Psalms 126 commentary

It is good to observe how God's deliverances of the church are for us, that we may rejoice in them. And how ought redemption from the wrath to come, from the power of sin and of Satan, to be valued! The sinner convinced of his guilt and danger, when by looking to a crucified Saviour he receives peace to his conscience, and power to break off his sins, often can scarcely believe that the prospect which opens to him is a reality.

The beginnings of mercies encourage us to pray for the completion of them. And while we are in this world there will be matter for prayer, even when we are most furnished with matter for praise. Suffering saints are often in tears; they share the calamities of human life, and commonly have a greater share than others. But they sow in tears; they do the duty of an afflicted state. Weeping must not hinder sowing; we must get good from times of affliction. And they that sow, in the tears of godly sorrow, to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting; and that will be a joyful harvest indeed. Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be for ever comforted. When we mourn for our sins, or suffer for Christ's sake, we are sowing in tears, to reap in joy. And remember that God is not mocked; for whatever a man soweth that shall he reap, Ga 6:7–9. Here, O disciple of Jesus, behold an emblem of thy present labour and future reward; the day is coming when thou shalt reap in joy, plentiful shall be thy harvest, and great shall be thy joy in the Lord.

PSALM 126

This Psalm consists of three parts. First, the Prophet exhorts the faithful, who had returned from the captivity, to gratitude, and highly extols the grace displayed in their deliverance, to show them, beyond all doubt, that they were brought back to their own country by the hand of God, and not by a fortuitous conjuncture of circumstances, or by the favor of men. In the second part a prayer is added, that God would perfect his own work which he had begun. Finally, although there was no immediate prospect of a full restoration, yet he mitigates the feeling of weariness which delay might occasion, and assures them, that though at present the seed was watered with tears, the harvest would be joyous.

A Song of Degrees.

Psalm 126:1-3

1. When Jehovah brought back the captivity The abstract noun is put for the concrete, “the captivity of Zion” for “the captives of Zion” — those who were led away captive from Zion. Accordingly, in the French version, Calvin uses the concrete —”Les captifs;” —”The captives.” of Zion, we were like those that dream. 2. Now shall our mouth be filled “Ou, alors nostre bouche a este remplie.” — Fr. marg. “Or, then our mouth was filled.” with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing: now shall they say “Ou, alors on disoit.” — Fr. marg. “Or, then they said.” among the heathen, Jehovah hath done great things for them. 3. Jehovah hath done great things for us, whereof we have been made glad.

1. When Jehovah brought back the captivity of Zion, etc. It is unnatural and forced to suppose, with some expositors, that this is a prediction of what was to come. For my part I have no doubt that the Psalm was composed upon the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonish captivity; and for this reason I have translated the verb בשוב, beshub, in the past tense. Now, whoever was the author of it, Grotius and Amyraldus suppose that it was compiled by Ezra, after the Jews had begun to return from Babylon. whether one of the Levites or one of the Prophets, he affirms that the manner of their deliverance was too wonderful to be attributed to fortune, in order to lead the faithful to the conclusion that the prophecy of Jeremiah, which had assigned seventy years as the term of the captivity, was truly fulfilled. (Jeremiah 25:12, and Jeremiah 29:10.) By the verb dream, which expresses the astonishing character of the event, he teaches us that there is no room left for ingratitude. As often as God works by ordinary means, men, through the malignity of their natures, usually exercise their ingenuity in devising various causes of the deliverance wrought, in order to darken the grace of God. But the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonish captivity, having been a miracle of such splendor as was sufficient to swallow up and confound all the thoughts of men, it compels us. to own that it was a signal work of God. This is the reason why the Prophet compares this deliverance to a dream. “So far,” he materially says, “is any mind from comprehending this unparalleled benefit of God, that the bare thinking upon it transports us with amazement, as if it were a dream, and not an event which had already taken place. What impiety, then, will it be, not to acknowledge the author of it.” Moreover, he does not mean that the faithful were so dull of understanding as not to perceive that they were delivered by the hand of God, but only that, judging according to carnal sense and reason, they were struck with astonishment; and he was apprehensive lest, in reasoning with themselves about that redemption, as about an ordinary thing, they should make less account of the power of God than it became them to do. The noun שיבת, shibath, translated captivity, might be rendered bringing back, as some do, which would give greater elegance to the expression of the Psalmist, as in that case שיבת would be a noun of the same verb which is used in the beginning of the verse. That is, it would be derived from שוב, shrub, he returned; whereas if it is rendered captivity, it is derived from שבה, shabah, he led captive. The English Bible translators seem to have been uncertain whether שיבת, shibath, is to be considered as derived from the first of these verbs or from the second, their reading in the text being, “turned back our captivity,” and their marginal rendering being, “returned the returning.” There is a play upon the words, שוב, “turn,” and שיבת, “captivity.” It is to be observed that the concluding part of the above sentence in the text is from Calvin’s French Commentary. There is nothing to represent it in the Latin Version. As, however, this makes little difference in regard to the sense, it is enough to have noticed it to my readers in passing.

PSALM 126

Psa 126:1-6. To praise for God's favor to His people is added a prayer for its continued manifestation.

1-3. When the Lord, &c.--The joy of those returned from Babylon was ecstatic, and elicited the admiration even of the heathen, as illustrating God's great power and goodness.

turned again the captivity--that is, restored from it (Job 39:12; Psa 14:7; Pr 12:14). Hengstenberg translates: "When the Lord turned Himself to the turning of Zion" (see Margin), God returns to His people when they return to Him (De 30:2, 3).

4. All did not return at once; hence the prayer for repeated favors.

as the streams in the south--or, the torrents in the desert south of Judea, dependent on rain (Jos 15:9), reappearing after dry seasons (compare Job 6:15; Psa 68:9). The point of comparison is joy at the reappearing of what has been so painfully missed.

5-6. As in husbandry the sower may cast his seed in a dry and parched soil with desponding fears, so those shall reap abundant fruit who toil in tears with the prayer of faith. (Compare the history, Ezr 6:16, 22).

When the Lord turned again the captivity - When Cyrus published his decree in favor of the Jews, giving them liberty to return to their own land, and rebuild their city and temple.

We were like them that dream - The news was so unexpected that we doubted for a time the truth of it. We believed it was too good news to be true, and thought ourselves in a dream or illusion. When the Romans had vanquished Philip, king of Macedon, they restored liberty to the Grecian cities by proclamation. It was done at the time of the Isthmian games, and by the crier, who went into the circus to proclaim them; none but the Roman general T. Quintius knowing what was to be done. Multitudes from all Greece were there assembled; and the tidings produced nearly the same effect upon them, according to Livy, that the publication of the decree of Cyrus did on the Jews, according to what is here related by the psalmist. I shall give the substance of this account from the Roman historian. When the Romans had sat down to behold the games, the herald with his trumpet went into the arena according to custom, to proclaim the several games. Silence being obtained, he solemnly pronounced the following words: -

Senatus romanus et t. Quincius imperator, philippo rege macedonibusque devictis; liberos, immunes, suis legibus esse jubet corinthios, phocenses, locrensesque omnes, et insulam euboeam, et magnetas, thessalos, perrhaebos, achaeos, phthiotas. "The Roman Senate, and T. Quintius the general, having vanquished king Philip and the Macedonians, do ordain that the Corinthians, Phocensians, all the Locrensians, the island of EubOea, the Magnesians, Thessalians, Perrhaebians, Acheans, and Phthiotians, shall be free, be delivered from all taxes, and live according to their own laws."

The effect that this produced on the astonished Grecians who were present, is related by this able historian in a very natural and affecting manner; and some parts of it nearly in the words of the psalmist.

Audita voce praeconis, majus gaudium fuit, quam quod universum homines caperent. Vix satis se credere se quisque audisse: alii alios intueri mirabundi velut somnii vanam speciem: guod ad guemque pertineret, suarum aurium fidei minimum credentes, proximos interrogabant. Revocatur praeco, cum unusquisque non audire, sed videre libertatis suae nuncium averit, iterum pronunciaret eadem. Tum ab certo jam gaudio tantus cum clamore plausus est ortus, totiesque repetitus, ut facile appareret, nihil omnium bonorum multitudini gratius quam Libertatem esse.

T. 54: Hist., lib. xxiii., c. 32.

This proclamation of the herald being heard, there was such joy, that the people in general could not comprehend it. Scarcely could any person believe what he had heard. They gazed on each other, wondering as if it had been some illusion, similar to a dream; and although all were interested in what was spoken, none could trust his own ears, but inquired each from him who stood next to him what it was that was proclaimed. The herald was again called, as each expressed the strongest desire not only to hear, but see the messenger of his own liberty: the herald, therefore, repeated the proclamation. When by this repetition the glad tidings were confirmed, there arose such a shout, accompanied with repeated clapping of hands, as plainly showed that of all good things none is so dear to the multitude as Liberty.

O that God may raise up some other deliverer to save these same cities with their inhabitants, from a worse yoke than ever was imposed upon them by the king of Macedon; and from a servitude which has now lasted three hundred years longer than the captivity of the Israelites in the empire of Babylon!

Constantinople was taken by the Turks in 1453; and since that time till the present, (October, 1822), three hundred and sixty-nine years have elapsed. Why do the Christian powers of Europe stand by, and see the ark of their God in captivity; the holy name by which they are called despised and execrated; the vilest indignities offered to those who are called Christians, by barbarians the most cruel, ferocious, and abominable that ever disgraced the name of man? Great God, vindicate the cause of the distressed Greeks as summarily, as effectually, as permanently, as thou once didst that of thy oppressed people the Jews! Let the crescent never more fill its horns with a victory, nor with the spoils of any who are called by the sacred name of Jesus: but let it wane back into total darkness; and know no change for the better, till illuminated by the orient splendor of the Sun of righteousness! Amen! Amen!

How signally has this prayer been thus far answered! Three great Christian powers, the British, the French, and the Russian, have taken up the cause of the oppressed Greeks. The Turkish fleet has been attacked in the Bay of Navarino by the combined fleets of the above powers in October, 1827, under the command of the British Admiral, Sir Edward Codrington, and totally annihilated. After which, the Mohammedan troops were driven out of Greece and the Morea; so that the whole of Greece is cleared of its oppressors, and is now under its own government, protected by the above powers - March, 1829.

Then upas our mouth filled with laughter - The same effect as was produced on the poor liberated Grecians mentioned above.

Then said they among the heathen - The liberty now granted was brought about in so extraordinary a way, that the very heathens saw that the hand of the great Jehovah must have been in it.

The Lord hath done great things for us - We acknowledge the hand of our God. Deus nobis haec otia fecit, "God alone has given us this enlargement."

We are glad - This is a mere burst of ecstatic joy. O how happy are we!

Turn again our captivity - This is either a recital of the prayer they had used before their deliverance; or it is a prayer for those who still remained in the provinces beyond the Euphrates. The Jewish captives did not all return at once; they came back at different times, and under different leaders, Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, etc.

As the streams in the south - Probably the Nile is meant. It is now pretty well known that the Nile has its origin in the kingdom of Damot; and runs from south to north through different countries, till, passing through Egypt, it empties itself into the Mediterranean Sea. It it possible, however, that they might have had in view some rapid rivers that either rose in the south, or had a southern direction; and they desired that their return might be as rapid and as abundant as the waters of those rivers. But we know that the Nile proceeds from the south, divides itself into several streams as it passes through Egypt, and falls by seven mouths into the Mediterranean.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy - This is either a maxim which they gather from their own history, or it is a fact which they are now witnessing. We see the benefit of humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God; we have now a sweet return for our bitter tears. Or, We have sown in tears; now we reap in joy. We are restored after a long and afflicting captivity to our own country, to peace, and to happiness.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed - The metaphor seems to be this: A poor farmer has had a very bad harvest: a very scanty portion of grain and food has been gathered from the earth. The seed time is now come, and is very unpromising. Out of the famine a little seed has been saved to be sown, in hopes of another crop; but the badness of the present season almost precludes the entertainment of hope. But he must sow, or else despair and perish. He carries his all, his precious seed, with him in his seed basket; and with a sorrowful heart commits it to the furrow, watering it in effect with his tears, and earnestly imploring the blessing of God upon it. God hears; the season becomes mild; he beholds successively the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear. The appointed weeks of harvest come, and the grain is very productive. He fills his arms, his carriages, with the sheaves and shocks; and returns to his large expecting family in triumph, praising God for the wonders he has wrought. So shall it be with this handful of returning Israelites. They also are to be sown - scattered all over the land; the blessing of God shall be upon them, and their faith and numbers shall be abundantly increased. The return here referred to, Isaiah describes in very natural language: "And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord," Isa 66:20.

Turned - Brought the captive Israelites out of Babylon into their own land. Dream - We were so surprized and astonished.

Turn - As thou hast brought us home, bring also the rest of our brethren. As - As thou art pleased sometimes to send floods of water into dry and barren grounds, such as the southern parts of Canaan were.

1 WHen the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion , we were like them that dream .

i. e. Brought the captive Israelites out of Babylon into their own land.

We were so surprised and astonished with the report of such a favour, that we could not believe our own eyes and ears, but thought it to be but a dream or delusion of our own fancies; as is usual in matters of great joy, as Gen. 45. 26. Luke 24. 11. Acts 12. 9.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. returns [illegible: 1+ letters]taning of [illegible: 1 word] ▪

2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them .

They did and well might wonder at it, that an Heathen Emperor should of his own meer motion shew so much kindness to so hateful and despicable a people as the Jews were.

Marginal references: Job 8. 21.; Heb. hath [illegible: 1 word] to do with them. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 33 3. & 113. 5.

4 Turn again our captivity , O LORD, as the streams of the south .

As thou hast brought us home, bring home also the rest of our brethren who are dispersed and yet remain captives in Babylon, or in any other parts of the world.

As thou art pleased sometimes to send flouds of water into dry and barren grounds, such as the Southern parts of Canaan and the parts adjacent were; which is an act of thy great power and goodness; and no less will this reduction of thy people be, and no less shall we rejoyce in it, and bless God for it.

5 They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy .

This is an argument wherewith he presseth the foregoing prayer, v. 4. taken from the common course of Gods providence towards men of all nations, to whom he affords vicissitudes of sorrow and comfort, and particularly towards husbandmen, who though oft-times they sow their seed corn with care and fear and sorrow, yet afterwards for the most part meet with a joyful harvest. And therefore we hope thou wilt not deny this favour to thine own people. And as thou hast in some good measure granted it to us, so we pray thee grant it to our brethren, who are yet exercised with hard labours and griefs, that they and we together may at last obtain that blessed and full harvest which we still pray and hope for.

Marginal references: See Jer. 31. 9, &c.; Or, singing.

6 He that goeth forth and weepeth , bearing precious seed , shall doubtless come again with rejoycing, bringing his sheaves with him.

The husbandman that goeth out into his field, and walketh hither and thither to scatter his seed, as the manner is.

For fear of the loss of his seed, and of a bad harvest.

Seed corn when it is scarce and dear. Or, the basket of seed, as it is rendred in our margent, as also by the Chaldee Paraphrast, and some others.

Heb. coming shall come. Which manner of expression may note either the certainty of the thing, or the frequency and customariness of it. This verse is onely an amplification of the former.

Marginal references: Or, seed-basket.

The Harvest of Joy after the Sowing of Tears

It is with this Psalm, which the favourite word Zion connects with the preceding Psalm, exactly as with Psa 85:1-13, which also gives thanks for the restoration of the captive ones of Israel on the one hand, and on the other hand has to complain of the wrath that is still not entirely removed, and prays for a national restoration. There are expositors indeed who also transfer the grateful retrospect with which this Song of degrees (Psa 126:1-3), like that Korahitic Psalm (Psa 126:2-4), begins, into the future (among the translators Luther is at least more consistent than the earlier ones); but they do this for reasons which are refuted by Psa 85:1-13, and which are at once silenced when brought face to face with the requirements of the syntax.

Psa 126:1-3

When passages like Isa 1:9; Gen 47:25, or others where והיינו is perf. consec., are appealed to in order to prove that היינוּ כּחלמים may signify erimus quasi somniantes, they are instances that are different in point of syntax. Any other rendering than that of the lxx is here impossible, viz.: Ἐν τῷ ἐπιστρέψαι κύριον τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Σιὼν ἐγενήθημεν ὡς παρακεκλημένοι (כּנחמים? - Jerome correctly, quasi somniantes). It is, however, just as erroneous when Jerome goes on to render: tunc implebitur risu os nostrum; for it is true the future after אז has a future signification in passages where the context relates to matters of future history, as in Psa 96:12; Zep 3:9, but it always has the signification of the imperfect after the key-note of the historical past has once been struck, Exo 15:1; Jos 8:30; Jos 10:12; 1Ki 11:7; 1Ki 16:21; 2Ki 15:16; Job 38:21; it is therefore, tunc implebatur. It is the exiles at home again upon the soil of their fatherland who here cast back a glance into the happy time when their destiny suddenly took another turn, by the God of Israel disposing the heart of the conqueror of Babylon to set them at liberty, and to send them to their native land in an honourable manner. שׁיבת is not equivalent to שׁבית, nor is there any necessity to read it thus (Olshausen, Böttcher, and Hupfeld). שׁיבה (from שׁוּב, like בּיאה, קימה) signifies the return, and then those returning; it is, certainly, an innovation of this very late poet. When Jahve brought home the homeward-bound ones of Zion - the poet means to say - we were as dreamers. Does he mean by this that the long seventy years’ term of affliction lay behind us like a vanished dream (Joseph Kimchi), or that the redemption that broke upon us so suddenly seemed to us at first not to be a reality but a beautiful dream? The tenor of the language favours the latter: as those not really passing through such circumstances, but only dreaming. Then - the poet goes on to say - our mouth was filled with laughter (Job 8:21) and our tongue with a shout of joy, inasmuch, namely, as the impression of the good fortune which contrasted so strongly with our trouble hitherto, compelled us to open our mouth wide in order that our joy might break forth in a full stream, and our jubilant mood impelled our tongue to utter shouts of joy, which knew no limit because of the inexhaustible matter of our rejoicing. And how awe-inspiring was Israel’s position at that time among the peoples! and what astonishment the marvellous change of Israel’s lot produced upon them! Even the heathen confessed that it was Jahve’s work, and that He had done great things for them (Joe 2:20., 1Sa 12:24) - the glorious predictions of Isaiah, as in Psa 45:14; 52:10, and elsewhere, were being fulfilled. The church on its part seals that confession coming from the mouth of the heathen. This it is that made them so joyful, that God had acknowledged them by such a mighty deed.

Psa 126:4-6

But still the work so mightily and graciously begun is not completed. Those who up to the present time have returned, out of whose heart this Psalm is, as it were, composed, are only like a small vanguard in relation to the whole nation. Instead of שׁבותנו the Kerî here reads שׁביתנוּ, from שׁבית, Num 21:29, after the form בכית in Gen 50:4. As we read elsewhere that Jerusalem yearns after her children, and Jahve solemnly assures her, “thou shalt put them all on as jewels and gird thyself like a bride” (Isa 49:18), so here the poet proceeds from the idea that the holy land yearns after an abundant, reanimating influx of population, as the Negeb (i.e., the Judaean south country, Gen 20:1, and in general the south country lying towards the desert of Sinai) thirsts for the rain-water streams, which disappear in the summer season and regularly return in the winter season. Concerning אפיק, “a water-holding channel,” vid., on Psa 18:16. If we translate converte captivitatem nostram (as Jerome does, following the lxx), we shall not know what to do with the figure, whereas in connection with the rendering reduc captivos nostros it is just as beautifully adapted to the object as to the governing verb. If we have rightly referred negeb not to the land of the Exile but to the Land of Promise, whose appearance at this time is still so unlike the promise, we shall now also understand by those who sow in tears not the exiles, but those who have already returned home, who are again sowing the old soil of their native land, and that with tears, because the ground is so parched that there is little hope of the seed springing up. But this tearful sowing will be followed by a joyful harvest. One is reminded here of the drought and failure of the crops with which the new colony was visited in the time of Haggai, and of the coming blessing promised by the prophet with a view to the work of the building of the Temple being vigorously carried forward. Here, however, the tearful sowing is only an emblem of the new foundation-laying, which really took place not without many tears (Ezr 3:12), amidst sorrowful and depressed circumstances; but in its general sense the language of the Psalm coincides with the language of the Preacher on the Mount, Mat 5:4 : Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The subject to Psa 126:6 is the husbandman, and without a figure, every member of the ecclesia pressa. The gerundial construction in Psa 126:6 (as in 2Sa 3:16; Jer 50:4, cf. the more Indo-Germanic style of expression in 2Sa 15:30) depicts the continual passing along, here the going to and fro of the sorrowfully pensive man; and Psa 126:6 the undoubted coming and sure appearing of him who is highly blessed beyond expectation. The former bears משׁך הזּרע, the seed-draught, i.e., the handful of seed taken from the rest for casting out (for משׁך הזּרע in Amo 9:13 signifies to cast forth the seed along the furrows); the latter his sheaves, the produce (תּבוּאה), such as puts him to the blush, of his, as it appeared to him, forlorn sowing. As by the sowing we are to understand everything that each individual contributes towards the building up of the kingdom of God, so by the sheaves, the wholesome fruit which, by God bestowing His blessing upon it beyond our prayer and comprehension, springs up from it.

The Deliverance from Captivity.

1 When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. 3 The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

While the people of Israel were captives in Babylon their harps were hung upon the willow-trees, for then God called to weeping and mourning, then he mourned unto them and they lamented; but now that their captivity is turned they resume their harps; Providence pipes to them, and they dance. Thus must we accommodate ourselves to all the dispensations of Providence and be suitably affected with them. And the harps are never more melodiously tunable than after such a melancholy disuse. The long want of mercies greatly sweetens their return. Here is, 1. The deliverance God has wrought for them: He turned again the captivity of Zion. It is possible that Zion may be in captivity for the punishment of her degeneracy, but her captivity shall be turned again when the end is answered and the work designed by it is effected. Cyrus, for reasons of state, proclaimed liberty to God's captives, and yet it was the Lord's doing, according to his word many years before. God sent them into captivity, not as dross is put into the fire to be consumed, but as gold to be refined. Observe, The release of Israel is called the turning again of the captivity of Zion, the holy hill, where God's tabernacle and dwelling-place were; for the restoring of their sacred interests, and the reviving of the public exercise of their religion, were the most valuable advantages of their return out of captivity. 2. The pleasing surprise that this was to them. They were amazed at it; it came so suddenly that at first they were in confusion, not knowing what to make of it, nor what it was tending to: "We thought ourselves like men that dream; we thought it too good news to be true, and began to question whether we were well awake or no, and whether it was not still" (as sometimes it had been to the prophets) "only a representation of it in vision," as St. Peter for a while thought his deliverance was, Acts xii. 9. Sometimes the people of God are thus prevented with the blessings of his goodness before they are aware. We were like those that are recovered to health (so Dr. Hammond reads it); "such a comfortable happy change it was to us, as life from the dead or sudden ease from exquisite pain; we thought ourselves in a new world." And the surprise of it put them into such an ecstasy and transport of joy that they could scarcely contain themselves within the bounds of decency in the expressions of it: Our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Thus they gave vent to their joy, gave glory to their God, and gave notice to all about them what wonders God had wrought for them. Those that were laughed at now laugh and a new song is put into their mouths. It was a laughter of joy in God, not scorn of their enemies. 3. The notice which their neighbours took of it: They said among the heathen, Jehovah, the God of Israel, has done great things for that people, such as our gods cannot do for us. The heathen had observed their calamity and had triumphed in it, Jer. xxii. 8, 9; Ps. cxxxvii. 7. Now they could not but observe their deliverance and admire that. It put a reputation upon those that had been scorned and despised, and made them look considerable; besides, it turned greatly to the honour of God, and extorted from those that set up other gods in competition with him an acknowledgment of his wisdom, power, and providence. 4. The acknowledgments which they themselves made of it, v. 3. The heathen were but spectators, and spoke of it only as matter of news; they had no part nor lot in the matter; but the people of God spoke of it as sharers in it, (1.) With application: "He has done great things for us, things that we are interested in and have advantage by." Thus it is comfortable speaking of the redemption Christ has wrought out as wrought out for us. Who loved me, and gave himself for me. (2.) With affection: "Whereof we are glad. The heathen are amazed at it, and some of them angry, but we are glad." While Israel went a whoring from their God joy was forbidden them (Hos. ix. 1); but now that the iniquity of Jacob was purged by the captivity, and their sin taken away, now God makes them to rejoice. It is the repenting reforming people that are, and shall be, the rejoicing people. Observe here, [1.] God's appearances for his people are to be looked upon as great things. [2.] God is to be eyed as the author of all the great things done for the church. [3.] It is good to observe how the church's deliverances are for us, that we may rejoice in them.

Hope for the Sorrowful.

4 Turn again our captivity, O Lord , as the streams in the south. 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

These verses look forward to the mercies that were yet wanted. Those that had come out of captivity were still in distress, even in their own land (Neh. i. 3), and many yet remained in Babylon; and therefore they rejoiced with trembling, and bore upon their hearts the grievances that were yet to be redressed. We have here, 1. A prayer for the perfecting of their deliverance (v. 4): "Turn again our captivity. Let those that have returned to their own land be eased of the burdens which they are yet groaning under. Let those that remain in Babylon have their hearts stirred up, as ours were, to take the benefit of the liberty granted." The beginnings of mercy are encouragements to us to pray for the completing of it. And while we are here in this world there will still be matter for prayer, even when we are most furnished with matter for praise. And, when we are free and in prosperity ourselves, we must not be unmindful of our brethren that are in trouble and under restraint. The bringing of those that were yet in captivity to join with their brethren that had returned would be as welcome to both sides as streams of water in those countries, which, lying far south, were parched and dry. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so would this good news be from that far country, Prov. xxv. 25. 2. A promise for their encouragement to wait for it, assuring them that, though they had now a sorrowful time, yet it would end well. But the promise is expressed generally, that all the saints may comfort themselves with this confidence, that their seedness of tears will certainly end in a harvest of joy at last, v. 5, 6. (1.) Suffering saints have a seedness of tears. They are in tears often; they share in the calamities of human life, and commonly have a greater share in them than others. But they sow in tears; they do the duty of an afflicted state and so answer the intentions of the providences they are under. Weeping must not hinder sowing; when we suffer ill we must be doing well. Nay, as the ground is by the rain prepared for the seed, and the husbandman sometimes chooses to sow in the wet, so we must improve times of affliction, as disposing us to repentance, and prayer, and humiliation. Nay, there are tears which are themselves the seed that we must sow, tears of sorrow for sin, our own and others, tears of sympathy with the afflicted church, and the tears of tenderness in prayer and under the word. These are precious seed, such as the husbandman sows when corn is dear and he has but little for his family, and therefore weeps to part with it, yet buries it under ground, in expectation of receiving it again with advantage. Thus does a good man sow in tears. (2.) They shall have a harvest of joy. The troubles of the saints will not last always, but, when they have done their work, shall have a happy period. The captives in Babylon were long sowing in tears, but at length they were brought forth with joy, and then they reaped the benefit of their patient suffering, and brought their sheaves with them to their own land, in their experiences of the goodness of God to them. Job, and Joseph, and David, and many others, had harvests of joy after a sorrowful seedness. Those that sow in the tears of godly sorrow shall reap in the joy of a sealed pardon and a settled peace. Those that sow to the spirit, in this vale of tears, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting, and that will be a joyful harvest indeed. Blessed are those that mourn, for they shall be for ever comforted.

PSAL. CXXVI.

A Song of degrees.

VVHen Iehovah returned the captivitie of Sion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with joyfull shouting; then said they among the heathens, Iehovah hath done very great things with them. Iehovah hath done very great things with us, we are joyfull. Turne thou, O Iehovah, our captivitie, as the streames in the South. They that sow with teares, shall reap with joyfull shouting. He going goeth, and weepeth, bearing the sowing seed: he comming commeth with joyfull shouting, bearing his sheaves.

Annotations. THe captivitie] or, the reversion, that is, the multitude of captives returning from bondage. See Psal. 14. 7. and 68. 19. Deut. 30. 3. The returne from Babels bondage figured our redemption by Christ, Esa. 10. 21, 22. Rom. 9. 27. And to returne the captivitie, sometime is to restore all that was lost, Iok 42. 10. that dreame] that felt joy and comfort incredible, which we doubted whether it were true or not; as did Peter, Act. 12. 9. See also Esai. 29. 7, 8. The Chaldee expoundeth it, like sleepers which wake from their dreames. Vers. 2. joyfull shout] or song, or shrill singing: so vers. 5, 6. Compare Iob 8. 21. done very great things] or done magnificently, or magnified his doings, as the Greeke translateth this phrase, in Ioel 2. 20. the Hebraisme being, he hath magnified to doe, like that in 2 Chron. 33. 6. Manasseh multiplied to doe (that is, did much) evill. with them] or with these men. Vers. 4. our captivitie] that is, the rest of the captives which remaine yet behind, bring them also. So captivitie i[illegible: 1 letter] for captives, Ezek. 11. 24, 25. in the South] that is, in the dry ground; for so the Hebrew word signifieth, and so South lands were waterlesse, Iudg. 1. 15. Here we may understand, this shall be to us as rivers in the South. The Chaldee paraphraseth, as the land is turned when water-springs breake forth into it, in time of drought. Vers. 5. shall reape] or, let them reape: as continuing the former prayer: so after. Vers. 6. He going goeth] that is, every sower fore-mentioned: therefore the Greeke saith, they did going goe: which phrase meaneth a continuall and diligent going. the sowing seed] the seed to bee sowne, Hebr. the drawing of the seed, that is, the seed of drawing, or, of sowing, as this phrase meaneth, Amos 9. 13. or, the dray of seed, that is, the seed-basket. Sometime drawing, is, purchasing, as Iob 28. 18. which may also be minded here, the purchased (that is, precious) seed.

PSAL. CXXVI.

VErſ. 1 When the Lord turned again] viz; From Babylon; and therefore that which ſome tranſlations have in the title, A Pſalm of David (which is not in the Hebrew) would bee left out; for it ſeemeth to have been penned by Ezra, or ſome Prophet of his time.

