. Psal. lxxxii. 1.-6.), that they may remember to whom they owe their power and authority.

Ver. 2. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and praise thy name, for thy loving-kindness, and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.] I will prostrate myself in the humblest adorations of thee, toward the place where the monument of thy divine presence is, and acknowledge how much I am indebted to thy almighty goodness; first for promising me, out of thy mere grace and favour, the royal dignity, and then for performing thy promise most faithfully; for thou hast manifested thy most excellent power and goodness to me, in nothing so much, as in punctually fulfilling thy promise, (1 Sam. xvi. 13.), notwithstanding all the opposition which was made to it; nay, in raising me higher than I expected.

Ver. 3. In the day when I cried, thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. I had long ago fallen short of this honour to which I am advanced, hadst not thou, during all the time of Saul's persecution, as readily relieved me, as I cried to thee; and mightily supported my spirit, by a courageous faith and hope in thee.

Ver. 4. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.] Which will move, sure, all our neighbouring kings, who have any knowledge of my affairs, (2 Sam. v. 11. 12. viii. 10.), to join with me in praising thee, O Lord; when they shall hear, by how many strange providences thou hast brought to pass that which thou promisedst to me by thy prophet.

Ver. 5. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.] The wonderful ways whereby the Lord brings things about, shall be the subject of their songs; and they shall think it their greatest happiness to be guided and governed by him; for they shall confess, that none can do such glorious things as the Lord hath wrought.

Ver. 6. Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly; but the proud he knoweth afar off.] Whose sublime greatness doth not make him neglect (as they see in me) the meanest persons; especially when their minds are as humble as their conditions; but will not let them stoop to the loftiest princes, (as they may see in Saul), whom he despises, when they are forgetful of him, and ungrateful to him for his benefits.

Ver. 7. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me; thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.] Which have been so great to me, that should I fall again into the same straits wherein I was before, and be encompassed with them, I should hope that thou wouldest preserve me, and bring me safe out of them all. Thy power, I am confident, will repress the violent assaults of my enemies; and by thy almighty goodness I shall be delivered from their wrath and fury, 2 Sam. v. 17. &c. viii. 1. &c.

Ver. 8. The LORD will perfect that which concern

eth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever; forsake not the works of thine own hands.] The Lord, who hath begun, will go on to finish his gracious intentions towards me; not for my merits, (I know they are none at all), but for thy own mercy's sake, Ö Lord; which, as it was the sole motive to what thou hast done for me, so will, I hope, (for it is still the same, and ever will be), incline thee to preserve and settle me in that dignity, to which not my ambition, but thy own good will and pleasure, hath promoted

me.

PSALM CXXXIX.

To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

THE ARGUMENT.-The two last verses of this psalm seem to me a sufficient indication that David (to whom the title ascribes it) composed it, when he lay under the imputation of having evil designs upon Saul, (1 Sam. xxiv. 9.); which as he protests against in several parts of other psalms, and calls God often to witness his integrity, so here he appeals unto him in a set and solemn meditation, composed on purpose to represent before him the clearness of his intentions, which never suffered such designs to enter into his thoughts. And who could believe that a man who seriously acknowledged it was impossible to conceal any thing from God's all-seeing eye, who forms us in the womb, should be so impudent as to make this appeal unto him, if he were conscious to himself of any such guilt? and, which is more, how could he be confident (as he declares he was, ver. 19.) that God would make his innocence evidently appear, by destroying his opposers, if he did not know they were calumniators; whose vile aspersions when God had effectually confuted, he delivered this psalm to the master of the music, as a lasting testimony of his sincerity all along before he came to the kingdom; and a constant admonishment to himself and others, never to promote any designs for the future by sinister arts, though managed so secretly that they lay hid from the eyes of all the world; since God cannot but be privy to them, who loves righteousness, and hates all iniquity.

can be so narrowly sifted, as all the motions of my body and mind, both by day and by night, are scanned by thy all-penetrating eye; which comprehends and is intimately privy to all the ends which I

pursue.

