THE BOOK OF PSALMS. (continued 4)

PSALM LXXIV.

The prophet complaineth of the desolation of the sanctuary.—He moveth God to help in consideration of his power, of his reproachful enemies, of his children, and of his covenant.

Maschil of Asaph.

O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?

Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary.

Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs.

A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.

But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.

They have cast fire into thy sanctuary, they have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground.

They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.

O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom.

For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters.

Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.

The day is thine, the night also is thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun.

Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.

Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

O deliver not the soul of thy turtledove unto the multitude of the wicked: forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever.

Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.

O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.

This is a prayer against the enemies who were then laying waste Jerusalem, the sanctuary, all the holy places of assembly and of the worship of God in the land, and even the national cities themselves; uttering at the same time blasphemies against God, as if he were not able to succour and defend his people.

It seems also to be a prophecy of the future, and a prayer against that future devastation which was wrought by those cruel enemies, the Chaldeans, and by Antiochus Epiphanes; for it was on these two occasions only that the temple and the city of Jerusalem were destroyed, with such cruelty as is here depicted.

We also use this Psalm against the Turk and Mahomet; and also against our Antiochus, the pope; who destroys daily the true church and the preaching of the word of God, daily despoils and scatters all sacred and divine things, and every where stirs up and diffuses abroad the poison of the devil and every abomination.

PSALM LXXV.

The prophet praiseth God.—He promiseth to judge uprightly.—He rebuketh the proud by consideration of God’s providence.—He praiseth God, and promiseth to execute justice.

To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, a Psalm or Song of Asaph.

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks; for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

This is a Psalm of consolation against all turbulent and hardened hypocrites, who boast of their church and their name, and despise alike all threatenings, and all exhortations; ever speaking like those arrogant hypocrites in Psalm xii: “Who shall teach us?” “Who is Lord over us?” As if they should say, the power is ours, and the authority is ours, and he that does not listen to, and obey us, let him be accursed.

In like manner also now, our bishops are secure; and, from the ‘Council of Worms’ to this day, are deaf to all entreaties, and insensible to all tears. And equally deaf also are most kings and princes and fanatical spirits; who are so confident in themselves and in their own imaginations, that they seem to think that God himself could not overthrow them or cast them down.

This Psalm admonishes us, the people of God, to know and acknowledge, that there is a God who will surely judge all iniquity, if we do but wait his time. For he is the Lord who maketh the mountains to tremble, and who appeared on Mount Sinai with such terrible majesty. He, according to the word of his First Commandment, visits the wicked in his own appointed time, and yet preserves the pillars of the earth; that is, the godly and the righteous; who bear up and sustain this world upon their shoulders as it were: in the same way as the Apostle Paul calls the church the “pillar and ground of the truth.” Thus, God preserved the righteous and innocent Lot when he overthrew Sodom: and thus he preserved also the believing Jews and the Apostles when he destroyed Jerusalem, and overthrew the whole nation and kingdom: for he knows, when he destroys any nation, how to preserve his own.

PSALM LXXVI.

A declaration of God’s majesty in the church.—An exhortation to serve him reverently.

To the chief Musician on Neginoth. A Psalm or Song of Asaph.

In Judah is God known; his name is great in Israel.

In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.

There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.

Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.

The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.

At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.

Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?

Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,

When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.

Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.

He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.

This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and of the same subject-matter as Psalm xlvi. It gives thanks unto God for preserving his word and worship in Jerusalem; and shows that it is he who, by marvellous deeds and wonders, protects and defends his people against all kings and tyrants; such as Sennacherib. For the Lord, the Divine Majesty, is a wonderful “Man of war”; who has the hearts and spirits of kings in his hand, and who can fill the enemies with fear, and break their minds and spirits, whenever he pleases, with a single nod of his will.

In this manner does God fight for his church against tyrants and erroneous enemies. In the very midst of the course of their fury and their hostile roaring, he brings down and breaks their spirits with fear: and it is a terrible thing to kick and fight against him, who can, in a moment, take away that which is the chief thing in battle—the spirit of a man! Satan himself, who makes war against the righteous with such unceasing rage, with such horrible desire to destroy, and with such confidence in his might, is cast down in his spirit, in a moment, by a repulse of the shield of faith, and falls back and is undone: how much more then shall a mortal man!

This verse, therefore, wherein the Psalmist says, “He shall cut off the spirit of princes,” ought greatly to comfort us; for thereby we may know, that we cannot be conquered or oppressed, but as God wills; seeing we have that Warrior for our Captain, who holds in his hand the hearts and spirits of our enemies; and who, without any arms or weapons of men, can lay our adversaries prostrate in a moment, by striking their spirits with fear!

PSALM LXXVII.

The psalmist sheweth what fierce combat he had with diffidence.—The victory which he had by consideration of God’s great and gracious works.

To the chief Musician to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

Will the LORD cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God!

Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee: they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

Thou leddest thy people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

This Psalm contains a blessed doctrine: the Psalmist puts forth himself as an example: and the whole is for the consolation of the godly: for the Psalmist describes the unspeakable anguish and sorrow of a heart alarmed at the wrath of God and sin: and he says, verse 4, that he was so overwhelmed with these terrors and sorrows, that he could neither sleep nor speak. And in verses 7–10, he, as it were, repeats all these his feelings of sorrow and dread, saying, “Will God forget to be merciful? Doth his promise fail for evermore”?

