presence gave the Israelites all their dignity and stability, and by his providence he secured them from the attempts of their enemies. 4 For, lo, the kings, neighbouring nations, were assembled, and 5 confederated together; they passed by together. They saw the beauty and strength of [it, and] so they marvelled; they were 6 troubled [and] hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, [and] pain, or consternation, as of a woman in travail. They 7 were confounded, as sailors are when Thou breakest the ships of 8 Tarshish with an east wind. As we have heard from our fathers what thou hast done, and what thou hast promised to do, so have we seen it verified in the defence of our capital, in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: we therefore hope God 9 will establish it for ever, against all future attacks. Selah. We have thought of thy loving kindness, O God; the circumstances of our deliverance, and all the goodness manifested in it, when we have been paying our thankful acknowledgments for it in the 10 midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, thy perfections displayed in our deliverance, so [is] thy praise unto the ends of the earth; thy name shall become known and formidable in the remotest nations: thy right hand is full of righteousness; which is manifested in thy justice and goodness in confounding our 11 enemies and preserving thy people. Let mount Zion, especially, which is the capital, rejoice, let the daughters of Judah, the lesser towns and villages, be glad because of thy judgments on our ene12 mies. Walk about Zion, and go round about her tell the 13 towers thereof, see if any are wanting. Mark ye well her bulwarks, if any of them are damaged; consider her palaces, how they are preserved from every injury; that ye may tell [it] to the generation following, to excite their thankfulness and trust in 14 God. For this God [is] our God, our protector and governor, not only in this particular instance, but for ever and ever: he will be our guide and protector [even] unto death.

1.

REFLECTIONS.

W Everences wrought out for his church and people. When

E hence learn, that God should be praised, for all the de

the kings of the earth have confederated against his people, he has often taken away their strength and their heart, and brought consternation and ruin upon them. For such interpositions he is greatly to be praised; and the clearer discoveries that any persons have of his nature and perfections, the more should they abound in his praise.

2. Let us with deep attention reflect upon his goodness, especially in his house. It should often dwell upon our thoughts; more especially when we assemble in his courts. Let us think of and acknowledge his appearances for mount Zion of old, particularly for our own country; and as we have heard what he did in former ages, so in some instances we have seen the like. When we meet in his house undisturbed by our enemies, and enjoy so many advanVOL. IV. Q q

tages for knowing God, and doing his will, it becomes us to adore his loving kindness. The recollection of it will be of the greatest use to excite our devout supplications, and encourage our hope that they will not be presented in vain.

3. In a reliance on his protection, let us humbly commit the guardianship of our land to God. He can easily put our enemies in fear, and dash their ships to pieces. Oh may he be known in our palaces for a refuge! may he secure our towns, and our bulwarks! that we and the generation following may glorify and serve him in holiness and cheerfulness. But as our sins may provoke him to deny his assistance, and give our enemies cause to triumph over us, let us commit our souls to him and live near to him; then, whatever troubles and alarms we meet with, he will be our guide to death, and our God for ever and ever.

PSALM XLIX.

To the chief musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah.

Both the author and the occasion of this psalm are unknown; but it contains some excellent instructions.

'H'

EAR this, all [ye] people; give ear, all [ye] inhabitants of the world; what I have to say is matter of universal 2 concern: Both low and high, rich and poor, together; you are 3 all equally concerned in what I am going to say. My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart [shall be] of understanding; I will instruct you in a variety of useful knowl 4 edge. I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will take the greatest care in what I am going to compose, and listen to the impulse of the Spirit of God: I will open my dark saying upon the harp; I will set the instructive discourse to music, to make it more en5 gaging. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, or afflic tion, [when] the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about? Why should good men be dejected in times of trouble, or when 6 wicked men prosper? They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; let them consider, 7 that None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; they cannot save the dearest 8 friend from the grave, or purchase a reprieve: (For the redemption of their soul, or life, [is] precious, and it ceaseth for ever; 9 it cannot be procured :) That he should still live for ever, [and] 10 not see corruption. For he seeth [that] wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others; these subtile rich men cannot but see that death makes a universal conquest, and that neither riches nor wisdom can pre11 serve them. Their inward thought [is, that] though they know they must die, it is some comfort that their houses, their inherit

ance, [shall continue] for ever in their family, [and] their dwelling places to all generations; and to make themselves in some measure immortal, they call [their] lands after their own names. 12 Nevertheless man [being] in honour, in his highest exaltation, abideth not; he is like the beasts [that] perish; at death he becomes as incapable of doing or enjoying any thing as the brutes. 13 This their way [is] their folly; yet their posterity, those who succeed them, approve their sayings, imitate their conduct, and 14 act over the same folly. Selah. Like sheep, which are taken one by one out of a field for slaughter, they are laid in the grave, so little do worldly people improve the deaths of their predecessors; but at length death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; at the resurrection the upright shall be rescued from the grave, and advanced above those who oppressed them: in the mean time the wicked shall be taken from their pompous habitations, and their beauty shall con15 sume in the grave from their dwelling. But God will redeem my soul, or life, from the power of the grave: for he shall re16 ceive me into his favour in heaven. Selah. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increas17 ed; For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory

shall not descend after him; he must leave his riches and dignity. 18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul; gave a loose to his appetites, rioted in pleasure, and thought himself very happy: and [men] will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself; if thou 19 followest his steps. Nevertheless, He shall go to the generation of his fathers, to the grave; they shall never see light; never enjoy any of the comforts of this life, and have no title to those of 20 the next. Man [that is] in honour, that has the greatest portion and dignity, and understandeth not his true interest in this life, and the uncertainty of its continuance, is like the beasts [that] perish; behaves like a brute while he lives, and dies without being regarded.

