in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.

7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;

11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High:

12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.

13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.

15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.

18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.

19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble; he saveth them out of their distresses.

20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

21 Oh that men would praise the

[to praise.

LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.

27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end.

28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;

34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell. therein.

35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.

36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;

37 And sow the fields, and plant

himself upright.

Ver. 27. At their wit's end---Heb. "All their wisdom is swallowed up."

Ver. 34. Barrenness---Heb. "Saltness."
Ver. 40. Wilderness---Marg. "Void place."
Ver. 41. From---Marg. "After "affliction.

PSALM CVII.

[of afflictions.

41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.

42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.

43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the LORD. (M)

(M) A Psalm of general thanksgiving for the mercies of divine Providence.-This psalm, according to Bishop Lowth," may be enumerated among the most elegant monuments of antiquity; and it is chiefly indebted for its elegance to the general plan and conduct of the poem. It celebrates the goodness and mercy of God to wards mankind, as demonstrated in the immediate assistance and comfort which be affords, in the greatest calamities, t› those who devoutly implore his aid: in the first place, to those who wander in the desert, and who encounter the horrors of famine; next, to those who are in bondage -to those who are afflicted with disease; and, finally, to those who are tossed about upon the ocean. The prolixity of the argument is occasionally relieved by narra.. tion; and examples are superadded of the divine severity in punishing the wicked, as well as of his benignity to the devout and virtuous; and both the narrative and pre. ceptive parts are recommended to the earnest contemplation of considerate minds. Thus, the whole poem actually divides into five parts, nearly equal: the four first ol which conclude with an intercalary verse expressive of the subject or design of the bymn;" and which is thus rendered by our translators: "O that men woul praise the Lord for his goodness; and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" This distich, as the same eminent critic calls it, is occasionally diversified, and forms a chorus to the ode. It might more literally be rendered, "Let them confess to Jehovah his mercy; and his wonderful works to the children of Adam." Bishop Horne applies this psalm particularly to the Christian church, on the suggestion of our Lord to the Jews, that many of his redeemed ones should "come from the east and from the west, from the

north and from the south," and "should sit down in the kingdom of God," whilst themselves, for their unbelief, should be "thrust out," and scattered through the wilderness of this world, as has indeed been most remarkably the case for many centuries; for there is scarcely any considerable country in which the children of Abraham are not found. It is not, however, to these unhappy apostates that the psalmist primarily refers; but rather to their forefathers in the time of Moses, and to Abraham's spiritual seed, who are all pilgrims and strangers in the earth, who have here "no continuing city," but seck one that is above. (Heb. xi. 14—16.)

The same persons are then represented as captives, and that on account of their rebellion against the Most High; yet when their hearts were suitably humbled, they were saved out of their distresses. Cases of personal affliction and disease are next introduced, with this emphatic remark, that "fools because of their transgressions are afflicted;" in which, sin is pointed out as the source of all affliction, and sinners are branded universally as fools; and, indeed, what folly is so great as sin; whether we consider the act itself, or the consequences to which it leads? Yet the same Lord, who is "rich in mercy to all who call upon him," sends his word and heals the penitent backslider. The concluding class of persons is that of mariners, than whom none see more of the power or goodness of divine providence. And when a storm overtakes them, then even sailors -pray : "They cry unto the Lord, and he delivereth them out of their distresses." Few of us, perhaps, may be exposed to this terrible situation; "But then, (as Bishop Horne remarks,) we cannot help reflecting, that there is a ship in which we are all embarked; there is a troubled sea on which we all sail; there are storms by which we

Ver. 42. All iniquity-That is, all cavillers at divine providence. See Job v. 16,

This Psalm begins the 5th book of the Psalter, ac. cording to the Rabbins.

A psalm]

PSALM CVIII.

[Omit, and pass to Psalm cx.]

A Song or Psalm of David. GOD, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory. 2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. 3 I will praise thee, O LORD, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. 4 For thy mercy is great above the heavens : and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth; 6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me. 7 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 8 Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is

Lof praise.

the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver; 9 Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph. 10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom? 11 Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts? 12 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. 13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

are all frequently overtaken; and there is a haven which we all desire to behold and to enter. For the church is a ship; the world is a sea; temptations, persecutions, and afflictions are the waves of it; the prince of the power of the air is the stormy wind which raises them, and heaven is the only port of rest and security. Often during the voyage, for our punishment or our trial, God permitteth us to be thus assaulted." But, as the worthy prelate adds, in all such cases, prayer is the only resource; and if we cry to Him who governs and directs the storm, as his disci

ples on earth did, "Lord save, or we pèrish!" be will make the storm subside into a calm, and "bring us to our desired haven.”

In the conclusion, the psalmist farther illustrates the conduct of Divine Providence, in changing the face of nature to punish the rebellious, or to save and bless the penitent or obedient of his people. The concluding verse is particularly interest ing, as containing this important fact, that those who study this subject, will constantly find in it the most pleasing exhibition of "the loving-kindness of the Lord."

PSALM CVIII. Title-A Song or Psalm of Darid. On the difference between a song or psaim, we have not yet remarked, nor is it easy to be ascertained. If, as some have supposed, the term psalm implies the accompaniment of instruments, and song does not, it may be equivalent to "with or without instruments." But this is by no means certain.

Ver. 1. O God, my heart is fixed, &c.-This psalm being composed of two others, which we have already noticed, we have not thought it necessary 10 repeat it in the family reading. The first five verses of this psalm are the last five of Psalm Ivii, and the remaining eight are taken from Psalm 1x. 5-12. They were probably united for some occasion at present unknown, and which it is useless to conjecture.

PSALM CIX. Our reasons for passing over this psalm in family reading, must be sufficiently obvious from the psalm itself, which is very difficult of interpretation. Bishop Patrick, and other commen. tators, following Aben Ezra and D. Kimehi, apply the psalm in the first place to David, under the persecution of Saul and his party, particularly Doeg, the Edomite. But we incline rather to refer the psalm to a subsequent period; namely, that of Absalom's rebellion, and to attribute the curses here recited to Shimei, "whose mouth was full of cursing and bitterness," while David, like his great Antitype, "blessed and cursed not." (See 2 Sam. xvi. 5-13.) Such was the conjecture of Drs. Sykes and Ken

nicott, Professor Michaelis, and others, who attribute all the curses from ver. 6 to 19 inclusive, to David's enemies. Dr. Boothroyd, however, remarks, that David, adopting these imprecations as his own in the 20th verse, "Let this be the reward of mine enemies," &c. reinstates all the difficulty arising from a supposition of the preceding language being his

Bishop Horne and others, therefore, adopt a dif ferent mode of explanation. His Lordship remarks on ver. 6," As most of the following verbs are in the future tense, and the rest have evidently a predictive and future import, the same liberty is here taken (by him) as in Ps. Ixix. of rendering them throughout uniformly in that tense; by which means, the curses pronounced in this psalm will at once appear to be of the same import with those in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy," which see.

But as St. Peter quotes this psalm in the imperative, in Acts i. 16, 20, 25, and applies some of the imprecations to the traitor Judas, it seems doubtful whether we have sufficient authority to interpret them all in the simple future. Two things are, bowever, certain; 1. That such expressions can only be justified when uttered under the influence of imme diate inspiration; and, 2. We ought in no case to use such Scriptures in expression of private malevolence. The church is in many places (See Rev. xix. 2, 3, &c.) represented as confirming or applauding the divine judgments on the wicked, in the same manner as the spectators of a public trial may com mend the conduct of a judge, in pronouncing sen

hatred; and fought against me without a cause. 4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 6, Set thou a wicked man over him; and let Satan stand at his right hand. 7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

8 Let

his days be few; and let another take his office. 9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. 10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg; let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.

II Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour. 12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children. 13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out. 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. 15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth. 16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy; but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart. 17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. 19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. 20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

[of the wicked.

21 But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou_me. 22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. 23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the focust. 24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness. 25 Í became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads. 26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to thy mercy: 27 That they may know

that this is thy hand; that thou, LORD, hast done it. 28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. 29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle, 30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. 31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

PSALM CX.

A Psalm of David. THE LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

2 The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

Ver.1. God of my praise—that is, worthy to be praised. Psalm exiii. 3.

Ver. 2. Mouth of the deceitful-Heb. “Of deceit.” Ver.6. Set thou a wicked mun - Bishop Horue, "Thou wilt set the wicked one over him." See Acts i. 16, &c.-Satan-Marg. An adversary."

Ver. 7. Be condemned-Heb. "Go out guilty;" i.e. to prison, or execution.-Let his prayer become sin.-Bp. Horsley remarks, that "the Jewish worship is now become sin, as it contains a standing denial of our Lord."

Ver, 8. His office-Marg. "Charge." Acts i. 20. Ver. 18. Into his bowels-Heb. Within him." Ver. 23. Tossed up and down as the locust.-Dr. Shaw, when at Algiers, says, "When the wind blew briskly, so that these swarms (of locusts) were crowded by others, we had a lively idea of being tossed up and down as the locust."

Ver. 31. From those that condemn-Heb. "From the judges of his soul."

PSALM CX. Ver. 1. The LORD said unto my

Lord-Heb. " Jehovah assuredly said unto my Adon," which last word is used for lord, in every variety of rank, from the master of a family to the sovereign of an empire. In its origin, this title seems similar to the Italian cardinal, which means primarily a hinge, as Adon does a socket; hence figuratively applied to executive magistrates, on whom the government rests, and public affairs turn.