But here, as the Psalm saith, lies the greatest and best of all consolations,—you will at once find comfort and deliverance if, casting away from your mind (if you can by any means do it,) all these apprehensions of evils and sorrows, (by which indeed you are distressed in vain,) you turn to the word and works of God, and to the histories of God’s doings and dealings from the beginning of the world: for you will there find that the works and doings of God from the beginning have been these,—to be merciful to and to save and help the sorrowful, the distressed, the destitute, and the afflicted; and to visit, in vengeance, the secure, the proud, the despisers, and the wicked, in the same way as he delivered the Israelites, and destroyed the Egyptians. Hence it is that David says, “Thy way, O God, is in the deep,” and “in the sea:” for God saves in the midst of death and of destruction, when despair is on every side.

Learn this, my Christian brother! This Psalm thus sets forth to us God and the ways of God: that is, how he works, and what he does, in his church and in the saints: and all this is thus written, that we should not despair in perils and afflictions, when we are beyond the reach of all human help: but that rather, casting away all our own apprehensions and distressing thoughts, we should, at, and from that time, begin to trust in God, and to trust in him more and more, waiting for his help.

PSALM LXXVIII.

An exhortation both to learn and to preach the law of God.—The story of God’s wrath against the incredulous and disobedient.—The Israelites being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David.

Maschil of Asaph.

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old;

Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.

For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children;

That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children:

That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God; but keep his commandments:

And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;

And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.

Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.

In the day-time also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.

He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.

He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.

And they sinned yet more against him, by provoking the Most High in the wilderness.

And they tempted God in their heart, by asking meat for their lust.

Yea, they spake against God: they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?

Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel.

Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation;

Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven,

And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.

He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven; and by his power he brought in the south wind.

He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea;

And he let it fall in the midst of their camp, round about their habitations.

So they did eat and were well filled: for he gave them their own desire;

They were not estranged from their lust: but while their meat was yet in their mouths,

The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.

For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble.

When he slew them, then they sought him; and they returned and inquired early after God:

And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God their Redeemer.

Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues:

For their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.

But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath:

For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!

Yea, they turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy:

How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan:

And had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink.

He sent divers sorts of flies among them, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them.

He gave also their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust.

He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-trees with frost.

He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.

He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels among them.

He made a way to his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence;

And smote all the first-born in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:

But made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

And he led them on safely, so that they feared not: but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.

And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, even to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased.

He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies:

But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:

So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.

He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.

The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.

Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.

And he smote his enemies in the hinder part: he put them to a perpetual reproach.

Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like the earth which he hath established for ever.

He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds:

From following the ewes great with young he brought him, to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.

This Psalm, by a glorious instruction, in a long recital of the acts of the children of Israel as examples, from the departure out of Egypt down to David, teaches us to believe and trust in God: showing us, how “very present” God always was to those who believed in him, in all their perils, and even in the midst of death. And, on the other hand, it shows us, how surely and terribly God always visited those who despised his word and departed from him.

For, according to the words of the first commandment, God has, from the beginning, wrought, not only in his own people, but in the Gentiles also; and so he will work down to the world’s end; showing mercy to those that love him, and visiting in judgment those that hate him.

And although the world despises, more unconcernedly than all things else, the threatenings of God and his promises also; yet, nevertheless, God still goes on working, according to the words of his first commandment; and that commandment still prevails over all the kingdoms of the earth; laying prostrate kings, overturning kingdoms, uprooting families, and blotting out mighty names. And, on the other hand, the same commandment still and ever goes on, preserving those in the church of God who love him; lifting up them that are down; succouring the oppressed; feeding the poor, the captives, and the exiles; loosing those that are in prison; raising the dead; and bringing salvation.

The hardened and unbelieving world do not believe God: nevertheless, this first commandment goes on thus according to the word which it contains, to accomplish God’s will, in things private, and in things public, in this present age, and throughout all the ages to come.

PSALM LXXIX.

The psalmist complaineth of the desolation of Jerusalem.—He prayeth for deliverance, and promiseth thankfulness.

A Psalm of Asaph.

O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.

We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.

How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?

Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling-place.

O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; for we are brought very low.

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name; and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight, by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die:

And render unto our neighbours seven-fold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached thee, O LORD.

So we thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, will give thee thanks for ever; we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

This Psalm is a prayer to God against that future national destruction, which was wrought by the Chaldeans and Antiochus Epiphanes; it is of the same subject-matter as Psalm lxxiv, and therefore it may be set forth by the explication there given. Isaiah has the same prayer against future devastations, chap. 63.

PSALM LXXX.

The psalmist in his prayer complaineth of the miseries of the church.—God’s former favours are turned into judgments.—He prayeth for deliverance.

To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth, A Psalm of Asaph.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

Before Ephraim, and Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours; and our enemies laugh among themselves.

Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.

She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

It is burned with fire; it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

This is a prayer against those most bitter and daily enemies, the neighbouring Philistines, Syrians, Moabites, Edomites, &c.: for Jerusalem was situated in the midst of these nations, all enemies, on every side.

This Psalm is appropriate for us against bishops, and monks, and priests, who hate us more bitterly than any Edomite or any Cain. The fathers used this Psalm (such was the state of the church then) against her error-broaching enemies.

PSALM LXXXI.

An exhortation to a solemn praising of God.—God challengeth that duty by reason of his benefits.—God exhorting to obedience; complaineth of their disobedience, which proveth their own hurt.

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of Asaph.

Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.

Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.

Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day.

For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.

This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.

I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.

Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;

There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.

So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!

I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.