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FR

REFLECTIONS.

ROM the death of rich and honourable men we are here taught the vanity of all worldly enjoyments. In their highest exaltations they are frail, mortal creatures; when they die, their wealth is transferred to others; their estates have new lords or owners; and their names are often remembered with infamy. They could not save themselves, nor the dearest friend they had in the world, from death. How little then is there in riches and grandeur to be fond of. If any of our fathers acted so foolishly, as to be fond of the world, let us not imitate their conduct nor approve their sayings, nor sell our souls for that which cannot purchase the continuance of our lives for one day. May all attend to the vanity of earthly things; the rich and great, that they may not be high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches; and the poor and low, that they may be

humble and content, and not envy their wealthy neighbours, but endeavour to be rich in faith, and heirs of the heavenly kingdom.

2. When we are in danger of dreading the power or envying the prosperity of wicked men, let us consider their end; how foolish' they are at present, and how miserable they will be hereafter, notwithstanding they bless themselves, and others may flatter and commend them. He that knoweth and understandeth himself and his duty, and doeth it, is truly rich and honourable; is indeed like an angel while ignorant and vicious lords and gentlemen live and die like brutes; with this difference only, that the immortal part survives, and sinks into destruction.

3. Let it be our great desire and care to be numbered among the upright, rather than among the rich and great. Various and strong are the temptations with which men of dignity and wealth are sur rounded, and it is hard for them to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But those who are upright shall have the dominion, when all that sleep in the dust shall awake in the morning of the resurrection. God will redeem his servants from the power of the grave, and adorn them with a splendor and glory, superior to what the wicked ever knew. Mortality shall be swallowed up of life; and God will receive them to everlasting habitations. They shall have dominion over all their persecutors and oppressors, and reign with Christ in everlasting honcur and glory. May we therefore judge of earthly things in the light of another world, that we may use them as not abusing them; and seek a better and more enduring substance; even an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us.

PSALM L.

A Psalm of Asaph, see 2 Chron. xxix. 30.

When this psalm was written is uncertain; but it might have been written in almost any age of the Jewish church; for there is no period in which the Jews were not ready to place too much depend. ence on ceremonial observations, while the great duties of piety and morality were neglected. It was designed to instruct them in the nature of acceptable worship, and to prepare the way for the change which the gospel was to make. God is represented as coming with the ensigns of majesty and terror to judge an hypocritical people,

1

T

HE mighty God, [even] the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth, the inhabitants of the land, from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof, to hear the charge 2 he hath against them. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, the most beautiful and lovely place, God hath shined; marching forth 3 to judgment with the greatest pomp and solemnity. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: à fire skall devour before

him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him; though he be our covenant God, he will not connive at our formality and hypocrisy, but will come to judge us for our breaches of his law, with such terror as was displayed at the first giving of it. He shall call to the heavens from above, to the angels, and to the inhabitants of the earth, that he may judge his people; to be witnesses of his 5 righteousness, and to testify against his dissembling people. Gather my saints together unto me, my people, who by profession are saints, and ought to be holy; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice; by which they acknowledged their covenant relation to me, though they have not performed the conditions of it. And the heavens, that is, the angelic host, shall declare his righteousness: for God [is] judge himself, in his own person; there fore his sentence will be perfectly agreeable to the rules of equity and 7 goodness. Selah. Hear, O my people, hear the charge I have against thee, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against 8 thee: I [am] God, [even] thy God. I will not reprove thes for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, [to have been] continually before me; you have not in general neglected those things, but have taken pride in them, and thought they would expiate or 9 excuse your breaches of the moral law. I will take no bullock out of thy house, [nor] he goats out of thy folds; though you lay so much stress on those things, yet I value them not, considered in 10 themselves, or as if they were the whole of what I require. For

every beast of the forest [is] mine, [and] the cattle upon a thou11 sand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild 12 beasts of the field [are] mine, to be disposed of as I will. If I

were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world [is] mine, 13 and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? an allusion to the notion the heathens had that their deities were nourished and entertained by the steams of their Offer unto God thanksgiving ; 14 sacrifices, Deut. xxxii. 38. bring to him a truly thankful heart, which is the most acceptable sacrifice; and pay thy vows, thy promises of obedience and duty, unto the most High; do not think to put off so glorious a Being 15 with a poor composition of sin offerings for wilful neglects: And call upon me in the day of trouble; acknowledge thy subjection and dependence by constant, fervent prayer, especially in time of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me by thy 16 praises, and by a holy life. But unto the wicked, to hypocrites, God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or [that] thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth? why dost thou 17 talk of my statutes, and pretend respect for them. Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee; treating 18 them with the greatest contempt. When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers; thou favourest them, and art guilty of their crimes. 19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. 20 Thou sittest in judgment [and] speakest, givest false witness, or

unjust sentence, against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own