of this psalm with Heb. v. 5. and he will see reason to conclude that David, to whom it is ascribed, here personates Messiah; as he also evidently does in many of his sublime odes. Except David be viewed in this light, in the Book of Psalms, and Christ in the complex character of the Representative of his people, and the Head of his whole mystical body, many passages will be little better than a riddle, and the reader at best will only gnaw the shell, while he entirely misses the kernel that nourishes the soul. 1 I WAITED for the LORD my God, And patiently did bear; At length to me he did incline My voice and cry to hear. And on a rock he set my feet, Verse 13. O spare me, that I may recover strength &c. This prayer is peculiarly proper for those who are unfit to die, as being yet unrenewed in the spirit of their mind, or having their graces in a declining state; because without the former they cannot die safely, nor comfortably without the latter. Even wise virgins must awake from sleep, and trim their lamps, and supply them with fresh oil, before they can meet the bride ́groom, and ́enter with him into the marriage chamber. Notes on Psalm XL. Verse 1. I waited patiently for the LORD, &c. This was David's exercise, and of a greater than David, till the time appointed of the Father came, to set him free from all his toils and sufferings. In this we are called to copy his example as dear children. Verse 2. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, a pit of confused, tumultuous noise, &c. as Dr. H. renders the clause. That our Lord's sufferings are here intended, is admitted; but these which are here represented as endured in this pit, evidently comprehend more than be suffered on earth. The solemn scene described Psal. xviii. is allowed to refer to the same event, when God sent from above, and drew him out of many and great waters, ver. 16. The reader will find the same state described by Heman, in Psalm lxxxviii. and none of the passages can properly apply to David. See notes on Psalm xvi. 9. . 3 He put a new song in my mouth, Many shall see it and shall fear, 4 O blessed is the man whose trust Respecting not the proud, nor such 5 O LORD my God, full many are In order none can reckon them And speak of them I would, they more Than can be number'd are. 6 No sacrifice nor offering Didst thou at all desire; Verse 3. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, &c. David praised God for new deliverances, and in the prospect of the blessings of the great salvation, which may be called new or excellent. Messiah praised the Father for the blessings of redemption, in the name of his whole mystical body. As many were led to fear God, and trust in him, on account of what he did for David; so this will be realized in the most complete and extensive sense, in regard of our Redeemer. Verse 4. Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his strength &c. This is the peculiar blessedness of the man Christ Jesus, in whom all others are to be blessed, and that in consequence of trusting in him, or making him their refuge. This is opposed to respecting the proud, or relying on the great and mighty, and turning aside from God to lies, idols, or any thing that can disappoint the hopes thence derived. See Ps. lxvi. 3. Verse 5. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done, &c. This applies to all the works already done by Messiah, who was David's more immediate Lord and God, and also to all these which he shall perform hereafter; for says he from his throne, Behold, I make all things new, Rev. xxi. 5 His thoughts to us-ward, and the gracious works that result from them, are more in number than can be reckoned, and greater in value than can be estimated. Each of these is a great depth; and therefore his people act out of character in attempting to restrict them. What a noble field for meditation! Verses 6, 7, 8. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not require, &c. The P |