Wee were like them that dream] Tanta fuit liberationis [illegible: 1 word] abilitas, ſo admirable was the deliverace, that wee could hardly beleeve it; as fearing the certainty, and yet hoping the truth. Such a paſſion was upon Peter, when enlarged by the Angel, Act. 12. upon the Grecians, when ſet free by Flaminius, the Roman Generall; Majus gaudium fuit, ſaith the Hiſtorian, quam quod univerſum homines caperent, &c. their joy was too big for their hearts, they ſcarce beleeved their own ears, when the Cryer proclaimed their liberty,Lib. 33. Cyp. Epiſt. lib. 1. Aug. Confeſ. lib. 6. cap. 12. Goſr. in vit. Bernard. but bad him ſay over that ſweet word Liberty again; they alſo looked upon one another with wonderment, velut ſomnii vanam ſpeciem, ſaith Livy. And ſuch an ecſtaſy is the new convert in as was Cyprian, Auſtin, Bernard; witneſſe their own writings.

Verſ. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter] Wee laughed amain, and ſhrilled or ſhouted aloud, when wee found that it was [non-Latin text not transcribed], as Plato ſpeaketh, not a dream, but a done thing, which, (before) wee held optabile potius quam opinabile, incredible altogether.

Then ſaid they among the Heathen] They who were wont to jear us, Pſal. 137.3. God can ſoon alter the caſe of his afflicted people. See Eſth. 8.17. with the Note.

The Lord hath done great things for them] Magnifica. So, Vere magnus eſt Deus Chriſtianorum, the God of the Chriſtians is a great God indeed, ſaid Calocerius an Heathen, obſerving his works done for his people.

Verſ. 3 The Lord hath done great things] q. d. Tis a ſhame then for us not to ſay ſo, much more; and, by an holy avarice, to take the praiſes out of their mouths, who are no ſharers in it, but ſpectators only. Let the Redeemed of the Lord ſay ſo, ſpeaking good of his name.

Verſ. 4 Turn again our captivity, O Lord] Perfect what thou haſt ſo happily begun for us.

As the ſtreams in the South] i.e. Miraculouſly ſay ſome; as if thou ſhouldeſt cauſe rivers to run in dry and deſert places: Or comfortably, as if thou ſhouldeſt refreſh ſuch hot parts with plenty of water. Or ſuddenly. The South is a dry Country where are few ſprings, but oft land-floods, cauſed by the ſhowers of Heaven. The Jews at this day pray for a ſpeedy rebuilding of their Temple. They cry altogether, Templum tuum brevi valde cito, valde cito, in diebus noſtris citiſſime nunc aedifica, Templum tuum brevi, Bux[illegible: 1 letter]. de Syn[illegible: 1 letter]g. Jud. cap. 13. that is, build thy Temple quickly, very quickly, in our dayes, &c. ſhould not wee bee as earneſt for the myſticall Temple, &c?

Verſ. 5 They that ſow in tears] Whether Miniſters (as ſome reſtrain the ſenſe) who ſerve the Lord with many [illegible: 1 letter]ears and temptations, Act. 20.19. but ſee little fruit: Or others, who ſow in the tears of affliction, and compunction for ſin the cauſe thereof; his faecunda ſine dubio meſſis indulgentiae orietur, ſaith Arnobius, theſe ſhall certainly teap in joy, pardon of ſin, Iſa. 1.16. power againſt it (theſe troubled waters cure the ſoul, as the tears of Vine-branches cure the leproſie) increaſe of grace; the Lilly is ſown in her own tears, ſaith Pliny, ſo is grace; the Olive is moſt fruitfull when it moſt diſtilleth; ſo here: Theſe April-ſhowres bring on May-flowers, and make the heart to bee like a watered Garden: Beſides an acceſs of glory; for they that weep with men ſhall laugh with Angels; their tears ſhall be turned into triumphs, their ſadneſſe into gladneſſe, their ſighing into ſinging, their muſing into muſick, &c. See Mat. 5.4. This, the Protomartyr foreſaw, and therefore Ibat ovans animis, & ſpe ſua damna levabat. [illegible: 1 letter]embus de St. Stephano.

Verſ. 6 Hee that goeth forth and weepeth, &c.] Heb. Hee that going goeth, &c. which Luther interpreteth of temptations continued, and mutually ſucceeding one another; taking their turns upon a poor ſoul.

And weepeth] Going and weeping, and asking the way to Zion, with their faces thither-ward, Jer. 50.4, 5. Some faces appear moſt orientally beautifull, when moſt inſtampt with ſorrow.

Bearing precious ſeed] Such as are hope and faith in the truth of Gods promiſes. Some render it ſeed of acquiſition, Cam[illegible: 1 letter]ſtrum Leo [illegible: 1 letter]ud[illegible: 1 letter] Bucer. ſuch as the poor ſeeds-man hath got, prece & precio, by praying and paying dear for it. Some, bearing a Seed-basket, or ſeedlop.

Shall doubtleſſe come again with rejoycing] Only hee muſt have patience, Jam. 5.7.

Bringing his ſheaves with him] Or,Act. & Mon. after ſome, their handfulls, even gripes of gladneſ[illegible: 1 letter], as Philpet the Martyr rendreth it. Then ſhall Abraham the good Mower, ſaith Another, bind us up into ſheaves as pure corn▪ and fill his boſom full with us; carrying us into the Lords barn, to make a joyfull Harveſt in Heaven.

When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Being in trouble, the gracious pilgrims remember for their comfort times of national woe which were succeeded by remarkable deliverances. Then sorrow was gone like a dream, and the joy which followed was so great that it seemed too good to be true, and they feared that it must be the vision of an idle brain. So sudden and so overwhelming was their joy that they felt like men out of themselves, ecstatic, or in a trance. The captivity had been great, and great was the deliverance; for the great God himself had wrought it: it seemed too good o be actually true: each man said to himself,

"Is this a dream? O if it be a dream,

Let me sleep on, and do not wake me yet."

It was not the freedom of an individual which the Lord in mercy had wrought, but of all Zion, of the whole nation; and this was reason enough for overflowing gladness. We need not instance the histories which illustrate this verse in connection with literal Israel; but it is well to remember how often it has been true to ourselves. Let us look to the prison houses from which we have been set free. Ah, me, what captives we have been! At our first conversion what a turning again of captivity we experienced. Never shall that hour be forgotten. Joy! Joy! Joy! Since then, from multiplied troubles, from depression of spirit, from miserable backsliding, from grievous doubt, we have been emancipated, and we are not able to describe the bliss which followed each emancipation.

"When God reveal'd his gracious name

And changed our mournful state,

Our rapture seem'd, a pleasing dream,

The grace appeared so great."

This verse will have a higher fulfilment in the day of the final overthrow of the powers of darkness when the Lord shall come forth for the salvation and glorification of his redeemed. Then in a fuller sense than even at Pentecost our old men shall see visions, and our young men shall dream dreams: yea, all things shall be so wonderful, so far beyond all expectation, that those who behold them shall ask themselves whether it be not all a dream. The past is ever a sure prognostic of the future; the thing which has been is the thing that shall be: we shall again and again find ourselves amazed at the wonderful goodness of the Lord. Let our hearts gratefully remember the former loving kindnesses of the Lord: we were sadly low, sorely distressed, and completely past hope, but when Jehovah appeared he did not merely lift us out of despondency, he raised us into wondering happiness. The Lord who alone turns our captivity does nothing by halves: those whom he saves from hell he brings to heaven. He turns exile into ecstasy, and banishment into bliss.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. So full were they of joy that they could not contain themselves. They must express their joy and yet they could not find expression for it. Irrepressible mirth could do no other than laugh, for speech was far too dull a thing for it. The mercy was so unexpected, so amazing, so singular that they could not do less than laugh; and they laughed much, so that their mouths were full of it, and that because their hearts were full too. When at last the tongue could move articulately, it could not be content simply to talk, but it must needs sing; and sing heartily too, for it was full of singing. Doubtless the former pain added to the zest of the pleasure; the captivity threw a brighter colour into the emancipation. The people remembered this joy flood for years after, and here is the record of it turned into a song. Note the when and the then. God's when is our then. At the moment when he turns our captivity, the heart turns from its sorrow; when he fills us with grace we are filled with gratitude. We were made to be as them that dream, but we both laughed and sang in our sleep. We are wide awake now, and though we can scarcely realize the blessing, yet we rejoice in it exceedingly. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The heathen heard the songs of Israel, and the better sort among them soon guessed the cause of their joy. Jehovah was known to be their God, and to him the other nations ascribed the emancipation of his people, reckoning it to be no small thing which the Lord had thus done; for those who carried away the nations had never in any other instance restored a people to their ancient dwelling place. These foreigners were no dreamers; though they were only lookers on, and not partakers in the surprising mercy, they plainly saw what had been done, and rightly ascribed it to the great Giver of all good. It is a blessed thing when saints set sinners talking about the lovingkindness of the Lord: and it is equally blessed when the saints who are hidden away in the world hear of what the Lord has done for his church, and themselves resolve to come out from their captivity and unite with the Lord's people. Ah, dear reader, Jehovah has indeed done marvellous things for his chosen, and these "great things" shall be themes for eternal praise among all intelligent creatures.

The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. They did not deny the statement which reflected so much glory upon Jehovah: with exultation they admitted and repeated the statement of Jehovah's notable dealings with them. To themselves they appropriated the joyful assertion; they said "The Lord hath done great things for us", and they declared their gladness at the fact. It is a poor modesty which is ashamed to own its joys in the Lord. Call it rather a robbery of God. There is so little of happiness abroad that if we possess a full share of it we ought not to hide our light under a bushel, but let it shine on all that are in the house. Let us avow our joy, and the reason of it, stating the "whereof" as well as the fact. None are so happy as those who arc newly turned and returned from captivity; none can more promptly and satisfactorily give a reason for the gladness that is in them, the Lord himself has blessed us, blessed us greatly, blessed us individually, blessed assuredly; and because of this we sing unto his name. I heard one say the other day in prayer "whereof we desire to be glad." Strange dilution and defilement of Scriptural language! Surely if God has done great things for us we are glad, and cannot be otherwise. No doubt such language is meant to be lowly, but in truth it is loathsome.

Turn again our captivity, O LORD. Remembering the former joy of a past rescue they cry to Jehovah for a repetition of it. When we pray for the turning of our captivity, it is wise to recall former instances thereof: nothing strengthens faith more effectually than the memory of a previous experience. "The Lord hath done" harmonizes well with the prayer, "Turn again." The text shows us how wise it is to resort anew to the Lord, who in former times has been so good to us. Where else should we go but to him who has done such great things for us? Who can turn again our captivity but he who turned it before? As the streams in the south. Even as the Lord sends floods down on the dry beds of southern torrents after long droughts, so can he fill our wasted and wearied spirits with floods of holy delight. This the Lord can do for any of us, and he can do it at once, for nothing is too hard for the Lord. It is well for us thus to pray, and to bring our suit before him who is able to bless us exceeding abundantly. Do not let us forget the past, but in the presence of our present difficulty let us resort unto the Lord, and beseech him to do that for us which we cannot possibly do for ourselves, —that which no other power can perform on our behalf. Israel did return from the captivity in Babylon, and it was even as though a flood of people hastened to Zion. Suddenly and plenteously the people filled again the temple courts. In streams they shall also in the latter days return to their own land, and replenish it yet again. Like mighty torrents shall the nations flow unto the Lord in the day of his grace. May the Lord hasten it in his own time.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Hence, present distress must not be viewed as if it would last for ever; it is not the end, by any means, but only a means to the end. Sorrow is our sowing, rejoicing shall be our reaping. If there were no sowing in tears there would be no reaping in joy. If we were never captives we could never lead our captivity captive. Our mouth had never been filled with holy laughter if it had not been first filled with the bitterness of grief. We must sow: we may have to sow in the wet weather of sorrow; but we shall reap, and reap in the bright summer season of joy. Let us keep to the work of this present sowing time, and find strength in the promise which is here so positively given us. Here is one of the Lord's shalls and wills; it is freely given both to workers, waiters, and weepers, and they may rest assured that it will not fail: "in due season they shall reap." This sentence may well pass current in the church as an inspired proverb. It is not every sowing which is thus insured against all danger, and guaranteed a harvest; but the promise specially belongs to sowing in tears. When a man's heart is so stirred that he weeps over the sins of others, he is elect to usefulness. Winners of souls are first weepers for souls. As there is no birth without travail, so is there no spiritual harvest without painful tillage. When our own hearts are broken with grief at man's transgression we shall break other men's hearts: tears of earnestness beget tears of repentance: "deep calleth unto deep."

He. The general assurance is applied to each one in particular. That which is spoken in the previous verse in the plural —"they", is here repeated in the singular —"he." He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. He leaves his couch to go forth into the frosty air and tread the heavy soil; and as he goes he weeps because of past failures, or because the ground is so sterile, or the weather so unseasonable, or his corn so scarce, and his enemies so plentiful and so eager to rob him of his reward. He drops a seed and a tear, a seed and a tear, and so goes on his way. In his basket he has seed which is precious to him, for he has little of it, and it is his hope for the next year. Each grain leaves his hand with anxious prayer that it may not be lost: he thinks little of himself, but much of his seed, and he eagerly asks, "Will it prosper? shall I receive a reward for my labour?" Yes, good husbandman, doubtless you will gather sheaves from your sowing. Because the Lord has written doubtless, take heed that you do not doubt. No reason for doubt can remain after the Lord has spoken. You will return to this field —not to sow, but to reap; not to weep, but to rejoice; and after awhile you will go home again with nimbler step than today, though with a heavier load, for you shall have sheaves to bear with you. Your handful shall be so greatly multiplied that many sheaves shall spring from it; and you shall have the pleasure of reaping them and bringing them home to the place from which you went out weeping. This is a figurative description of that which was literally described in the first three verses. It is the turning of the worker's captivity, when, instead of seed buried beneath black earth, he sees the waving crops inviting him to a golden harvest. It is somewhat singular to find this promise of fruitfulness in close contact with ret urn from captivity; and yet it is so in our own experience, for when our own soul is revived the souls of others are blessed by our labours. If any of us, having been once lonesome and lingering captives, have now returned home, and have become longing and labouring sowers, may the Lord, who has already delivered us, soon transform us into glad hearted reapers, and to him shall be praise for ever and ever. Amen.

TITLE. Augustine interprets the title, "A Song of Degrees, i.e. a Song of drawing upwards", of the drawing (going) up to the heavenly Jerusalem. This is right, inasmuch as the deliverance from the captivity of sin and death should in an increased measure excite those feelings of gratitude which Israel must have felt on being delivered from their corporeal captivity; in this respect again is the history of the outward theocracy a type of the history of the church. —Augustus F. Tholuck, 1856.

Whole Psalm. In its Christian aspect the psalm represents the seventh of the "degrees" in our ascent to the Jerusalem that is above. The Christian's exultation at his deliverance from the spiritual captivity of sin. —H. T. Armfield.

