excited to join in a chorus of thanksgiving to the Maker and Redeemer of the world.

13. For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth; he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

The coming of Christ is twofold; first he came to sanctify the creature, and he will come again to glorify it. Either of his kingdoms, that of grace, or that of glory, may be signified by his 'judging the world in righteousness and truth.' If creation be represented as rejoicing at the establishment of the former, how much greater will the joy be at the approach of the latter! seeing that, notwithstanding Christ be long since come in the flesh, though he be ascended into heaven, and have sent the Spirit from thence, yet, 'the whole creation, as the apostle speaks, Rom. viii. 22, groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, expecting to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body;' when at the renovation of all things, man, new made, shall return to the days of his youth, to begin an immortal spring, and be for ever young.

PSALM XCVII.

ARGUMENT.-In this Psalm, 1. the reign of Christ is again celebrated, and the nations are again called to rejoice on that

account. 2-7. He is described as taking vengeance on his enemies, overthrowing idolatry in the heathen world, commanding adoration from all creatures, and, 8, 9. inspiring gladness into the church, by subduing her enemies. 10-12. The duties of holiness, thankfulness, and religious joy are inculcated.

1. The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof.

Triumphant over death and hell, the Lord Jesus is gone up on high, and 'reigneth.' What greater cause can the whole earth have to rejoice;' yea, even the most distant isles of the Gentiles, to 'be glad,' and to sing for joy; since they are all become his subjects, and share the unspeakable blessings of so gracious a reign? We Britons, as inhabiting one of those heathen isles, and enjoying so fair a portion of evangelical blessings, have reason to repeat this verse, with a particular pleasure and energy. The Hebrews called by the name of 'isles,' ', not only countries surrounded by the sea, but all the countries which the sea divided from them; so that the term became synonymous with 'Gentiles.' Thus it is said, Isa. xlii. 4, isles shall wait for his law;' which passage, Matt. xii. 21, is expounded as follows: In him shall the Gentiles trust.'

The

2. Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation, or establishment, of his throne.

When the mercy and grace of our heavenly King are to be described, he is likened to the sun shining in a clear firmament, and gladdening universal nature with his beneficent rays. But when we are to conceive an idea of him, as going forth, in 'justice

and judgment,' to discomfit and punish his adversaries, the imagery is then borrowed from a troubled sky; he is pictured as surrounded by 'clouds and darkness;' from whence issue lightnings and thunders, storms and tempests, affrighting and confounding the wicked and impenitent.

3. A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about. 4. His lightnings enlightened the world: the earth saw and trembled. 5. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord; at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

The judgments of God, and their effects upon the world are here set forth, under the usual similitude of lightning and fire from heaven, causing the earth to tremble, and the mountains to melt and dissolve away. The exaltation of Christ to the throne of his kingdom, was followed by a dreadful display of that vengeance which broke in pieces the Jewish nation, and brought their civil and religious polity to an utter dissolution. In the history of their destruction, the world of the ungodly may view a striking picture of the great and terrible day when the Lord Jesus shall render a recompence to all his enemies. He is then to descend in flaming fire; lightnings shall be his harbingers; the earth shall tremble; and the hills shall, literally, 'melt like wax at the presence of Jehovah.'

6. The heavens declare his righteousness; and all the people see his glory.

'The heavens,' by the manifestation of vengeance from thence, reveal, declare,' and proclaim, the 'righteous' judgments of Messiah; and all the people' upon earth are witnesses of the 'glory'

of his victory over every thing that opposeth itself to the establishment of his kingdom. This will be more eminently the case at the second advent, when the trumpet of the archangel shall proclaim his approach in the clouds of heaven, and all the tribes of the earth shall see him coming in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels.

7. Confounded be, or, shall be, all they that serve graven images, that boast themselves of idols: worship him, all ye gods.

When Jesus was exalted, his gospel published, and his power and glory made known in the heathen world, men grew ashamed' of their 'images, and boasted themselves in their idols' no more. The last clause of our verse, Worship him ye gods,' declares the supremacy of Christ over all that are called gods, b, in heaven and in earth, who are enjoined to pay adoration unto him, instead of claiming it for themselves.

8. Sion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced, because of thy judgments, O Lord. 9. For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods.

The inhabitants of the new Sion,' or the people of God, heard 'the tidings, that idols and idolatry were fallen, and the Lord Jesus reigned triumphant; they heard, and 'were glad; the daughters of Judah,' or Christian churches, rejoiced' in the Holy Ghost, with joy unspeakable, because of these judgments' of their God upon his enemies, whereby he evinced himself superior to the powers of the earth, and the gods of the nations. Thus, at the fall of Babylon, it is said, Rev. xviii. 20,

Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her.' And Eusebius speaks in the following terms, of the times under Constantine, which succeeded the overthrow of Maxentius and Maximin: "A bright and glorious day, no cloud overshadowing it, did enlighten, with rays of heavenly light, the churches of Christ over all the earth;-and among all Christians there was an inexpressible joy, and a kind of celestial gladness." Ecclesiast. Hist. b. x.

10. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints, he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Having sung the glory of the Redeemer, the Psalmist delineates the duty of the redeemed. They are characterized by their love of God;' they are enjoined to hate evil;' this hatred is, indeed, a consequence, and a sure proof, of that love, when it is genuine and sincere. Religion must be rooted in the heart, and spring from thence. A Christian must not only serve God outwardly, but must inwardly 'love' him; he must not content himself with abstaining from overt acts of sin, but must truly 'hate' it. They who do so are the saints of God, whose souls he preserveth' from evil, and will finally deliver' from the evil one, and his associates, by a happy death, and a glorious resurrection.

11. Light is sown for the righteous; and gladness for the upright in heart.

However gloomy our prospects may at any time be, let us wait patiently, as the husbandman doth all the winter, in expectation of a future crop, from