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have been long dead. Therefore, at the consideration of this our sad estate, when God has enabled us to see and know it, our spirit is overwhelmed within us, with remorse, anxiety, and despondency; and our heart within us, deprived of the comforts of conscience, the joys of the Spirit, and the presence of the Beloved, is desolate, forlorn, miserable. To rescue the sinner from this disconsolate and lost condition, our blessed Saviour was forsaken on the cross; his spirit was overwhelmed within him, and his heart within him was desolate; the enemy was suffered to smite his precious life down to the ground, and he dwelt, for three days, in darkness, as the men that have been long dead.

5. I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.

When sin has thus laid us low, and, as it were, slain and entombed us, we begin to revive and to arise from the dead, through hope of forgiveness and restoration to the divine favour, by remembering the days of old, and meditating on all the works of love and mercy, which Jehovah then wrought towards those who were sinners like ourselves. While we muse on such instances of his goodness, the reflection is obvious, Is he not still the same gracious God? Will he not do as much for us, upon our repentance, as he formerly did for others, upon theirs? "Let us arise, and go to our Father!"

6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee; my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land.

Prayer is the voice of faith. The sinner who views his situation, and believes, on having considered God's works of old, that he shall be delivered out of it, will soon stretch forth his hands, in supplication to heaven. His soul will gasp and pant after that grace and mer. cy which descend from above, like the rain in its season, to bestow refreshment, beauty, and fertility, on a parched and thirsty land. While we recite this verse, let us not be unmindful of Him, whose hands were often stretched forth in prayer for his people, and whose soul thirsted after our salvation, even then, when he felt the extremity of bodily thirst on the

cross.

7. Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

These words would come with propriety from the mouth of one in danger of temporal death. They are no less proper in the mouth of him who is in danger of death eternal. Rather, they receive an additional force and energy, when used in this latter sense.

8. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust; cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

The penitent prays, that he may hear the voice of God's loving kindness, speaking pardon and peace to his soul, in the morning speedily and early, after the long dark night of fear and sorrow, through which he is passing. This he hopes, because, disclaiming all other reliance, he places his confidence in God alone; In thee do I trust. Nor is he only solicitous for the

forgiveness of what is past, but for future direction in the course of duty; show thou me the way wherein Ï should walk. And to the end that he may follow such directions, he has withdrawn his affections from things below, and set them on things above; "I lift up my soul unto thee."

9. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. 10. Teach me to do thy will: for thou art my God: thy Spirit is good; lead me, or, let thy good Spirit lead me, into the land of upright

ness.

He continues to pray that he may be delivered from his enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil, from whose temptations he fleeth, by repentance and faith, to the Almighty, to hide and protect him. He requests to be fully instructed in the will of him, whom, as his Lord and his God, he has determined to serve and obey. But conscious of his own inability to do the will of Jehovah, even when known, he entreats the good Spirit of God, to lead him out of the mazes of error and the pollutions of vice, into the pleasant land of truth and holiness.

11. Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble. 12. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

The verbs in these two last verses, as Dr. Hammond has noted, should be rendered in the future; "Thou shalt quicken," &c. and then the Psalm will end, as usual, with an act of faith and assurance, that all those mercies which have been asked shall be obtained; that

God, for the sake of his name, and his righteousness, of his glory, and his faithfulness in the performance of his promises, will not fail to be favourable and gracious to his servants, quickening them, even when dead in trespasses and sins, and bringing them, by degrees, out of all their troubles; going forth with them to the battle against their spiritual enemies, and enabling them to vanquish the authors of their affliction and misery, to mortify the flesh, and to overcome the world; that so they may triumph with their Redeemer, in the day when he shall likewise quicken their mortal bodies, and put all enemies under their feet.

PSALM CXLV.

ARGUMENT.

HITHERTO, in this divine book, we have been presented with checkered scenes of danger and deliverance, distress and mercy. The voice of complaint has sometimes been succeeded by that of thanksgiving; and praise, at other times, has terminated in prayer. But now, as if the days of mourning in Zion were ended, we hear no more of Messiah, as a man of sorrows; or of the church, as despised and afflicted after the same example, in the world. Henceforth we seem not to be upon earth, but in heaven, mingling with celestial spirits around the throne, and singing, as in the following Psalm, the praises of our God and King; extolling his greatness, his might, his glory, his justice, his mercy; the majesty of his kingdom, and all his adorable perfections, and wondrous works..

1. I will extol thee, my God, O King; and will bless thy name for ever and ever. 2. Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

The same divine person, who was, in a peculiar manner, the God and King of Israel, now stands in those relations to the Gentile Christian church, and by her is extolled in the words of this Psalm, originally composed and used for that purpose among the Israel

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