the kings of the earth," Sion looks for deliverance, and by Him her true sons expect to be exalted. He keepeth truth for ever;" he is able and willing to perform his promises, and never disappoints those who rely on him. There are no changes in the politics of heaven. The faithful servant of his master is by that master infallibly approved and rewarded. Earthly princes, if they have the will, often want the power, even to protect their friends. And should they want neither will nor power to advance them, yet still all depends upon the breath in their nostrils, which, perhaps, at the very critical moment, "goeth forth; they return to their earth; their thoughts," and all the thoughts of those who hoped to rise by their means, fall into the same grave, and are buried with them for ever. 66 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of? But trust ye in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Is. ii. 22. xxvi. 4.

Ps. lxxx. p. 3. The church crieth unto God for help and redemption;

v. 8. describeth her former exaltation and present depression, under the beautiful figure of a Vine;

tions, and

p.

14. returneth again to her supplica

v. 17. prayeth for the advent of Messiah, to quicken and comfort her, vowing all loyal

obedience, adoration and praise to him, as the author of her salvation.

v. 3. This verse is a kind of chorusIt implies, that the church is in captivity, from which she prayeth to be "restored" to her former freedom and prosperity; that she expecteth such restoration, not from any might or merit of her own, but from the grace and mercy of her Saviour; as well knowing, that her night can be turned into day, and her winter give place to spring, only by the sun of righteousness rising, and causing his face to shine upon her desolations. This ought, therefore, to be the wish and the prayer of every persecuted church, and of every afflicted soul.

v. 8. The Vine is a lively emblem of the church, and used as such by Isaiah v. 7. See v. 3.

v. 19.

Ps. cxlix. p. 5.

The prophet exhorteth to praise God for his love to the church.

In the first Lesson for this morning, the church is introduced as singing a hymn to the Messiah, wherein she celebrates both his justice, and his mercy: his justice and power, in punishing his enemies; his mercy and goodness, in saving his people, and giving them an absolute and complete victory over every adversary; over sin and error, sorrow and death. Wogan.

This Psalm was a solemn form of thanksgiving for God's people for a signal victory afforded them by him and it mystically contains the eminent honour

of God to his church, and the conquest of the Christian faith over the heathen potentates. Ham

mond.

Ps. cxlvi. p. 5.

V.

8.

Praise to God for his goodness. That the Lord, of whom all these things are spoken, is the Messiah, or Jehovah incarnate, appears from what is said of him in verse 8. "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind;" the miracle of restoring sight to men born blind being one reserved for the Son of God to work, at his coming in the flesh. "Since the world began," saith the man to whom sight had been thus restored, "was it not heard, that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind." John ix. 32. This therefore was the first of those tokens given by Jesus to the disciples of John, whereby it might be known that he was the expected Christ; "Go, and tell John the things which ye have heard and seen; The blind receive their sight," &c. But how did this evince him to be the Messiah? Plainly, because it had been foretold by the prophet (as in Is. xxxv. 3. xxix. 18. xlii. 18. so in this passage of our Psalm, which is exactly similar to those texts), that Messiah when he came should give sight to the blind. Now, if one part of the Psalmist's description belong to Christ, the other members of it must do so likewise, it being evident that the whole is spoken of the same person. He, therefore, "is the God of Jacob, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is ;"

and upon his appearing among men in the body of our flesh, he shewed himself possessed of power to relieve all the wants, corporeal and spiritual, of poor lost mankind. Horne.

Ps. iv. p. 6.

reproveth and v. 6.

favour.

David prayeth for audience; he exhorteth his enemies.

Man's happiness is in God's

V. 4. Is. xxvi. 20. In times of trouble the Christian's safest retreat from danger is, first, the grave of Christ, that is, the meditation of his passion and sufferings. Then, secondly, to enter into his closet, yea, into his heart; that is, have recourse to prayer, and a strict repentance. These are the chambers we are here called upon to hide ourselves in, until the indignation be overpast. This is also the advice of the Psalmist, "Commune with your own hearts, and in your chambers, and be still." To shut our doors about us, is to shut close the doors and avenues of our senses, and lock out all but God and his blessed Spirit. Wogan.

v. 5. The Jews are no longer to offer the shadowy sacrifices of their law, since He, who is the substance of them all, is come into the world. The Gentiles are no more to offer their idolatrous sacrifices, since their idols have fallen before the cross. But returning sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, are to offer the same sacrifices of "evangelical righteousness," not "putting their trust" in them, but "in

the Lord Jesus, through whose Spirit they are enabled to offer, and through whose blood their offerings are acceptable unto God." Horne.

1

v. 8. Happy the Christian, who having nightly, with this verse, committed himself to his bed, as to his grave, shall at last, with the same words, resign himself to his grave, as to his bed, from which he expects in due time to arise, and sing a morning hymn with the children of the resurrection.

Ps. v. p. 7. David prayeth, and professeth his study in prayer.

This Psalm is the private prayer of a Priest or Levite, at the foot of the altar of burnt offering, when he comes to set things in order for the morning sacrifice. But in the character of this priest is typified, that of a true member of the Christian church, one taught in the mysteries of the gospel, and admitted to the privileges of the faithful, in opposition to idolaters and infidels. Horsley.

v. 3. He who is in good earnest, and hath his heart fully bent upon the work of salvation, like other skilful and diligent artificers, will be "early" in his application to it; he will get the start of the world, and take the advantage of the "sweet hour of prime," to "dispose," and "set himself in order," for the day. What is a slothful sinner to think of himself, when he reads concerning the holy Jesus, that "in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed!" Mark i. 35. Horne.