Whole Psalm. In mine opinion they go near to the sense and true meaning of the Psalm who do refer it to that great and general captivity of mankind under sin, death and the devil, and to the redemption purchased by the death and blood shedding of Christ, and published in the Gospel. For this kind of speech which the Prophet useth here is of greater importance than that it may be applied only to Jewish particular captivities. For what great matter was it for these people of the Jews, being, as it were, a little handful, to be delivered out of temporal captivity, in comparison of the exceeding and incomparable deliverance whereby mankind was set at liberty from the power of their enemies, not temporal, but eternal, even from death, Satan and hell itself? Wherefore we take this Psalm to be a prophecy of the redemption that should come by Jesus Christ, and the publishing of the gospel, whereby the kingdom of Christ is advanced, and death and the devil with all the powers of darkness are vanquished. —Thomos Stint, in An Exposition on Psalms 124-126, 1621.

Whole Psalm. I believe this psalm is yet once more to be sung in still more joyous strain; once more will the glad tidings of Israel's restoration break upon her scattered tribes, like the unreal shadow of a dream; once more will the inhabitants of the various lands from among whom they come forth exclaim in adoring wonder, "The Lord hath done great things for them", when they see Israelite after Israelite and Jew after Jew, as on that wondrous night of Egypt, with their loins girded, their shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand, hasting to obey the summons that recalls them to their own loved land! —Barton Bouchier (1794-1865), in "Manna in the Heart."

Whole Psalm

When, her sons from bonds redeeming,

God to Zion led the way,

We were like to people dreaming

Thoughts of bliss too bright to stay.

Fill'd with laughter, stood we gazing,

Loud our tongues in rapture sang;

Quickly with the news amazing

All the startled nations rang.

"See Jehovah's works of glory!

Mark what love for them he had!"

"Yes, FOR US! Go tell the story.

This was done, and we are glad."

Lord! thy work of grace completing

All our exiled hosts restore,

As in thirsty channels meeting

Southern streams refreshing pour.

They that now in sorrow weeping

Tears and seed commingled sow,

Soon, the fruitful harvest reaping,

Shall with joyful bosoms glow.

Tho' the sower's heart is breaking,

Bearing forth the seed to shed,

He shall come, the echoes waking,

Laden with his sheaves instead. —William Digby Seymour, in "The Hebrew Psalter. A New Metrical Translation," 1882.

When the Lord turned again the captivity. As by the Lord's permission they were led into captivity, so only by his power they were set at liberty. When the Israelites had served in a strange land four hundred years, it was not Moses, but Jehovah, that brought them out of the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. In like manner it was he and not Deborah that freed them for Jabin after they had been vexed twenty years under the Canaanites. It was he and not Gideon that brought them out of the hands of the Midianites, after seven years' servitude. It was he and not Jephthah that delivered them from the Philistines and Amorites after eighteen years' oppression. Although in all these he did employ Moses and Deborah, Gideon and Jephthah, as instruments for their deliverance; and so it was not Cyrus's valour, but the Lord's power; not his policy, but God's wisdom, that, overthrowing the enemies, gave to Cyrus the victory, and put it into his heart to set his people at liberty; for he upheld his hands to subdue nations. He did weaken the loins of kings, and did open the doors before him, he did go before him, and made the crooked places straight; and he did break the brazen doors, and burst the iron bars. Isa 45:1-2. —John Hume, in "The Jewes Deliverance," 1628.

In Jehovah's turning (to) the turning of Zion. Meaning to return to the, or meet those returning, as it were, half way. The Hebrew noun denotes conversion, in its spiritual sense, and the verb God's gracious condescension in accepting or responding to it. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

The captivity of Zion. I ask, first, Why of Zion? why not the captivity of Jerusalem, Judah, Israel? Jerusalem, Judah, Israel, were led away captives, no less than Zion. They, the greater and more general; why not the captivity of them, but of Zion? It should seem there is more in Zion's captivity than in the rest, that choice is made of it before the rest. Why? what was Zion? We know it was but a hill in Jerusalem, on the north side. Why is that hill so honoured? No reason in the world but this, —that upon it the Temple was built; and so, that Zion is much spoken of, and much made of, it is only for the Temple's sake. For whose sake it is (even for his church), that "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Ps 87:2); loveth her more, and so her captivity goeth nearer him, and her deliverance better pleaseth him, than all Jacob besides. This maketh Zion's captivity to be mentioned chiefly, as chiefly regarded by God, and to be regarded by his people. As we see it was: when they sat by the waters of Babylon, that which made them weep was, "When we remembered thee, O Zion"; that was their greatest grief. That their greatest grief, and this their greatest joy; Loetati sumus, when news came (not, saith the Psalm, in domos nostras, We shall go everyone to his own house, but) in domun Domini ibimus, "We shall go to the house of the Lord, we shall appear before the God of gods in Zion." —Lancelot Andrews, 1555-1626.

We were like them that dream. That is, they thought it was but mere fantasy and imagination. —Sydraeh Simpson, 1658.

We were like them that dream. Here you may observe that God doth often send succour and deliverance to the godly in the time of their affliction, distress, and adversity; that many times they themselves do doubt of the truth thereof, and think that in very deed they are not delivered, but rather that they have dreamed. Peter, being imprisoned by Herod, when he was delivered by an angel, for all the light that did shine in the prison; though the angel did smite him on the side and raised him up; though he caused the chains to fall off his hands; though he spake to him three several times, Surge, einge, circunda;"Arise quickly, gird thyself, and cast thy garment about thee"; though he conducted him safely by the watches; and though he caused the iron gates to open willingly; yet for all this he was like unto them that dream. "For he wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision": Ac 11:9. When old Jacob was told by his sons that his son Joseph was alive, his heart failed, and he believed them not; but when he had heard all that Joseph had said, and when he saw the chariots that Joseph had sent, then, as it were, raised from a sleep, and awakened from a dream, his spirit revived, and, rejoicing, he cried out, "I have enough; Joseph my son is yet alive." Lorinus seems to excuse this their distrust, because they were so over ravished with joy, that they misdoubted the true cause of their joy: like the Apostles, who having Christ after his resurrection standing before them, they were so exceedingly joyed, that rejoicing they wondered and doubted; and like the two Marys, when the angel told them of our Saviour Christ's resurrection, they returned from the sepulchre rejoicing, and yet withal fearing. It may be they feared the truth of so glad news, and doubted lest they were deceived by some apparition. —John Hume

We were like them that dream. We thought that we were dreaming; we could hardly believe our eyes, when at the command of Cyrus, king of the Persians, we had returned to our own land. The same thing happened to the Greeks, when they heard that their country, being conquered by the Romans, had been made free by the Roman consul, P. Quinctius Flaminius. Livy says that when the herald had finished there was more good news than the people could receive all at once. They could scarcely believe that they had heard aright. They were looking on each other wonderingly, like sleepers on an empty dream. —John Le Clerc Clericus, 1657-1736.

We were like them that dream, etc. In the lapse of seventy years the hope of restoration to their land, so long deferred, had mostly gone out in despair, save as it rested (in some minds) on their faith in God's promise. The policy of those great powers in the East had long been settled, viz., to break up the old tribes and kingdoms of Western Asia; take the people into far eastern countries, and never let them return. No nation known to history, except the Jews, ever did return to rebuild their ancient cities and homes. Hence this joyous surprise. —Henry Cowles, in "The Psalms; with Notes," 1872.

Like them that dream. It was no dream; it was Jacob's dream become a reality. It was the promise, "I will bring thee back into this land" (Ge 28:15), fulfilled beyond all their hope. —William Kay, in "The Psalms, with Notes, chiefly exegetical," 1871.

We were like them that dream. The words should rather be translated, "We are like unto those that are restored to health." The Hebrew word signifies to recover, or, to be restored to health. And so the same word is translated in Isa 38:1-22, when Hezekiah recovered, he made a psalm of praise, and said, "O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live." It is the same word that is used here. Thus Cajetan, Shindior, and others would have it translated here; and it suits best with the following words, "Then were our mouths filled with laughter, and our tongues with praise." When a man is in a good dream, his mouth is not filled with laughter, nor his tongue with praise: if a man be in a bad dream, his mouth is not filled with laughter, nor his tongue with praise; but when a man is restored to health after a great sickness, it is so. —William Bridge, 1600-1670.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, etc. We must earnestly endeavour to learn this practice, or at the least to attain to some knowledge thereof; and we must raise up ourselves with this consideration —that the gospel is nothing else but laughter and joy. This joy properly pertaineth to captives, that is, to those that feel the captivity of sin and death; to the fleshy and tender hearts, terrified with the feeling of the wrath and judgment of God. These are the disciples in whose hearts should be planted laughter and joy, and that by the authority of the Holy Ghost, which this verse setteth forth. This people was in Zion, and, after the outward show of the kingdom and priesthood, did mightily flourish; but if a man consider them according to the spirit, he shall see them to be in miserable captivity, and that their tongue is full of heaviness and mourning, because their heart is terrified with the sense of sin and death. This is Moses' tongue or Moses' mouth, full of wormwood and of the bitterness of death; wherewith he designs to kill none but those which are too lively and full of security. But they who feel their captivity shall have their mouths filled with laughter and joy: that is, redemption and deliverance from sin and death shall be preached unto them. This is the sense and meaning of the Holy Ghost, that the mouth of such shall be filled with laughter, that is, their mouth shall show forth nothing else but great gladness through the inestimable consolations of the gospel, with voices of triumph and victory by Christ, overcoming Satan, destroying death, and taking away sins. This was first spoken unto the Jews; for this laughter was first offered to that people, then having the promises. Now he turneth to the Gentiles, whom he calleth to the partaking of this laughter. —Martin Luther.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, etc. It was thus in the valley of Elah, where Goliath fell, and Philistia fled. It was thus at Baal Perazim. It was thus when one morning, after many nights of gloom, Jerusalem arose at dawn of day, and found Sennacherib's thousands a camp of the dead. And it has all along been the manner of our God.

"The Lord has wrought mightily

In what he has done for us;

And we have been made glad."

Ever do this till conflict is over! Just as thou dost with the streams of the south, year by year, so do with us —with all, with each. And we are confident thou wilt; we are sure that we make no vain boast when we sing this psalm as descriptive of the experience of all thy pilgrims and worshippers. —Andrew A. Bonar, in "Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms," 1859.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter. They that were laughed at, now laugh, and a new song is put into their mouths. It was a laughter of joy in God, not scorn of their enemies. —Matthew Henry.

Mouth, tongue. Lorinus, the Jesuit, hath observed that the Psalmist nominates the mouth and tongue in the singular, not mouths and tongues in the plural; because all the faithful and the whole congregation of the Jews univoce, with one voice, with one consent, and, as it were, with one mouth, did praise and glorify the Lord. —John Hume.

And our tongue with singing. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; and if the heart be glad the tongue is glib. Joy cannot be suppressed in the heart, but it must be expressed with the tongue. —John Hume.

Then said they among the heathen. And what is it they said? It is to the purpose. In this (as in many others) the heathens' saying cannot be mended. This they say: 1. That they were no quotidian, or common things; but "great". 2. Then, these great things they ascribe not to chance;that they happened not, but were "done". 3. Then, "done" by God himself:they see God in them. 4. Then, not done by God at random, without any particular aim; but purposely done for them. 5. And yet, there is more in magnificavit facere (if we look well). For, magna fecit would have served all this; but in saying "magnificavit facere", they say magnifecit illos, ut magna faceret pro illis. He magnified them, or set greatly by them, tor whom he would bring to pass so great a work. This said they among the "heathen." And it is pity the "heathen" said it, and that the Jew's themselves spake not these words first. But now, finding the "heathen" so saying; and finding it was all true that they said, they must needs find themselves bound to say at least as much; and more they could not say; for more cannot be said. So much then, and no less than they. And this addeth a degree to the dicebant, —that the sound of it was so great among the heathen that it made an echo even in Jewry itself. —Lancelot Andrews.

The Lord hath done great things. He multiplied to do great things;so the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic versions render it; and the history of this deliverance makes it good. —Thomas Hodges, in a Sermon entitled "Sion's Hallelujah," 1660.

Verses 2-3. There is this great difference between the praise which the heathen are forced to give to God, and that which the Lord's people heartily offer unto him: the one doth speak as having no interest nor share in the mercy; the other do speak as they to whom the mercy is intended, and wherein they have their portion with others: He hath done great things for them, say the heathen: but, he hath done great things for us, say the Lord's people. —David Dickson, 1583-1662.

The Lord hath done great things for us, etc. This verse is the marrow of the whole psalm, occasioned by the return of God's people out of Babel's captivity into their own country. Their deliverance was so great and incredible that when God brought it to pass they were as men in a dream, thinking it rather a dream, and a vain imagination, than a real truth. 1. Because it was so great a deliverance from so great and lasting a bondage, it seemed too good to be true. 2. It was sudden and unexpected, when they little thought or hoped for it...3. All things seemed desperate, nothing more unlikely, or impossible rather. 4. The manner was so admirable (without the counsel, help, or strength of man: nay, it was beyond and against all human means); that they doubt whether these things be not the dreams of men that are awake. —Thomas Taylor (1576-1632), in "A Mappe of Pwme."

For us. What were we, might Sion say (who were glad to lick the dust of the feet of our enemies), that the Lord of heaven and earth should look so graciously upon us? The meanness of the receiver argues the magnificence of the giver. "Who am I, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?" this was a true and religious compliment of devout Elizabeth. The best of men are but the children of dust, and grandchildren of nothing. And yet for the Lord to do great things for us! this yet greatens those "great things". Was it because we were his church? It was his super abounding grace to select us out of others, as it was our greater gracelessness, above all others, so to provoke him, as to force him to throw us into captivity. Or was it because our humiliation, in that disconsolate condition, did move him to so great compassion? Alas! there was a choice of nations whom he might have taken in our room, that might have proved far more faithful than we have been for the one half of those favours we have enjoyed. Or was it for his covenant's sake with our forefathers? Alas! we had forfeited that long since, again and again, we know not how often. Wherefore, when we remember ourselves, we cannot but make this an aggravation of God's "great things", that he should do them for us, FOR US, so very, very unworthy. —Malachiah or Matthew Harris, in a Sermon entitled "Brittaines Hallelujah," 1639.

Turn again our captivity, O LORD. A prayer for the perfecting of their deliverance. Let those that are returned to their own land be eased of their burdens which they are yet groaning under. Let those that remain in Babylon have their hearts stirred up, as ours were, to take the benefit of the liberty granted. The beginnings of mercy are encouragements to us to pray for the completing of it. While we are here in this world, there will still be matter for prayer, even when we are most furnished with matter for praise. When we are free, and in prosperity ourselves, we must not be unmindful of our brethren that are in trouble and under restraint. —Matthew Henry.

Turn again our captivity. As Israel of old prayed that he would bring all their brethren scattered abroad in captivity back to their own land in one full stream, multitudinous, joyous, mighty, like the waters of Nile or Euphrates pouring over the parching fields of the south in the hot, dry summertime; so now should the members of Christ's church ever pray that all that profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. —J. W. Burgon, in "A Plain Commentary," 1859.

The Psalmist cries —

"Turn our captivity, O Jehovah,

As aqueducts in the Negeb."

This Negeb, or South Country, the region stretching below Hebron, being comparatively dry and without water, was doubtless irrigated by a system of small artificial channels. The words of the Psalmist imply that it is as easy for God to turn Israel back from Babylonian bondage to their own land, as for the horticulturist to direct the waters of the spring to any part of the land he chooses along the channels of the aqueducts. —James Neil.

