PSALM CXXIX.

ARGUMENT.

In the former part of this Pfalm, 1-4, the church declareth herself to have been often affailed and perfecuted by her enemies, but as often rescued and preferved by Jehovah; in the latter part of it, 5-8, fhe predicteth the miferable end of all those who hate Zion.

1. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Ifrael now fay: 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.

Affliction is nothing new to the people of God. Many a time have the righteous been under perfecution, from the hour when Cain rose up against his brother Abel, to this day. Like the bush which Mofes beheld in the defert, the church hath "burn"ed with fire," but is not yet" confumed;" and for the fame reason, because God is in the midst of her*. He who took our nature upon him, was also "af"flicted from his youth," but his enemies "prevail"ed not finally against him." And it is obfervable, that what God fpake, by his prophet Hofea, con

Ecclefia jam inde ab initio in Abel, in Enoch, in Noë, in Abraham, in Lot, in Ægyptiaca fervitute, in Moyfe, et Prophetis, graves perpessa inimicos; dicit illa quidem fæpe a juventute fe fuiffe oppugnatam; nihilo tamen feciùs perveniffe ad fenectutem, ac ne in senectute quidem opprimi poffe. Victus enim qui fæviebat, vicit qui fufferebat. BossUET.

cerning Ifrael, "When Ifrael was a child, then I ❝loyed him, and called my fon out of Egypt," is by St. Matthew applied to Chrift; "Jofeph took "the young child and his mother, by night, and de"parted into Egypt, and was there until the death "of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was "spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called 16 my fon." Mat. ii. 14. Hof. xi. 1. The truth is, that there fubfifted between Chrift and the church an union like that between the head and the members of the fame body; they are therefore called by the fame name, ISRAEL, and what is faid concerning one, frequently admitteth of an application to the other. He became like us by taking our nature, and we become like him by receiving his grace. Our fufferings are accounted as his; and his righteousness fpoken of as ours....

3. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. 4. The LORD is righteous: he hath cut afunder the cords of the wicked.

The former of these two verfes expreffeth a state of great affliction, the latter, a deliverance from that ftate. The word in which fignifies to dig, or cut the ground, and fo, to plow, is alfo ufed fimply for cutting, carving, or graving; See Exod. xxxv. 33. Jer, xvii. 1. Being here applied to the back of cap: tives, and cords having been the inftruments of it, in all reafon it is to be understood of fcourging, which cuts, and, as it were, digs, and plows, and makes furrows in the flesh; and the longer the cords of the fcourges are, the longer are the wounds and furrows. For our fakes he who knew no fin" gave

"his back to the fmiters," Ifai. 1. 6. and permitted thofe " plowers to make long their furrows upon it." But "the righteous Lord cut afunder the cords of "the wicked;" vengeance overtook the wretched inftruments of his fufferings; and the perfecutors of his fervants shall perish in like manner, as the Pfalmist proceedeth to affure us in the verses following.

5. Let them all, or, they all shall be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

Since the ways of God are equal, the deftruction which hath lighted on former perfecutors of the church affordeth an affurance, that all, in every age, who hate Zion, fhall, at the day of final retribution, if not before that day, feel the weight of his arm, who is the Saviour, the King, and the God of Zion.

6. Let them, or, they shall be as the grafs upon the houfe tops, which withereth afore it groweth up: Heb. is pulled up*. 7. Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand: nor he that bindeth fheaves his bofom. 8. Neither do they which go by fay, The bleffing of the LORD be upon you: we blefs you in the name of the LORD.

The tranfient profperity of mortal man is often in facred writ compared to grafs, the hiftory of which is contained in these few words, It cometh up, and is cut down. But here the comparison is carried ftill farther. Not the common grafs in the field, but grafs growing on the house tops" is selected to convey the idea of bad men; grafs, which having no depth of earth, into which it may strike it's roots,

Mr. Harmer takes the idea of the Pfalmift to be, "Which "withereth before it unfheaths it's ear." Obferv. 11. 463.

doth not await the hand of the gatherer, but "wi"thereth" even " before it is plucked up." And then, fo thin, fo wretched, and fo unprofitable is the crop, that none are employed to collect and carry it in; none to whom paffengers might addrefs those acclamations and falutations, customary at fuch times, as "The LORD be with you, blef's you," &c. Ruth i. 4. Thus, while the felicity of Zion's children is rooted and grounded in Chrift, that of her enemies. hath no foundation at all. While the church fubfifteth from generation to generation, the kingdoms and empires, that have perfecuted her, fade and wither away of themselves. And at the general harvest of the world, when the righteous fhall be carried by angels, with joyful acclamations, into the mansions prepared for them above, the wicked, unregarded by the heavenly reapers, and unbleffed by all, fhall become fuel for a fire, that goeth not out; refembling, in this their sad end, likewise, that worthless grass, which to-day is, and to-morrow is caft into the oven."

PSALM CXXX.

ARGUMENT.

This is the fixth of those which are ftyled Penitential Pfalms. It is calculated for the use of the church, or any member thereof; and containcth 1, 2. a complaint of great diftrefs; 3. a confefsion of man's finfulnefs; 4-8 an act of faith in the divine mercy, and the promised redemption,

1. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LOND. 2. LORD, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my fupplications.

From the depths of fin, and the misery occafioned by fin, the penitent, like another Jonas, intombed in the whale's belly, and furrounded by all the waves of the ocean, crieth unto God for help and falvation. Fervent prayer will find it's way, through every obftruction, to the ears of him who fitteth upon his holy hill. And may not the bodies of the faithful, buried in the duft, be faid to cry, out of the depths of the grave, for a joyful refurrection, according to the promise and the pattern of Chrift, who, after three days, came forth from the heart of the earth, as Jonas did from the belly of the whale?

3. If thou, LORD, fhouldest mark iniquities, O LORD, who shall ftand?

A reason is here urged, why God should spare and pardon the fuppliant, namely, because was he accurately to note the offences of the best men, and to produce them in judgment against the offenders, no man could stand in that judgment, but the whole race of Adam muft continue to eternity under the dominion of fin and death; which a gracious and merciful God would not permit to be the cafe. It is accordingly declared in the next verfe, that measures had been taken to prevent fo deplorable a catastrophe. 4. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayeft be feared.

True repentance is founded upon the fenfe of our own wretchednefs, and faith in the divine mercy. Without the former, we fhould never feek for

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