mean season, ridiculeth and insulteth her faith and hope, as vain and groundless; intimating that God hath forsaken her, and tempting her to renounce her principles.

4. When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holiday.

As the royal prophet, when driven from Jerusalem by Absalom, was melted into tears at the comparison of his destitute and forlorn situation with his former glory and happiness, when, upon some joyous festival, with all his subjects about him, he had attended the service of the tabernacle, in the city of God; so the Christian pilgrim cannot but bewail his exile from the heavenly Jerusalem, out of which sin hath driven him, and doomed him to wander, for a while, in the vale of misery. Led by repentance and faith, to look back to the place from whence he is fallen, he sighs after the unspeakable joys of the celestial Zion; longing to keep a festival, and celebrate a jubilee in heaven; to join in the songs of angels, and bear a part in the music of hallelujahs.

5. Why art thou cast, or, bowed, down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help, or, salvation, of his countenance.

The holy mourner now expostulates with his soul for suffering herself to sink into a kind of despondency, on account of her afflictions, and the insolent triumph of the adversary; and, as a sovereign cordial for melancholy, prescribes faith' in God,

which will show the morning of salvation dawning, after the night of calamity shall have run its course, a night which cannot be long, and may be very short. When the sun arises, we cannot be without light; when God turns his countenance towards us, we cannot be without salvation.'

6. O my God, my soul is cast down within me : therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar, or, the little hill.

The soul, although exhorted, in the last verse, to 'put her trust in God,' yet, considering her own infirmity, still continueth to be dejected: the prophet, therefore, confesseth as much; and maketh his complaint to God, from whom alone he expecteth comfort and whom he did not forget, while, far from the sanctuary, he wandered up and down in the country beyond Jordan, whither he had fled from the face of Absalom. The world is, to us, that 'country beyond Jordan;' Lord, make us to remember' thee, under all the affliction and tribulation we meet with therein, until, restored to thy Jerusalem, we shall praise thee in heaven, for the mercies experienced upon earth.

7. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over

me.

The prophet describeth the troubles which successively came upon him, by the vengeance of heaven, from above, raising up evil against him, out of his own house' and kingdom, from beneath, according to the prediction of Nathan. 2 Sam. xii. 11. The ideas seem to be borrowed from the gene

ral deluge, or from a storm at sea, when, at the 'sound' of descending waterspouts,' or torrents of rain, the depths are stirred up, and put into horrible commotion; the clouds above calling, as it were, to the waters below, and one wave encouraging and exciting another to join their forces, and overwhelm the despairing sufferer.' The whole compass of creation affordeth not, perhaps, a more just and striking image of the nature and number of those calamities which sin hath brought upon the children of Adam.?

8. Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the day-time, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

The gloomy prospect begins again to brighten, by a ray of hope shooting through it; and the prophet returneth to his rest and confidence in the mercy of God, determining, not only to give him thanks in the day of prosperity, but, as Paul and Silas afterwards did, to sing his praises at midnight, in adversity and affliction.

9. I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? 10. As with a sword in

1 Thus, as the learned Merrick observes, one river in Homer, "calls upon another," to assist in overwhelming the Grecian hero. And, in Eschylus, the fire and sea are said to "swear together," and to give each other their "pledge of confederacy," against the Grecian army.

2 Since this was written, I find the author of "Observations on divers Passages of Scripture" agreeing entirely with me in the notion, that David is here describing those waterspouts, and storms at sea, which were common on the Jewish coast, as we learn from Dr. Shaw, Observations, p. 324, 1st edit. So Mr. Merrick likewise, in his Annotations.

my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

He ventureth, notwithstanding, meekly and humbly, upon the strength of the promises, to expostulate with him, who was the rock' of his salvation, as to his seeming destitution, while continually oppressed and insulted by the cutting reproaches of the adversary. See above, ver. 3. These might be thought to render it in some sort necessary for God to arise, and vindicate his own honour, by the protection and deliverance of his servant. The Psalmist concludes with that exhortation to his soul, to trust in God, and to wait for his salvation, which makes the mournful chorus of this beautiful Psalm :

11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. See above, ver. 5.

PSALM XLIII.

ARGUMENT.-This Psalm seemeth to be a continuation of the former, written by David in the same circumstances, on the same subject, and closing with the same chorus.

1. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly, or, unmerciful, nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

David, in the same situation as before, appealeth to God, against a people who had driven their sovereign from his capital, to wander like a fugitive and vagabond in the remotest parts of his domi

minions; against thy hypocrisy of Absalom, and the villany of Ahithophel. The son of David may be supposed to make the same appeal against the same nation, for their far more cruel, treacherous, and iniquitous usage of him, their King and their God. And the words suit the circumstances of an oppressed church, or an injured prince, of all who suffer for truth and righteousness' sake, or who groan under the tyranny of their spiritual enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil.

2. For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? See above, Ps. xlii. 9. 3. O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

The chief desire of the Christian, analogous to that of the prophet in distress, is to be saved from sin, as well as sorrow; to be instructed in the way of righteousness, by the light' of heavenly wisdom, shining in the face of Jesus Christ; to see the accomplishment of the promises, in him who is the truth;' and to be led,' by this light and this truth, from the land of his pilgrimage, to the holy hill,' and the mansions' of the just, in the new Jerusalem.

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4. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy, or, the gladness of my joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

The royal prophet, upon his restoration to his throne, was to sacrifice on the altar of his God, with the voice of thanksgiving, and to celebrate his mighty Deliverer, in a new song, upon the me