all its beautiful variety of colour, and proportion of figure, arises by degrees to perfection under the hand of the artist, framed according to a pattern lying before him, from a rude mass of silk, or other materials. Thus, by the wisdom and power of God, and after a plan delineated in his book, is a shapeless mass wrought up into the most curious texture of nerves, veins, arteries, bones, muscles, membranes, and skin, most skilfully interwoven and connected with each other, until it becomes a body, harmoniously diversified with all the limbs and lineaments of a man, not one of which at first appeared, any more than the figures were to be seen in the ball of silk. The reformation of our corrupted and dissolved bodies, which is to be brought at the last day, in the womb of the earth, in order to their new birth, will crown all the works of the Almighty.

17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto, or, concerning, me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

From the wonders of God's forming hand, the Psalmist proceeds to those of his all-directing providence, which afford additional proofs of the divine omniscience and omnipresence. The thoughts and

counsels of Jehovah concerning David, his appointment to the throne, his troubles and his preservation in the midst of them, were precious and delightful subjects of meditation and praise, never to be exhausted of the rich matter they contained. With these in his mind, he lay down at night to rest, and when he

awoke in the morning, his thoughts naturally recurred to the pleasing theme; he began where he had left off, and found himself, in heart and soul, still present with God, still ruminating on him and his works. The mercies of heaven in the redemption of the church, by the sufferings and exaltation of the true David, according to the divine decree concerning him-how precious are they to believers! How great is the sum, how far exceeding all human arithmetic to number them! Let them be to us the constant subjects of contemplation, admiration, and thanksgiving, day and night; and let death, that last sleep, find us engaged in an employment, which, when we awake and arise from the grave, we shall resume, prosecute to eternity in the presence of God.

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19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: or, Wilt thou not slay the wicked, O God? depart from 20. For they me, therefore, ye blood-thirsty men. speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

David now draws the intended conclusion from the premises, so largely expatiated upon in the former part of the Psalm. As if he had said-And wilt thou not, O God, thou who art every where present, seeing and knowing all things; thou to whom the justice of my cause, and the iniquity of mine adversaries, are equally open; thou who hast formed, and hitherto, in so wonderful a manner, watched over and preserved thy servant; wilt thou not slay the wicked, and deliver me, as thou hast promised to do, out of their hands? I know thou wilt: depart from me, there

fore, ye blood-thirsty men; I trust in my God, and will have no connexion, in the way of treaty or friendship, with you. You are not my enemies, but those of Jehovah; against whom, not considering that he is privy to all your words, and even to your thoughts, you speak presumptuously and wickedly, and whose. name you take in vain, no less when you do evil under a godly pretence, and call him to witness the truth of your lies and calumnies, than when you openly blaspheme him. Such seems to be the full import of these two verses; and their application to the members of the church, when at any time in similar circumstances, is obvious.

21. Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? 22. I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

A faithful servant has the same interests, the same friends, the same enemies, with his Master, whose cause and honour he is, upon all occasions, in duty bound to support and maintain. A good man hates, as God himself does; he hates not the persons of men, but their 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 observes invariably this distinction, fulfils the perfect law of charity, and has the love of God and of his neighbour abiding in him.

23. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,

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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 scrutinized 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 refuses not to be dissolved in it, and new formed, so that he might only become a vessel of honour, 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 contains a prayer for deliverance from persecutors and calumniators, their violence and their wiles; a prophecy of their final destruction, and 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 armour 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 ; adder's poison is under their lips.