The generations of men are troubled and consumed by divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death, through the displeasure of God; his displeasure is occasioned by their sins, all of which he seeth and punisheth. If Moses wrote this Psalm, the provocations and chastisements of Israel are here alluded to. But the case of the Israelites in the wilderness is the case of Christians in the world; and the same thing is true both in them and in us.

9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told.

Life is compared to a 'tale' that is told and forgotten; to a 'word' which is but air, or breath, and vanisheth into nothing as soon as spoken; or perhaps, as the original generally signifies, to a 'meditation, a thought,' which is of a nature still more fleeting and transient.

10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow: for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

This again might be primarily spoken by Moses, concerning Israel. The generation of those who came out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upwards, fell within the space of forty years, in the wilderness; Numb. xiv. 29; and they who lived longest experienced only labour and sorrow, until they were cut off, like grass, and, by the breath of God's displeasure, blown away from the face of the earth. Like the Israelites, we have been brought out of Egypt, and sojourn in the wilderness; like them we murmur, and offend God our Saviour; like them we fall and perish. To the

age of seventy years, few of us can hope to attain; labour and sorrow are our portion in the world; we are mowed down, as this year's grass of the field; we fly away, and are no more seen in the land of the living.

11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

Houbigant renders the verse thus, Quis novit vim iræ tuæ; et, prout terribilis es, furorem tuum?' 'Who knoweth' or considereth, 'the power of thine anger; and thy wrath, in proportion as thou art terrible?' that is, in other words, Notwithstanding all the manifestations of God's indignation against sin, which introduced death and every other calamity among men, who is there that knoweth, who that duly considereth and layeth to heart the almighty power of that indignation; who that is induced, by beholding the mortality of his neighbours, to prepare himself for his own departure hence? Such holy consideration is the gift of God, from whom the Psalmist, in the next verse, directeth us to request it.

12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

He who numbereth his days,' or taketh a right account of the shortness of this present life, compared with the unnumbered ages of that eternity which is future, will soon become a proficient in the school of true wisdom. He will learn to give the preference where it is due; to do good and suffer evil upon earth, expecting the reward of both in heaven. Make us wise, blessed Lord, but wise unto salvation.

13. Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning, or, be propitiated towards, thy ser

vants.

During the reign of death over poor mankind, God is represented as absent; he is therefore by the faithful entreated to return,' and to satisfy their longing desires after salvation; to hasten the day when Messiah should make a 'propitiation' for sin, when he should redeem his servants from death, and ransom them from the power of the grave. The Christian, who knoweth that his Lord is risen indeed, looks forward to the resurrection of the just, when death shall be finally swallowed up in victory.

14. O satisfy us early, or, in the morning, with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein

we have seen evil.

The church prayeth for the dawning of that glorious morning, when every cloud shall vanish. at the rising of the Sun of righteousness, and night and darkness shall be no more. Then only shall we be satisfied, or saturated, with the mercy' of Jehovah; then only shall we rejoice and be glad all our days.' The time of our pilgrimage upon earth is a time of sorrow; we grieve for our departed friends and our surviving friends must soon grieve for us; these are the days wherein God afflicteth us, these the years wherein we see evil' but he will hereafter 'make us glad according to them;' in proportion to our sufferings, if rightly we bear those sufferings, will be our reward,; nay, 'these light afflictions, which are but

for a moment, work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' Then shall our joy be increased, and receive an additional relish from the remembrance of our former sorrow; then shall we bless the days and the years which exercised our faith, and perfected our patience; and then shall we bless God, who chastised us for a season, that he might save us for ever.

16. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. 17. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

The redemption of man is that 'work' of God whereby his glory' is manifested to all generations, and which all generations do therefore long to behold accomplished. For this purpose the faithful beseech God to let his beauty,' his splendour, the light of his countenance, his grace and favour, be upon them: to establish the work of their hands,' to bless, prosper, and perfect them in their Christian course and warfare; until, through him, they shall be enabled to subdue sin, and triumph over death.

PSALM XCI.

ARGUMENT.-The prophet, 1-10. declareth the security of the righteous man under the care and protection of heaven, in times of danger, when, 11, 12. a guard of angels is set about him. 13. His final victory over the enemies of his salvation is foretold; and 14-16. God himself is introduced, promising him deliverance, exaltation, glory, and immortality. This Psalm is addressed, primarily, to Messiah. That

it related to him, Jews and Christians are agreed; and the devil, Matt. iv. 6. cited two verses from it, as universally known and allowed to have been spoken of him.

1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. 3. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

In these verses, as they now stand, there is much obscurity and confusion. Bishop Lowth, in his twenty-sixth Lecture, seemeth to have given their true construction: 'He who dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High; who abideth under the shadow of the Almighty; who saith of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I will trust; leaving the sentence thus imperfect, the Psalmist maketh a beautiful apostrophe to that person whom he has been describing— 'Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.' The description is eminently applicable to the man Christ Jesus. He is represented as dwelling, like the ark in the holy of holies, under the immediate 'shadow' and protection of the Almighty, who was his refuge and fortress' against the open attacks of his enemies; his preserver from the 'snares' of the devil, and from the universal contagion of sin, that spiritual pestilence.' In all dangers, whether spiritual or corporeal, the members of Christ's mystical body may reflect with comfort, that they are under the same Almighty protector.

'Ode Davidica insignis xci. agit directe et primo loco de tegmine et defensione quam Deus Christo Jesu Doctori et apostolis ipsius præstaret.-Vitringa, Comment. in Jesai. ii. 565.