He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

This is the form of a prayer and a solemn song for the people of the Jews, which was sung yearly at the feast of tabernacles, to admonish that people, and to keep them in the true worship of God; namely, that of the first commandment. This Psalm, therefore, like the prophets, in all their great instructions, holds forth and enforces the very words of the first commandment, “I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt have none other gods but me:” that is, thou shalt hold me as thy God, thou shalt cleave unto me, thou shalt trust alone in me; thou shalt not worship, thou shalt not call upon, any other God.

But here the whole world lieth in wickedness, the whole is unclean, the whole is the kingdom of the devil. Not only were the people of the Jews in this state of transgression against the first commandment, but all nations, and all religions, and all worshippers, from the beginning of the world; and they will be the same down to the end of the world. The Israelites were indeed the people of God; they had the prophets, and the godly priests and Levites, continually enforcing on them this great and highest worship of the first commandment in all their preachings: and yet they fell away from this worship. Their mouth ought to have been full of God and the praise of God, but it was full of idolatry, and of idolatrous doctrines and abominations.

Here is the perverseness of the world: they will admire, they will take up with, they will profess, all other kinds of worship, all other forms and kinds of religions and hypocrisies, and they will multiply and adorn them: but they will trample that very glorious worship of the first commandment under foot: that worship the devil cannot bear; that worship he works to extinguish by all the ways and means in his power.

And in the church of God, under the New Testament, this Psalm teaches us the righteousness of faith and of Christ; that we ought to set Christ and his righteousness before and above all works: for our mouth ought to be full of Christ. But we, like the Jews, turn aside to other gods, embracing sometimes these and sometimes those sayings and traditions, each one following the idol imaginations and thoughts of his own heart.

PSALM LXXXII.

The psalmist having exhorted the judges, and reproved their negligence, prayeth God to judge.

A Psalm of Asaph.

God standeth in the congregation of the mighty: he judgeth among the gods.

How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.

Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.

I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.

But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.

Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

This is a Psalm of consolation against tyrants, and wicked kings and magistrates, who oppressed the destitute, the fatherless, and the widows. I have given a full commentary on this Psalm, which is now in public; therefore I need not say more upon it here.

PSALM LXXXIII.

A complaint to God of the enemies’ conspiracies.—A prayer against them that oppress the church.

A Song or Psalm of Asaph.

Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.

For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult; and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.

They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones.

They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.

For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against thee:

The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab and the Hagarenes;

Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison;

Which perished at En-dor: they became as dung for the earth.

Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb; yea, all their princes as Zebah and as Zalmunna:

Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

As fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire,

So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:

That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth.

This Psalm is a prayer of the same nature as Psalm lxxx. as the same mentioned names of the same nation show, who were bitter enemies unto Israel. The same explanation, therefore, will suffice.

PSALM LXXXIV.

The prophet longing for the communion of the sanctuary, sheweth how blessed they are that dwell therein.—He prayeth to be restored unto it.

To the chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm for the sons of Korah.

How amiable are thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts!

My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.

Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O LORD of hosts, my King, and my God.

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them:

Who passing through the valley of Baca, make it a well: the rain also filleth the pools.

They go from strength to strength; every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.

This is a Psalm of consolation, which breaks forth into the most sweet and powerful expressions, in praise and love of the ministry of the word. “Blessed are they (says David) that dwell in thy house:” that is, they alone are truly blessed, and rest on a sure and eternal consolation, who dwell in thy house and in thy tabernacle: that is, in the place where thy word is taught and heard. For such, as the Apostle saith, (1 Cor. i.) “are increased in all good, and enriched in all wisdom and all knowledge, and with every good gift, so that they can want nothing.” They have all riches.

Wherefore let the world have their rich ones, their powerful ones, and their wise ones, and their consolations in this world; let them trust and glory in their wisdom, their might, their wealth, and their possessions,—my heart triumphs in the living God; that is, I rejoice, and triumph, and glory, with all my heart, that I know God in his word, and that I am of his true church. And I would rather cleave and hold to this poor despised flock of God’s people, to his church of poor afflicted ones, who call upon God in truth; I would rather cleave to them, and hover over them, as a bird over her young in the nest, than live in the most splendid palace of all earthly kings. I had rather sit at the door of the house of the Lord; that is, occupy the lowest place among the people of God, despised and disregarded by the world, than be loaded with all the dainties and riches of the universe, and not belong to the assembly of them that hear, and love, and know the word of God.

This Psalm, therefore, exhorts us rather to suffer ourselves to be torn away from all the riches, honours, consolations and pleasures of the world, than from the house of God. For no riches, nor even kingdoms, can deliver us from sin or death, or from the kingdom of the devil; nor can they overcome, in our hearts, the terrors of hell or of the judgment of God. But God gives, by his word, grace and victory over all these. “He is a sun and a shield” that is, in all darkness and in all afflictions, of every kind, the word of God is a joyful light, a sure consolation, a firm bulwark, and an invincible armour against the violent assault of the devil and of sin: neither of which can the riches or the wisdom of this world vanquish. He, therefore, that hath the word of God hath every thing: he that hath not the word of God hath nothing. O blessed, eternally blessed are they, who thus love and value the word of God! but where are they! how few such are there to be found! for the world is full of mockers and despisers!

PSALM LXXXV.

The Psalmist, out of the experience of former mercies, prayeth for the continuance thereof.—He promiseth to wait thereon, out of confidence of God’s goodness.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm to the sons of Korah.

LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.

Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sin. Selah.

Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger.

Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger towards us to cease.

Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?

Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?

Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation.

I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.

Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good: and our land shall yield her increase.

Righteousness shall go before him, and shall set us in the way of his steps.