As the streams in the south. Then shall our captivity be perfectly changed, even as the rivers or waters in the south, which by the mighty work of God were dried up and utterly consumed. Whether ye understand here the Red Sea, or else the river of Jordan, it matters little. The similitude is this: Like as by the mighty hand thou broughtest to pass miraculously that the waters were dried up and consumed, so dry up, O Lord, and bring to nothing all our captivity. Some do interpret this verse otherwise; that is, Turn our captivity, O Lord, as the rivers in the south, which in the summer are dried up in the desert places by the heat of the sun, but in the winter are filled up again with plenty of water. —Martin Luther.

Streams. The Hebrew word for "streams" means strictly a river's bed, the channel which holds water when water is there, but is often dry. Naturally there is joy for the husbandman when those valley beds are filled again with flowing waters. So, the prayer is, let thy people return joyfully to their fatherland. —Henry Cowles.

As the streams in the south. Some render it, As the mighty waters in the south. Why would they have their captivity turned like those mighty floods in the south? The reason is this, because the south is a dry country, where there are few springs, scarce a fountain to be found in a whole desert. What, then, are the waters they have in the south, in those parched countries? They are these mighty strong torrents, which are caused by the showers of heaven: so the meaning of that prayer in the psalm is, that God would suddenly turn their captivity. Rivers come suddenly in the south: where no spring appears, nor any sign of a river, yet in an hour the water is up and the streams overflow. As when Elijah sent his servant toward the sea, in the time of Ahab, he went and looked, and said, "there is nothing"; that is, no show of rain, not the least cloud to be seen; yet presently the heavens grew black, and there was a great rain: 1Ki 18:44. Thus let our captivity be turned thus speedily and suddenly, though there be no appearance of salvation, no more than there is of a fountain in the sandy desert, or of rain in the clearest of heavens, yet bring salvation for us. We use to say of things beyond our supply, Have we a spring of them? or can we fetch them out of the clouds? So though no ground appears whence such rivers should flow, yet let our salvation be as rivers in the south, as rivers fetched out of the clouds, and dropped in an instant immediately from the heavens. —Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673.

Verses 4-6. The saints are oft feeding their hopes on the carcases of their slain fears. The time which God chose and the instrument he used to give the captive Jews their gaol delivery and liberty to return home were so incredible to them when it came to pass (like Peter whom the angel had carried out of prison, Ac 12:1-25), it was some time before they could come to themselves and resolve whether it was a real truth, or but a pleasing dream. Now see, what effect this strange disappointment of their fears had upon their hope for afterward. It sends them to the throne of grace for the accomplishment of what was so marvellously begun. "The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord": Ps 126:3-4. They have got a handhold by this experiment of his power and mercy, and they will not now let him go till they have more; yea, their hope is raised to such a pitch of confidence, that they draw a general conclusion from this particular experience for the comfort of themselves or others in any future distress: "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy", etc., Ps 126:5-6. —William Gumall, 1617-1679.

They that sow in tears. I never saw people sowing in tears exactly, but have often known them to do it in fear and distress sufficient to draw them from any eye. In seasons of great scarcity, the poor peasants part in sorrow with every measure of precious seed cast into the ground. It is like taking bread out of the mouths of their children; and in such times many bitter tears are actually shed over it. The distress is frequently so great that government is obliged to furnish seed, or none would be sown. Ibrahim Pasha did this more than once within my remembrance, copying the example, perhaps, of his great predecessor in Egypt when the seven years famine was ended. The thoughts of this psalm may likewise have been suggested by the extreme danger which frequently attends the farmer in his ploughing and sowing. The calamity which fell upon the husbandmen of Job when the oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them away, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword (Job 1:14-15), is often repeated in our day. To understand this you must remember what I have just told you about the situation of the arable lands in the open country; and here again we meet that verbal accuracy: the sower "goes forth" —that is, from the village. The people of Ibel and Khiem, in Merj' Aiyun, for example, have their best grain growing fields down in the 'Ard Hfileh, six or eight miles from their homes, and just that much nearer the lawless border of the desert. When the country is disturbed, or the government weak, they cannot sow these lands except at the risk of their lives. Indeed, they always go forth in large companies, and completely armed, ready to drop the plough and seize the musket at a moment's warning; and yet, with all this care, many sad and fatal calamities overtake the men who must thus sow in tears. And still another origin may be found for the thoughts of the psalm in the extreme difficulty of the work itself in many places. The soil is rocky, impracticable, overgrown with sharp thorns; and it costs much painful toil to break up and gather out the rock, cut and burn the briars, and to subdue the stubborn soil, especially with their feeble oxen and insignificant ploughs. Join all these together, and the sentiment is very forcibly brought out, that he who labours hard, in cold and rain, in fear and danger, in poverty and in want, casting his precious seed into the ground, will surely come again, at harvest time, with rejoicing, and bearing his sheaves with him. —W.M. Thomson.

They that sow in tears shalt reap in joy, etc. This promise is conveyed under images borrowed from the instructive scenes of agriculture. In the sweat of his brow the husbandman tills his land, and casts the seed into the ground, where for a time it lies dead and buried. A dark and dreary winter succeeds, and all seems to be lost; but at the return of spring universal nature revives, and the once desolate fields are covered with corn which, when matured by the sun's heat, the cheerful reapers cut down, and it is brought home with triumphant shouts of joy. Here, O disciple of Jesus, behold an emblem of lily present labour and thy future reward! Thou "sowest", perhaps, in "tears"; thou doest thy duty amidst persecution, and affliction, sickness, pain, and sorrow; you labour in the Church, and no account is made of thy labours, no profit seems likely to arise from them. Say, thou must thyself drop into the dust of death, and all the storms of that winter must pass over thee, until thy form shall be perished, and thou shalt see corruption. Yet the day is coming when thou shalt "reap in joy", and plentiful shall be thy harvest. For thus thy blessed Master "went forth weeping", a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, "bearing precious seed" and sowing it around him, till at length his own body was buried, like a grain of wheat, in the furrow of the grave. But he arose, and is now in heaven, from whence he shall "doubtless come again with rejoicing", with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, "bringing his sheaves with him". Then shall every man receive the fruit of his works, and have praise of God. —George Horne (1730-1792), in "A Commentary on the Psalms."

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They sow in faith;and God will bless that seed: it shall grow up to heaven, for it is sown in the side of Jesus Christ who is in heaven. "He that believeth on God", this is the seed; "shall have everlasting life" (Joh 5:24); this is the harvest. Qui credit quod non videt, videbit quod credit, —he that believes what he doth not see; this is the seed: shall one day see what he hath believed; this is the harvest.

They sow in obedience:this is also a blessed seed, that will not fail to prosper Wheresoever it is cast. "If ye keep my commandments"; this is the seed: "ye shall abide in my love" (Joh 15:10); this is the harvest. (Ro 6:22), "Ye are become servants to God, and have your fruit unto holiness"; this is the sowing: "and the end everlasting life"; this is the reaping. Obedientia in tetris, regnabit in coelis, —he that serves God on earth, and sows the seed of obedience, shall in heaven reap the harvest of a kingdom.

They sow in repentance;and this seed must needs grow up to blessedness...Many saints have now reaped their crop in heaven, that sowed their seed in tears. David, Mary Magdalene, Peter: as if they had made good the proverb, "No coming to heaven with dry eyes." Thus nature and God differ in their proceedings. To have a good crop on earth, we desire a fair seedtime; but here a wet time of sowing shall bring the best harvest in the barn of heaven. "Blessed are they that mourn"; this is the seeding: "for they shall be comforted" (Mt 5:4); this is the harvest.

They sow in renouncing the world, and adherence to Christ; and they reap a great harvest. "Behold", saith Peter to Christ, "we have forsaken all, and followed thee" (Mt 19:27); this is the seeding. "What shall we have therefore?" What? "You shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Mt 19:28-29); all that you have lost shall be centupled to you: "and you shall inherit everlasting life"; this is the harvest. "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, and reap in mercy": Ho 10:12.

They sow in charity. He that sows this seed shall be sure of a plentiful crop. "Whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only" —a little refreshing —"in the name of a disciple; verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward": Mt 10:42. But if he that giveth a little shall be thus recompensed, then "he that soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully": 2Co 9:6. Therefore sparse abroad with a full hand, like a seeds man in a broad field, without fear. Doth any think he shall lose by his charity? No worldling, when he sows his seed, thinks he shall lose his seed; he hopes for increase at harvest. Do you dare trust the ground and not God? Sure God is a better paymaster than the earth: grace doth give a larger recompense than nature. Below thou mayest receive forty grains for one; but in heaven, (by the promise of Christ,)a hundred fold: a "measure heapen, and shaken, and thrust together, and yet running over." "Blessed is he that considereth the poor"; this is the seeding: "the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trouble" (Ps 41:1); this is the harvest. —Thomas Adams.

They that sow in tears, etc. Observe two things here.

1. That the afflictions of God's people are as sowing in tears.

(a) In sowing ye know there is great pains. The land must be first tilled and dressed; and there is pains in casting the seed into it; and then it takes a great dressing all the year, before it be set in the barnyard.

(b) It requires great charges, too, and therefore it is called "precious seed." For ye know that seed corn is aye dearest.

(c) There is also great hazard; for corn, after it is sown, is subject to many dangers. And so it is with the children of God in a good cause.

2. Then after the seed time follows the harvest, and that comes with joy. There be three degrees of the happiness of God's children, in reaping of fruits.

(a) In the first fruits. Even when they are enduring anything for the Gospel of Christ, it carries contentment and fruit with it.

(b) After the first fruits, then come sheaves to refresh the husbandman, and to assure him that the full harvest is coming. The Lord now and then gives testimony of a full deliverance to his own people, especially of the deliverance of Sion, and lets them taste of the sheaves which they have reaped.

(c) And lastly, they get the full harvest; and that is gotten at the great and last day. Then we get peace without trouble, joy without grief, profit without loss, pleasure without pain; and then we have a full sight of the face of God. —Alexander Henderson.

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Gospel tears are not lost; they are seeds of comfort: while the penitent doth pour out tears, God pours in joy. If thou wouldst be cheerful, saith Chrysostom, be sad. It was the end of Christ's anointing and coming into the world, that he might comfort them that mourn: Isa 61:3. Christ had the oil of gladness poured on him, as Chrysostom saith, that he might pour it on the mourner; well then might the apostle call it "a repentance not to be repented of": 2Co 7:10 ...Here is sweet fruit from a bitter stock: Christ caused the earthen vessels to be filled with water, and then turned the water into wine: Joh 2:9. So when the eye, that earthen vessel, hath been filled with water brim full, then Christ will turn the water of tears into the wine of joy. Holy mourning, saith St. Basil, is the seed out of which the flower of eternal joy doth grow. —Thomas Watson (-1690?), in "The Beatitudes."

They that sow in tears shall reap. We must take notice of the reapers: "They shall reap." Which they? They that did sow; they shall, and none but they shall. They shall; and good reason they should, because it was they that did sow. And though some that have sown in tears do complain of the lateness or thinness of the harvest, that they have not reaped in joy, as is here promised; know that some grounds are later than others, and in some years the harvest falleth later than in others, and that God, who is the Lord of the harvest, in his good time will ripen thy joy, and thou shalt reap it: and in the meantime, if we try it narrowly, we shall find the cause in ourselves, both of the lateness of our joy, because we were too late in sowing our tears; and of the thinness of our joy, because we did sow our tears too thin. And if after our sowing of tears we find no harvest of joy at all, we may be well assured that either our seed was not good, or else some of the mischances are come upon them, which came upon the seed that came to no good in the thirteenth of Matthew. —Walter Balcanqual, in "a Sermon preached at St. Marice Spittle," 1623.

They that sow in tears, etc. I saw in seedtime a husbandman at plough in a very rainy day. Asking him the reason why he would not rather leave off than labour in such foul weather, his answer was returned me in their country rhythm: —

"Sow beans in the mud,

And they'll come up like a wood."

This could not but remind me of David's expression, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy", etc. —Thomas Fuller (1608-1661), in "Good Thoughts in Worse Times."

Sow in tears. There are tears which are themselves the seed that we must sow; tears of sorrow for sin, our own and others; tears of sympathy with the afflicted church; and tears of tenderness in prayer and under the word. —Matthew Henry.

Shall reap in joy. This spiritual harvest comes not alike soon to all, no more than the other which is outward doth. But here the comfort, whoever hath a seed time of grace pass over his soul shall have his harvest time also of joy: this law God hath bound himself to as strongly as to the other, which "is not to cease while the earth remaineth" (Ge 8:22); yea, more strongly; for that was to the world in general, not to every country, town, or field in particular, for some of these may want a harvest, and yet God may keep his word: but God cannot perform his promise if any one particular saint should everlastingly go without his reaping time. And therefore you who think so basely of the gospel and the professors of it, because at present their peace and comfort are not come, should know that it is on the way to them, and comes to stay everlastingly with them; whereas your peace is going from you every moment, and is sure to leave you without any hope of returning to you again. Look not how the Christian begins, but ends. The Spirit of God by his convictions comes into the soul with some terrors, but it closes with peace and joy. As we say of the month of March, it enters like a lion, but goes out like a lamb. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace": Ps 37:37. —William Gumall.

Verses 5-6. In my little reading and small experience, I have found that corn sown in dear years and times of scarcity hath yielded much more increase than at other times; so that presently after much want, there hath followed great plenty of grain, even beyond expectation. —Humphrey Hardwick, in a Sermon entitled "The Difficulty of Sion's Deliverance and Reformation," 1644.

Verses 5-6. Mind we the undoubted certainty of our harvest verified by divers absolute positive asseverations in the text: "he shall reap"; "he shall come again"; "he shall bring his sheaves with him." Here's no item of contingency or possibility, but all absolute affirmations; and you know heaven and earth shall pass away, but a jot of God's word shall not fail. Nothing shall prevent the harvest of a labourer in Sion's vineyard. —Humphrey Hardwick.

Verses 5-6. In a fuller, deeper sense, the sower in tears is the Man of sorrows himself. Believers know him thus. He has accomplished, in the sore travail of his soul, the seed time of affliction which is to bear its satisfying harvest when he shall again appear as the reaper of his own reward. He will fill his bosom with sheaves in that day of joy. The garner of his gladness will be filled to overflowing. By how much his affliction surpassed the natural measure of human grief, when he underwent for our sakes the dread realities of death and judgment; by so much shall the fulness of his pure delight as the eternal blesser of his people excel their joy (yet what a measure, too, is there!) whose sum of blessedness is to be for ever with the Lord. —Arthur Pridham, in "Notes and Reflections on the Psalms," 1869.

He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, etc. This is very expressive of a gospel minister's life; he goeth forth with the everlasting gospel which he preaches; he sows it as precious seed in the church of God; he waters it with tears and prayers; the Lord's blessing accompanies it; the Lord crowns his labours with success; he has seals to his ministry; and at the last day he shall doubtless come again with joy from the grave of death bringing his sheaves with him; and will, in the new Jerusalem state, be addressed by his Lord with, "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." —Samuel Eyles Pierce (1746-1829?), in "The Book of Psalms, an Epitome of the Old Testament Scripture."

