OR.

MORNING PRAYER.

Psalm i. (t) BLESSED is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful;

(s) The book of Psalms is a collection of hymns or holy songs. Many of them were written by David, who lived about 1000 years before our Saviour's time; and those are more antient than the works of any classic writer now extant. Homer, one of the earliest classic writers, wrote about 840 years before the birth of Christ, above 100 years after the death of Solomon, David's son. "Compare them with "the Odes of Horace or Anacreon, with "the Hymns of Callimachus, the Golden "Verses of Pythagoras, the Choruses of "the Greek Tragedians, and you will "quickly see how greatly they surpass "them all, in piety of sentiment, in subli

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mity of expression, in purity of morality, "and in rational theology." Watson's Apol. p. 57.

Their character is various; some triumphant, others penitential; some prophetical, others merely narrative: but in style, energy, and classic elegance, they all rank amongst the best compositions; animated with the sublimest strains of devotion, and expressing the justest notions of God's providence and attributes.

They are all in metre; were used in the service at the tabernacle and temple; were generally learnt by heart by the people; and the ministers of every gradation were expected to be able at all times to repeat them from memory.

They are supposed to have been collected and put into their present arrangement by Ezra, and to have been deposited by him in the temple with the other books of the Old Testament, about 500 years before the birth of Christ: and they were

2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord: and in his law will he exercise himself day and night.

3. And he shall be like a tree (u) planted by the water-side: that will bring forth his fruit in due

season.

translated into Greek, with the rest of the Old Testament, about 270 years before our Saviour's time.

This Greek translation is now extant. It is called the Septuagint.

The English translation in the Prayer Book was made by Tyndall, in the time of Henry the Eighth; and was revised by Archbishop Cranmer, about 1548. The translation in the Bible was made at the time of the last translation of the whole Bible in 1607. There had been an intermediate translation of the whole Bible in Queen Elizabeth's time. Where the translations therefore in the Prayer Book and the Bible differ, that in the Bible (as being the later) ought to be the best.

(t) Upon the different fate of good and bad men: the prosperity of the former, and the failure of the latter. It is supposed to have been written by Ezra, and it may be considered a spirited poetical proposi tion, the result of what the collection would prove.

(u) v. 3. "Like a tree, &c." In Jet. xvii. 5-8. is this passage: "Thus saith "the Lord, Cursed be the man that "trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his "arm," (i. e. his dependance)" and whose "heart departeth from the Lord: for he "shall be like the heath in the desert, and "shall not see when good cometh, but shall "inhabit the parched places in the wilder

ness, in a salt land, and not inhabited. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the "Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: "for he shall be as a tree planted by the "waters, and that spreadeth out her

4. His leaf also shall not wither: and look, whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper. (*)

5. As for the ungodly, it is not so with them: but they are like the chaff, which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth. 6. Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judge

"roots by the river; and shall not see "when heat cometh, but her leaf shall "be green; and shall not be careful in "the year of drought, neither shall cease "from yielding fruit." This was written about 600 years before Christ; and from hence the author of this Psalm probably borrowed his idea. The force of the passage would be striking, where the country was subject to great drought, as Judea was, and where they were in the habit of digging canals and trenches to keep the water by their plantations. See Bishop Lowth's note on Isaiah i, 30.

(x) v. 4. "Shall prosper." How many assurances are there in Scripture that goodness leads to prosperity, and wickedness to adversity? All things work together "for good to them that love God, Rom. "viii. 28." "There is no peace, saith the "Lord, to the wicked, Isaiah xlviii. 22.— "lvii. 21." "Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent; or where

were the righteous cut off? Even as "I have seen, they that plough iniquity, "and sow wickedness, reap the same: by "the blast of God they perish, and by the "breath of his nostrils are they consumed. “Job iv. 7-9." "Godliness is profitable to "all things, having promise of the life "that now is, and of that which is to come. 1 Tim. iv. 8."

(y) v. 6. "The judgment:" either "the general judgment;" or, more probably, any time of visitation.'

(2) "The congregation, &c." i. e. "those whom God collects to exempt "them from calamity."

