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The nature of that judgment which was executed on the Jews, cannot be more accurately delineated, than by the two images here made use of. They were broken in pieces and dispersed over the face of the earth by the breath of God's displeasure, like 'dust before the wind; and as dirt in the streets, they were cast out,' to be trodden under foot by all nations. O that every nation would so consider, as to avoid their crime and their punishment!

43. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.'

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If David was delivered from the strivings of the people; if the adjacent heathen nations were added to his kingdom, and a 'people, whom he had not known, served him;' how much more was this the case of the Son of David, when he was delivered,' by his resurrection, from the power of all his enemies; when he was made 'head of the heathen,' of whom, after their conversion, his church was, and to this day is, composed; and when, instead of the rejected Jews, a people, to whom before he had not been known, became his servants!

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44. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.' 45. The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.'

'As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me;' hereby is intimated the readiness with which the Gentiles should flow into the church, on the preaching of the Gospel to them, when the Jews, after having so long and so often heard it, had nailed Christ to the cross, and driven the apostles out from among them. The strangers shall submit themselves unto me;' the nations who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise,' either cordially submitted to the sceptre of Christ, or at least dissembled their hostility, and yielded a feigned submission (for so the word wn sometimes signifies); 'the strangers shall fade away; that is, such of them as set themselves against me, shall find their strength blasted and withered as a leaf in autumn, and shall fall at the sound of my name and my victories; they shall be afraid out of their

close places; or rather, "they shall come trembling from their strong holds,' as places not able to protect them, and therefore they will sue for peace. Such seems to be the import of these two verses, which therefore denote the conquest of Messiah to have been every way complete. And accordingly, in the remaining part of the Psalm, the church, through Christ her Head, blesseth Jehovah for the same.

46. The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.' 47. It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me.' 48. He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me above those that rise up against me; thou hast delivered me from the violent man.'

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In other words, And now, the Lord God omnipotent liveth and reigneth, for ever blessed and exalted, as the God of salvation: by whom I am avenged of those who persecuted me, and am advanced to empire; my enemies are fallen, and my throne is established. Thus we learn to trust in Jehovah without fear, when our enemies are victorious, and to glorify him without reserve, when we

are so.

49. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.'

Remarkable is the manner in which St. Paul cites this verse, Rom. xv. 9. The context runs thus: Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.' This verse is, by the apostle, produced as a proof that the Gentiles were one day to glorify God, for the mercy vouchsafed them by Jesus Christ. But, according to the letter of the passage, king David only says, that he will give thanks unto God among the heathen,' on account of his own deliverance, and exaltation to the throne of Israel; for on that occasion we know that he composed and sung the Psalm. This citation, brought by St. Paul, cannot therefore be to the purpose for which it is brought, unless the Psalm have a double sense;

unless God be glorified in it for the victory and inthronisation of Christ, as well as for those of David; and this cannot be, unless the same words, which literally celebrate the one, do likewise prophetically celebrate the other; unless David be a figure of Christ, and speak in his person, and in that of his body, the church. While this Psalm is used as a Christian hymn, in the Gentile Christian church, David still continues, as he foresaw he should do, to give thanks unto Jehovah, to glorify God among the Gentiles,' for the mercies of redemption, and to sing praises unto his name."

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50. Great deliverance giveth he to his King: and showeth mercy to his Anointed; to David, and to his seed for evermore.'

'Great deliverance giveth he unto his King;' to king David, in saving him from Saul, and his other temporal enemies, and seating him on the earthly throne of Israel; to King Messiah, in rescuing him from death and the grave, and exalting him to an heavenly throne, as Head of the church and showeth mercy to his anointed;' to him who was anointed outwardly, and in a figure, with oil; and to him who was anointed inwardly, and in truth, with the Holy Ghost and with power: to David, and to his seed for evermore;' to the literal David, and his royal progeny, of whom, according to the flesh, Christ came; and to Christ himself, the spiritual David, the beloved of God, with all those who, through faith, become his children, the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life.

FOURTH DAY.-MORNING PRAYER.

PSALM XIX.

ARGUMENT.

[In the former part of this beautiful Psalm, ver. 1—6. the heavens are represented as the instructors of man

This verse is applied in Rom. xv. 9. to the calling of the Gentiles unto the faith of Christ, and praise unto God therefore, By which we are taught, that of Christ and his kingdom this Psalm is CHIEFLY intended.'-Ainsworth.

kind; the subject, the universality, and the manner of their instructions are pointed out; the glory, beauty, and powerful effects of the solar light are described. The latter part of the Psalm, 7-14. contains an encomium on the word of God, in which its properties are enumerated; and a prayer of the Psalmist for pardoning and restraining grace, and for the acceptance of these and all other his devotions and meditations. From a citation which St. Paul hath made of the 4th verse, it appears, that, in the exposition, we are to raise our thoughts from things natural to things spiritual; we are to contemplate the publication of the Gospel, the manifestation of the Light of Life, the Sun of Righteousness, and the efficacy of evangelical doctrine. In this view the ancients have considered the Psalm, and the church hath therefore appointed it to be read on Christmas-day.]

1. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.'

Under the name of 'heaven,' or 'the heavens,' is comprehended that fluid mixture of light and air which is everywhere diffused about us; and to the influence of which are owing all the beauty and fruitfulness of the earth, all vegetable and animal life, and the various kinds of motion throughout the system of nature. By their manifold and beneficial operations, therefore, as well as by their beauty and magnificence, the heavens declare the glory of God;' they point Him out to us, who, in Scripture language, is styled the glory of God;' by whom themselves and all other things were made, and are upholden; and who is the author of every grace and blessing to the sons of men: 'the firmament,' or expansion of the celestial elements, wherever it extends, 'showeth his handiwork,' not only as the Creator, but likewise as the Redeemer, of the world. And thus do the heavens afford inexhaustible matter for contemplation and devotion, to the philosopher and to the Christian.

2. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.'

The labors of these our instructors know no intermission, but they continue incessantly to lecture us in the science

of divine wisdom. There is one glory of the sun, which shines forth by day; and there are other glories of the moon and of the stars, which become visible by night. And because day and night interchangeably divide the world between them, they are therefore represented as transmitting in succession, each to other, the task enjoined them, like the two parts of a choir, chanting forth alternately the praises of God. How does inanimate nature reproach us with our indolence and indevotion!

3. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.'

Our translators, by the words inserted in a different character, have declared the sense of this passage to be, that there is no nation or language, whither the instruction diffused by the heavens doth not reach. But as the same thought is so fully expressed in the next verse, 'Their sound is gone out,' &c. it seems most advisable to adhere to the original, which runs literally thus: No speech, no words, their voice is not heard ;' that is, although the heavens are thus appointed to teach, yet it is not by articulate sounds that they do it; they are not endowed, like man, with the faculty of speech; but they address themselves to the mind of the intelligent beholder in another way, and that, when understood, a no less forcible way, the way of picture or representation. So manifold is the wisdom of God; so various are the ways by which he communicates it to men.

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4. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.'

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The instruction which the heavens disperse abroad is universal as their substance, which extends itself in 'lines,' or rays, over all the earth!' by this means their words,' or rather, their significant actions" and operations, are everywhere present, even to the ends of the world;' and thereby they preach to all nations the power and wisdom, the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord. The apostles' commission was the same with that of the hea

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words) is used for expressing מלי whence) מלל The verb-מליקס :

the meaning by signs. It has this sense, Prov. vi. 13. bara bbin, speaking with his foot.

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