Psalms 39 commentary

If an evil thought should arise in the mind, suppress it. Watchfulness in the habit, is the bridle upon the head; watchfulness in acts, is the hand upon the bridle. When not able to separate from wicked men, we should remember they will watch our words, and turn them, if they can, to our disadvantage. Sometimes it may be necessary to keep silence, even from good words; but in general we are wrong when backward to engage in edifying discourse. Impatience is a sin that has its cause within ourselves, and that is, musing; and its ill effects upon ourselves, and that is no less than burning. In our greatest health and prosperity, every man is altogether vanity, he cannot live long; he may die soon. This is an undoubted truth, but we are very unwilling to believe it. Therefore let us pray that God would enlighten our minds by his Holy Spirit, and fill our hearts with his grace, that we may be ready for death every day and hour.

There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us; and a good man, for that reason, says nothing against it. He desires the pardoning of his sin, and the preventing of his shame. We must both watch and pray against sin. When under the correcting hand of the Lord, we must look to God himself for relief, not to any other. Our ways and our doings bring us into trouble, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. What a poor thing is beauty! and what fools are those that are proud of it, when it will certainly, and may quickly, be consumed! The body of man is as a garment to the soul. In this garment sin has lodged a moth, which wears away, first the beauty, then the strength, and finally the substance of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a lingering distemper, or the work of time alone, in the human frame, will feel at once the force of this comparison, and that, surely every man is vanity. Afflictions are sent to stir up prayer. If they have that effect, we may hope that God will hear our prayer. The believer expects weariness and ill treatment on his way to heaven; but he shall not stay here long: walking with God by faith, he goes forward on his journey, not diverted from his course, nor cast down by the difficulties he meets. How blessed it is to sit loose from things here below, that while going home to our Father's house, we may use the world as not abusing it! May we always look for that city, whose Builder and Maker is God.

PSALM 39

In the beginning of the psalm, David intimates that his heart had been seized with extreme bitterness of grief, which forced him to give utterance to complaints with too much vehemence and ardor. He confesses that whilst he was disposed to be silent, and to exercise patience, he was nevertheless compelled, by the vehemence of his sorrow, to break out into an excess which he by no means intended. Then he relates the complaints which he had made mingled with prayers, which indicate great trouble of mind; so that from this it appears that he had wrestled with no ordinary effort in resisting temptation, lest he should fall into despair.

To the chief musician, Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

It is well known that Jeduthun was one of the chief singers of whom sacred history makes mention. (1 Chronicles 9:16; 16:38, 41, 42) It is, therefore, probable that this psalm was delivered to the chief singer, who was of his household. Some, indeed, understand it as denoting the particular kind of tune, and suppose that it was the beginning of some other song; but this I consider too forced an interpretation. Nor can I agree with others who suppose that David here complains of some disease; for unless some urgent reason require it, it is improper to limit general statements to particular cases. On the contrary, from the extreme character of the sufferings which he here describes, it may be presumed that a variety of afflictions is here included, or, at least, that some one is referred to which was more severe than all the others, and one which had continued for a long time. Besides, it ought to be considered that in this psalm David is not proclaiming his own merit, as if in his affliction he had presented his prayers to God in the language, and according to the spirit dictated by true piety: he rather confesses the sin of his infirmity in bursting forth into immoderate sorrow, and in being led by the vehemence of this affection to indulge in sinful complaints.

Psalm 39:1-3

1. I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a muzzle, while the wicked standeth before me. 2. I was dumb in silence; I held my peace from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3. My heart became hot within me; in my musing a fire burned: I spake with my tongue.

