Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

1. I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing.

6

David, having determined to sing unto Jehovah, chooseth for his theme mercy and judgment;' either that mercy which God hath shown to him, and that judgment which hath been inflicted on his enemies; or else, that upright administration of mercy and judgment with which he himself intended to bless his people. The righteous administration of mercy and judgment in the kingdom of Messiah is a topic on which his subjects always expatiate with pleasure and profit. His mercy encourageth the greatest of sinners to hope; his judgments forbid the best of men to presume.

2. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.

In return for the favours of heaven, we hear the Israelitish monarch declaring his resolution, to set his court and kingdom an example of true wisdom and unshaken integrity; at the same time sighing for that visitation of divine grace, which alone could enable him to put his resolution in practice, 'O when wilt thou come unto me?' This was ever the voice of the church' longing for the presence of God in human nature, O when wilt thou come unto me?' And this must ever be the wish of a Christian, who knoweth that though in himself he be nothing, yet that he can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth him by his Spirit in the inner man. Messiah was the only King of Israel whose life held forth to his subjects a pattern of wisdom and righteousness, and whose death pro

cured them grace, in their different measures and degrees, to follow it.

3. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside, it shall not cleave to me.

'I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes;' that is, I will not propose to myself, or think of carrying into execution, any iniquitous scheme of politics, however advantageous and tempting it may appear; I will turn away my eyes and my attention, and reject it at once: I hate the work of them that turn aside;' of them who, in their counsels and their actions, deviate from the divine law to serve their own interest; ' it shall not cleave to me;' no such corrupt principle shall adhere to my soul, or find a place in my affections. How noble a resolution for a king to make; but how difficult an one for a king to keep! Thou only, O King of Righteousness, didst never set any wicked thing before thine eyes; thou only hadst a perfect aversion to the ways of transgressors.

4. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person.

As is the king, so will be the court; as is the master of the house, such will be those of his household. David, having resolved to walk within his house with a perfect,' a sincere and upright heart,' determines at the same time to expel from thence all whose hearts were perverted and depraved as he would set no wicked thing before his eyes,' so neither would he form any connexions with wicked persons;' they should not be of his

acquaintance, much less should they be his favourites. In the same manner speaketh our heavenly King, with regard to the appointment of his ministers and servants:-'I know you not, whence you are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.' Luke, xiii. 27.

5. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look, and a proud, or, extended, and therefore, insatiable, heart, will not I suffer.

Detraction, ambition, and avarice are three weeds which spring and flourish in the rich soil of a court. The Psalmist declareth his resolution to undertake the difficult task of eradicating them, for the benefit of his people, that Israelites might not be harassed by informers, or oppressed by insolent and rapacious ministers. Shall we imagine these vices less odious in the eyes of that King whose character was composed of humility and charity? or will Christ admit those tempers into the court of heaven which David determined to exclude from his court upon earth?

6. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.

The eyes' of princes cannot be better employed than in looking around them, in order to choose, from among their own subjects, fit and able men to transact the public business; men of inviolable 'fidelity,' and unshaken integrity; men who know how to think aright, and how to speak what they think; men likewise who walk in the perfect way' of holiness, who do not disgrace their politics by

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

their lives, or prejudice their master's cause by their sins, more than they can ever advance it by their abilities. Bishops may be called the eyes' of Christ; they are to overlook' his people, and we pray him at the seasons of ordination, "so to guide and govern their minds, that they may faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons to serve in the sacred ministry of the church."

7. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house; he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.

To purge a court of deceit' and 'falsehood,' was a resolution worthy king David, worthy the representative of him who styleth himself the Truth, from whose heavenly palace and city will be for ever excluded, as St. John informeth us, 'whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.' Rev. xxii. 15.

8. I will early destroy all the wicked of the land: that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.

[ocr errors]

"for

Every earthly prince should consider himself as raised to a throne, and invested with power, the punishment of wickedness and vice, and the maintenance of God's true religion and virtue." 'Early,' therefore, in the morning' of his reign, he should set about the work of reformation, that so the blessings of heaven may descend upon himself and his people, according to the infallible promises of the Most High. And let each individual, in like manner, and for the same reason, be zealous and diligent to reform his own heart and ways, ever mindful of that future most awful morning, when the King of Righteousness shall cut off,'

with the sword of eternal judgment, 'all wicked doers from that city of Jehovah,' the new and heavenly Jerusalem.

Twentieth Day.-Morning Prayer.

PSALM CII.

ARGUMENT.-This Psalm is entitled 'A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.' It seems to have been written during the captivity, by one of the prophets, who, like Daniel in parallel circumstances, 1, 2. maketh supplication before his God, 3-11. setteth forth, in the most affecting strains, his wretched and sorrowful estate, or rather, perhaps, that of Jerusalem, which he personates; 12. he comforteth himself, by reflecting on the eternity and immutability of Jehovah; 13-22. he predicteth and describeth the restoration of Sion, with her enlargement by the accession of the Gentiles, when Messiah shall have visited and redeemed her; 23, 24. he returneth again to his lamentations; but 25-28. again reposeth his confidence on him who created all things, and who would not fail to make good his word and promise, if not to the generation then present, yet to their posterity. This is the fifth of those styled 'Penitential Psalms;' and St. Paul, Heb. i. 10, hath asserted, that it is addressed to the eternal Son of God, and Saviour of the world.

1. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. 2. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call, answer me speedily.

Sin and sorrow force prayers' and 'cries' from the sons of Adam. The first petition here preferred is, that these prayers and cries may be heard' in heaven. The day of human life is a day of trouble,' a day of darkness and gloominess, which

« AnteriorContinua »