O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

THIS is a prophecy concerning Christ,-concerning his passion, his resurrection, and his dominion over all creatures; and it is thus that the apostle cites it, Ephes. i. with reference to the kingdom of Christ: where he foretels, that the power and might of his kingdom will be invincible against all enemies, how violent soever they may be in their determination to wreak their vengeance :—that is, that he will be victoriously mighty against all the wise and the powerful of the world, and against all hypocrites and pharisaical saints:-that he will be invincible and victorious, I say, not by arms, nor by mighty forces of horse and foot, but by the word of his gospel; which shall be preached by "babes and sucklings,” (that is, by humble men, men who are weak and contemptible in the sight of the world,) and believed in by his church of poor, afflicted, crying, and complaining creatures:-that this word of the gospel, I repeat, preached and believed in by such poor creatures, shall nevertheless confound all the wisdom of the world, and break and crush under it all the strength of the world, and that no creature power whatever shall impede it in its work and course, but that it shall stand firmer than the heaven, or the sun, or the moon, and shall endure for evermore!

This Psalm pertains to the First Commandment, where God declares that he will be our God: and also to the second petition of the Lord's Prayer, as I have before observed under Psalm II.

D

PSALM IX.

David praiseth God for executing of judgment.--He inciteth others to praise him. He prayeth that he may have cause to praise him.

To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben. A Psalm of David.

I WILL praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart;
I will shew forth all thy marvellous works,
I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing
praise to thy name, O thou Most High.

When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.

For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.

Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

O thou enemy! destructions are come to a perpetual end; and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment;

And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them

:

that seek thee.

Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

When he maketh inquisition for blood, he re

membereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou

that liftest me up from the gates of death:

That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the

expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

Put them in fear, O LORD; that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

THIS Psalm is a prophecy: its title is "concerning the beautiful youth:" that is, concerning the children that are born anew in Christ, the people of God and the church of God. For the people and sons of God, and his new-born children by faith in Christ, must be conformed to the image of God's dear Son, Jesus Christ.

Christians and the true sons of God are variously afflicted in the world; and the blood of the innocents is daily shed by the fury and cruelty of Satan, raging against the word and the works of God. These are the flourishing and undefiled youth, the sons and

children of God, of whom the title of the Psalm speaks; who are blameless, without rebuke, and babes in the midst of wolves, and among a perverse generation.

This Psalm has its striking descriptions of persons and the prophecy which it contains is written in the manner of a thanksgiving: and therefore it may be numbered among the consolatory Psalms. For, (as is generally the case with these spiritual canticles and songs,) the Prophet here speaks in his own person, and in that of all the saints also who are afflicted for the word of God's sake: all of whom give thanks with wonderful sensations of heart, that God does not forsake his own. But God requires, at times, the tears and the blood of the saints: though he preserves and saves his Church, and renders her invincible against sword or fire, and against all the power of enemies temporal or spiritual, nay, in the midst of blood and death; and he raises her up, as it were, from the blood, slaughter, and ashes of the saints, and makes her flourish again and increase the more, in a wonderful manner, in this and that part of the world: so that many, even of the most bitter enemies, have been converted to the faith, and even a Saul has been made a Paul; and sometimes also the judgments of God have fallen on the wicked, and they have perished before the eyes of the godly.

This Psalm has reference to the First Commandment of the Decalogue, and to the second petition of the Lord's Prayer, as we have observed concerning the preceding Psalm.

PSALM X.

David complaineth to God of the outrage of the wicked.-He prayeth for remedy. He professeth his confidence.

WHY standest thou afar off, O LORD? Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?

The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.

For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and

blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

His ways are always grievous; thy judgments are far above out of his sight: as for all his enemies, he puffeth at them.

He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.

His mouth is full of cursing, and deceit, and

fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity. He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily laid against the poor. He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into his net. He croucheth, and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones.

He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.