1. I said, I will take heed to my ways. David explains and illustrates the greatness of his grief by this circumstance, that, contrary to his inclination and resolution, he broke forth into the severest complaints. The meaning substantially is, that although he had subdued his heart to patience, and resolved to keep silence, yet the violence of his grief was such that it forced him to break his resolution, and extorted from him, if we might so speak, expressions which indicate that he had given way to an undue degree of sorrow. The expression, I said, it is well known, does not always mean what is expressed in words, but is often used to denote the purpose of the heart, and, therefore, the words in heart are sometimes added. David, therefore, means not that he boasted of his fortitude and constancy, and made a display of them before men, but that before God he was, by continued meditation, well fortified and prepared to endure patiently the temptations by which he was now assailed. We ought to mark particularly the carefulness by which he was distinguished. It was not without cause that he was so much intent on exercising watchfulness over himself. He did so because he was conscious of his own weakness, and also well knew the manifold devices of Satan. He, therefore, looked on the right hand and on the left, and kept watch on all sides, lest temptation stealing upon him unawares from any quarter might reach even to his heart. Access to it, then, had been impossible, since it was shut up on every side, if the extreme severity of his grief had not overpowered him, and broken his resolution. When he says, I will keep my mouth with a muzzle, The Hebrew word מחסום, machsom, rendered bridle in our English version, properly signifies a muzzle, and is so rendered in Deuteronomy 25:4. “Our translations,” observes Mant, “say ‘as with a bridle.’ But we do not see how a bridle would preclude the person from speaking; nor is it a correct phrase, which the word muzzle is.” It is probable that the bridles of the ancients were made in the form of muzzles. that I sin not with my tongue, it is not to be understood as if he could with difficulty restrain and conceal his grief, (for it is mere pretense for a man to show by the countenance and speech the appearance of meekness when the heart still swells with pride;) but as there is nothing more slippery or loose than the tongue, David declares that he had endeavored so carefully to bridle his affections, that not so much as one word should escape from his lips which might betray the least impatience. And that man must indeed be endued with singular fortitude who unfeignedly and deliberately restrains his tongue, which is so liable to fall into error. As to what follows, while the wicked standeth before me, it is generally understood, as if David had concealed his grief, lest he should give occasion of blasphemy to the wicked, who, as soon as they see the children of God fail under the weight of their afflictions, insolently break forth into derision against them, which amounts to a contempt of God himself. But it appears to me that by the term standeth, David meant to express something more, — that even while he saw the wicked bearing rule, exercising authority, and exalted to honor, he resolved not to speak a single word, but to bear patiently the poverty and indignity which otherwise grieve and torment not a little even good men. Accordingly, he says not merely that when he was in the presence of the wicked he restrained himself, lest he should be subjected to their scorn, but that even while the worst of men prospered, Dr Geddes renders the last clause of the verse, “While the wicked prosper before me.” and, proud of their high rank, despised others, he was fully determined in his own mind not to be troubled at it. By this he very plainly shows that he was so beset with wicked men, ever ready for mischief, that he could not freely heave a sigh which was not made the subject of ridicule and scorn. Since, then, it was so hard a task for David to restrain his tongue, lest he should sin by giving way to complaints, let us learn from his example, whenever troubles molest us, to strive earnestly to moderate our affections, that no impious expression of dissatisfaction against God may slip from us.

PSALM 39

Psa 39:1-13. To Jeduthun (1Ch 16:41, 42), one of the chief singers. His name mentioned, perhaps, as a special honor. Under depressing views of his frailty and the prosperity of the wicked, the Psalmist, tempted to murmur, checks the expression of his feelings, till, led to regard his case aright, he prays for a proper view of his condition and for the divine compassion.

1. I said--or, "resolved."

will take heed--watch.

ways--conduct, of which the use of the tongue is a part (Jas 1:26).

bridle--literally, "muzzle for my mouth" (compare De 25:4).

while ... before me--in beholding their prosperity (Psa 37:10, 36).

2. even from good--(Ge 31:24), everything.

3. His emotions, as a smothered flame, burst forth.

4-7. Some take these words as those of fretting, but they are not essentially such. The tinge of discontent arises from the character of his suppressed emotions. But, addressing God, they are softened and subdued.

make me to know mine end--experimentally appreciate.

how frail I am--literally, "when I shall cease."

8-10. Patiently submissive, he prays for the removal of his chastisement, and that he may not be a reproach.

11. From his own case, he argues to that of all, that the destruction of man's enjoyments is ascribable to sin.

12-13. Consonant with the tenor of the Psalm, he prays for God's compassionate regard to him as a stranger here; and that, as such was the condition of his fathers, so, like them, he may be cheered instead of being bound under wrath and chastened in displeasure.

I said, I will take heed to my ways - I must be cautious because of my enemies; I must be patient because of my afflictions; I must be watchful over my tongue, lest I offend my God, or give my adversaries any cause to speak evil of me.

I held any peace, even from good - "I ceased from the words of the law," says the Chaldee. I spoke nothing, either good or bad. I did not even defend myself.

My sorrow was stirred - My afflictions increased, and I had an exacerbation of pain. It is a hard thing to be denied the benefit of complaint in sufferings, as it has a tendency to relieve the mind, and indeed, in some sort, to call off the attention from the place of actual suffering: and yet undue and extravagant complaining enervates the mind, so that it becomes a double prey to its sufferings. On both sides there are extremes: David seems to have steered clear of them on the right hand and on the left.

My heart was hot within me - A natural feeling of repressed grief.

While I was musing - What was at first a simple sensation of heat produced a flame; the fire broke out that had long been smothered. It is a metaphor taken from vegetables, which, being heaped together, begin to heat and ferment, if not scattered and exposed to the air; and will soon produce a flame, and consume themselves and every thing within their reach.

Lord, make me to know mine end - I am weary of life; I wish to know the measure of my days, that I may see how long I have to suffer, and how frail I am. I wish to know what is wanting to make up the number of the days I have to live.

My days as a handbreadth - My life is but a span; σπιθαμη του βιου.

And mine age is as nothing - כאין keein, as if at were not before thee. All time is swallowed up in thy eternity.

Verily every man at his best state - כל אדם נצב col adam nitstab, "every man that exists, is vanity." All his projects, plans, schemes, etc., soon come to nothing. His body also moulders with the dust, and shortly passes both from the sight and remembrance of men.

