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in a better country, where no enemy' can approach to hurt or molest him.

3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sick

ness.

An exemption from sorrow and sickness is not promised to the children of God; but strength and comfort are given unto them, from above, to support and carry them through their trials; and they who, in the days of their health, have, by their alms, given rest to the bodies, or, by their counsels, restored peace to the consciences of others, shall have the bed of pain made easy under them, by the hand of their heavenly Father.

4. I said, Lord, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.

Every son of Adam may, and ought in these words, to acknowledge his sin, and to entreat for mercy and grace, to heal the disorders of his nature. If we suppose. Messiah ever to have uttered this verse in his devotions, as we know he applied the ninth verse to his own case, it is obvious, that he must be understood to confess the sins, not of his own righteous person, but of the nature he had assumed, in order to cleanse and purify it by his sufferings. See above, Psal. xl. 12.

5. Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?

Here we may undoubtedly consider the poor and lowly Jesus, in the day of his humiliation, when he was daily and hourly calumniated by his adversaries; when, restless and impatient at be

holding him still alive, they said, 'What do we, for this man doth many miracles? If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him. Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? Behold, the world is gone after him,' John, xi. 47; xii. 19: and when, grown more furious and clamorous, they cried, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him.' How many, with the same bitterness of spirit,' speak evil' continually of his doctrines, his church, his ordinances, and his ministers; in effect, saying, 'When shall he die, and his name perish ?

6. And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity : his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.

Thus the enemies of Christ' sent out spies, who should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.' Luke, xx. 20. Thus Judas sat down at the last supper, all the while meditating the destruction of his Master; till at length, rising from table, and going abroad, he put his design in execution: and thus the mystical body of Christ frequently suffers, as his natural body once did, by means of hypocrites and traitors.

7. All that hate me whisper together against me : against me do they devise my hurt. 8. An evil disease, say they, Heb. a word, or, matter, of Belial, namely, the crime charged upon him, cleaveth fast unto him; and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more.

The whispers of the Pharisees, the counsels of the sanhedrim, and their taunts and scoffs at the

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blessed Jesus, when on the cross, numbered with the transgressors,' nor ever expected to arise' again from the dead, are here most significantly and plainly pointed out. The same weapons are frequently employed against the servants of Christ; but let them not be, on that account, discouraged from following their Master.

9. Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against me.

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I speak not of you all,' saith our Lord to his disciples; I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me, hath lift up his heel against me.' John, xviii. 18. The sufferings of the church, like those of her Redeemer, generally begin at home; her open enemies can do her no harm, until her pretended friends have delivered her into their hands: and, unnatural as it may seem, they, who have waxed fat upon her bounty, are sometimes the first to lift up the heel' against her.

10. But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them, or, and I shall requite them.

The holy Jesus here maketh his prayer unto the Father, for the accomplishment of the promised resurrection, and foretelleth the righteous judgment that would be executed on his enemies, after their rejection of the gracious offers made them, by the apostles, in his name, notwithstanding all that they had said and done against him. Then the kingdom of God was taken from them, and their house was left unto them desolate. The hour is coming when

the church shall arise to glory, and all her enemies shall be confounded.

11. By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. 12. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.

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The Christian, like his Master, must expect sorrow and tribulation, but he is not thereby deprived of the favour' of heaven; his spiritual enemies, whatever trouble they may give him, yet do not triumph' over him; he is preserved in his 'integrity,' and his reward will be the vision' of God. For the exaltation, therefore, of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of all believers in, by, and through him.

13. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.

PSALM XLII.

ARGUMENT.-David, by Absalom's rebellion driven from Jerusalem to the country beyond Jordan, is there supposed to have indited this Psalm; which, as it is applicable to the case of our Lord, in his state of sojourning and suffering on earth, for our sins; as also, that of the church, under persecution, or that of any member thereof, when deprived of the opportunities of public worship; so doth it, in the most beautiful and pathetic strains, describe the vicissitudes of joy and sorrow, of hope and despondency, which succeed each other in the mind of the Christian pilgrim, while, exiled from the Jerusalem above, he suffereth affliction and tribulation in this valley of tears. The last is the application chiefly made in the comment, as it is the most general and useful one; the others naturally offer themselves, being coincident with, or subordinate to it.

1. As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

The thirst, which the ، hart experienced, when chased, in sultry weather, over the dusty plains, is here set before us, as a representation of that ardent desire after the waters of eternal comfort, which the temptations, the cares, and the troubles of the world, produce in the believing soul. Happy they who feel this desire, and fly to the well of life, that it may be satisfied. Blessed are they that thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.' Matt. v. 6.

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2. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

Whoever considers what it is to appear before God ;' to behold the glorious face of Jesus; to contemplate a beauty which never fadeth; to be enriched by a beneficence which can never be exhausted, and blessed in a love unmerited and infinite; will find abundant reason to say, again and again, 'My soul thirsteth after God; why is the time of my banishment prolonged? when shall the days of my pilgrimage have an end? when shall I come and appear before God ?'

3. My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

So long as the soul finds herself absent from him whom she loveth, sorrow, is still her portion, as well in the day of worldly prosperity, as in the night of adversity. And this sorrow is greatly aggravated by the taunts of the enemy; who, because the promise is delayed, and she suffereth affliction in the

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