This Psalm is a prayer containing the feelings of a heart that fears God; and it persuades, in the most impressive words, such an one, not to dread God’s anger. For those who fear God, are not like the despisers and Epicureans, who are secure and care for nothing that happens; but when calamities fall upon godly men, their first and main concern is to turn to God that smites them, and to make anew their peace with him.

The anger wherewith God chastised his people, at this time, was this: he had taken away from them, for a time, the word; he had diminished the number of those that preached it in truth, and had made few the true prophets, priests and Levites. In addition to which, the peace of the nation was broken by seditions; and many evils prevailed in the state and among the rulers thereof. And this was not all: there came on also the dread and expectation of war, and the want of the necessary provisions of life: for these calamities generally follow, one after the other, when God, according to the first commandment, visits the iniquities of a people.

The Psalmist, therefore, prays that God would be pleased again to preserve the church, and also the nation; again to restore the real ministers of the word, who preached it in truth, and by whom alone God truly speaks unto men.

The Psalmist, therefore, breaks forth with a wonderful burden of heart, as if he had said, ‘O that I might again hear the Lord truly speaking! O that the word of God were again truly preached, lest even the godly should be “turned to folly”’ (or ignorance; that is, lest they should be so broken down and utterly worn out, by the greatness of their afflictions, as not to know what to do.) ‘O that both the worship of God, and the prosperity of our nation, may be restored, and that peace, and concord, and truth, and justice, may flourish among us! that the fruits of the earth, and the produce of the fields and of the vineyards may be blessed; that we may lead a godly life in this our day, and, as St. Paul saith, may “look for the glorious appearing of the great God!”’

PSALM LXXXVI.

David strengtheneth his prayer by the conscience of his religion,—by the goodness and power of God.—He desireth the continuance of former grace.—Complaining of the proud he craveth some token of God’s goodness.

A Prayer of David.

Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me; for I am poor and needy.

Preserve my soul, for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.

Be merciful unto me, O LORD: for I cry unto thee daily.

Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.

For thou, LORD, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.

In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O LORD; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O LORD; and shall glorify thy name.

For thou art great, and doest wondrous things, thou art God alone.

Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

For great is thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them.

But thou, O LORD, art a God full of compassion, and gracious; long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.

Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed; because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

This Psalm is a supplication, and, as the title shows, a prayer of David: and here you may see that prayer is the highest exercise of faith, and the highest worship of God. Every one knows with what destroying calamities that great man David, that “man after God’s own heart,” was surrounded; and yet you may see, in the book of Kings, that, in his deepest straits and most calamitous afflictions, he calls upon God with all the ardour of his heart against his enemies, Saul, his son Absalom, &c. those instruments of the devil, who so heavily afflicted him.

Behold what an example of prayer for us to follow, this great, this most spiritual man, gives us in the 6th, 9th, 10th and 11th verses. See how fixedly he has before his eyes the first commandment. “O God,” saith he, “who is like unto thee among the gods?” who doeth works like unto thy works? “Thou art great and doest wonderful works; thou art God alone. Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and in truth, unto all that call upon thee.”

Behold here how he calls up and sharpens, as it were, his faith, at a view of the mercy of God! so that, apprehending that mercy and the promise, he goes forth on the assurance, that God is not only powerful and great, and invincible against all the assaults of the devil and of the world, and against all creatures; but that he is also ever present unto the godly, and ever merciful to those that call upon him, and believe in him. And thus, we also ought to apprehend the word of the divine promise of mercy, and cast out of our hearts all doubt, that we may be enabled to call upon him without misgiving.

At the end David prays, “Show me a token for good.” God sometimes permits the wicked to glory for a while, as if they certainly should soon devour the saints, and those that fear him. But God never finally forsakes his people: for here, in the church below, he often delivers the godly, who fear him, out of the greatest perils; yea, out of the very jaws of death; and plainly proves that he is ever present and near his own: for their deliverances plainly show the hand of God. It is for such a token, or sign, as this, that David here prays.

PSALM LXXXVII.

The nature and glory of the church.—The increase, honour, and comfort of the members thereof.

A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.

His foundation is in the holy mountains.

The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.

And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.

The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ and the church, in times to come. The Psalmist, after the manner of the prophets, sets before us the future Jerusalem and the future Zion, as if represented in a painting before our eyes: the boundaries of which should be those of the world itself, reaching from east to west, and from north to south; and in which church there should be born men of every nation, kingdom, tribe, and tongue,—Ethiopians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Tyrians, Philistines, &c. and that these should be born in this church, not by a natural birth, but by the word of the gospel.

“Great, excellent, and glorious things shall be spoken and preached in thee, O city of God!” For the gospel is a great and glorious doctrine, the highest of all doctrines, even the word of salvation; hence, as Paul saith, (Phil. i. 10.) the gospel contains, in comparison with the law, “the things that are excellent.” For by the gospel is given to us the knowledge of the counsel and will of God; in what manner God is pacified; how we are delivered from sin, from the power of the devil, and from eternal death; which things neither the law, nor any human philosophy, could teach.

In the last verse also, the Psalm most beautifully sets forth what the highest worship, under the New Testament, should be. “There shall be in thee, (saith the Psalmist,) as the harmonious concert of those playing on instruments;” that is, it is not Moses, or the law, that shall be taught in that city; but the sweet and joyful message of the gospel shall be preached by the ministry of the word, even grace and the remission of sins by Jesus Christ.

PSALM LXXXVIII.

A prayer containing a grievous complaint.

A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite.

O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee.

Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength:

Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee; I have stretched out my hands unto thee.

Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

They came round about me daily like water, they compassed me about together.

Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

This is a prayer, as in the person of Christ and of all the saints. It contains those mighty feelings and conflicts of heart, which no mortals but those who experience them, can either describe or conceive; I mean those pangs and pains, and that heavy sorrow of spirit, (above all natural distress of body or of mind, and above all natural fear and dread,) when the heart is filled with a sense of the majesty and anger of God, and is alarmed at the nature and end of sin; while God also, as yet, holds off all consolation; and the soul is shaken in the midst of darkness and terror, and, as Christ saith himself, “sifted by the devil like wheat in a sieve;” while the malicious Satan craftily augments the soul’s views of the anger of God, and drives out of sight all hope of mercy and grace.

David here calls these unspeakable terrors of soul, “hell,” “darkness,” “the shadow of death.” “Thou hast cast me (saith he) into the lowest pit, into darkness and the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me; and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.” And rightly does David describe these pains and terrors by the terms, “death,” “hell,” &c. because this anguish of soul is of the very nature, and power, and poison, and sting of hell and death; for no sooner is the darkness dispersed, by some shining in of divine consolation, than death is no longer death, but we die gladly. And indeed, where such fears and terrors of mind abound and continue, they extend to the body, bring on a paleness and emaciation, and affect the whole man. Paul calls them the “buffetting of Satan,” and “thorns in the flesh;” which has reference to a custom in certain nations of punishing criminals by transfixing their bodies with a certain sharp pointed conical instrument, in the shape of a thorn; and mocking and deriding them in their suffering. And just thus it is that the nations of the world contemptuously call Christ ‘that crucified fellow,’ and the Jews, ‘That fellow that was hanged.’ For the world, in their malice, not only persecute Christ, but also deride and mock his sufferings, and the sufferings of his members. And hence it is David complains thus in this Psalm, “Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.”

PSALM LXXXIX.

The psalmist praiseth God for his covenant, for his wonderful power, for the care of his church, for his favour to the kingdom of David.—Then complaining of contrary events, he expostulateth, prayeth, and blesseth God.

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.

O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

For thou art the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

With whom my hand shall be established; mine arm also shall strengthen him.

The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him; and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.

Also I will make him my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant; thou hast profaned his crown, by casting it to the ground.

Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.

All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours.

Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.

The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah.

How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain!

What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

LORD, where are thy former loving-kindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

Remember, LORD, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;

Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and amen.

This is a remarkable prophecy concerning Christ and his kingdom; he speaks of the church or kingdom of Christ, as a “kingdom in the heavens;” in the same manner as Christ himself calls it “the kingdom of heaven.” And though this spiritual kingdom of Christ is here upon earth, yet the Psalmist gloriously describes it as being “in the heavens.”

The Psalmist, indeed, here apprehends the promise made to David concerning Christ; and, opening that promise in a wonderful manner, he describes the riches of this spiritual kingdom. He enforces the everlasting firmness and sureness of that promise; and, taking a stand of heavenly meditation therein, he dwells upon the effectual power of that promise against all the violence of sin, and the malice and accusation of the devil; and here the Psalmist takes up his divine abode; here he fixes his standing; as the apostle hath it, “by faith ye stand:” and he says that this truth of God, this his promise was prepared from everlasting, built up in the fulfilment of God’s purpose of mercy, and firm, and “established in the heavens.”

“Thy faithfulness and truth,” (says the Psalmist,) “are established in the heavens;” that is, a heavenly righteousness is preached by the gospel, which is not placed in us, or in any worthiness or merit of ours; but is out of us, and is the righteousness of Christ, and is imputed, for Christ’s sake, unto all that believe in him: and hence, the promised riches of this kingdom are the gift of the Spirit, and the remission of sins, with all other spiritual blessings: all which are not offered unto us on any condition of the law, or of our works or our merit, but are given unto us freely of God. Salvation, therefore, is not a matter conditional on our works, but freely given unto us for Christ’s sake; that thus all doubting and uncertainty may be taken from our souls; and that we may safely rest, entirely and only on the immutable and immoveable certainty of this truth and promise of God.

The temporal kingdom of the Jews was promised to that people, on condition of a law given to them; that, if they kept that law, nationally, as a people, if they were therein good and obedient, they should be preserved and blessed. And, in the same way also, all the kingdoms of the world are given to their people under a like condition of a law, and, as long as they are good and obedient, God preserves them. But the immense and glorious riches of this spiritual kingdom, the forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Spirit, victory over death and the devil, &c. are promised and held forth without any condition of a law; and, in a word, the remission of sins is promised, freely, not only to those who have done nothing to deserve it, but to those who have done everything to forfeit it. This is a throne, therefore, not of angry and destroying majesty, but of grace alone; and being founded, not on the basis of our good works and merits, but on the rock of the sure and everlasting truth of God, it affords a great and marvellous consolation to the afflicted consciences of sinners.

After, however, the prophetic Psalmist has described the flower and glory of this kingdom and church of Christ, he deplores, on the other hand, from verse 39, in the most powerful expressions, the desolations and destructions of it: saying, that it shall come to pass that this kingdom, like as the apostle has also foretold, shall be so disturbed and torn to pieces by antichrist, that it shall seem as if God had wholly forgotten his promise unto it; nay, as if, contrary to the word of his promise, he did nothing but show his wrath against this kingdom.

