his sorrow.

Father,' saith the beloved Son of God, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.' Luke, xxii. 42.

11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty, or, all that is delightful, or, desirable in him, to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity.

The body of man is as a garment' to the soul : in this garment sin hath lodged a moth,' which by degrees fretteth and weareth away, first, the beauty, then the strength, and, finally, the contexture of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a consumption, or any other lingering distemper, nay, the slow and silent devastations of time alone, in the human frame, will need no farther illustration of this just and affecting similitude; but will discern at once, the propriety of the reflection, which follows upon it :- Surely every man is vanity!'

12. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry: hold not thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.

Meditation should terminate in devotion; and meditation on human vanity and misery, if indulged as it deserves to be, certainly will do so; it will bring us to our prayers,' our cries,' and our 'tears;' and teach us to address the throne of grace, as poor pilgrims in a strange land, who have here no abiding city, but are soon to strike our tents, and be gone for ever. Such was David, though king of Israel; and such was the Son of David, in the body of his flesh, though Lord of all

things: both were strangers and sojourners, as all their fathers,' Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were before them, and as all their children have been and shall be after them, upon the earth.

13. O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

Most fervently and affectionately, therefore, ought the Christian pilgrim to pray, that God would spare his life and respite the fatal sentence, until all that hath been decayed, through the frailty of nature, be renewed by the power of grace: that his perfect reconciliation with the Almighty may be accomplished, and his plenary pardon sealed in heaven, before he taketh his last farewell of the world, and ceaseth to have an existence in these regions of vanity and sorrow.

PSALM XL.

ARGUMENT.—It is plain, from ver. 6-8. of this Psalm, compared with Heb. x. 5. that the prophet is speaking in the person of Christ, who, 1-5. celebrateth the deliverance wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, 6-8. the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentioneth his own inclination to do the will of his Father, and 9, 10. to preach righteousness to the world. 11-13. He representeth himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own and his people's salvation; he foretelleth, 14, 15. the confusion and desolation of his enemies, and, 16. the joy and thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy accomplishment of which, 17. he preferreth a petition.

1. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

In this verse we hear the voice of the meek Lamb of God, who, though never sorrow was like unto his sorrow, 'waited patiently,' till the time appointed by the Father came, when that sorrow should be turned into joy. Let not his disciples expect to inherit the promises,' otherwise than 'through faith and patience.' Four thousand years, the church, under the patriarchs, the law, and the prophets, waited for the first advent of Messiah; and, seventeen hundred years the church, under the gospel, hath waited for the second. Jehovah, who inclined himself to the prayers of the former, will also hear the cries of the latter.

2. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, Heb. a pit of confused tumultuous noise, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

The sufferings from which our Redeemer was delivered, are here described under the image of a dark subterraneous cavern, from which there was no emerging, and where roaring cataracts of water broke in upon him, overwhelming him on every side; till, as it is expressed in the eighteenth Psalm, 'God sent from above, and took him, and drew him out of many waters.' Let us celebrate the deliverance of Christ, as a pledge and earnest of our own rescue from the troubles and temptations of life; from the power of death and the grave; from the 'horrible pit, and the miry clay;' when we shall be exalted on 'the rock' of our salvation, and our 'goings' shall be established' for ever.

3. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

Every new deliverance requires a new song.' Christians sing their wonderful redemption, from sin and death, in these holy hymns, which God, by his Spirit, hath put into their mouths, and which, by their application to matters evangelical, are become 'new' songs, setting forth the praise and glory of God, through Jesus Christ. And who can hear the church, singing the victory and triumph of her mighty and merciful Saviour, without being incited to fear,' and 'to believe?'

4. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

He who is sensible how much God hath done, and how little the world can do for him, will earnestly and heartily pronounce the blessedness of the man, who relies upon the real power and goodness of the former, instead of suffering himself to be deceived by the empty parade and fallacious promises of the latter.

5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

The counsels and works of the ever-blessed Trinity, planned and executed for the benefit of man, in his creation and preservation, his redemption and sanctification, in order to his resurrection and glorification, through Christ, already risen and glo

rified, are subjects which can never be exhausted, by the intellectual powers of men or angels; but will, to both, afford matter of incessant meditation, and endless praise. Yet, how little do we meditate on them how seldom, and how coldly, do we praise God for them!

6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sinoffering hast thou not required. 7. Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

These words, as the apostle informeth us, Heb. x. 5, are spoken by Christ, in his own person. In them he proclaims the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices to take away sin, and the divine disapprobation of such sacrifices, when relied on for that purpose. He sets forth his own readiness to do, and to suffer, the will of the Father, implied in the Psalm by the words, 'mine ears hast thou opened;' but more plainly expressed in the apostle's citation, by the paraphrase, a body hast thou prepared me.' He refers to the predictions concerning Messiah, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, which is here styled-' the volume, or roll, of the

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For the expression, Mine ears hast thou opened,' seems equivalent to, Thou hast made me obedient.' Thus, Isa. 1. 5. The Lord God hath opened mine ears, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters,' &c. The LXX. perhaps, meant to interpret this symbolical expression, when they rendered it by owμa KATηPTION pot, Thou hast prepared,' or, fitted my body,' that is, to be obedient,' and to do thy will.' See Dr. Jackson, vol. ii. p. 882. This seems to be the best sense of the present reading, and is well expressed by Mr. Merrick, in his poetical version: