ing in these! Lord, how manifest are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all. Psal. civ. 24. But above all, that work, that marvel of His works, the sending of His Son forth of His bosom. This is the mystery which the Apostles do so much magnify in their writings, which is so much magnified in this Epistle, and which forms the chief incentive to the ascription of praise with which it closes. This praise looks particularly back to the style in the prayer, The God of all grace, who hath called us to His eternal glory by Jesus Christ. So many other mercies are not to be forgotten, but chiefly is He to be praised for that choicest of mercies. To His glory, who hath called us to His glory. Then, look through the work of saving His chosen, so redeemed by the blood of His Son. His maintaining His own work in them against all surrounding enemies and oppositions, the advancing of it in the midst of them, and even by means of those oppositions, and bringing them safe to glory; that perfecting and establishment, as in the foregoing words. It is this which so affects the Apostle in the very entry of this Epistle, that there he must break forth into praise: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ch. i. ver. 3. He begins there in praise, and here he ends in it, and so encloses all within that divine circle. And as we should consider these things in general, so should we also reflect on His particular dealing with us, His good providence both in spirituals and temporals. Would we search, Oh! what a surcharge of innumerable mercies should each of us find! And were we better acquainted with the holy Scriptures, had we more our delight in them, they would acquaint us better with all these things, and give us light to see them, and warm our hearts, and excite them to His praises, who is the God of all our mercies.

Direct. III. The heart being somewhat disposed to praise, and then studying the matter of it, should be applied actually to render praise. And in order to this, we must be careful,

1. To aim at God in all, which is continued praise; to eye His glory in every thing, and chiefly to desire that, as our great end, that His name may be exalted. This is the excellent way indeed. Whereas most are either wholly for their self-ends, or often squinting out to them. That soul is most noble, which singly and fixedly aims at exalting God, and

seeks to have this stamp on all it speaks, and does, and desires: All to the greater glory of my God. 2. To abound in the express and solemn return of praise this way. To Him be glory, not a customary dead saying of it over, as is usual with us, but the heart offering it up. What is so pure and high as this exercise, the praises of the ever-glorious Deity? What is heaven but these? And were it not best, as we can, to begin it here, and long to be there, where it shall never end? To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Ver. 12. By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, (as I suppose,) I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace o God wherein ye stand.

Ver. 13. The Church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus, my son.

Ver. 14. Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

THIS is a kind of postscript, and contains a testimony of the bearer, and the apostolic form of saluting. Withal, the Apostle expresses the measure of his writing, that it was brief, and the end of it, that it was to testify the true grace of God. And this is, indeed, the end of our preaching, and we ought each to seek it by the word, and by mutual exhortations; and sometimes a few words may avail much to this purpose, to our hearty establishment in the faith. And not only are we to believe, but to remember that we have the best of it; that there is truth in our hopes, and they shall not deceive us. They are no fancy, as the world thinks, but the true grace of God; yea, when all things else shall vanish, their truth shall most appear in their full accomplishment.

The entertainment and increase of Christian love, of due esteem one of another, and affection one to another, is no matter of empty compliment, but is the very stamp and badge of Jesus Christ upon His followers: it is, therefore, most carefully to be preserved entire, and unhappy are they that do by any means willingly break it. Oh, let us beware of doing so, and follow peace, even when it seems to fly from us!

This peace that is the portion of those in Christ, is indeed within them, and with God. But through Him, it is likewise one with another, and in that notion it is to be desired and wished jointly with the other.

They that are in Christ are the only children and heirs of true peace. Others may dream of it, and have a false peace for a time, and wicked men may wish it to themselves and one another; but it is a most vain hope, and will come to nought. But to wish it to them that are in Christ hath good ground; for all solid peace is founded on Him, and flows from Him. Now, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL,

ON

PSALMS IV., XXXII., AND CXXX.

TRANSLATED

FROM THE LATIN OF ARCHBISHOP LEIGHTON.

BY THE

REV. DR. PHILIP DODDRIDGE.

MEDITATIONS ON PSALM IV.

TITLE,

To the chief Musician on Neginoth, a Psalm of David.

MANY of the calamities of good men look like miseries, which yet, on the whole, appear to have conduced greatly to their happiness; witness the many prayers which they poured out in those calamities, the many seasonable and shining deliverances which succeeded them, and the many hymns of praise they sang to God their deliverer; so that they seem to have been cast into the fire on purpose that the odour of their graces might diffuse itself all abroad.

The Seventy Greek Interpreters seem to have read the word which we render To the chief musician, something different from the reading of our present Hebrew copy, i. e. Lemenetz, instead of Lemenetzoth; and therefore they render it, ɛís Téλos, as the Latin does, in finem, to the end. From whence the Greek and Latin Fathers imagined, that all the Psalms which bear this inscription refer to the Messiah, the great End and the accomplishment of all things; a sentiment which was rather pious than judicious, and led them often to wrest several passages in the Psalms by violent and unnatural glosses. Yet I would not morosely reject all interpretations of that kind, seeing the Apostles themselves apply to Christ many passages out of

the Psalms and other books of the Old Testament, which, if we had not been assured of it by their authority, we should hardly have imagined to have had any reference to Him. Nor is it probable that they enumerated all the predictions of the Messiah which are to be found in the prophetic writings, but only a very small part of them, while they often assure us that all the sacred Writers principally centre in Him. And it is certain the passage out of this Psalm, which Austin, and some others, suppose to refer to Christ, may be applied to Him without any force upon the expression: O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame *? And what follows they explain with the same reference: Know that the Lord has in a wonderful manner separated his Holy One unto Himself. Others, however, render the title in a different manner, (Victori) To the conqueror. Moderns translate it præcentori, or præfecto musica, to the chief musician, or him who presided over the band of musicians, which after all seems the most natural interpretation. The word Neginoth, which is sometimes rendered stringed instruments, did no doubt signify instruments of music which were struck to give their sound, as Nehiloth, in the title of Psalm v. seems, though not without some little irregularity in the etymology, to signify instruments of wind music. The Psalm was written by David, as a summary of the prayer he had poured out before God, when some exceeding great affliction seemed to besiege him on every side, whether it was the persecution of Saul, or the conspiracy of Absalom

his son.

Ver. 1. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress, have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

Hear me.] Behold the sanctuary to which this good man betook himself, in all the afflictions of his life; a sanctuary which therefore he sets off, by accumulating a variety of ex

* They read it gravi corde, as expressive of the stupidity of heart which the rejecting of Christ and His gospel manifests.