He may go forth, he may go forth, and weep, bearing (his) load of seed. He shall come, he shall come with singing, bearing sheaves. The emphatic combination of the finite tense with the infinitive is altogether foreign from our idiom, and very imperfectly represented, in the ancient and some modern versions, by the active participle (venientes venient, coming they shall come), which conveys neither the peculiar form nor the precise sense of the Hebrew phrase. The best approximation to the force of the original is Luther's repetition of the finite tense, he shall come, he shall come, because in all such cases the infinitive is really defined or determined by the term which follows, and in sense, though not in form, assimilated to it. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

"Though he go, though he go, and be weeping,

While bearing some handfuls of seed;

He shall come, he shall come with bright singing,

While bearing his plentiful sheaves." —Ben Tehillim, in "The Book of Psalms, in English Blank Verse," 1883.

Goeth forth. The church must not only keep this seed in the store house, for such as come to enquire for it; but must send her sowers forth to cast it among those who are ignorant of its value, or too indifferent to ask it at her hands. She must not sit weeping because men will not apply to her, but must go forth and bear the precious seed to the unwilling, the careless, the prejudiced, and the profligate. —Edwin Sidney, in "The Pulpit," 1840.

Weeping must not hinder sowing: when we suffer ill we must be doing well. —Matthew Henry.

Precious seed. Seed corn is always dearest; and when other corn is dear, then it is very dear; yet though never so dear, the husbandman resolves that he must have it; and he will deprive his own belly, and his wife and children of it, and will sow it, going out "weeping" with it. There is also great hazard; for corn, after it is sown, is subject to many dangers. And so is it, indeed, with the children of God in a good cause. Ye must resolve to undergo hazards also, in life, lands, movables, or whatsoever else ye have in this world: rather hazard all these before either religion be in hazard, or your own souls. —Alexander Henderson.

Precious seed. Aben Ezra, by the words rendered precious seed, or, as they may be, a draught of seed, understands the vessel in which the sower carries his seed, the seed basket, from whence he draws and takes out the seed, and scatters it; see Am 9:13: so the Targum, "bearing a tray of sowing corn." —John Gill.

Precious seed. Faith is called "precious seed": quod tatum est charurn est. Seed was accounted precious when all countries came unto Egypt to buy corn of Joseph, and truly faith must needs be precious, seeing that when Christ comes he shall hardly "find faith upon the earth": Lu 18:8. The necessity of faith is such, that therefore it must need be precious; for as the material seed is the only instrumental means to preserve the life of man; for all the spices, honey, myrrh, nuts, and almonds, gold and silver, that were in Canaan, were not sufficient for Jacob and his children's sustenance; but they were forced to repair unto Egypt for corn, that they might live and not die; even so, without faith the soul is starved; it is the food of it; for, "the just man liveth by his faith": Ga 3:11. —John Hume.

Sheaves. The psalm which begins with "dream" and ends with "sheaves" invites us to think of Joseph; Joseph, "in whom", according to S. Ambrose's beautiful application, "there was revealed the future resurrection of the Lord Jesus, to whom both his eleven disciples did obeisance when they saw him gone into Galilee, and to whom all the saints shall on their resurrection do obeisance, bringing forth the fruit of good works, as it is written, "He shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." —H. T. Armfield.

1. Sunny memories of what the Lord did, "he turned again the captivity", etc.

2. Singular impressions, —we could not believe it to be true.

3. Special discoveries —it was true, abiding, etc.

A comparison and a contrast.

1. The saved like them that dream. a) In the strangeness of their experience. b) In the ecstasy of their joy.

2. The saved unlike them that dream. a) In the reality of their experience. Dreams are unsubstantial things, but "the Lord turned" —an actual fact. b) In their freedom from disappointment. No awakening to find it "but a dream": see Isa 29:8.

3. In the endurance of their joy. The joy of dreams is soon forgotten, but this is "everlasting joy." —W. H. J. P.

Saintly laughter. What creates it, and how it is justified.

Recipe for holy laughter.

1. Lie in prison a few weeks.

2. Hear the Lord turning the key.

3. Follow him into the high road.

4. Your sky will burst with sunshine, and your heart with song and laughter.

5. If this recipe is thought too expensive, try keeping in the high road. —W. B. H.

Verses 2-3.

1. Reports of God's doings.

2. Experience of God's doings.

Verses 2-3.

1. The Lord does great things for his people.

2. These great things command the attention of the world.

3. They inspire the joyful devotion of the saints. —W. H. J. P.

The LORD hath done great things for us. In this acknowledgment and confession there are three noteworthy points of thankfulness.

1. That they were "great things" which were done.

2. Who it was who did them: "the Lord." 3. That they are done: not against us, but "for us." —Alexander Henderson, 1583-1646.

Believers, rejoicing in their own deliverance, solicitous for a flood of prosperity to overflow the church. See the connection, Ps 126:1-3. Remark,

1. The doubting and despondent are too concerned about themselves, and too busy seeking comfort, to have either solicitude or energy to spare for the church's welfare; but the joyful heart is free to be earnest for the church's good.

2. Joyful believers, other things being equal, know more of the constraining power of Christ's love, which makes them anxious for his glory and the success of his cause.

3. The joyful can appreciate more fully the contrast of their condition to that of the undelivered, and for their sake cannot fail to be anxious for the church through whose ministry their deliverance comes.

4. The joyful are, in general, the most believing and the most hopeful; their expectation of success leads them to prayer, and impels them to effort. —J. F.

1. The dried up Christian.

2. His unhappy condition.

3. His one hope.

4. Result when realized.

The Christian Husbandman.

1. Illustrate the metaphor. The husbandman has a great variety of work before him; every season and every day brings its proper business. So the Christian has duties in the closet, in the family, in the church, in the world, etc., etc.

2. Whence it is that many Christians sow in tears. a) It may be owing to the badness of the soil. b) The inclemency of the season. c) The malice and opposition of enemies. d) Past disappointments.

3. What connection there is between sowing in tears and reaping in joy. a) A joyful harvest, by God's blessing, is the natural consequence of a dripping seed time. b) God, who cannot lie, hath promised it.

4. When this joyful harvest may be expected. It must not be expected in our wintry world, for there is not sun enough to ripen it. Heaven is the Christian's summer. When you come to reap the fruits of your present trials, you will bless God, who made you sow in tears. Improvement. a) How greatly are they to blame who in this busy time stand all the day idle! b) How greatly have Christians the advantage of the rest of the world! c) Let the hope and prospect of this joyful harvest support us under all the glooms and distresses of this vale of tears. —Outline of a Sermon by Samuel Lavington, 1726-1807.

Two pictures. The connecting "shall."

1. There must be sowing before reaping.

2. What men sow they will reap. If they sow precious seed, they will reap precious seed.

3. In proportion as they sow they will reap. "He that soweth sparingly", etc.

4. The sowing may be with sorrow, but the reaping will be with joy.

5. In proportion to the sorrow of sowing will be the joy of reaping. —G. R.

In the two parts of this verse we may behold a threefold antithesis or opposition; in the progress,

1. A sojourning: "He that now goeth on his way."

2. A sorrowing: "weeping."

3. A sowing: "and beareth forth good seed." In the regress there are three opposites unto these.

1. Returning: "He shall doubtless come again."

2. A Rejoicing: "with joy."

3. A Reaping: "and bring his sheaves with him." —John Hume.

"Doubtless." Or the reasons why our labour cannot be in vain in the Lord.

Bringing his sheaves with him. The faithful sower's return to his Lord. Successful, knowing it, personally honoured, abundantly recompensed.

See "Spurgeon's Sermons" No. 867: "Tearful Sowing and Joyful Reaping."

1. The sorrowful sower. a) His activity —"he goeth forth." b) His humility —"and weepeth." c) His fidelity —"bearing precious seed."

2. The joyful reaper. a) His certain harvest time —"shall doubtless come again." b) His abundant joy —"with rejoicing." c) His rich rewards —"bringing his sheaves with him." —W. H. J. P.

WORK UPON THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIXTH PSALM

The Jews' deliverance out of Babylon, and the mystery of our Redemption: Plainely demonstrated in ten Sermons upon the 126. Psalme. ...Preached in Yorkshire, By John Hume, Minister of the Word ... London...1628 4to.

The .126. Psalme. VVhen the Lord brought agayne, &c.

The argument of the Psalme. Touching the captiuitie whereof the Prophet speaketh in this Psalme, the interpreters doe not agree. Some vnderstand it to be means of the captiuities of Babylon: some of the captiuitie vnder the Romanes: other some doeth take that the Prophete meaneth here all the captiuitie and deliuerances of this people, according to that promise, Deut. 40. That if they should at any time be ledde into captiuitie for their transgressions, and by repentance shoulde returne vnto the Lord, he would shew mercy vnto them, and bring them home into their land againe. Of what maner of captiuitie this Psalme treateth. But in myne opinion they goe neare to the true sense and meaning of the Psalme, which doe referre it to that great & general captiuitie of mankind [illegible: 1 letter]nder sinne, death, and the deuill: & to the redemption purchased by the death and bloodsheding of Christ and published in the Gospel. For this kind of speech which the Prophet vseth here, is of greater importance then that it may be applyed onely to these particular captiuities. For what great matter was it for this people of the Iewes being as it were but a litle handfull, to be deliuered out of temporall captiuitie, in comparison of the exceeding and incomparable deliuerance whereby mankinde was s[illegible: 1 letter]e at libertie from the power of their enemies, not temporall but eternall, euen from death, Satan, and hell it selfe, Wherefore we take this Psalme to be a prophecy of the redemption that should come by Iesus Christ, & the publishing of the Gospell, whereby the kingdom of Christ is aduaunced, death and the deuill, with all the powers of darkenes are vanquished. This Psalme being thus generally vnderstand, may afterward be applyed to euery particular deliuerance.

Verse. 1. VVhen the Lorde bringeth againe the captiuitie [or captiues] of Syon, we shall be like them that dreame.

By Syon is signified that people which had the promise of the comming of Christ. For redemption and saluation was first promised to the people of Syon and to the children of Abraham after the flesh. This people was in bondage vnder the lawe, and by the lawe, vnder the captiuitie of death and sinne. Now, if this people complaine of their captiuitie, and sigh for their deliuerance, what [illegible: 2 letters]all we thinke of the Gentiles which liued in idolatry, & in their owne lustes without any law, & without God. He could not therefore haue signified a more generall and more greeuous captiuitie, then when he saith that his owne people of Syon did long for this deliuerance, which in outward appearance was moste holy, & vnder Dauid and Saul did mightely flourish. But beholde how liuely [illegible: 1 letter]e setteth foorth that ioy which should followe this deliuerance. We shall be, saith he, like them that dreame. By this kinde of speech he expresseth the greatnes of their ioy, meaning that this ioy and gladnes should be so great, that the hart of man should not be able to conceiue it. As if he should say: when we shall heare of, yea when we shall in deede feele and enioy this deliuerance from sinne & death, so farre passing all that we could hope or looke for, the ioy therof shall be so great, that it shall seeme to vs but vs a [illegible: 1 letter]reame. For so we see it come to passe also euen in particular deliuerances, when God suddenly deliuereth his seruaunts out of an[illegible: 1 letter] great trouble or affliction. Act. 12. So it hapned to Peter when he was deliuered by the Angell out of prison. Likewise when it was said to Iacob: Ioseph thy sonne liueth, and ruleth ouer all the land of Egypt: he was as one reysed out of a dreame, Gen. 45. and could not beleue it vntill it was shewed vnto him by certaine tokens to be true in deede.

Here then is set foorth vnto vs the inestimable grace whereby we are redemed, through the blood of the sonne of God, who did not spare him selfe and his owne life that he might set vs free from the power of the deuill the wrath of God, death and eternall damnation. But mans hart is not able, as is said, to comprehende these thinges. The more feeling and [illegible: 1 letter]ast he hath therof, the greater alacritie & courage hath he to goe through all daungers. The lesse feeling he hath, the more he is shaken with terrours, and at the length looking backe to Egypt with the Israelites, seeketh other helpes▪ Our heart therfore must wholly rest in this redemption, & we must labour to haue some part of this tast and feling which the Prophet rightly compareth to a most ioyful & pleasant dreame.

They that further list to inlarge this inestimable benefite of Christ or this deliuerāce, haue here occasion to amplyfie the same, first by the person of the redemer, then by ye person of the redemed, by their former state and misery, of the power of the deuill, of the hugenes and horrour of death, of the force of sinne, &c. For these things had wholly deuoured all mankind, & could not be ouercome but by ye sonne of God. This is that vnspeakeable & most glorious redemption, which rauisheth & astonisheth ye mind with ioy. They therefore that feele not this ioy, haue not truely receiued nor felte this benefit, but the word is as a [illegible: 1 letter]ome or a froth in their mouthes.

Verse. 2. Then shall our mouth be filled with laughter and our tongue with ioy. Then will they say emong the heathen: The Lord hath done great things for them.

This Psalme hath in it a singular maiesty & therfore the Prophet vseth here many figuratiue or borrowed speeches. By laughter he signifieth ye voice of the Gospell. For y• Gospel should be to vs nothing else but ioy & gladnes, especially if we compare it with ye law. For ye law terrifieth & killeth: whose vse [illegible: 1 letter] office is, to br[illegible: 3 letters] & to mollifie the hard & stony harts of the impenitent, as Ezechiel saith. For they must be broken with this yron scepter (as it were) and beaten downe to hell as the Psalme prayeth: Psal. 9. Let the wicked be turned into hell and all nations that forget God. For seeing they haue a heart of yron, and as the Prophet sayth, a brasen forehead, they must be terrified with the thundrings of the lawe, that is, they must be brought to the feare of Gods iudgement and filled with the terrour of death, as it hapned to the people of Israell at the mount Sina when the law was published by the voyce of the Lord. But they that haue a fleshy heart, that is to say, a soft and a tender heart, may not be killed with the law, but reuiued and raysed vp with an other kinde of doctrine, which the holy Ghost here calleth laughter and ioy, that is to say, the Gospell. This is the right diuiding of the word which S. Paule speaketh of,2. Tim. 2. to preach & set forth to the impenitent and hard harted, the threatnings of the law, the wrath of God against sinne & the terrours of Gods iudgement: but to the weake and broken harted, the sweete comforts of the Gospell, that they which are secure & without feare, may nowe learne to feare the Lord: and they that are to much oppressed with feare, may be of good comfort and now begin to trust in the Lord. This difference betwene the law and the Gospel is wel knowne, but by experience and practise it is not so well knowne. For our infirmitie is such that we are rather touched with the sense of sinne and death then with the laughter and ioy, that is, the sweete comfortes and ioyfull promises of the Gospell. For, to speake of my selfe and of mine owne feeling, the redemption and life giuen by Christ doth not so much pearce my hart, as it is terrified with one word or one cogitation of sinne and of the iudgement of God. The cause whereof is for that we can not sufficiently learne this difference betwene the lawe and the Gospell. For although it be both written and taught, yet is it not so effectually felt in the heart: Els should it follow that terrified heartes should cast away all heauines: for to them (as is sayd) perteyneth the voyce of laughter and ioy, and not the voyce of terrour and heauines.

