those judgments, in the end, fall; so that instead of feeling for ourselves, on account of the injuries they do us, we shall feel for them, who are thereby drawing down vengeance and destruction on their own heads. Daughters of Jerusalem,' said the blessed Jesus, when led to be crucified, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.' Luke xxiii. 28.

54. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.'

The soul, which descended from above, and longs to return thither again, is a stranger and sojourner on earth. The body is the house of her pilgrimage,' in which she is confined during her state of exile. And, how harsh soever the usage may be which she receiveth from the world, she ever findeth joy and comfort, as once did the fugitive and wandering son of Jesse, in making God's statutes' the subjects of her psalms, and hymns, and spiritual 'songs,' until death shall restore her to liberty. Then, ascending to heaven from whence she came, and, like the early lark, singing as she ascends, she will seek her native abode, there to celebrate her redemption from the earth, and to chant forth the praises of Him who hath redeemed her, in a new song, before the throne.

55. I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.'

By the 'name' of God, his nature, so much at least of it as we are concerned to know, and are capable of receiving, is revealed to us. Such a love had the Psalmist for it on that account, that, as in the day God's statutes were his songs, in the night God's name was the subject of his meditation. With his tongue he praised him in the day, with his heart he desired him in the night watches. At night, the dissipation, noise, and hurry of business, cease; external silence produceth internal calmness and composure, inviting us to celestial contemplation; the world is dead to us, and we are dead to the world; the soul is then most alive, and seemeth to experience a foretaste of that time, when the body and its concerns shall no more molest and impede her. The good effect of hours thus secretly passed in holy exercises, will ap

pear openly in our lives and conversations: I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and,' as the fruit of it, have kept thy law.'

56. 'This I had, because I kept thy commandments.' As one sin is often the consequence and the punishment of another, so one act of obedience is the issue and the reward of another; and, to him who hath well used the grace already received, shall more be given. This I had,' this ability to perform my duty, and to delight in the performance of it day and night was vouchsafed unto me, 'because I kept thy commandments,' because I was not heretofore disobedient, but employed the strength with which thou, O Lord, hast endued me, not in doing mine own will, but thine.

CHETH.-PART VIII.

57. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.'

Happy the man, who can sincerely say, 'Thou art my portion, O LORD; I have considered, and made my choice; from henceforth, I renounce all things for the love of thee; thou art sufficient for me; thee only I desire to enjoy, and, therefore, thee only I desire to please; I have said that I would keep thy words.'

58. I entreated thy favor with my whole heart: be merciful unto me, according to thy word.'

He who hath chosen God for his portion,' will earnestly seek his favor,' and the light of his countenance; he who hath promised and vowed to keep the words' of God, hath need to seek that favor and that light, that he may have grace and power to fulfil his engagements. Mercy is the sole fountain of every good gift for which we ask, and God's promise the only ground on which we ask it: be merciful unto me, according to thy word.'

59. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.'

2

The Psalmist did not content himself with barely praying for strength and grace, but his faith, relying on the word of promise, put itself in motion. He considered.

his ways,' his course of thinking, speaking, and acting; how far he had proceeded in it, and whither it led him ; and this consideration produced a conversion of the whole man, of the heart and its affections, from the creature to the Creator, as he hath revealed himself in the Scriptures of truth: 'I turned my feet unto thy testimonies.' 60. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.'

A true penitent suffereth no time to be lost between his good resolutions and the performance of them. 'Draw me,' saith the church, and we will RUN after thee;' Cant. i. 4. Andrew, Peter, and others, stayed not for a second call from Christ, but followed him immediately on the first. By deferring our return to duty, we lose many comfortable fruits, which it would have produced both in ourselves and others, while the difficulties of ever returning, and the danger of never returning, are daily and hourly increasing.

61. The bands,' or troops, of the ungodly have robbed me; but I have not forgotten thy law.'

To be robbed, or plundered of his possessions in this world, was by no means a case peculiar to David. The primitive Christians were continually so treated; and our Lord gives all his disciples warning to stand prepared for such events, ready in disposition, in heart and mind, to quit all, as they who first followed him literally did. The apostle tells us of some, who not only bore patiently, but even took joyfully, the spoiling of their goods :' the reason he assigns for so extraordinary a behaviour, deserves to be noted and remembered; knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance:' Heb. x. 34. They who part with earth to gain heaven, and exchange the world for its Maker, certainly lose nothing by the bargain. Nay, there will come an hour, when, for that foretaste of glory which a good conscience af fordeth to its happy possessor, the dearest lover of mammon would joyfully give up all the gold of Peru, and all the diamonds of Indostan.

62. 'At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments.'

So far were temporal losses from causing the Psalmist
Div.
No. XXV.

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63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.'

As no sufferings should make us neglect our intercourse with God, so neither should they tempt us to forsake the communion of saints, or fellowship of them who fear God, and work righteousness.' These are knit together in love, as members of the same mystical body, insomuch that if one member suffer, or be honored, all the members should suffer or be honored with it;' these we should own at all times, in prosperity and in adversity; with these should our acquaintance and conversation be, for the mutual improvement and consolation of them and of ourselves. Of such was David a 'companion,' and such the Redeemer himself is not ashamed to call brethren.' Heb. ii. 11.

64. The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: me thy statutes.'

Heaven and earth, and all that are therein, declare from day to day, the mercy' of their Creator and Preserver, which is over all his works." And his goodness, thus displayed through the outward and visible world, forbids us to doubt of his loving kindness towards those immortal spirits, which, in tenements of mortal clay, make, for a while, their abode here below; during

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vant, O LORD, according to thy word.'

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66. Teach me good judgment and knowlege: for Yhave believed thy commandments.'

From thanksgiving, the Psalmist returneth again to prayer, as, while we continue in this world, we must all do. The gift, for which he now prayeth, is that of a good judgment with knowlege;' as the former must enable us to make a proper use of the latter. The word Dyv, which is here translated judgment,' signifies bodily taste,' and that faculty in the mind which answers to it, the faculty of discerning, distinguishing, and judging rightly of, things moral and spiritual, as the palate doth of meats, their different flavors and qualities. Without this taste or discretion, we mistake falsehood for truth in our studies, and wrong for right in our practice; superstition and enthusiasm may pass with us for religion, or else licentiousness may intrude itself on us, under the name and notion of liberty: in a word, our learning and knowlege prove useless, if not prejudicial, to us.

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