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manner to those who are under the Gospel; and do not only warn us of the true character of every unconverted man in this present dispensation, but do likewise find their archetypes and counterparts actually existing in every period of it: just as St. John said of his own age"Even now are there many antichrists." But though these originals of the picture are to be found in individuals, they are not generally the national features of those who are either under the Law or Gospel; and therefore, as they describe the unbelieving and impenitent in the aggregate, they are but as faint sketches of what appears in times of crisis. It is when a church or people has been given over to fill up the measure of their iniquity, when the ungodly come into power and prosper on every side, that the evil fruits of sin begin every where to develope themselves and come rapidly to maturity. Thus the latent seeds of sin and apostasy, which are in the heart of every unconverted man, are forced into speedy growth by national corruption, and iniquity presently abounds. This was the case with the whole world previous to the flood;-it was the case with the Jewish Church at the time of the Babylonish captivity and at the time of the overthrow of the Jews by Titus ;n and it will be the character of the Christian Church just before the coming of our Lord. Now that the former periods of corruption and of judgement were nevertheless not that particular crisis of apostasy ultimately intended, I will give one proof by way of illustration. I exclude from this observation the instance of the flood, because neither Law nor Gospel were formally set forth in those days, and those lively oracles, which are now

our light and guidance, were not then existing. Let us however glance at a passage or two in Psalm xxxvII. The 19th verse shews, that it is written for an "evil time;" and the Psalm throughout exhorts the saints how to walk in patience and hope under the provocations and temptations which they will experience from the ungodly during those "perilous days and they are buoyed up by the assurance, that the ungodly shall be cut off and rooted out of the earth, and the meek alone shall inherit it. Now though, as I have before admitted, such passages may have armed the people of God with patience in every time when the wicked have had the ascendancy, and thus have constantly proved profitable; yet have we never seen sinners consumed or rooted out of the earth, neither the righteous generally exalted to the high heritages thereof. It still continues to be the hour of the prince of this world and of the powers of darkness. The righteous have indeed often been themselves involved in the national judgments which have fallen on the wicked; and frequently the church has been persecuted unto blood, and the wicked has obtained the upper hand, and the righteous has been nearly consumed out of the land, and the ungodly have prospered and come not into trouble during life, and there has apparently been no bands in his death. The crisis spoken of in this Psalm cannot therefore, from its very nature, apply strictly to any other than the last days, when "every thing that offends and does iniquity shall be rooted out," and "the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."

I will now proceed to the Psalms themselves, stating first what I conceive to be

m 1 John 11. 18. n See 1 Thess. II. 15, 16. o Matt. XXIV. 12.

THE ARGUMENT

OF THE PSALMS IN GENERAL.

They treat of the congregation of the righteous and the congregation of the wicked; setting forth their respective characters and proceedings; and especially the signs or evidences by which the former may be assured, that they are the children of God and shall have peace. They describe the characteristics of that great confederacy, which the apostates of the last days will enter into against the righteous, their temporary success, and the suffering and oppression of the righteous under it. They describe the manner in which the righteous are sustained under the tribulation; how it proves a means of more entirely abasing them before God, and of purging away their dross. They point out the final deliverance of the righteous; and, on the other hand, the doom of the ungodly.

They of course treat likewise of the respective heads over each. We have the temporary humiliation of the one, and his sufferings for the brethren, whereby redemption is purchased for them; and we have his ultimate exaltation and triumph over his own and his people's enemies, bringing them the complete salvation they are promised. We have the arrogance and despotism of the other for a time, with his ultimate overthrow and destruction.

And as the Psalms abound with complaints and supplications from the saints under their sufferings; so do they also continually set forth the praises and thanksgivings which will proceed from them, when they shall be finally delivered, and the earth also, from the effects of sin and Satan and the curse; for no book brings before us in more lively colors the blessed effects of the time of the restitution of all things, spoken of by all the prophets.

PSALM I.

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Here is declared the blessedness of the man who keeps from those principles, (or counsel,) and from those ways, and lusts not for that power, (or seat) which will distinguish the infidels and apostate scorners that form the congregation of Satan.

My object is to be brief; but I must necessarily, when certain expressions come before me for the first time, take the opportunity to explain them; which will cause my notice of the earlier Psalms to be somewhat more extended.

