sins; not what God made them, but what they have made themselves. We are neither to hate the men, on account of the vices they practise; nor to love the vices, for the sake of the men who practise them. He who observeth invariably this distinction, fulfilleth the perfect law of charity, and hath the love of God and of his neighbor abiding in him. 23. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.' In the first verse of the Psalm, David declared, that Jehovah had searched him out, and known him;' he concludes with a petition, that his proceedings, and even his thoughts, might be still scrutinised by his Maker, in order to their perfect purification from any evil which might be in them, or adhere to them. Should the hottest furnace of adversity be found necessary to purge the dross from the silver, he refuseth not to be dissolved in it, and new-formed, so that he might only become a vessel of honor fitted for the Master's use here below, and vouchsafed a place afterwards in his temple above. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!' PSALM CXL. ARGUMENT. [This Psalm containeth, 1-8. a prayer for deliverance from persecutors and calumniators, their violence and their wiles; 9-11. a prophecy of their final destruction, and, 12, 13. the salvation of the afflicted righteous. It was composed by David in his troubles, and is applicable to Christ and to the church, respectively, in theirs.] 1. Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man: 2. Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.' 'Evil and violent men' exist in all ages, to harass and oppress the servants of God; their thoughts are employed in 'imagining mischief' against such, and their hands are ready at all times for the 'war.' Had we no enemies without, there are those within, who are ever fighting and troubling us. We cannot put off our Christian armor for a moment in this world; nor enter into peace and rest, but by a happy death and a joyful resurrection. Then God will deliver' us, as he delivered David, and our blessed Lord and Master, the Son of David, from their respective enemies. 3. They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent: adders' poison is under their lips.' Slander and calumny must always precede and accompany persecution, because malice itself cannot excite people against a good man, as such; to do this, he must first be represented as a bad man. What can be said of those who are busied in this manner, but that they are a 'generation of vipers,' the brood of the old 'serpent,' that grand accuser and calumniator of the brethren, having under their tongues a bag of 'poison' conveying instant death to the reputation on which they fasten? Thus David was hunted as a rebel, Christ was crucified as a blasphemer, and the primitive Christians were tortured as guilty of incest and murder. 4. Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent men, who have purposed to overthrow my goings.' 5. The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me.' David here describeth the subtilty and industry employed by his enemies to effect his destruction, by lying in wait for him, as a skilful fowler doth for his game, so that they thought it impossible he should escape their hands. Such was the conduct of the Jews, with regard to the Son of David. And, O how refined the policy, how unwearied the application of our spiritual adversaries, to 'overthrow our goings' in the path of life and salvation, to circumvent, and to destroy us for ever! How are 'the snares, the nets, and the gins,' placed for us, by that cunning and experienced artist, who takes care that nothing should appear in view, but the alluring baits of honor, pleasure, and profit, while of the toils we have no notice, till we find ourselves entangled and caught in them! Who shall preserve us thus walking in the midst of dangers? He to whom David, in the following verses, preferreth his prayer, and teacheth us to do likewise. 6. I said unto the LORD: Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.' 7 'O God the LORD, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.' 8. Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves.' Jehovah, the God of David, is also our God, and he is always ready to hear our supplications. He is our strength, and hath often covered our head with the helmit of salvation, in the day of battle and open war with our spiritual enemies. Nor will he, for the glory of his name, grant their desires, or permit their more secret 'devices' and machinations to work the destruction of his people; lest they exalt themselves as having frustrated his counsels for the redemption of his servants. 9. As for the head of those that compass me about, the mischief of their own lips shall cover them.' 10. 'Burning coals shall fall upon them; they shall be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again.' 11. An evil speaker shall not be established in the earth; evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.' The Prophet in these three verses, predicteth those just judgments which heaven will inflict on the slanderers. and persecutors of the righteous. Their lips, which uttered mischief against others, shall be the means of covering themselves with confusion, when out of their own mouths they shall be judged. Those tongues, which have contributed to set the world on fire, shall be tormented with the hot burning coals of eternal vengeance: and they who, with so much eagerness and diligence, have prepared pits for the destruction of their brethren, shall be cast into a deep and bottomless pit, out of which they will not rise up again any more for ever. speakers and false accusers shall gain no lasting establishment; but punishment shall hunt sin through all its doubles, and seize it at last as its legal prey. Let these great truths be firmly rooted in our hearts, and they will keep us steady in the worst of times. No. XXV. Div. Evil 2 D 12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.' 13. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence." That unjust and oppressive men shall, in the end, suffer proportionably to their deserts, we are assured from this consideration, namely, that the Almighty is the patron of the injured and oppressed. He will plead the cause of the meek and lowly, who are used by the world as their blessed Master was used before them. A day will come, when, delivered out of all their troubles, they shall give thanks unto thy name,' O Lord, and dwell in thy presence' for evermore. PSALM CXLI. ARGUMENT. [David seems to have composed this Psalm just before his flight to Achish king of Gath; when he had a second time spared Saul's life, but could trust him no longer: see 1 Sam. xxvi. and xxvii. 1, 2. He prayeth earnestly for help, and entreateth to be heard, as when able to attend the service of the tabernable; 3-5. he petitioneth to be preserved from the snares of idolatry, in the country whither he was going; 6, 7. he relateth his own conduct towards Saul, and that of Saul toward him; 8, 9. he professeth his faith in Jehovah, and redoubleth his prayer to him; 10. he predicteth the destruction of his enemies, and his own deliverance. Many parts of the exposition of this Psalm, given by the late learned Mr. Peters, in his 'Critical Dissertation on the Book of Job,' have been adopted in the ensuing comment.'] 1. 'LORD, I will cry unto thee, make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.' 2. 'Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.' The earnest and repeated supplication for help, in the first of these two verses, sufficiently declares the Psalmist to have been, at the time, in a situation of the utmost distress. And the second verse as plainly showeth, that he was then at a distance from the tabernacle, where all the solemn prayers of the Israelites, together with their daily sacrifices, were offered up. And therefore, with his face, probably, directed thither, like Daniel in Babylon praying towards Jerusalem, he begs that God would accept of all which it was in his power to perform, namely, the devotion of his heart, and the elevation of his hands in prayer; that the one might ascend to heaven, fragrant and well pleasing, as the cloud of incense' mounting from the holy altar; and the other, in conjunction with it, prevail, instead of the 'evening oblation,' for the deliverance of himself and his companions. 3. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips;' or a guard over the door of my lips. 4. Incline not mine heart,' i. e. suffer not my heart to be inclined, to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity,' or idolatry; and let me not eat of their dainties.' David was now going to seek a retreat from the persecutions of his master Saul amidst a race of idolaters, who would be curious to observe all his words and actions, and would attempt to draw him in to be a partaker with them in their idol-worship, or to suspect him as a spy and an enemy, if he refused to comply with them. He therefore beseeches God to set a watch before his mouth, a guard over the door of his lips,' that he might neither endanger his own safety by his imprudent carriage, nor violate his religion by any weak compliances, He entreats to be preserved from that greatest of all evils, the renouncing Jehovah to follow vain and strange gods. He desires that he might not be guilty of this heinous and presumptuous sin, no, not so much as in thought-Suffer not mine heart to be inclined to any evil thing;' that he might abhor to play the hypocrite, by joining in the abominations of the heathen, the men that work idolatry,' though but in show and appearance only; and that he might never be allured by the pomp and pleasure of their feast, by their luxurious meats and lascivious rites, to mix in their religious festivals, to eat and drink, and rise up to play-neither let me eat of THEIR dainties.' A Christian, living among unbelievers. and sensualists in the world, hath abundant reason to |