And here also we find Satan to be our deadly aduersary, which most subtilly disputeth with vs touching the lawe, and vseth such arguments as we can not deny. For when he layeth vnto vs our sinnes, we are constreyned to confesse and to acknowledge them, which albeit we couer them some times before men, our conscience as a thousand witnesses pronounceth against vs, and wil not suffer vs to forget them or hide them. Whereof sometimes ariseth also a doubting or mistrust euen of holy workes: I speake nothing of those which are manifestly wicked. With these dartes Satan pearceth and greeuously woundeth the soft and tender hart, onely because this distinction is not so well knowne by practise as it is by speculation. Speculation is a naked knowledge without experience and practise. For if we had this practise in deede, we shoulde rightly discerne betwene the law & the Gospell, also betwene the disciples of the law and of the Gospel, & beate backe Satan with this answere, that like a lying spirite he seeketh nothing else, but to blind and deceiue the hart with falshood and lyes. For whereas hard and stony harts be, those he doth not kill or terrifie, but flattereth and filleth them with hope & faire promises: which doe not perteyne to such harts. Contrariwise, where as such tender and timorous heartes be, as are to much terrified already, and therefore should be confirmed & reised vp with the promises of the Gospell, those heartes Satan most of all, not onely goeth about further to afflict and terrifie, but to beate them downe also to vtter discomfort. Wherefore the Christian man must learne and labour by feeling and practise to make this distinction in his heart, and say vnto Satan: Away from me Satan with thy lyes. When I am void of the feare of God, secure and hard harted, then come and pleade the lawe against me: then will I heare thee: for then that is the tyme to teach the law. But since thou commest nowe vnto me with the law, whereas my heart is terrified already with sinne & death, I wil not heare thee: For thy doctrine perteyneth not vnto me, but laughter and ioy: not terrour and death.

So should Satan be aunswered when he goeth about to terrifie vs. But by experience we feele that when most neede is, our heart is not able thus to aunswere, although we haue heard these thinges before neuer so often. The cause is this: that albeit heauen be ours and wide open for vs, yet such is our nature, and such is our infirmitie that all this can not make vs so ioyfull, as the gaping gulph and horrour of hell doth terrifie vs: So that one cogitation of our sinnes doth more afflict vs, then all the teaching and preaching of the merites of Christ can comfort vs. Wherefore we must earnestly endeuour to learne this practise, or at the least to atteyne to some knowledge thereof, and reyse vp our selues with these wordes: that the Gospell is nothing else but laughter and ioy: which properly perteyneth to the captiues, that is, to those that feele the captiuitie of sinne and death, to the fleshy and tender heartes, terrified with the feeling of the wrath and iudgement of God. These are the Disciples in whose hearts should be planted laughter and ioy, and whiche onely should heare the voyce of ioy and gladnes in the tabernacles of the righteous, Psal. 117. and that by the authoritie of the holy Ghost: which this verse setteth foorth. For it signifieth that this people was in Sion, and after the outward shew of the kingdom and priesthood, did mightely flourish. But if a man consider them according to the spirite, he shall see them to be in miserable captiuitie, and that their tongue is full of heauines and mourning, because their heart is terrified with the sense of sinne and death. This is Moises tongue or Moises mouth, full of wormewoode and of the bitternes of death: wherewith he ought to kill those onely which are to liuely and full of securitie. But they which feele their captiuitie should haue their mouthes filled with laughter and ioy, that is, the redemption and deliueraunce from sinne and death, purchased by the bloode of Christ, should be preached vnto them. This is the sense and meaning of the holy Ghost, that the mouth of such should be filled with laughter, that is, their mouth should sound and shew forth nothing else but great gladnes and those inestimable consolations of the Gospell, with voyces of triumph and victory by Christ, ouercomming Satan, destroying death and taking away our sinnes. This was first spoken vnto the Iewes: for this laughter was first offered to that people, then hauing the promises. Now he turneth to the Gentiles, whome he calleth to the partaking of this laughter.

Then shall they say among the Gentiles, &c. The Gentiles naturally hated and disdayned the Iewes, and coulde abide nothing lesse then their religion. Yet these Gentiles, saith he, when this laughter, this ioy, shall be published and preached, shall maruell thereat, and shall praise the great workes as the Lorde. Nowe, the Gentiles would not thus doe, or esteeme this worke of God as a benefite, excepte they also should be partakers of the same. Therefore when the holy Ghoste saith, that the Gentiles should publish, praise and magnifie this benefite of the Iewes deliuerance out of captiuitie, he plainely signifieth withall that they shoulde be partakers of this deliuerance, and that they likewise shoulde extoll and magnifie this greate mercy of God, this deliuerance from sinne and death. To this doe almost all the Prophets beare witnesse. In the 8. of Zachary it is saide that out of all languages of the nations should take hold of the skirte of him that is a Iewe, and say: we will goe with you, for we haue hearde that God is with you. Which place of Zacharie seemeth to be taken out of this Psalme. In the first of Esaie likewise: All nations shall flow vnto the Lord, and many people shall go and say: Come and let vs goe vp to the mountaine of the Lord, to the house of the God of Iacob, and he will teach vs his wayes, and we will walke in his pathes, &c. These things doe make for our comfort, which are not of the seede of Abraham after the flesh. For albeit the promise was not made vnto vs, yet when it was accomplyshed we were made partakers thereof, but by the Iewes notwithstanding according to the wordes of the promise: In thy seede shall all nations be blessed. And sal[illegible: 1 letter]ation saith Christ commeth of ye Iewes. Thus doe we Gentiles pertaine to this redemption, although it was not due vnto vs (for to vs it was not promised) but came by the free mercy of God through this laughter and this ioy, whiche the Prophet speaketh of, published and preached not onely in Simon, but emongst the Gentiles also, which doe enioy all the good blessings and benefites of God togither with his holy people, as it followeth.

Verse. 3. The Lord hath done great things for vs, therefore we reioyce.

Here you see one Church gathered togither of the Iewes and of the Gentiles, and with one voyce magnifying the workes of the Lorde, that as Paule saith: with one minde and with one mouth God, Rom. 1.5. euen the father of our Lord Iesus Christ might be glorified. For as the Church of the Iewes singeth: The Lord hath done greate thinges for vs: so singeth the Church of the Gentiles also, being both partakers of one fruite, both knowne by one true signe to be the people of the Gospell, namely because they are the people of ioy and gladnes, as these wordes declare: Therefore we reioyce.

Consider now the kingdom of the Pope and the horrible abomination thereof. In the which there was nothing hearde, seene, taught, redde or exercised but mens traditions, mens dreames. which of their owne nature can doe nothing else but discomfort & afflict the conscience. For our tradition bringeth forth an other, one obseruation followeth an other, Mens ordinances must onely serue for the exercise of the body & not to bind the conscience. and that worst of all is, they are not onely burthens to the body (for to that ende tend all the ordinaunces of men, if there be any profitable vse in them) but are now become snares to the conscience. Wherefore there was not one iote of this doctrine in the Popes kingdome that ministred any occasion of ioy or gladnes to the pore conscience. No maruell then if in this kingdome of darkenes the conscience was terrified and found no comfort. For if it be in anguish and terrour, it can not make that distinction whereof we spake before. Great cause haue we therefore to be thankfull vnto God for this inestimable benefite, that we now knowe the doctrine of the Gospell to be the doctrine of consolation & saluation. Through the which doctrine looke how much ioy thou feelest in thy heart, so much thou doest enioy of life and saluation. But if thou feele thy heart still oppressed with heauines, the deuill hath not yet giuen ouer to vexe thee. Wherefore thou must haue thy heart well instructed in the true vse of the lawe and of the Gospell, (as we haue said before) that thou mayst knowe that the lawe ought to be vsed onely against the obstinate and impenitent, and that therein consisteth the true and proper vse of the lawe: but when it vexeth and terrifieth such tender consciences as are to much feared already, it is not rightly vsed, and therefore terrified consciences may in no case harken vnto the law, for to such perteineth laughter and ioy, the preaching, I say, of the Gospell or remission of sinnes giuen vnto vs in Christ: by the which we are also sanctified, but by the law we are not sanctified, but the power and gift of sinne is thereby rather increased in vs.

Verse. 4. O Lorde turne againe our captiuitie as the riuers in the south.

Hitherto he hath intreated and prophecied of the kingdome of Christ and of the redemption to be wrought by Christ, and afterward to be published to all nations, that thereby might be gathered one church of the Iewes and the Gentiles in the which should be preached nothing else but laughter and ioy, praise and thanksgiuing, Now he procedeth further to describe this Church, and sheweth what followeth this fruite of redemption and this communion of the Iewes and Gentiles, namely the great necessitie of continuall and faithfull prayer: like as the Prophet Zachary also ioyneth with the spirite of grace the spirit of prayer, that is, with the redemption which was wrought by Christ, the prayer of the faithful and of the redemed. For although our redemption be fully wrought & we redemed by the blood of the sonne of God, yet is it necessary that we shoulde pray for this redemption, as Christ also in his prayer commaundeth vs to do, that Gods name may be sanctified, which notwithstanding we know to be holy and sanctified already: that the kingdome of God may come, which is come and is within vs already. As Christ saith: Father glorifie thy name, Iohn. 12. and the father aunswereth, I haue glorified it, and I will glorifie it againe. Phil. 3. Also Sainct Paule saith: I count not my selfe to haue attayned vnto it, &c. He meaneth the fulnes of the knowledge of Christ, and perfect tast of the power of his resurrection.

This is it which I touched before, that this benefite of the gospell, this inestimable gifte of our redemption and life euerlasting is easie to be vttered with wordes, but moste hard to be belee[illegible: 3 letters] with the heart. For we haue in this life, not the tenthes, but th[illegible: 1 letter] first fruites of the spirite: but the flesh yet liueth fully and wholly in a maner, strong and lusty. True it is that we haue entred one foote into the kingdom of God, and haue thereby obtained the assurance of the promise▪ But we must not there rest: we must[illegible: 1 letter] drawe the other foote after, that is, we must continually increase and goe forward in the knowledge of grace and of faith: and for this cause the Prophet Zachary saieth that the spirite of prayer is poured forth vppon vs, which spirite requireth this encrease in vs. And Sainct Paule saith: that the spirite sigheth with sighes that can not be expressed, yea and that euery creature also groneth for the deliuerance of the children of God. Wherfore whiles we are in this body, which presseth vs downe as a heauy burden, and hindreth vs that we can not fully apprehend these thinges, we haue not onely the spirite of grace, but the spirite of prayer also, that we might be assured of the grace and good will of God towards vs for Christes sake in whom we beleue, and yet should not cease to pray that God would make perfect in vs that he hath begunne.

Let no man then thinke that once to haue heard these thinges maketh him a true diuine, or that he hath now a[illegible: 1 letter]teyned to the full and perfect knowledge hereof. For this arrogancie maketh fanaticall spirites, which like to Aesopes dogge, follow the shadow and lose the thing. In deede, if we looke to the word, to baptisme, to Christ him self, al is perfect. But we speake not here of the things but of the apprehension thereof. So life euerlasting is perfect. In my fathers house are many mansions, sayth Christ. But in these mansions we are not yet fully setled so long as we liue here. In the meane time we are oppressed with cares, vexed with sinne, aff[illegible: 1 letter]icted with tentations, terrours and desperation. Satan neuer ceaseth to assaile our faith, hope, and other vertues which God hath planted in vs. Satans prerogatiue. And this prerogatiue hath Satan because the grace which is begun in vs is not yet perfect. Therefore he fighteth so busely against these beginnings, fearing least they should come to perfection. Such is the life of Christians, which haue already receiued the first fruites of the spirite, who by experience doe learne yt these things can not be fully apprehended, but that in the meane while they shall often times slippe, yea and some tymes daungerously fall, so that the sparke of faith and of the spirite may seeme to be in them vtterly quenched, as it hapned to Dauid in his adultery: wherein they haue neede of helpe to reise them vp againe, as Christ aunswered to Paule: my power is made perfect in infirmitie. The infirmitie is theirs and remayneth theirs whiles they liue, but the power and strength is Christes alone.

In this daungerous state they flie vnto prayer and say: Leade vs not into tentation: Giue victory O Lord, that my faith fayle not, that my hope be not confounded. Make perfect the good work which thou hast begunne in me. Notwithstanding these are they which not onely haue receiued the first fruites of the spirite (as is sayd) but also haue perfect redemption, sure hope of life euerlasting, remission of al their sinnes, true deliuerance from the deuil, hell and eternall death. All these thinges haue they: and in the things there is no defect, but the defect is in me and in thee, because we haue not yet fully apprehended these thinges. For flesh and bloode and the remnauntes of sinne doe yet liue in vs. This forced Paule to cry out and say: Rom. 7. I see an other lawe in my members fighting against the law of God. And this is the cause why a Christian can not be secure. For he seeth that he hath not yet ouercome all perills and daungers which the enemie dayly deuiseth. But for so much as pertaineth vnto Christ (as is sayd) whom by faith he apprehendeth, on whom he beleueth, true it is that he hath all thinges. For in Christ the deuill is ouercome, the law fulfilled, the wrath of God pacified, and death it selfe vanquished. In this state we stand if we looke to Christ, on whom we beleue. But when we looke backe into our selues, we are forced to confesse that we are not pure, because our fayth is not yet perfect, and therefore can not perfectly apprehend perfect thinges, Philip. 3. as S. Paule sayth: Therefore when we come to the combate, we giue place to the enemy, we suffer our hope to be wrested from vs, we are cast into heauines, impaciencie, &c. Thus Christians are warriers & Gods true souldiers, which stand alwayes in the battaile, and can not be secure or voyd of feare. Therefore they are feruent in prayer and cry vnto God for succour. Contrariwise, they that are secure, pray not, for they thinke that the deuill is farre enough of, and so that faith & feeling of the good gift of God which they seemed to haue, they lose before they be ware, and when tentation commeth, they are like to a withered leafe.

Thus we see the great necessitie of prayer, and how it ought to be continually vsed among the faithfull, if not with the mouth, y[illegible: 2 letters] with the hart and harty sighes vnto God, according to the wordes of S. Paule: Let the word of Christ dwel in you plentifully: signifying that they ought to be continually exercised therein, not only by teaching the same to other publikely and priuatly, but also by earnest meditation and prayer, when they sit at home in their houses, as Moises teacheth, when they walke by the way, when they lye downe and when they rise vp. For as the Deuill goeth about like a roring lyon, strong and mighty, seeking whom he may deuoure: so are we on euery [illegible: 1 letter]ide infirme and weake, pressed downe also with the flesh, full of sinne, & cariyng this treasure in earthen vesselles: In the which our fayth is as a tender plant, which because it is not yet come to perfect strength, may be easily shaken with winds and tempests. This know not they which before they haue had some triall of them selues by affliction or wrastling with the enemy, thinke them selues to be Christians and sound in faith. We must watch therefore and pray as Christ commaundeth that in our daily conflictes we may stand stedfastly against the darts of Satan which would driue vs to the contempt of God and man.

