know of is to the bodily taste? How ready we are to acknowledge all this! Yet, the next hour perhaps, we part with the true riches to obtain the earthly mammon, and barter away the joys of the spirit for the gratifications of sense! Lord, give us affections towards thy word in some measure proportioned to its excellence; for we can never love too much what we can never admire enough.

11. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping them there is great reward.

The Psalmist here bears his own testimony to the character above given of the divine word; as if he had said, The several parts of this perfect law, hereafter to be published to the whole race of mankind, have been all along my great instructors, and the only source of all the knowledge to which thy servant hath attained; and I am fully assured that the blessed fruit of them, when they are duly observed, and have their proper effect, is exceeding glorious, even eternal life.

12. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.

The perfection and spirituality of God's law render it almost impossible for a fallen son of Adam even to know all the innumerable instances of his transgressing it. Add to which, that false principles and inveterate prejudices make us regard many things as innocent, and some things as laudable, which, in the eye of heaven, are far otherwise. Self-examination is a duty which few practise as they ought to do: and he who practises it best, will always have reason to conclude his particular

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confessions with this general petition, Cleanse thou me from secret faults!'

13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

In the preceding verse, David had implored God's pardoning grace, to cleanse him from the secret sins of ignorance and infirmity: in this he begs his restraining grace, to keep him back from presumptuous sins, or sins committed knowingly, deliberately, and with a high hand, against the convictions and the remonstrances of conscience: he prays that such sins might not have dominion over him,' or that he might not, by contracting evil habits, become the slave of an imperious lust, which might at length lead him on to the great transgression,' to rebellion, and final apostacy from God; for he who would be innocent from the 'great transgression,', must beware of indulging himself in any.

14. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer.

The prophet, having before solicited the justification of his person through grace, concludes with a petition for the acceptance of all his offerings, and more especially of these his meditations, at the hands of that Blessed One, whom he addresses as the author of all good, and the deliverer from all evil; as the strength' and the Redeemer' of his people.'

If the reader shall have received any pleasure from perusing the comment on the foregoing Psalm, especially the first

PSALM XX.

ARGUMENT.-1-4. The church prayeth for the prosperity of King Messiah, going forth to the battle, as her champion and deliverer; for his acceptance by the Father, and for the accomplishment of his will 5, 6, 7. She declareth her full assurance of faith, and her resolution to trust in him alone, and not in the arm of flesh. 8. She foreseeth the fall of her enemies, and her own exaltation; and, 9. concludeth with a prayer to the God of her strength.

1. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee.

This may be considered as the address of a people to their king, when he goeth forth to the battle against their enemies. But it is to be regarded in a more general and useful view, as the address of the church to Christ her King, in the day of his trouble.' She prayeth for the happy accomplishment of his warfare, through the name of the God of Jacob,' dwelling in him. And his warfare, though accomplished in his own person, still remaineth to be accomplished in his people, until the last enemy shall be destroyed, and death shall be swallowed up in victory. It is still the day of trouble;' still the name of the God of Jacob' must defend' the body of Christ.

part of it, he is to be informed, that he stands indebted on that account to a discourse entitled, Christ the Light of the World, published in the year 1750, by the late Rev. Mr. George Watson, for many years the dear companion and kind director of the author's studies; in attending to whose agreeable and instructive conversation he has often passed whole days together, and shall always have reason to number them among the best spent days of his life; whose death he can never think of without lamenting it afresh; and to whose memory he embraces, with pleasure, this opportunity to pay the tribute of a grateful heart.

2. Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Sion.

All help and strength, in the time of danger and sorrow, must be obtained by prayer from the heavenly Sion which is in the Jerusalem above, and from the eternal temple thereon constructed. By this help and strength,' the Captain of our salvation conquered; and the church, with all her sons, must conquer through the same.

3. Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice.

As Christ, in the days of his flesh, offered up, not only prayers and tears, but, at length, his own most precious body and blood; the church here prays, that the great propitiatory sacrifice may be had in everlasting remembrance before God, and the merits of it be continually pleaded in arrest of judgment, and accepted for herself and her children.

4. Grant thee, according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.

The desire of Christ's heart, and the counsel of his will, was, that he might die for our sins, and rise again for our justification; that the gospel might be preached, the Gentiles called, the Jews converted, the dead raised, and the elect glorified. That this his desire might be granted,' and this his counsel be fulfilled,' the church of old prayed; and the church now prayeth for the accomplishment of that which yet remains to be accomplished.

5. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the

name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.

The joy of the church is in the salvation of Christ; and the joy of every individual is in the application of that salvation to himself, and all around him. In the name of Jesus, and under the banner of the cross, the armies of the faithful undertake and carry on all their enterprises against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The prospect of the glorious fruits of Christ's victory caused the church to redouble her prayers, that he might be heard in his petitions' for mankind, and might see of the travail of his soul.

6. Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed; he will hear him from his holy heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand.

The assurance of the ancient church was built on the prophecies going before concerning the salvation of Messiah. Our assurance is strengthened by the actual performance of so great a part of the counsel of God. We know that the Lord has 'saved his Anointed;' that his Anointed saveth all, who believe and obey him, from their sins; and therefore we doubt not but that, by the strength of his right hand,' or by the excellency of his power, he will finally save them from death, and rescue them from the grave.

7. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

This should be the resolution of every Christian king and people, in the day of battle. And, in the spiritual war in which we are all engaged, the first and necessary step to victory is, to renounce all