All these things, however, are written for a consolation unto the godly; and especially unto us who, in these last times, have witnessed such abominations of papacy; these things, I say, are written for our comfort and consolation; that we should not be broken-spirited, or terrified, at the multitude and diversity of offences; nor be driven to despair, though wickedness should have the dominion for a time, and though Satan should, as it were, so subvert all things human and divine, that there should seem to be no church of Christ at all, no remains of the kingdom of Christ upon earth. For if you look at the abomination of the Pope, and of Mahomet, which have spread themselves over the whole world, no other appearance is presented than that there is not a vestige of the true church remaining: and yet, it is not wholly blotted or rooted out from the earth; for, under the reign of each abomination and tyranny, there has ever existed a true church of Christ, although greatly despised and greatly oppressed.

PSALM XC.

Moses, setting forth God’s providence, complaineth of human fragility, divine chastisements, and brevity of life.—He prayeth for the knowledge and sensible experience of God’s good providence.

A prayer of Moses, the Man of God.

LORD, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

This Psalm contains a very great and important doctrine; in which Moses teaches what is the origin and cause of that death to which the whole human race is subject, and the reason why so horrible a punishment was inflicted on the whole race of mortals: the Psalmist saith, it was on account of sin: and the guilt and desert of sin are greater than can be conceived by the human mind, unless God touch the heart with a knowledge of it; and yet, in this sin and guilt, and under this wrath, all the sons of Adam are born.

Moses here opens widely this punishment of sin, and this horrible misery; setting forth the proof of it in the shortness and uncertainty of human life; which life, in addition to this its shortness and uncertainty, is subject also to all kinds of calamity: and, in verse 11, Moses saith that this very unspeakable misery—death, and all other human calamities, as parts of that death, tend, or should lead us, to seek the grace and mercy of God, who alone can deliver us from all these evils,—sin, the slavery of the devil, and death. Hence all the calamities and afflictions of life, and even death itself, the punishment of sin, work together for good unto the elect, and unto those that fear God; that they may, by all things, be humbled, broken down, and crucified, and so, thirst after grace.

“So teach us that we must die,” says Moses, “that we may become wise:” that is, that we may learn to know God and his will aright; for this is what Moses calls “becoming wise.” The wicked, and fools, who are not exercised with afflictions, who number not their days, nor think of death, nor meditate on the misery of life, but remain unexperienced and ignorant of all spiritual things, and are wrapped up in their own hypocrisy, never rightly know God, nor truly seek his help and mercy.

Moses then closes his Psalm with a divinely concluding prayer, “Let thy work appear unto thy servants,” or “Show us thy work, O Lord.” Here, by the work of God, he means deliverance from sin and death; and, in a word, all that deliverance that our fathers expected from that blessed seed, which we have revealed to us in Christ. And again, saith Moses, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy:” and he twice repeats, “Prosper thou the works of our hands:” that is, for the time that we live, direct and prosper thou our whole life: preserve thy true religion and the good government of our nation: guard us from heresies, errors, wars, seditions, and all such evils. This Psalm, therefore, is a short but a most spiritual prayer.

PSALM XCI.

The state of the godly.—Their safety.—Their habitation.—Their servants.—Their friends; with the effects of them all.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge, and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day,

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation.

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shall thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

This is a most distinguished jewel among all the Psalms of consolation. The Psalmist highly exalts faith in God, and shews that it is an invincible strength against all evils, and against all the gates of hell.

At the very outset, the Psalmist says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, abideth under the shadow of the Almighty;” and such an one shall say unto the Lord, “Thou art my confidence, my protection, my fortress and my God,” that is, he that believeth and trusteth in God, and rests in his protection,—he shall find, though shaken on every side, by the devil, by sin, by the world, and by various and endless temptations, that the godly are proof and invincible against all these evils; that God is most high over all; that he is Omnipotent; and, in a word, that “greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.”

Towards the conclusion, this Psalm contains, accumulated together, eight or nine promises of grace, which the Psalmist drew out of the first commandment, as out of a fountain. This Psalm, therefore, ought to be set before afflicted souls. 1. The Psalmist says “Because he hath hoped in me, therefore will I deliver him.” 2. “I will set him on high.” 3. “Because he hath called upon me, I will hear him.” 4. “I will be with him in trouble.” 5. “I will deliver him.” 6. “I will set him on high, or glorify him.” 7. “With long life will I satisfy him.” 8. “I will show him my salvation:” that is, that I am “mighty to save!”

And this also is the second Psalm wherein angels are proclaimed as our watchful guardians and protectors: which is a truth very greatly consoling to the really godly, who know with what fury Satan unceasingly assaults the church, and all the saints. This Psalm enumerates four kinds of evils and afflictions, which are to be endured by the saints and those that fear God:

1. “Mighty fear,”—“terror by night.” The scripture frequently represents temptations and afflictions under the figures of darkness and night; and consolations under the figurative descriptions of light and day. The Psalmist, therefore, here sets forth all those horrible instances of hatred, that Cain-like purpose to destroy, (which is ever secretly bound up in the hearts of pharisaic religionists) all those malicious threats, those hostile traps and snares, those created perils, those injuries, and all those other terrible oppositions which Satan ever raises up against the word of God, by nightly fear, or “terror by night.”

2. “The arrow that flieth by day.” By which are meant to be described all those open clamours, reproaches, execrations, and blasphemies, by which tyrants and hypocrites openly attack and condemn the word of God, and the doctrine of Christ. Of this kind are the pope’s bulls, (and truly they are bulls!) and also, the edicts of kings and princes, the virulent and blasphemous books of erroneous disputers, and the writings of erroneous and visionary men, such as the anabaptists, and the like.