So doe I vnderstand this prayer, not in the person of the Prophet, as though he prayed for the reuelation of the redemption that should come, but in the person of the faithful which haue need continually to pray, according to this verse & say: Lord thou hast redemed vs out of captiuitie, redeme vs yet more, thou hast forgiuen vs our sinnes, forgiue vs more, thou hast killed the deuill, kill him more, thou hast taken away the law, take it away more. For we must pray for that which we haue already, vntill we come to the full perfection thereof, which shall be after the death of this body, in the which sinne here dwelleth. The sense and meaning then herof is: Lord turne againe our captiuitie, that is, redeeme vs, whiche haue begunne to be the newe creature, that as our redemption by Christ is fully and perfectly wrought, so we may fully and perfectly apprehend and feele the same: For there be many things which in this life fight against this redemption. Wherfore it is necessary that we shoulde be well armed against them, that we fall not againe into captiuitie. On this wise we must alwayes pray, that the first fruites of the spirite may continually encrease in vs, and that we may be redemed day by day vntill the olde man be wholly put away by death. Then shall our captiuitie be perfectly chaunged, euen as the riuers or waters in the south, which by the mightie worke of God were dryed vppe and vtterly consumed. Whether ye vnderstand here the redde sea, or else th[illegible: 1 letter] riuer of Iordane, it forceth little. The similitude is this: Like as by thy mightie hand thou broughtest to passe miraculously that the waters were dryed vp and consumed, so dry vp O Lorde, and bring to nothing al our captiuitie. Some doe interprete this verse otherwise: that is, turne our captiuitie O Lorde, as the riuers in the South, which in the summer are dryed vp in the desert places by the heat of the sunne, but in the winter are filled vp againe with plentie of water.

How necessary ye spirit of prayer is, they that haue not sought with Satan doe not know. Let vs therefore giue our selues wholy to the continuall exercise of prayer and meditation of the holye Scriptures: For negligence and securitie encrease by little and litle, as rust doth in the iron, and the word slippeth (as it were) out of our handes before we be ware. If it so come to passe, then hath Satan gotten halfe the victory already, who seeketh all opportunitie to see vppon vs, and then specially is he wont so to doe, when he perceiueth our heartes to be voide of the word of God. Here he stirreth vp of a spark, as it were, a flaming fire in our conscience, which before we can quench and apprehend Christ and his worde againe, either we are oppressed with anguish and sorrow, or vtterly consumed. For he is a murtherer, and seketh by al meanes how to destroy vs. It is necessary then for vs to haue our senses exercised and our mindes occupyed in the meditation of the worde and prayer, that the enemy find vs not vnarmed or vnprouided, which so busily seeketh to spoyle vs of this redemption. I also am a Diuine, which by great troubles haue gotten some knowledge and vnderstanding of the holy Scripture, and yet am not I so lifted vp through this gift, but that I doe dayly exercise my selfe euen [illegible: 1 letter] mongest the children in the Catechisme, in secrete meditation I meane of the commaundements, the articles of the beliefe and the Lords prayer, &c. with an earnest and attentiue minde, not onely recounting with my selfe the wordes, but obseruing and weying also what euery word signifieth. And doubtles whē I am not thus exercised, but am occupyed with other matters, I finde a manifest discommoditie thereby. For the word is deliuered vnto vs to this ende that we should continually exercise ourselues therein. Fo[illegible: 1 letter] without this exercise we waxe dull and forget our selues. We see into what great daungers men dayly fall. And whereof else commeth this, but because they are secure, they pray not, they heare not the word: whereby Satan worketh in their hearts by litle and litle a contempt of the word, and so bringeth them either in to sudden desperation, or other horrible calamities. For if the word be once lost and gone, what hath a man to defend him selfe with all against this aduersary? It is the part of a Christian therefore to be exercised continually in the word and prayer, not onely because it conteineth such thinges as the hearte is not able fully to comprehend, but also for that our aduersary tempteth not once, but continually: therefore we must continually fight against him with the word and prayer. Thus we see that prayer perteineth to the people of Christ, to the redemed and sanctified: for the vnbeleuers and wicked doe not pray.

Verse. 5. They that sowe in teares shall reape in joy.

Emongst other thinges which properly pertaine to the redemed, this also is one, that they are subiect to many temptations, according to the saying of Sainct Peter: By many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of heauen. Therefore the profession of a Christian man is rightly called the profession of the crosse. So it behoued Christ the head of his Church, to suffer. And the Prophets through ye inspiration of the holy Ghost, did testifie before of his passion and his glorification which should follow. And how can it be but that Christians must needes suffer, since thou shalt finde no kind of life in the world which is without the crosse, except thou wilt be vniust. But if thou vnfaynedly seeke to liue iustly and godly in this world, it can not be auoyded but that Satan wil lay a crosse vpon thee and vexe thee. How much more then will he so doe when thou must fight with him touching righteousnes and life euerlasting? For if Satan can not abide ciuill and externall iustice, home will he abide eternall righteousnes whereby he knoweth that he shall perish for euer? Thus Satan continually persecuteth and vexeth the children of God. Wherefore of all men their life is most miserable, whether you looke to the thinges which they suffer in the flesh, or in the conscience. In ciuil affaires and thinges parteyning to this life, there appeareth some shadow at the least, of ioy and pleasure: but they that will be true Christians, feele them selues miserably wrapped in sinne which maketh the conscience giltie before God. Moreouer in the sight of ye world they are counted as wormes, outcastes, and cursed people, subiect to the malice of Satan and the whole world, & therefore the world rageth against them with all kind of crueltie. Who so then wil see the true image of a Christian, let him behold Iob, compassed on e [illegible: 1 letter]ery side and oppressed with deuills, greeuously afflicted and tormented, full of fowle and lothsome sores. What shall we then doe? These thinges must we suffer if we desire to atteyne eternall life. If we will confesse and acknowledge our redemer Iesus Christ and our redemption, let vs be assured that there shall alwayes be ready which will seeke to spoyle vs of our righteousnes and eternall life.

Let vs therefore, as Sirach teacheth, prepare our soules to tentation, and let vs offer our backe to the plowers, &c. as ye Psalme sayth. For who so euer counteth him selfe a Christian, must thinke him selfe no better then his maister Christ. For we must be made [illegible: 2 letters]ke to the image of the sonne of God. If we will be partakers of his glory, we must be also partakers of his sufferings If Christ bare a crowne of thorne vpon his head, let not vs thinke that we shall haue a garland of roses set vppon our head. For our partes we seeke peace and quietnes, neither doe we giue vnto the world iust occasion to rage against vs. Albeit Satans malice is not so pacified, but rather encreased.

Behold nowe therefore the miserable image of a Christian, which is redeemed notwithstanding: he is full of sinne, full of discomfort, and ful of death. He is like vnto Lazarus lying before the rich mans gate. He is like to Iob oppressed with infinite miseries and calamities. Here thou wilt say: Who would then desire to be a Christian?1. Pet. 4. Harken therefore what Peter sayth: Brethren, thinke it not straunge as concerning the fiery tryall which is amonge you to proue you, as though some straunge thing were come vnto you: but reioyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christes sufferinges, that when his glory shall appeare, ye may be glad and reioyce. For this is the image of Christ, of his Church, and of al the brethren, that we should suffer. But looke not to the sufferings and tribulations onely, but behold also the fruite that followeth, namely that they which sowe in teares shall reape in ioy. Wh[illegible: 2 letters] can be sayde more comfortably to those that carry the crosse of Christ, which touching the spirite are vexed of deuills, touching the body afflicted of the world. For Satan oppugneth our faith▪ causeth vs to murmure against God: or else so oppresseth our hartes with heauines and sorrow that we knowe not what we doe, or whether to turne vs: and yet is it true that we are sanctified [illegible: 1 word] redemed. Notwithstanding this redemption is hidden: but th[illegible: 1 letter] temptation is felt both in the spirite and in the flesh. Besides [illegible: 1 word] this, the world ceaseth not to vexe vs, the aduersaries of the wo[illegible: 2 letters] slaunder vs and our doctrine, and falsely accuse vs, seeking a thousand occasions to molest vs, yea to roote vs vtterly from the fact of the earth.

When a man once feeleth these thinges, his heart trembleth, and cryeth: Haue mercy vpon vs O Lord, haue mercy vppon vs. All this is to sowe in teares, to goe foorth and weepe, and to cary seede: for so the holy Ghost calleth it. It can not be then but that a Christian must needes be such a sower as must reape not in laughter, but in bitter sorrow and teares. But thou wilt say: Where i[illegible: 1 letter] then the laughter which is preached to the redemed, whereof Dauid spake a litle before? In the spirite. For looke how much faith thou hast, so much laughter thou hast also. But sometimes this laughter is lost and turned into mourning: yet are we not forsaken. For the promise is sure, that we shall reape in ioy. Moreouer we must not vnderstand here by sowing, the office of teaching onely, as Paule vseth it: which sow vnto you spirituall thinges, &c. but it signifieth the life of the godly, with the whole course and all the actions thereof which they take in hand in respect of their vocation. For these are, as it were, seedes of the life to come, which life we enioy and possesse in hope. For our saluation is sure & certaine, and the victory ouer sinne, hell, and death is ours, but yet in hope. Notwithstanding so long as we are in this life, we remayne alwayes in teares and mourning, Iohn. 16. as Christ saith: The world shall reioyce but you shall sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned into ioy. This must we looke for, and with this hope must we ouercome all sorrowes and vexations. For we are in the sight of God like vnto wild beastes, whom he suffereth continually to be vexed & coursed of the hunters, so that we neuer seeme to be in safety. For a Christian without afflictions is nothing. We see how he suffred Peter, Paule and all the faithfull to be persecuted of the hunters, that is, of the Sinagoge, the Emperours & Princes, to ye end that they might learne to be humble in them selues, & not to be proud.

Seing then that all they which will liue godly in Christ Iesu, must suffer persecution, we must hold fast this consolation, whereby we may, as it were, season these afflictions, namely that the holy Ghost doth here prophecie that we must sow in teares, but biddeth vs be of good comfort notwithstanding: for the more plentiful & bitter the teares be, the greater laughter & ioy shall follow: like as he setteth forth also a contrarie example. The world soweth in laughter, but afterwards it reapeth in euerlasting sorow, anguish & misery. But our tentations & afflictions do here endure but for a litle while. Let vs therfore patiently suffer in hope that in steede of this paynfull sowing for so small a time, we shall hereafter reape euerlasting ioy and blessednes. And this also bringeth great consolation, that albeit our whole life be full of sorrow, bitter afflictions, and a sowing altogither in teares, yet God will suffer no tentations alwaies to continue. But like as stormes and tempests haue their seasons, and afterwards commeth faire wether, as also after labour followeth rest and quietnes: euen so experience doth teach vs that when our heartes haue bene vexed and oppressed with cogitations of desperation, mistrust, impatiencie before God and the world, for a day, two, or three or else longer, God reyseth them vp againe with some spirituall comfort. For if tentations should last alwayes, who shoulde be able to endure them, yea we should fal away from God for euer. Therfore our afflictions are tempred with some consolatiōs, that we should know that God wil not suffer vs to be altogither swallowed vp with sorrow. He will correct vs, as the Psalme sayth, but wil not giue vs ouer vnto death. He suffereth vs to be cast downe, but he reacheth out his hand to reyse vs vp again. But contrariwise Satan & ye worlde doe not cease, with perpetual hatred & insaciable malice to rage against vs. Psal. 137. They say: downe with them, downe with them euen to the ground. But Gods anger is not such, who chasteneth and correcteth vs for our saluation.

Let vs learne therefore to know these things, and that we must suffer afflictions and sow in teares, lest when tentation commeth we be offended as though some new or straunge thing were hapned vnto vs, and so flie from God & fall to dispaire: And let vs hold fast this consolation, that our haruest is in heauen, euen life euerlasting, which we shall reape with ioy: and moreouer, that our tentatiōs are so tempred in this life yt we may be able to beare them, according to the saying of S. Paule: God is faithful, which wil not suffer vs to be tempted aboue that we are able to beare, but will giue an ishue or outscape euen with the tentation. Some times in deed it semeth vnpossible for vs to endure the tentation or affliction any longer, but Gods power is made perfect in our infirmitie.

Verse. 6. They goe (or going they goe) forth and weepe, carying precious seede: but they shall returne with ioy & bring their sheues with them.

Howe could the state of the Church or the passage wherein it walketh vnder the holy crosse be more liuely expressed. Whereby we may learne so to arme our mindes that we lose not that laughter which by faith we haue apprehended: but may encrease and waxe strong, and feele this laughter more and more in vs. For faith and the life of Christians is not hyprocrisie, as their whole life and religion is which are shut vp in cloisters, which seeke to come to perfection by certaine speculations of the spirituall vnion (as they call it): but altogither in vayne, as I haue proued by mine owne experience. For when I did moste earnestly by this meanes seeke to attaine to perfection, I could neuer feele any [illegible: 1 letter]ast thereof. Wherefore it is nothing but deceit and hypocrisie. But the Christian life is that which is here described, that is, to be exercised with tentations and afflictions vnder the crosse, and to apprehend the word. This is our true vnion with God, which consisteth in practise: In the which vnion we must dayly increase, because of the flesh, the worlde & the deuill, which do exercise vs with continuall tentations. For except in these daungers we haue recourse vnto the worde & prayer, we are gone. The crosse therefore is the meane wherewith God will haue vs, not swallowed vp and consumed, but exercised, that we may daily growe more and more towardes perfection.

Moreouer, concerning the text, it forceth litle whether ye take this verse as a repetition of that which goeth before, or whether ye deuide them, & referre this verse to the consolation of this present life, and the former verse to the consolation of the life to come. Notwithstanding it seemeth to me that the intent of the Prophet is here, properly to signifie that afflictions doe not come vnto the faithfull once onely and no more. For although consolations are now and then intermixed, yet one tentation followeth an other: so that all their life is in a maner nothing else but a continuaunce of tentations. So hath it alwayes bene that when one heresie was ouercome in the church, an other hath sprong vp: when one tyranne by the hand of God hath bene oppressed, there hath risen vp an other. So priuatly also Gods children doe feele that one tentation, one affliction or desperation being ouercome, an other followeth, and the end of one trouble is the beginning of an other. This continuance of the crosse he seemeth also to expresse by this repetition, when he saith: Going they goe foorth, For there is no ende of teares before we goe downe into the graue.

Where the Interpreters haue translated: Good or precious seede, let them that are learned in the Hebrew tongue, see to it: for the figure is to farre fette. He seemeth rather to signifie a prolonging or deferring of time, so that he expresseth a continuaunce of tentations, whereof I spake before. The sense and meaning then is, The seede which they carry is long deferred or prolonged: As if you should say: They liue a painefull, sorrowfull, and a tedious life. Day by day they are exercised with new troubles and afflictions, which follow them without ceasing. So that this seede thus prolonged and caried for a long season, is nothing else but tentations continuing and succeding one after an other, one still following vpon an other. But what is the ende of this continuance? Euen this, that they shall possesse eternall ioy and felicitie. As the author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes doth notably declare. No chastising (sayth he) for the present time seemeth to be ioyous, but greeuous (here you heare of teares): but afterward it bringeth the quiet frute of righteousnes vnto them which are thereby exercised (here you heare that they shall returne with ioy). Albeit then that this seede is prolonged and deferred, yet is it not so for euer: but the ioy that shall follow is euerlasting. Thus ye kingdom of Christ consisteth not in the power and riches of the world, but in eternall redemption, which we must attaine vnto through great afflictions and infinite crosses. Wherein notwithstanding we are supported by the word and prayer, vntill we come to the fulnes of our saluation in the kingdom of heauen.