3. Although, amazed for a while, And glorified thy Holy ONE. Shall fill my life with joy and praise ; PSA L M - XXIV. ALTHOUGH it feems perfectly true, as all the commentators say, that this Psalm (and perhaps all the rest) was used to be sung in parts, by the different bands of sacred music which David (no doubt by the direction of the Holy Ghost) had appointed for the service of the fan&uary; yet, it G we we attend any further than that, to the dull, dry, bare, and beggarly difquisitions of those carnallyminded' Jewith-spirited interpreters, concerning the procefsion of the ark, its being received into the temple, and set upon its own place, with such ļike childish ideas, and nugatory observations, retailed and enumerated every day, and almost in every place of worfhip, in the most stale and tedious manner imaginable; how do we find our whole spirit, fervour, and devotion, in a most amazing manner, all at once, as if it were by enchantment, damped, defroyed, and fhrunk to nothing, after the manner, if we may so fay, of the plump kine, and full ears of corn, which were devoured and swallowed up by the lean, thin, blasted, and thri. velled !-- But if, cealing from the Rabbies and Doctor's, we take the spirit of the Psalm from the Spirit who inspired it, and read it in its own light, the light of its parallels, and especially the light of the New Testament, we will find, instead of the darkness of the Mofaic veil, the glory of God fining in the face of Jefus, filling our whole hearts; particularly, we will discern, as here clearly represented, the three peculiarly diftinguished estates of the Lord Jelus Christ, The Son OF GOD:-1. Before his incarnation, as it is writ. ten, John i. 1. • In the beginning was the WORD; • and the WORD was with God, and the WORD • was God-All things were made by him ; and without him was not any thing made that was « made.'-And Col. i. 17. • He' (the Son) is * before all things, and by him all things confift.? So also says the Pfalm, ver. l, 2 The • earth is the LORD'S,, and the fulness thereof • For he hath founded it.'-IT. His estate of hu. miliation in the fleth, as it is written, John i. 14. • And the WORD was made felh, and duelt ** among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory • as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth; -mand Gal. iv. 4: "When the fulness of time was come, God fent forth bis ! Son, 'made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that • we might receive the adoption of fons; -and Phil . ii. 8. · Being found in fashion as a man, he ! humbled himfeil, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.-- Wherefore ! God also hath highly exalted him.'--So faith al, fo' the Pialm, ver. 3-7. Who ihall afcend in-* • to the hill of the Lord?..He that hath clear hands, and a pure heart-He thall receive the blelling from the Lord.'-(As to the 6th verse, fee the general preface).--Ilİ. His estate of exaltation, commencing, and manifesting itfelf, in the glory of his resurrection, ascension, c. as it is written, 1 Pet. i. 21. • God raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory;'--and Heb. ii. 9. • We fee Jefus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour'--and Rom. i. 4. De clared the Son of God with power, according to " the Spirit of holiness, by the refurrection fron *the dead; and Acts i. 9. While they beheld, • he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their fight;'-and ver. 11. (the angels faid), * Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into • heaven? This fame Jesus, which is taken up from yoa into heaven, fhall fo come, in like manner • as ye have seen him go into heaven;' -and chap. iii. 21. Whom the heavens must receive till the • times of restitution of all things.'-And faith not the Psalm also the fame, addressing the heavens, by a figure divinely bold, if it be a figure at all; for what is said is done?- Lift up your heads, Oye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting • doors; and the King of glory shall come in, &c.--Now, unprejudiced reader, fay, if you do not find spirit and life springing up within you from this view of Jesus, our Forerunner, pating into the heavens by his own blood once for all, and one for all, having obtained eternal redemption; and fay also, if you do not think this the G 2 {pirit spirit and the truth of this present Pfalm, and confequently of all its parallels, several whereof you will have remarked proposed for your own confideration in the illuftrations of Psalms i. ii. ii. and xv. But, of all the evidences to the fame purpose, which feize the heart, and command conviction, innumerable as they really are, none seem more furprisingly striking (though not quoted in the margin) than those which arise from the two fol. lowing Pfalms, viz. Pfal. xlvii. 5. . God is gone up with a thout;', and Pfal. Ixviii. 18. • Thou • haft afcended on high ;' explained and applied as fulfilled in Christ, Eph. iv. 8. · Wherefore he • faith, when he ascended up on high, he led cap<tivity captive, and gave gifts unto men-for the perfecting the saints; for the work of the mi• niftry; for the edifying of the body of Christ.' Behold the God, behold the MAN, That men might dwell with God on high! HO owns the carth, and all abroad, God, Let heav'n and earth resound his fame! 2 He spread the dry-land o'er the sea, And bade it on the floods to stay: Let land and sea to praise him join!. 3 Who, who shall win the arduous way, And in Jehovah's mountain stay? 4 His hands are clean, his heart is pure, Who there shall go, and there endure : He He must not lift aloft his mind And then to vile deceit draw near. Himself with God, though clad in duft!6 Who JACOB's God desire to see, Blest generation! THIS IS HE! Display, display your heav'nly bow'rs; The King of glory at you waits! 8 But who of glory is the King, Of whom fo gloriously you fing? The prize his val'rous arm has won, 9 Expand ye, wide expand, ye doors; Display, display your heav'nly bow'rs; Of whom so gioriously you fing? PSALM G 3. |