(a) v. 7. " Knoweth," i. c. " protecteth," "preserveth." "Know" is often so used, Deut. ii. 7. "The Lord thy God hath "blessed thee in all the works of thy "hand; he knoweth thy walking through "this great wilderness: these forty years "the Lord thy God hath been with thee: "thou hast lacked nothing." So Ps. xxxi. 8. Thou hast considered my trouble, "and known my soul" (i. e. saved my life)

ment (y): neither the sinners in the congregation (*) of the righteous. 7. But the Lord knoweth (a) the way of the righteous: and the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalm ii. (b)

WHY do the heathen so furiously rage together: and why do the people imagine a vain thing? (c)

"in adversities." Again, Ps. xxxvii. 18. "The Lord knoweth the days of the godly, "and their inheritance shall endure for "ever." And Ps. cxlii. 3. " When my

spirit was in heaviness, thou knewest my path." So Nahum i. 7. "The Lord is "good, a strong hold in the day of trouble: "and he knoweth them that trust in him."

(b) Ps. ii. This Psalm was written by David; (Acts iv. 25.) and it either refers to himself, foretelling the discomfiture of his enemies, and bringing forward an assurance God had made to him, that he (or some descendant from him) should be to God a son, &c.; or it applies wholly to the Messiah, and is a prophecy of the opposition he should experience, of the success of his kingdom, and of the vengeance he should take upon his opponents. The latter was the opinion of the early Jews, and is adopted by many of the ablest commentators. See Pole's Synopsis; 2. Hales, 369-371; 1. Hales' Trinity, 187; and particularly Dr. Hales' Dissertations, 224 to 268. It is one of the proper Psalms for Easter Day. See also Sykes on the Hebrews, Appendix, No. 1.

(c) v. 1, 2. These verses are in terms referred (Acts iv. 25, 26, 27.) to the treatment our Saviour experienced from the Jews. Peter and John had stated to the Christian converts what the chief priests and elders had said unto them, forbidding them to speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus, upon which the converts "lifted up their voice to God with one accord, “and said, “Lord thou art God, which "hast made heaven and earth and the

sea, and all that in them is; who by the "mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of "the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord, and against his Christ." For of a truth "against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou "hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius "Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people "of Israel, were gathered together."

2. The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his Anointed; (d)

3. "Let us break their bonds "asunder and cast away their “cords from us.” (e)

4. He (g) that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: the (h) Lord shall have them in derision. 5. Then shall (i) he speak unto

(d) v. 2. "Against the Lord, and against "his anointed." The Hebrew is," against "Jehovah, and against his Messiah:" terms, which David was not likely to have used, had the Psalm been referable to himself. The words "Messiah" and "Christ" only mean "Anointed." In John i. 41. Andrew saith to Peter, "We "have found the Messias; which is, be"ing interpreted, the Christ."

(e) v. 3. These are the words of "the kings of the earth and the rulers," mentioned in verse 2.

(g) v. 4. "He that dwelleth in heaven," i. e." God the Father," "the Lord," i. e. "the Messiah."

(h) "The Lord." The word in the Hebrew is not "Jehovah," the incommunicable name of God; but Adoni, or Adonai, a lower term, sometimes applied to God, and sometimes to man, and properly signifying "a Ruler." It probably refers here to the Messiah, as it certainly does in the prophetic passage, Ps. cx. 1.

(i) v. 5. "He," i. e. "God;" he that dwelleth in heaven. See Pole's Synopsis. (k) v. 6. This is spoken by God.

(2) v. 7. "I," i. e. "the Messiah." Euseb. Eccl. Hist. b. 1. c. iii. p. 8.

(m) "Will preach the law, &c." i. e. " will make known the assurance God has "made me; after which, all threats and "opposition must be vain."

(n) "The Lord," Hebr. "Jehovah." (o)" Thou, &c." This is the assurance and it is applied to the Messiah, Acts xiii, 33.- Heb. i. 5. and v. 5. When St. Paul was preaching at Antioch, he said unto his hearers, "We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which "was made unto the fathers, God hath " fulfilled unto us, their children, in that " he hath raised up Jesus again: as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou "art my Son, this day have I begotten thee,

them in his wrath: and vex them in his sore displeasure;

6. "Yet have I set my King:

upon my holy hill of Sion." (k) 7. I will preach the law (m), whereof the (n) Lord hath said unto me: "Thou (0) art my "Son, this day (p) have I begot"thee.

