Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

hand, to remove his domestic distractions, to reftore his decayed health, and to pour the oil and wine of heavenly confolation into the wounds of his mind. He was raised up from the borders of the grave, and preserved from going down to the pit. He had been brought into the greateft dangers, as to his property, his kingdom, and his life; his foul, through oppreffive terrors, horrid temptations, and deep defpondency, had been near the pit of hell, to his own apprehension; but God, in answer to his cries, had mercifully delivered and restored him. O Lord, thou haft brought up my foul from the grave; thou haft kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit."

86

[ocr errors]

Hence the Pfalmift, as might be fuppofed, was ' deeply affected with the manifestations of divine goodness in his favour. His heart was warm and full of gratitude. He invites others to affift him in praising his merciful Deliverer. Sing unto the Lord, O ye faints of his." We fee here, that prayers, fervent and earneft prayers, fhall in due time be turned into praises. The more we abound in prayer, the more shall we be furnished with matter of praise. And in this delightful employment, it is desirable to have the company of our fellow-faints, that we may join in holy concert, fomewhat like the happy fociety above. In heaven, the bleffed choir of faints

and

བ》》 《Şརརས

and angels fweetly unite in unceafing fongs of gratitude and praise. Those whom David invites to affift him in this joyful work, are the faints; who fo proper as holy fouls to give thanks at the remembrance of God's holiness?

The Pfalmift intimates, that he had tafted both of God's difpleasure and of his love, in a fhort space of time. 66 His anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." The peculiar manifeftations of divine mercy are fometimes preceded by feafons of diftrefs and difcouragement; a ftorm is before a calm; the thundering terrors of the law before the joyful found of the gofpel; the ftrong wind, earthquake and fire, before the small ftill voice; that we may, by a night of darkness, be prepared for a morning of light, and know how to prize it.

David owns the ftrong difpofition he had felt to fecurity and carnal confidence in a prosperous state; "In my profperity, I faid, I fhall never be moved. Thus I flattered myfelf, when my path was fmooth, and I had the full enjoyment of health and tranquillity." O deceitful heart! A healthy man thinks not of fickness. "God built me a house; I built myself a castle; but it was a caftle in the air, the bafelefs fabric of a vifion, which had a fudden fall."

A de

[ocr errors]

A deceitful imagination allures a man into a fool's paradife. When things go well, fecurity kills us. When God fhines on the mount of transfiguration, we dream of building tabernacles there; but a change foon takes place. "Thou didst hide thy face, and I am troubled; the withdrawing of the light of thy countenance deprived me of my comforts." The turning away of God's face overfpreads the gracious foul with a heavy gloom, and beclouds its hopes and comforts. We ought to be perpetually dependent on him. Our mountain is fupported by his hand, and when he withdraws it, we fink into a valley of defpondency and dejection, if not to the very borders of despair.

In this cafe the Pfalmift's voice was changed, from joyful praise to importunate fupplication. "I cried unto thee, O Lord." How often do God's children, in this imperfect ftate, change their notes! Singing and fighing are frequently in near connec tion. The skilful painter can, with a few strokes of his pencil, turn a fmiling into a forrowful countenance. We find David here, at one time fo full of joy, that he calls upon his fellow-faints to help him to praise his gracious Benefactor; and very foon the scene is fo changed, that he can do nothing but mourn and cry for deliverance. "Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me; Lord, be thou my Helper." Again

Again we find the cloud difpelled. The Pfalmist experienced a happy deliverance. His darkness is turned into light, his forrow into joy, his hell into heaven. “Thou haft turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou haft put off my fackcloth, and girded me with gladness." What wonderful effects do the restored joys of God's falvation produce, in minds fervently set on heavenly things! He that was proftrate on the earth, repenting and mourning in the duft, in fackcloth and afhes, is now so transported with divine delights, that he seems almoft at a loss in what way to express his gratitude. He is like one fet at liberty from the restraints, the fetters and the darknefs of imprisonment. He puts off his fackcloth, and is clothed with the garments of joy and praise.

The result of all is expressed in the last verse: "To the end that my glory may fing praise to thee, and not be filent; O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever." By his glory, the Pfalmist means the best thing he had. His tongue was the glory of his frame, and that fhould be employed in speaking forth the honours of his Saviour. If by his glory, as fome think, he means his foul, he refolved that that, with all its powers, fhonld be engaged in the delightful work of praise. "I will praise thee, O God, with my whole heart, I will

not

not be filent, I will not cease." The more we praise his gracious name, the more occafions of praise he will minister to us. Let us therefore say, with this holy man in another place, "I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more."

Through the whole of this pfalm we fee, to what changes the fervants of God are fubject in this life. Like mariners, they have sometimes a stormy, and fometimes a smooth fea; or like travellers by land, they have to pass over mountains of difficulty and danger, as well as through vallies of delights. And what a variety of affections are ftirred up in their minds, upon feveral occafions! Joy and forrow, fear and fortitude, eager defire and pleasurable fatisfaction, take their turns, and act their feveral parts, in the breasts of those who are travelling towards the celeftial country.

In the verse in which our text lies, we perceive both night and day; thunder and lightning, and the bright fhining of the fun after rain; the lightsome and the dark fide of the pillar of the cloud; the law and the gofpel; wrath and love; these are compared, and set in oppofition to each other. For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

The

« EelmineJätka »