Ver. 4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.] When I am about to speak, thou, O Lord, (such is thy most admirable wisdom), needest not to be informed what it is, but knowest, before I open my mouth, every thing

I intend to utter.

Ver. 5. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.] Whatsoever I have done long ago, is as well known to thee, as that which is lately past, or which I am about to do; for I am so environed by thee, and so absolutely in thy power, that I cannot possibly escape thy notice, nor so much as stir without thy leave.

Ver. 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.] O amazing height of understanding! it is in vain to think I can hide any thing from it; which so far surpasses all I can say or conceive, that it excels even my admiration.

Ver. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall 1 flee from thy presence ? Into what world shall I go, where thou art not present, as thou art in this? It is impossible for me, should I make never so much haste, to get out of thy sight.

Ver. 8. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.] If I could get up into the highest part of heaven, I should not be out of thy reach; or go down and lie in the lowest depth of the earth, I should find thee still as

near unto me.

Ver. 9. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ;] If I could move as swiftly as the light of the rising sun, and in an instant fly from hence, and take up my dwelling in the remotest parts of the world :

Ver. 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.] I should not be a jot the farther from thee, without whom I could not get thither; so I should be still subject to thy government, and as much under the care and protection of thy almighty providence, there, as any where else.

Ver. 11. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me.] If I should have such a thought as this in my mind, that though thou art present every where, yet in the dark I may lie undiscovered by thee, it would be very foolish; for when the sun is gone down, all that is in me is as apparent unto thee, as if it were noon-day.

Ver. 12. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.] The darkness cannot conceal any thing from thee, who, being the fountain of light, seest as well in the blackest night as in the brightest day; the night and the day, the most open and the most covert practices, are equally clear unto thy view. Ver. 13. For thou hast possessed my reins; thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.] For my very

thoughts, (and what is there more abstruse than they?), my most retired thoughts and contrivances, and my most secret desires, are apparent to thee; whose I am, and by whom I was wrapt up in those skins, which inclosed me in my mother's womb, than which there is nothing more hidden and dark.

-Ver. 14. I will praise thee, for 1 am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.] Yet there (such is thy stupendous wisdom, which I will never cease to praise, and thankfully acknowledge) I was, I know not how, in such a wonderful manner, formed, that the thoughts of it strike me with astonishment; thy operations in that work are most admirable, and of that I am exceeding sensible; but I can say no more, for they are incomprehensible.

Ver. 15. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.] Though I was made in so secret a place, yet not the least joint in my body was concealed from thy eyes; but I received from thee there (where no more light can come, than there doth in the lowest depths of the earth) such a comely distinction of parts, and variety of powers, that no embroidery can be so curiously wrought.

Ver. 16. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuante were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.] For when the matter out of which I was made was without any form, it was visible to thee how every muscle, vein, and artery, with all the rest of my body, should be wrought out of the pattern of them, which was in thy mind; and accordingly in time, when there was not so much as one of them, they were all fashioned for the several uses to which they are designed, and not the smallest of them omitted, or left imperfect.

Ver. 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! bow great is the sum of them!] How invaluable also, and incomprehensible, (O God, I am not able to express the high and grateful sense I have of it), is thy tender care and providence, which thou hast exercised over me ever sinee I was born! all the secret passages of it amount to such a sum, that I am not able to give an account of thm.

Ver. 18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.] When I attempt to reckon how many they are, I find that I may as well undertake to number the sand; for, though I continue the whole day in this employment, and after a night's rest, begin again the next morning to think how numerous thy mercies are, I am still as far as ever from seeing any end of them.

Ver. 19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me, therefore, ye bloody men.] Which makes me confident, O God, thou wilt not now de sert me, but rather destroy that wicked man, (cxl. 1.), who, forgetting thy all-seeing eye, regards not by what means he plots my ruin; and therefore it will be best for you all, O ye men of blood, whe

have slain the priests of the Lord, (1 Sam. xxi. 18.), and now thirst after my life, to make your retreat, and desist from persecuting me any farther.

