Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

r turn afide;" of them who, in their counfels and their actions, deviate from the divine law, to ferve their own intereft; " it thall not cleave unto me, no fuch corrupt principle fhall adhere to my foul, or find a place in my affections. How noble a refolution for a king to make; but how difficult an one for a king to keep! Thou only, O King of Righteoufnefs, didst never fet any wicked thing before thine eyes; thou only hadft a perfect averfion to the ways of tranfgreffors.

4. A froward heart fhall depart from me: I will not know a wicked perfon.

As is the king, fo will be the court; as is the mafter of the houfe, fuch will be thofe of his houfehold. David, having refolved to "walk within "his house with a perfect," a fincere and upright "heart," determines at the fame time to expel from thence all whofe hearts were perverted and depraved as he would " fet no wicked thing before his eyes," fo neither would he form any connections with "wicked perfons;" they fhould not be of his acquaintance, much lefs fhould they be his favourites. In the fame manner fpeaketh our heavenly King, with regard to the appointment of his minifters and fervants-" I know you not, whence you are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." Luke xiii. 27.

5. Whofo privily flandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look, and a proud, or, extended, and therefore, infatiable heart, will not I fuffer.

[ocr errors][merged small]

Detraction, ambition, and avarice, are three weeds. which fpring and flourish in the rich foil of a court. The Pfalmift declareth his refolution to undertake the difficult task of eradicating them, for the benefit of his people, that Ifraelites might not be haraffed by informers, or oppreffed by infolent and rapacious ministers. Shall we imagine these vices less odious in the eyes of that King, whose character was compofed of humility and charity; or will Christ admit those tempers into the court of heaven, which David determined to exclude from his court upon earth?

6. Mine eyes fhall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall ferve me.

The "eyes" of princes cannot be better employed, than in looking around them, in order to choose, from among their own fubjects, fit and able men to tranfact the public business; men of inviolable " fidelity," and unfhaken integrity; men who know how to think aright, and how to speak what they think; men likewise who " walk in the perfect way" of holinefs, who do not difgrace their politics by their lives, or prejudice their master's cause by their fins, more than they can ever advance it by their abilities. Bishops may be called the "eyes" of Chrift; they are to "overlook" his people, and we pray him at the seasons of ordination, "fo to guide and govern "their minds, that they may faithfully and wifely "make choice of fit perfons to ferve in the facred miniftry of the Church."

7. He that worketh deceit fhall not dwell within my houfe: he that telleth lies fhall not tarry in my fight.

To purge a court of "deceit" and " falfehood," was a refolution worthy king David, worthy the reprefentative of him, who ftyleth himself THE TRUTH, from whose heavenly palace and city will be for ever excluded, as St. John informeth us, "whofoever "loveth and maketh A LIE." Rev. xxii. 15.

8. I will early deftroy all the wicked of the land: that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

Every earthly prince fhould confider himself as raised to a throne, and invefted with power, " for "the punishment of wickedness and vice, and the "maintenance of God's true religion and virtue."

Early," therefore, in the "morning," of his reign, he fhould fet about the work of reformation, that fo the bleffings of heaven may defcend upon himself and his people, according to the infallible promifes of the most High. And let each individual, in like manner, and for the fame reason, be zealous and diligent to reform his own heart and ways, ever mindful of that future moft awful morning, when the King of Righteoufnefs fhall "cut off," with the fword of eternal judgment, "all wicked doers from "that city of Jehovah," the new and heavenly Jerufalem.

XX DAY. MORNING PRAYER.

PSALM CII.

ARGUMENT.

This Pfalm is intitled, "A prayer of the

66

afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and "poureth out his complaint before the "Lord." It feems to have been written, during the captivity, by one of the prophets, who, like Daniel in parallel circumftances, 1, 2. maketh fupplication before his God; 3-11. fetteth forth, in the most affecting ftrains, his wretched and forrowful eftate, or rather, perhaps, that of Jerufalem, which he perfonates; 12. he comforteth himself, by reflecting on the eternity and immutability of Jehovah; 13-24. he predicteth and defcribeth the restoration of Sion, with her enlargement by the accefsion of the Gentiles, when Mefsiah fhall have visited and redeemed her; 23, 24. he returneth again to his lamentations; but 25-28. again repofeth his confidence on him who created all things, and who would not fail to make good his word and promife, if not to the generation then prefent, yet to their pofterity.

This is the fifth of thofe ftyled Penitential Pfalms; and St. Paul, Heb. i. 10. hath afferted, that it is addreffed to the eternal Son of God, and Saviour of the world.

1. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. 2. Hide not thy face from me, in the day when I am in trouble, incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call, anfwer me speedily.

Sin and forrow force "prayers" and "cries" from the fons of Adam. The firft petition here preferred is, that these prayers and cries may be "heard" in heaven. The day of human life is "a day of trouble," a day of darkness and gloominefs, which nothing can brighten, but the light of God's "coun"tenance;" nothing can render comfortable, but a speedy answer" of mercy and peace from above.

66

3. For my days are confumed away like, or, in Smoke, and my bones are burnt as an hearth, or, a fire brand.

The effects of extreme grief on the human frame are compared to thofe which fire produceth upon fuel. It exhaufts the radical moisture, and, by fo doing, foon confumes the fubftance. A man's time and his ftrength evaporate in melancholy, and his "bones," those pillars and supports of his body, become like wood, on which the fire hath done its work, and left it without fap, and without cohesion. A fingle penitent, or a whole church, bewailing their respective tranfgreffions, when under the rod of God, may use these words, and will understand the force of them.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »