1

Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

The victories of David ended in his restoration to Jerusalem, and the service of God: the victories of Christ terminated in his triumphant return to a better Jerusalem; and this ought to be the one thing desired' by the Christian, that, after his conquest over his body of sin, he may pass the unnumbered days of eternity in the courts of heaven, contemplating the beauty and glory of bis Redeemer.

5. For in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

The protection and consolation experienced by believers of the church militant, give them a taste of the loving-kindness of the Lord, and make them impatiently desirous of quenching their thirst at the fountain of divine pleasures, after they shall have been exalted upon the rock of ages, from whence that fountain flows.

6. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.

These words, as they are supposed to be spoken by David, by Christ, or by the church, express their respective assurances, through faith, of final victory over their several enemies, with their determined resolution of singing hallelujahs to Jehovah, for the same.

7. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

From the assurances of faith it is always good to descend to the humiliation of prayer to God, who alone can grant unto us that one thing which we desire, and long after, while in the land of our captivity, and house of our pilgrimage. See ver. 4.

8. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

The voice of God, throughout the Scriptures, exhorteth the believer to turn away from the delusive appearances of the creature, and to seek after Him who is altogether lovely,' until he behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.' To this voice the believer answers, like a welltuned instrument to the master's touch, declaring his resolution so to do.

9. Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!

The suppliant, having determined to seek the face of God, here prayeth, that he would permit himself to be found, and to be seen; and that he would not, by hiding his face,' cause the light of knowledge to become darkness, and the fire of charity to go out. The church dreadeth nothing so much as an eclipse of the Sun of Righteousness.'

6

10. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.

A time will come, when the dearest earthly friends and relations can no longer be of any assistance to us.' The case of the church and of the

1 As there seems to be some difficulty in supposing the Psalmist's parents to have deserted' him, they might perhaps be said

soul is oftentimes compared to that of a poor, helpless, exposed orphan. Where worldly comforts end, heavenly ones begin. See Isa. xlix. 15; Matt. xxiii. 37; John ix. 35.

11. Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

The child of God, learning to walk in the law of his heavenly Father, prayeth to be directed and strengthened from above, that the enemy may neither pervert his steps, nor triumph in his fall.

12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

David had his enemies and false accusers; Christ also had his: and every child of God hath need to petition for deliverance from the great enemy of his salvation, the grand accuser of the brethren, who is ever breathing out malice and cruelty against the body and members of Christ.

13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

'Faith' in the comfortable promises of God is the only sovereign cordial for a fainting spirit. Earth is the land of the dying; we must extend our prospect into heaven, which is the land of the 'living,' where the faithful shall see,' and experience evermore 'the goodness of the Lord.'

14. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

to have 'forsaken' him, (as Muis conjectures,) that is, to have left him behind them, as being dead. Merrick.

The person speaking concludes with an apostrophe to his own soul, resulting from the confidence in God, expressed ver, 1, from the desire and the hope of heaven, 4-13, and from the manifold pledges of the divine love already received in this life, 14: the proper inference from all which considerations is this; that we should patiently wait on the Lord,' till the few and evil days of our pilgrimage pass away, and we arrive at the mansions prepared for us, in the house of our heavenly Father; till our warfare be accomplished, and terminate in the peace of God; till the storms and tempests of wintry time shall give place to the unclouded calm, and the ever-blooming pleasures of eternal spring.

PSALM XXVIII.

ARGUMENT.-This Psalm, like the twenty-second and many others, consisteth of two parts. For, 1-5. the true David appeareth in his state of humiliation and suffering; he prayeth for deliverance, and prophesieth the destruction of his enemies; 6-9. He singeth a sweet, though short, hymn of triumph, and intercedeth for his church and people.

1. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

The true David here maketh supplication,' with strong crying,' to the Father, that he may not be suffered to continue, like other men, under the dominion of the grave.' The Christian prayeth, in the same words, to be delivered from the pit' of corruption; and mightily should he cry' to Jeho

vah, the rock' of his salvation, until his prayer be heard and answered.

2. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

Christ frequently interceded for his people, with his hands lifted up' toward heaven,' in fervent prayer and I will,' saith the apostle, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands: 1 Tim. ii. 8. Shall our Redeemer pray for us, and shall we not pray for ourselves?

3. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

Christ, who alone is without sin, petitioneth that he may not be oppressed by sinners; he who is truth and love, prayeth to be preserved from the 'false and malicious.' Let us pray to be made like him; and like him to be delivered from evil, especially from the evil of a lying and slandering' tongue.

4. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours; give them after the work of their hands: render to them their desert. 5. Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

6

In these verses, as indeed in most of the imprecatory passages, the imperative and the future are used promiscuously; Give them-render themhe shall destroy them.' If, therefore, the verbs in all such passages were uniformly rendered in the