Ver. 20. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.] For it is not so much me that they persecute, as virtue and piety, to which, though they are not open, yet they are the most dangerous enemies, because they make it serve their wicked ends; having godly pretences for their doing mischief, and not sticking (so little belief have they of thy omniscience) to call thee to witness the truth of their lies and calumnies.

Ver. 21. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not Igrieved with those that rise up against thee?] And have I not reason, then, O Lord, to hate those who have such an inveterate hatred unto thee? and to take the greatest distaste to them that oppose themselves so industriously to thy holy laws?

Ver. 22. I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them mine enemies.] I detest them with all my heart; and as their impiety is the only cause of it, so I can not loathe them more than I do, but declare myself upon that account to be their utter enemy.

Ver. 23, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts :] If I have any other ground of my enmity, or am guilty of so much as designing any evil to them, merely because they have done so much evil to me, I desire to find it out, and submit myself to the severest trials, which may discover to me any such thought that lurketh in my

heart.

Ver. 24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.] For I would not continue in such a pernicious course; but if in any thing I do I intend them any hurt, or so much as to be grievous to them, my humble request is, either that I may not live, or live more exactly by the unchangeable rules of righteousness, sincerity, and truth.

PSALM CXL.

To the chief musician. A Psalm of David. THE ARGUMENT.-There is no doubt (for the title ascribes it to him) but this psalm was made by David. And it is little less undoubted that he composed it (as Theodoret well judges) when he was persecuted by Saul, who was instigated thereunto by the calumnies of Doeg, and the information of the Ziphites; whose falseness and pestilent malice he here describes, beseeching God to preserve him from the mischief they intended him, and to turn it upon themselves; as he rests assured he would. When he came to his kingdom, and had settled the service of God in that manner which we read 1 Chron. xvi, xxiii. &c. he delivered it to the master of the music, to be sung at certain times in the tabernacle, But it was not found, I suppose, (no more than the two foregoing, and the four following), till some time after the other books of psalms were published, and so VOL. III,

Ver. 1. DELIVER me, O LORD, from the evil man ;

preserve me from the violent man.] Defeat, O Lord, the wicked designs of that naughty man, (1 Sam. xxii. 9. &c.), who makes no conscience of what he saith or doeth, to compass his ends; and let me not fall into the hands of that injurious prince, (xxiii. 7.), whom I have never wronged, but done him faithful service.

Ver. 2. Which imagine mischief in their hearts; continually are they gathered together for war.] They are zealously bent to do me all the mischief they are able; which they studiously plot, and do nothing all the day. but contrive how to oppress me with armed force, which in several places they have laid to intercept me.

Ver. 3. They bave sharpened their tongues like a serpents adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.] And they have so traduced me by their calumnies and false accusations, that they have already given my reputation a deadly wound; for the tongue of the serpent, or the tongue of the adder or viper, doth not more effectually convey their poison into men's bodies, than they have infused these venomous slanders into the people's minds.

Ver. 4. Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man, who have purposed to overthrow my goings.] And therefore I most humbly again beseech thee, O Lord, to keep me from falling into the power of that naughty man, (ver. 1.), who instigates his prince to the most injurious proceedings against me; be thou my preserver, O Lord, for otherwise I shall never escape the trains they have devised and laid, to supplant' and utterly undo me.

Ver. 5. The proud have bid a snare for me, and cords: they have spread a net by the way-side; they have set gins for me. Selab.] There is no hunter or fowler more industrious and cunning in laying snares and toils, in spreading nets, or setting gins and traps for the beasts or the birds in the places which they are wont to frequent, than they are to trace me in all my motions, (1 Sam. xxii. 23.), and to invent all manner of wiles and subtle arts to surprise me; which they proudly presume will have their desired God;

success;

Ver. 6. I said unto the LORD, Thou art my bear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.] To which I have neither cunning nor power of my own to oppose, no friend whose aid I can implore, but only commend myself unto the Lord, saying, I have always owned thee for my protector, and thou hast hitherto owned me, and been my merciful deliverer; do not now, O Lord of all power and might, deny my earnest request, who depend on thee alone for

succour.