3. “The pestilence that creepeth (or walketh) in darkness.” These are the deceits, the crafts, and the artifices of the papists; and the leagues, the covert conspiracies, the secret counsels, by which those enemies consult and plan among themselves in their private conclaves: which clandestine machinations they think they can keep hidden, even from the eyes of God himself; and by all which diabolical means, they plot to destroy and root out the godly and all doctrine that is truly good and saving.

4. “The disease (or contagion, or destruction) that wasteth at noon day.” This is the work of open persecution; whereby these holy Cains, in their unheard-of cruelty and tyranny, shed the blood of the Abels, drive into exile the godly, plunder their substance, and slaughter them by every cruelty of torture; thereby attempting to lay the true church utterly waste, and to leave not a vestige of the true word remaining.

This is my view of the Psalm. I know that St. Bernard gives other interpretations. Let others, therefore, if they can, put forth a better explication than I have done: that my view is simple, and agreeable to the mind and spirit of the prophets, is self-manifest, and proved by experience: for we see and experience daily, that the saints of God are attacked and exercised by these four afflictions for the word’s sake, by means of the devil and by the world. The Holy Spirit, therefore, by this Psalm, revives and strengthens our faith; and by the cluster of promises at the end of the Psalm, the same Holy Spirit quickens and refreshes our hearts with consolation: this Psalm therefore ought to be most acceptable to all the saints.

PSALM XCII.

The prophet exhorteth to praise God, for his great works, for his judgments on the wicked, and for his goodness to the godly.

A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day.

It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High:

To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night,

Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltry; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands.

O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep.

A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.

When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

But thou, LORD, art most high for evermore.

For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered;

But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies; and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.

The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

To shew that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

This is a consolatory Psalm. The first six verses are full of the most sweet experiences of a heart rejoicing and triumphing in that incomparable treasure—a knowledge of the true and sure word of God, and of the promises of grace in Christ. It is the same rejoicing of heart as that of the apostle, when he, exulting in the Spirit, saith, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.”

At the very opening of the Psalm, the Psalmist saith, “O how excellent, how sweet a thing is it to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High!” that is, O what is sweeter than to know God aright by his word, and by true faith; to acknowledge his infinite mercies; to give thanks unto him joyfully and adoringly, with every cord and string of our hearts; to proclaim and praise him unceasingly with a full heart and a full mouth; to triumph in his goodness; and to offer him the full sacrifice of thanksgiving! in a word, to worship him with that all high and all-true worship of the first commandment, which requires for its high worship, above all things, true faith, and such joyful exercises of faith as these; as if the Psalmist had said, ‘How precious is that worship of God! How acceptable unto God, how grateful in his sight, and in the sight of angels too, are all such sabbaths, such sacrifices as these! Though we saints, all the while, are said, by the world, to know nothing about worshipping God!’

All these glorious things are pointed by the Psalmist against false saints and hypocrites; who honour God (as they think) with cold hearts and lips, and tread all the while that high worship of the first commandment under foot; and yet make a great show of the name of church among them, and flourish in the sight of the world, and display much wealth and much power and greatness. But though they greatly flourish and prosper thus for a time; yet they at length perish and go to destruction: and, according to the word of Paul, “Their folly is made manifest unto all.”

But the godly and the saints, though thus exercised and broken with afflictions, flourish, nevertheless, like palm-trees, in the house of the Lord, and will flourish for evermore! Neither time, nor age, nor sorrow of mind, nor any afflictions, nor death itself, can root them out, or hurt them! But, both living and dying, and even in death itself, they live and bring forth fruit through the word of God, as Paul saith, “No creature can separate them!” But fools, that is, the wicked and epicureans of this world, regard not these things, they will not hear or endure them; and of this sort we may see thousands of atheistical men in our day.

PSALM XCIII.

The majesty, power, and holiness of Christ’s kingdom.

The LORD reigneth; he is clothed with majesty: the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.

Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.

The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.

Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O LORD, for ever.

This is a prophecy concerning the spread of the kingdom of Christ, as far and wide as the earth is extended, and its establishment for ever. But against this kingdom, as the Psalmist saith, the “waves” and “mighty waters” will swell and lift up themselves; that is, the kingdoms and peoples of the world will roar against the Lord and against his Anointed; and will rage against the godly with sword and fire; but they shall not prevail: for, as Daniel saith, “this kingdom shall break in pieces all other kingdoms beneath it, and shall stand for ever.”—Daniel ii. 44.

But thy kingdom shall be established in no other way than by the word of the gospel. It shall not stand by the force of arms, nor by external pomp, or glory, before the world; but it shall be husbanded, and shall be increased and adorned, by the ministry of the word of the gospel. This is the “holiness,” (namely the ministry of the word) that shall “become,” or “adorn,” the house of the Lord. For this true and high worship of God which is in the kingdom of Christ, takes the place of all sacrifices and of all oblations, candlesticks, and the like; and the preaching of the word, and the giving of thanks, are instead of all external representations of mercy: hence Paul saith, that the Old Testament is done away by this New Testament worship.

PSALM XCIV.

The prophet, calling for justice, complaineth of tyranny and impiety.—He teacheth God’s providence.—He sheweth the blessedness of affliction.—God is the defender of the afflicted.

O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.

Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.

LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?

How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?

They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage:

They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.

Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.

Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?

He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?

He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance:

But judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in heart shall follow it.

Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.

When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.

In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?

They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.

