plied. 20. They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.

These words, joined with the preceding, are applicable to the distress of David, and the prosperity of his adversaries; to the sufferings of Christ, and the triumph of the Jews; to the afflictions of the church, and the gaiety of the world; to the weakness of faith, and the strength of nature. The result of all is this, that salvation cometh of God only, and is to be implored in the following words, which conclude the Psalm :

21. Forsake me not, O Lord; O my God, be not far from me. 22. Make haste to help me, O Lord God of my salvation.

PSALM XXXIX.

ARGUMENT.-The prophet, in a state of distress and persecution, determineth, 1-3. to be watchful and silent, as our blessed Lord also was, before his enemies. 4. He prayeth for a due sense of the shortness of human life; and after meditating, 5, 6. on that subject, fixeth all his faith and hope in God, 7. whom he entreateth, but with submission to his will, 8-10. for the remission of sin, and alleviation of misery. 11. From a view of the human body wearing away by sickness, he breaketh out 12, 13. into a most fervent and affectionate prayer, which ought to be continually in the mouth of the Christian, upon earth. This Psalm is, with the utmost propriety, appointed by the church to be used at the burial of the dead, as a funeral is indeed the best comment upon it.

1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin

not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.

The Psalm begins abruptly with the result of a meditation on the narrow, slippery, and dangerous paths of life; and more especially on the extreme difficulty of restraining the tongue, amidst the continual temptations and provocations of the adversary. In these circumstances, watchfulness' and silence' are resolved on, as the only means of security. Let us behold the Lamb of God, as our great pattern and example herein.

2. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace even from good, and my sorrow was stirred.

There is a time to keep silence, because there are men who will not hear; there are tempers, savage and sensual as those of swine, before whom evangelical pearls, or the treasures of heavenly wisdom, are not to be cast. This consideration stirreth up fresh grief and trouble, in a pious and charitable heart. How much more must it have done so, in the soul of him who lived and died only for the salvation of sinners!

3. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.

The fire of divine charity, thus prevented from diffusing itself, for the illumination and warmth of those around it, and, like other fire, rendered more intense by its confinement, presently ascended, in the flame of devotion, towards heaven; while it continued to be fed, and preserved in brightness and vigour, by meditation on the goodness of God,

and the ingratitude of man; the transient miseries of time, and the durable glories of eternity.

4. Lord make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days what it is: that I may know how frail I am.

Wearied with the contradiction of sinners, and sickening at the prospect of so much wretchedness in the valley of weeping, the soul looks forward to her departure from hence, praying for such a sense of the shortness of human life, as may enable her to bear the sorrows of this world, and excite her to prepare for the joys of a better. O faithless and perverse generation,' saith even the meek and patient Jesus himself, how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you?' Matt. xvii. 17.

5. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth, and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state, Heb. settled, is altogether vanity.

The age of man, or that of the world, is but a 'span' in dimension, a moment in duration; nay, it is less than both; it is nothing,' if compared with the unmeasurable extent, and the unnumbered days of eternity: every hour, from that of our birth, brings us so much nearer to our death: nor can we continue, for a second of time, in one stay. 'Behold,' then, O Lord, the vanity' of man; and be so merciful unto him, as to open his eyes, that he may behold it himself!

6. Surely, every man walketh in a vain show, or, in a shadowy image: surely they are disquieted in

vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

This world is, to the other, as a 'shadow' to the substance; nay, temporal life, health, riches, honours, and pleasures, can hardly be called shadows of those which are eternal, in point of resemblance; though for their illusive and fleeting nature, they are shadows indeed. The mortal state of man is compounded of light and darkness; seeming to be something, when really it is nothing; always altering, and ending on a sudden; nearest to disappearing, when at full length; sure to continue no longer than while the sun is above the horizon; but liable to vanish, at the interposition of a cloud; and when it is gone, leaving no track behind it." The fate of riches heaped up by misers, with unutterable care and anxiety, may convince us, how ' vainly' men are disquieted!'

7. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee.

The soul, that hath a true sense of the vanity of the creature, will at once fix her thoughts and affections on the Creator. A celebrated writer, describing a man of the world on his death-bed, hath expressed this sentiment with wonderful sublimity and elegance:-"Whoever would know how much piety and virtue surpass all external goods, might here have seen them weighed against each other, where all that gives motion to the active, and elevation to the eminent; all that sparkles in the eye of hope, and pants in the bosom of suspicion; at once became dust in the balance, without weight, and without regard. Riches, authority, and praise lose all their influence, when they are considered

as riches, which to-morrow shall be bestowed upon another; authority, which shall this night expire for ever; and praise, which, however merited, or however sincere, shall, after a few moments, be heard no more." "1

8. Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.

Affliction hath then had its proper effect, when the sufferer is thereby convinced of sin, and therefore prayeth for a removal of the latter, as the only way to be delivered from the former. The reproaches' of the foolish make no inconsiderable article in the account of a Christian's sufferings; and our Lord frequently complaineth of them, in the Psalms as one of the bitter ingredients in his own cup.

9. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.

Whatever materials compose the rod of affliction, and from whatsoever quarter the stroke cometh, let us remember, that the rod is grasped, and the stroke is inflicted, by the hand of our heavenly Father. To revenge ourselves on the instrument, is folly; to murmur against the agent, is something worse.

10. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand.

The Christian, who knows from whence his troubles proceed, knows where to apply for relief; and having first petitioned' for remission of sin, ver. 8, he then humbly supplicates for a mitigation of

Rambler, Vol. II. No. 54.