Ver. 8. Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; further not his wicked device, lest they exalt themselves. Selab.] Suffer not him, O most mighty Lord, who now seeks my destruction, to effect his desire; let him not succeed in any of his mischievous designs and projects against me; lest he and his partakers grow so insolent, as to dare to attempt all manner of violence against other innocents.

Ver. 9. As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.] Let the poisonous and pernicious caluinnies of those that now beset me round, retort upon themselves; and let them be overwhelmed by those very devices, which with laborious lies they have contrived for my ruin.

Ver. 10. Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.] Let their slanders (which I can compare to nothing * better than burning coals, that are not easily quenched) be the instruments of their own destruction; let them perish in the flames which they themselves have kindled, and be irrevocably thrown headlong into those dangers and mischiefs, which, like dreadful deep pits, they prepared for my destruction.

Ver. 11. Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth; evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.] This, I am confident, shall be their portion; for, though a false informer may for a time be believed, and thrive by his lies and slanders, yet truth will at last prevail, and not suffer him to establish his great. ness by such base and wicked practices; and as little shall violence and injustice avail him that relies upon it; but bring upon him one evil after another, which shall pursue him to his rain, as the hounds do the wild beast, which, after all his windings and turnings, becomes a prey unto them.

Ver. 12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.] For I am sure the Lord, who is stronger than all, will assert the cause of the oppressed; and do right to those who are destitute of human help, by punishing all that are injurious to them.

Ver. 13: Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name; the upright shall dwell in thy presence.] Let the righteous rely on this as an undoubted truth, that they shall give thanks to thy almighty goodness, for appearing in their vindication; and, when these false and violent men shall be extinct, they that are sincere by honest shall remain in thy favour, and receive the marks of it, in thy constant care and providence over them.

PSALM CXLI.

A Psalm of David.

THE ARGUMENT.-If the title had not told us that David was the author of this psalm, the matter of

it would have led our minds to think of him, and his many sufferings, during the persecution of Saul. Which he prays to God, (as Theodoret observes upon the third and fourth verses), he may be able to bear so patiently, that it may not exasperate his spirit to speak irreverently of Saul, much less to do him any mischief; but leave it unto God, to take his enemies in the snare they had laid for him.

Nobody need wonder, that there are so many prayers found upon the same subject; for that persecution endureth long, and they were made upon different occasions, or to different purposes; and if they had been all to the same purpose, it would not have been strange to him that considers the pious disposition of David; who loved to spend his time in such devout meditations. And this seems to have been composed about the time of the offering of the evening-sacrifice, ver. 2. when his afflictions also pressed him sorely, that they tempted him to speak something which was ignis (as Theodoret's phrase is) unbecoming God's anointed, (Saul), and the profession he made of duty to him.

Ver. 1. LORD, I cry u to thee, make baste unto me;

give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.] The danger wherein I am, O Lord, is exceeding great, (1 Sam. xxiii. 25. or xxiv. 1. 2.), which makes me double my cries, and beseech thee the more importunately, speedily to succour me (when my distresses call for it) with seasonable relief.

Ver. 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my bands, as the evening sacrifice.] Though I am now in a wilderness, and thereby disabled from offering thee any other sacrifice`but my prayers, yet they shall be as acceptable to thee as if they were accompanied with the sweetest odours; and my fervent devotion in them, with entire dependance on thee alone for help, be as prevalent as if I could now present thee, at the tabernacle, with an evening-oblation.

Ver. 3. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.] And in the first place, I humbly desire thee, O Lord, to lay such restraints upon my tongue, and to enable me so vigilantly to observe all the motions of it, that none of the troubles I endure, though never so grievous, may make me burst out into any intemperate speeches, which may give a just offence to them that persecute me.

Ver. 4. Incline not mine heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.] Yea, govern all the motions of my will so steadily, that I may not listen to evil counsels, (1 Sam. xxiv. 4. 6. 7.), much less engage with men, who have no regard to right and justice in any evil practices; but alway refuse to partake in their designs, though invited with the specious promises of the greatest felicity.

Ver. 5. Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head; for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.] I had much rather that a