But the LORD is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

This is a general but a most fervent prayer, filled with the feelings of an afflicted and sorrowful heart, grieving that the blood of the Abels should be shed and drank up, with such iniquity and cruelty, by Cainish hypocrites.

The Psalmist complains, (as I consider it,) not of hostile nations, but of those domestic hypocrites and enemies, who will have it to appear that they, yea, that they alone, are the people of God; that is, the Psalmist complains of the wicked kings, and princes, and priests, and prophets, among the people of Israel. It is to these the Psalmist turns, in this apostrophe, “Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?” He calls these characters “fools;” that is, ignorant and impious despisers of God; because they taught and ruled the people without knowledge, and wickedly.

In a word, the Psalmist here directs his word against all who persecuted the true prophets, and their disciples and followers, and slew them with Cainish hatred, and nevertheless boasted all the while in God, and the name of God; who (they said) had given them power, and made, and defended, and protected them, as magistrates and priests; but who did not regard heretics, who seditiously resisted them that were the princes and magistrates of the people of God. And many such things they continued to say.

Now, against all such the prophet burns with zeal; and (with a certain zealous mimicry, as it were,) imitates their own words and expressions; saying, (that is, meaning that they say,) “The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” And it is thus that the papists say, in their security, ‘Do you think God regards these heretics! No! he regards us: he has respect unto us, the catholic church, whom we certainly represent in the world.’ Against such as these, the prophet burns with the rage of zeal; and against such he prays, and begs of God, that there may be enough to stand forward for the truth.

But, in the 16th verse, the Psalmist, on the other hand, strikes at the perfidious deceitfulness of the world: “Who (saith he) is on my side? Who will rise up for me against the evil doers?” As if he had said, ‘I know the world careth nothing about this: the blood of God’s Abels is shed, and no one regardeth it. But (continues the holy Psalmist) this is my sure and eternal consolation, that the cause which I love and espouse is the right cause; nay, the cause of God, and not my cause: and I know in whom I have believed.’ I am assured, saith the Psalmist, (verse 20,) that the “seat of the scornful,” and the “counsel of the ungodly,” cleave not, and belong not, unto thee: that is, I am sure that thou, O God, approvest not any impious or blasphemous doctrine. I am sure that thou requirest and demandest the blood, (and every drop of that blood,) and the tears, of the Abels, at the hands of their persecutors; and that thou wilt keep, and fulfil, and glorify thy word, even in the midst of the death of thy saints; and that thou wilt revenge all blasphemy and wickedness against thee and them.

PSALM XCV.

An exhortation to praise God for his greatness, and for his goodness, and not to tempt him.

O come, let us sing unto the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To-day, if ye will hear his voice,

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.

This Psalm is a prophecy concerning Christ, and its contents are fully and learnedly explained in the Apostle’s epistle to the Hebrews. It prophecies concerning the time of the New Testament, and sets forth the lovely and sweet voice of the gospel. In a word, the Psalmist instructs us in, and allures us to, the knowledge of the riches of the grace of God; which riches were known to our fathers as well as unto us, in the promised seed—Christ.

‘Come (saith the Psalmist) and let us rejoice in the Lord. Come ye that are afar off and ye that are near, and let us exult in the Lord; let us triumph in the God of such salvation:’ that is, Come and let us rejoice with the whole triumph of our hearts, in that infinite benefit and mercy—the granted grace of Christ! Since we have such promises, let us not neglect such great salvation. For to believe in the promise of grace, contrary to all the objections of conscience, the temptations of Satan, and the fears of the heart, is the true worship of God!

In a word, the Psalmist warns against unbelief. “Harden not your hearts (says he) as ye did at Massah and Meribah in the desert: your fathers, on account of their unbelief, entered not into the holy land of promise.”

The whole of this Psalm is to be referred to Christ: for he is that blessed God in whom we ought to rejoice, and whom the Psalmist would have to be known. He is our Shepherd, and we are the sheep of his pasture. He is that God, whom our fathers tempted in the desert, as Paul saith, (1 Cor. x.) It was he who took out of the way the law, and abolished all the ceremonial worship of the Old Testament. He will no longer have the worship established by Moses; but he will have faith in the gospel, the preaching of the remission of sins, and that one true offering—praise, instead of the whole Levitical worship.

PSALM XCVI.

An exhortation to praise God,—for his greatness,—for his kingdom,—for his general judgment.

O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved; he shall judge the people righteously.

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice

Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ, and the spreading of the gospel over the whole world and before every creature; which gospel will be a word of joy and thanksgiving, of peace, of rejoicing, and of a continued sacrifice of praise: as the clear text of the Psalm of itself plainly shows.

Here, commandment is given to all nations, kingdoms, peoples, woods, rivers, fountains, trees, &c. that they should praise and magnify the Lord, and celebrate his name with rejoicing, because he judgeth the world in righteousness and in truth: that is, because, through Christ, the promised seed, he delivers, and will deliver the people from sin, from the power of the devil, from the wrath of God, and from eternal death: and because, instead of the kingdom of death and of darkness, he sets up the kingdom of light, of the remission of sins, and of eternal life, before all men.

This is that most joyful shout of victory, that peculiar song, that most sweet note of the New Testament, concerning the kingdom and grace of Christ; in which kingdom there are born new men and new creatures; not by the law or by the works of Moses, but by faith, by the Spirit of God through Christ, so that each believer is a new creature and a marvellous work of God; and all believers daily do marvellous works and are marvellous monuments, in that they continue in spiritual life, and are finally conquerors over the mighty powers of sin and the devil; hence it is that David says, verse 1. “Declare his wonders among all people.”