8. "Desire of me, and I shall "give thee the heathen (9) for

"Acts xiii. 33." The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, after speaking of Jesus Christ as having obtained a more excellent name than any of the angels, puts the question, Heb. i. 5. "Unto "which of the angels saith he at any "time, "Thou art my Son, this day have "I begotten thee?" In Heb. v. 5. is this passage, "Christ glorified not himself to "be made an high priest, but he that "said unto him, "Thou art my Son, this "day I have begotten thee." And when the Holy Ghost descended upon our Saviour, God may be considered as appropriating to him this passage, when he said, "This " is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Matt. iii. 17.”

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(p) "This Day, &c." not referring to any particular period when he was made, or began to be, the Son of God: but perhaps, only meaning, that in the time to which he was looking forward, expressed by "this day," i. e. " the time after Christ's coming in the flesh," he would give abundant proofs that Christ was as a Son to him, very God of very God.

(q) v. 8. "The heathen, &c." This may refer prophetically to the extent to which Christianity and the worship of the true God would prevail; which is also foretold in other passages. In Isaiah ii. 2. the prophet predicts in his figurative language, "It shall come to pass in the "last days, that the mountain of the "Lord's house" (that is, the worship of the true God)" shall be established in the "top of the mountains, and shall be ex"alted above all hills: and all nations "shall flow unto it." In speaking of the Messiah, Zech. ix. 10. it is said, "His "dominion shall be from sea even to sea, " and from the river (i. e. the Euphrates) 66 even to the ends of the earth." So Mal. i. 11. "from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same,"

(i. e. from east to west) * my Name shall "be great among the Gentiles: and in every place incense shall be offered unto "my Name, and a pure offering: for my "Name shall be great among the heathen, "saith the Lord of Hosts." See also Isaiah xlv. 23.—Ps. xxii. 27.—lxxxvi. 8.

(r) "Thine inheritance." Justin M. asks, "What is the inheritance of Christ?

are not the Gentiles? Dial. cum "Tryphone, 351."

(s) v. 9. "Bruise, &c." It was one of the characteristics of the Messiah, that he should take severe vengeance upon the wicked. See ante, 28. note on Rom. xiii. 11. and 32. note on Luke xxi. 25. And it is said of him in the prophetic psalm, (Ps. cx. 5. 6.) The Lord upon thy right "hand shall wound even kings in the "day of his wrath: he shall judge among "the heathen, he shall fill the places with "the dead bodies: and smite in sunder "the heads over divers countries."

2. Many one there be that say of my soul: "There is no help "for him in his God."

3. But thou, O Lord, art my defender: thou art my worship, and the lifter-up of my head.

4. I (2) did call upon the Lord with my voice; and he heard me out of his holy hill.

5. I laid me down (a) and slept, and rose up again: for the Lord sustained me.

6. I will not be afraid for ten thousands of the people that have set themselves against me round about. (b)

7. Up, Lord, and help me, O my God: for thou smitest all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

8. Salvation belongeth (c) unto the Lord: and thy blessing is upon thy people.

"I left me seven thousand in Israel, all "the knees which have not bowed unto “Baal, and all the mouths which have "not kissed him." And see Hos. xiii. 2. (x) "The Son," i. e. "the Messiah."

(y) This Psalm is supposed to have been written by David, when he fled from Absalom, in the 33d year of his reign, about 1023 years before our Saviour's birth. After noticing the number of his enemies, and the inference drawn from thence that God had deserted him, he expresses in a sanguine and animated manner his confidence in God's protection.

(z) v. 4, 5. Justin M. refers these verses to the Messiah. Dial. cum Tryphone, 524.

(a) v. 5. "Laid me down, &c." A strong proof of his reliance on God's care, that he was not deterred by danger from laying himself down to sleep. So Ps. iv. 9.

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(b) v. 6. David expresses similar confidence in God's protection, Ps. xxvii. 3. Though an host of men were laid against me, yet shall not my heart be afraid." (c) v. 8. "Belongeth." Emphatically: it is peculiarly his: agreeably to Isaiah xliii. 11. and Hos. xiii, 4. " I am the Lord: beside me there is no Saviour.”