-Sit thou at my right hand. This was the place of honour, Ps, xlv. 9. So the Greeks placed Minerva on the right hand of Jove; and Niebuhr relates, that when he had an audience of the Imam of of Sana (in Arabia), the Imam placed his sons on his right hand, and his brothers on his left. See Orient. Lit. No. 802.- Thy footstool.-See Note on Ps. xviii. 40; also Acts ii. 35.

Ver. 2. The rod-Or " Sceptre." See Note on Gen. xlix. 10.

Ver. 3. Thy people shall be willing-Ainsworth, "Voluntaries," or volunteers; meaning, as he explains it, such as shall freely and liberally present both themselves and their oblations.In the beauties of holiness--"In the beautiful sanctuary," says Dr. Durell; meaning, perhaps, that Messiah's volunteers were there to assemble. Others, "In the beautiful vestments," alluding to the splendid dress

PSALM CX.

[and glory of Messiah. he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head. (N)

(N) The kingdom, priesthood, and final triumphs of the Messiah.-This very much resembles the second psalm, by the same author (David;) and refers to the same events, namely, the conversion of the heathen, and the universal prevalence of Messiah's kingdom. It begins, like the former, with narrating a divine decree. "The LORD said unto my Lord;" and promises him "the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." He is also ordained a priest, as well as king, and that of an order peculiar to himself, an "everlasting priesthood," (See Heb. v. 6; vi. vii.) which admits of no succession and no change.

Quoting this psalm in evidence of the divinity of Christ, Dr. J. Pye Smith judiciously remarks:-"The Messiah is here represented as a person distinct from Jehovah, and as receiving from him a dominion the most extensive-a dominion, the exercise of which is described in characters which we cannot, without difficulty, conceive as inherent in a merely created and dependant being. He is represented as a sovereign, no less than a priest; as receiving the homage of his devoted subjects; and as employing irresistible powers in discomfiting and punishing his persisting opposers. Jesus certainly proposed this passage, as involving his enemies in an unanswerable difficulty. How, then, doth David, by the Spirit, call him Lord, saying, Jehovah said to my Lord," &c. If David, then, call him (Messiah) Lord, how is he his son ?" (Matt. xxii. 43-46.)

To this it is evident the Jews could give no satisfactory answer, being ignorant (perhaps wilfully ignorant) of the true character of the Messiah; and such appears to be the case with many others.

In viewing this psalm with relation to the progress of Christ's kingdom, we may remark, that all his army consists of volunteers; yet have they so little idea of merit in themselves, that they give him the glory, by offering to him the fruit of all their spiritual conflicts. They are like "the governors of the people (namely, of Israel) that offered themselves willingly to the war; (Judges v. 9.) and when they gained a victory, brought with cheerfulness their offerings to the Lord, saying with Solomon, "All things come of thee, and of the own have we given thee." (1 Chron. xxix. 14; 2 Chron. xv. 11. 12.)

The last verse is attended with considerable difficulty. Many commentators explain drinking of the brook, in reference to our Redeemer's sufferings, and it is certain that these not only preceded, but were the cause of his subsequent exaltation. (Phil. ii. 9.) It is true also, that suffering is often expressed by drinking; but it is usually from a cup, and the liquor is mingled with some deleterious ingredients; or if it be water, it is dirty, or mixed with gall; but never the clear stream. The imagery here is therefore borrowed from the case of a conqueror, who, faint or thirsty in the battle, refreshes himself at the stream he passes, and pursues the enemy with renewed vigour. That the Saviour, for our sakes, endured many bitter conflicts, is indisputable; and as we know that he was encouraged and supported by communi

of the priests, typifying (as Ainsworth suggests) the graces and virtues of the Holy Spirit. See Rev. xix. 14.

Ibid. From the womb of the morning-Marg. "More than the womb of the morning thou shalt have," &c. This passage is confessedly very difficult. Bp. Lonth renders it, " Beyond, (or more abundant than) the womb of the morning, is the dew of thy youth;" taking this word in the sense of progeny, or offspring, as Dr. Watts had before explained

N. B. In pointing this verse, the colon should be placed, not at morning, but at holiness, thus: "Thy people shall be willing (or volunteers) in the beauty of holiness: more than the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth.'

Ver. 5. The Lord at the right hand. This is evidently addressed to Jehovah, and refers to Messiah. Compare ver. 1.

Ver. 6. He shall fill the places-That is, the field of battle shall be covered with the slain.. He shall wound the heads over many countries-Heb. "The head over a great country." So Horsley; but Kennicott renders it, "The head over many a country."