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This verse then describes the blessedness of the man who is enabled through grace "to keep himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." To be accounted blessed is actually to be accounted immor. tal-the heir of everlasting life. It is not the same expression as is made use of when man is said to bless God, the meaning of which is to praise and to extol him: this is God blessing man, and declaring, not that he has any thing to praise man for, but that he is passed from death unto life." The same expression, by which the original is rendered in the Septuagint, is used by our Lord in his sermon on the mount, Matt. v. 11; and therefore it is very evident what is meant by being blessed-viz. "they shall obtain mercy,' they shall be called the children of God," "they shall see God," theirs is the kingdom of heaven," they shall inherit the earth &c." Nothing can separate such from the love of God: hear the Psalmist's own explanation of the matter;" Thou blessest, O Lord, and it shall be blessed for ever."P

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Those who would limit every thing in the Psalms concerning the rightp 1 Chron. XVII. 27.

eous to Christ, in his individual person, allege, that because the singular number is here used, the blessedness must necessarily be referred only to Him. But here the first of the principles I have laid down must be brought to bear on the subject; which is confirmed by verse 6, where the righteous is in the original in the plural; shewing, that however the Psalm may primarily apply to the head, it applies also to the members who have his mind and spirit, and walk in his footsteps.q

v. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

God's law doth he meditate day and
night. Thus he declares in another
place, "Concerning the works of
men, by the word of thy lips I have
kept me from the paths of the de-
"W ""
stroyer.' Princes also did sit
and speak against me; but thy ser-
vant did meditate in thy statutes."x

This is a most important warning
to us in the present day; especially
in our national and political affairs.
The counsel of many in such mat-
ters is directly in opposition to the
word of God, and they would scoff
down those who would remind them
of his law, insisting that it has
nothing to do with public affairs.
Many to obtain the seat of authority
will advocate any principles, how-
ever abhorrent from divine revela-
tion. Principles which they them-
selves deprecated in time past, they
will unblushingly avow, merely be-
cause they are what they call politi-
cal principles; and they conceive
that a man may advocate what he
pleases in politics, without offending
the majesty of God. If indeed it be
the voice of the people, they will in-
sist that it is the voice of God, how-
ever contradictory it may be to his
revealed word. Ah! it is a sign
that judgment is at hand, when God
is thus unblushingly betrayed by
professing christians: "It is time
for thee, Lord, to work; for they
have made void thy law."y Oh! let
the godly consider this: let them
remember "that man doth not live
by bread only, but by every word
which proceedeth out of the mouth
of God."z By taking heed to this is
the only way by which they can
cleanse their way,a and keep them
from the paths of the destroyer :
though the proud have them greatly
in derision, let them not decline
from God's law;b but "let them in
r Heb. VIII. 10.
cxIx. 6. w Ps. XVII. 4.
a Ps. cxIx. 9.

Two things are here predicated. The first is, the evidence that the man here spoken of is really partaker of the covenant of grace, and has the witness of the Spirit: His delight is in the Law of the Lord. "For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts, &c."r This is the essential witness of the Spirit, when any can say, like St. Paul,-"I delight in the law of God after the inward man;"-" So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God."s It shews that "the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost;" which is laid down as the great evidence that we are begotten to a hope that maketh not ashamed:"t for this is the love of God,—that we keep his commandments."u Similar are the Psalmist's own words: "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments."

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The other thing to be here noticed is, the means by which the blessed are enabled to test and to resist the counsel of the ungodly; viz.-in

q Rom. iv. 12-16; 1 Cor. 11. 16. t Rom. v. 5. u 1 John v. 3. v Ps. y Ps. cxIx. 126. z Deut, VIII, 3.

s Rom. vII. 22, 25. x Ps. cxIx. 23, 24. b Ps. cxIx. 51.

the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom they shine as lights in the world, hold forth the word of life."c

vv. 3, 4. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, [or rather water courses,] that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

This further describes the respective characters of the two parties here spoken of, but with a special reference to religious apostasy. The righteous not only has the leaf of profession, but he also is enabled to bring forth fruit; and perseveres in well doing, and remains green, even in times of abounding iniquity and of fiery trial; for his soul is continually nourished by an inward supply of grace, just as a tree planted near a river has its roots, even in times of parching heat and drought, refreshed by the waters which saturate the adjacent earth in their passage. There is no growing weary in well doing, no declining in zeal after the excitement of the moment: their character is, that they bring forth fruit in old age, continue fat and flourish ing,d and their last works are more than their first.e Thus they prove to be "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified,"f

The ungodly professors are the rereverse of this: they are "trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit."g There can be no better description of the contrast between the two than that contained in Jeremiah XVII. 5 -8, "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the d Psalm XCII. 14. i 2 Thess. 11, 10.

c Phil. II. 15. h Matt. III. 12.

heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit."

The original of the Psalm is very emphatic when proceeding to the contrast: "Not so the ungodly, not so.” But instead of describing in this place the withering trees, the reference is to chaff; which points more particularly to that great period of tribulation and judgment, when the Lord's fan shall be in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor,h when all that are not true wheat shall be entangled by the deceivableness of unrighteousness,"i and become “ a rolling thing before the whirlwind."k The next verse proves that the reference is to this period—

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v, 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.No, the Lord will gather his wheat into his garner, but he will gather out of his kingdom all things which offend and do iniquity, and burn them as chaff, or as tares, with unquenchable fire.

The term Judgment is evidently used here in its proper two-fold sense: viz. a time of retribution on the ungodly, when every plant that our heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up; and a time when the Lord shall "receive the congregation and judge uprightly"-that is, introduce a reign of righteousness and peace. For the scriptural view of the judgment I must refer to my e Rev. 11.19. f Isa, LXI. 3. g Jude 12. k Isa. XVII, 13. 1 Matt. xv. 13.

paper in the Investigator Vol. I, p. and causing them to know and de173.*

v. 6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

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Here is affirmed more clearly the reason why the righteous endure to the end it is of grace. There is a remarkable illustration of this in 2 Tim. 11. The apostle speaks of those who are drawn into apostasy by vain babblings, which increase unto more ungodliness and consume like a canker; and he instances Hymenæus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying, that the resurrection is passed already,† and overthrow the faith of some; ("the way of the ungodly shall perish :") Nevertheless (he adds) the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." The seal is affixed as a pledge and earnest;m and "The Lord knoweth &c." is as it were the device or motto on it. Now in one sense we may say, "known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world ;" and yet in Amos III. 2, He says of Israel-"You only have I known of all the families of the earth :" which must mean, that he had known them in some special manner-he had walked among them, revealed himself to them, and shewn them particular favor. But even out of these there were some whom he knew still more intimately, (viz. his spiritual people,) —revealing himself to their hearts

light in Him.-For when the Lord is said to know any, it means that by his Spirit he has brought them to a blessed knowledge of himself. We cannot strictly be said to know a man, merely because we are acquainted with his name or person, or have spoken to him: to know him implies, that we are admitted to his friendship. Thus there is spiritual communion and intercourse between those whom the Lord knows: the Lord manifesting himself to the believer, as he does not to the world ;n and the believer revealing himself to the Lord and confessing his ways before him. He knows the Lord also by his power and faithfulness in the hour of need. Now that for any thus to know God is the same as his knowing them, is evident from Gal. Iv. 9,-" But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, &c :" in which the Apostle explains the one as equiva lent to the other; preferring however to speak of it rather as God's knowing them, because it is the Spirit who must first "shine into the heart to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."o

For the Lord then thus "to know the way of the righteous," and to have revealed himself to them, is

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* The word translated stand, is in the original to rise again. It is the same word that is translated in Isaiah xxvi. 19-"Thy dead men shall live; together with my dead body shall they arise." It is also the same word in the Septuagint that is used in the New Testament to signify rising from the dead. In this view it would mean that the ungodly should not at the time of the judgment and the gathering of the righteous be made partakers of the resurrection; and is further collateral proof of the doctrine of the first resurrection..

+ Mr. Begg of Glasgow has printed an interesting little Treatise, shewing that this error was a denial of the doctrine of the first resurrection, which they maintained was spiritual only.

m Ephes. 1, 13,

14.

n John XIV. 22. o 2 Cor. IV. 6.

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