Walketh in a vain show - בצלם betselem, in a shadow. He is but the semblance of being: he appears for a while, and then vanisheth away. Some of the fathers read, "Although every man walketh in the image of God, yet they are disquieted in vain."

He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them - He raketh together. This is a metaphor taken from agriculture: the husbandman rakes the corn, etc., together in the field, and yet, so uncertain is life, that he knows not who shall gather them into the granary!

And now, Lord, what wait I for? - Have I any object of pursuit in life, but to regain thy favor and thine image.

Deliver one from all may transgressions - I seek the pardon of my sins; I expect it from thy mercy. Grant it, "that I be not the reproach of the foolish," (the godless and the profane), who deride my expectation, and say no such blessings can be had. Let them know, by thy saving me, that there is a God who heareth prayer, and giveth his Holy Spirit to all them that ask him.

Remove thy stroke away from me - This seems to be a figure taken from gladiators, or persons contending in single combat. One is wounded so as to be able to maintain the fight no longer: he therefore gives in, and prays his adversary to spare his life. I am conquered; I can hold the contest no longer: thou art too powerful for me. He cries what our ancestors used to term craven; the word spoken by him who was conquered in the battle ordeal, or trial by combat.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man - תוכחות tochachoth signifies a vindication of proceedings in a court of law, a legal defense. When God comes to maintain the credit and authority of his law against a sinner, he "causes his beauty to consume away:" a metaphor taken from the case of a culprit, who, by the arguments of counsel, and the unimpeachable evidence of witnesses, has the facts all proved against him, grows pale, looks terrified; his fortitude forsakes him, and he faints in court.

Surely every man is vanity - He is incapable of resistance; he falls before his Maker; and none can deliver him but his Sovereign and Judge, against whom he has offended.

Selah - This is a true saying, an everlasting truth.

Hear my prayer - Therefore, O Lord, show that mercy upon me which I so much need, and without which I must perish everlastingly.

I am a stranger with thee - I have not made this earth my home; I have not trusted in any arm but thine. Though I have sinned, I have never denied thee, and never cast thy words behind my back. I knew that here I had no continuing city. Like my fathers, I looked for a city that has permanent foundations, in a better state of being.

O spare me - Take me not from this state of probation till I have a thorough preparation for a state of blessedness. This he terms recovering his strength - being restored to the favor and image of God, from which he had fallen. This should be the daily cry of every human spirit: Restore me to thine image, guide me by thy counsel, and then reeeive me to thy glory!

I said - I fully resolved. Take heed - To order all my actions right, and particularly to govern my tongue.

Dumb - Two words put together, expressing the same thing, to aggravate or increase it. I held - I forbear to speak, what I justly might, lest I should break forth into some indecent expressions. Stirred - My silence did not assuage my grief, but increase it.

My end - Make me sensible of the shortness and uncertainly of life, and the near approach of death.

Before thee - If compared with thee, and with thy everlasting duration.

Vain shew - Heb. in a shadow or image; in an imaginary rather than a real life: in the pursuit of vain imaginations, in which there is nothing solid or satisfactory: man in and his life, and all his happiness in this world, are rather appearances and dreams, than truths and realities. Disquieted - Heb. They make a noise, bustling, or tumult, with unwearied industry seeking for riches, and troubling and vexing both themselves and others in the pursuit of them.

Mow Lord - Seeing this life and all its enjoyments are so vain and short. My hope - I will seek for happiness no where but in God.

Remove - Take off the judgment which thou hast inflicted upon me. I am - Help me before I am utterly lost.

Beauty - His comeliness and all his excellencies or felicities. Moth - As a moth consumeth a garment, to which God compares himself and his judgments, secretly and insensibly consuming a people, Isa 51:8.

A stranger - I am only in my journey or passage to my real home, which is in the other world.

No more - Among the living, or in this world.

1. I Said , I will take heed to my ways , that I sin not with my tongue : I will keep my mouth as with a bridle , while the wicked is before me .

I fully resolved,

(i. e.) To order all my Actions aright, a[illegible: 1+ letters]d particularly to govern my Tongue, which is very hard to do, and especially under these Provocations.

That, if any evil Thoughts or Passions do arise in me, I will indeavour to suppress and mortifie them, and not suffer them to boyl and break forth, into sinful and scandalous Reflections upon God and his Providence, as they usually do upon such occasions.

(i. e.) With all possible Care and Diligence. The Phrase implies the great Difficulty of ruling the Tongue.

Either, 1. In my Presence. Or rather, 2. In my Thoughts, as the same Phrase is understood, Psal. 51. 3. (i. e.) Whilst I consider the flourishing Estate of wicked Men.

Marginal references: Heb. a [illegible: 1 word] ▪ or [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] my [illegible: 1 word].

2. I was dumb with silence , I held my peace, even from good , and my sorrow was stirred .

I was so long, and so Obstinately silent, that I seemed to my self and to others to be Dumb. Two words put together, Expressing the same thing, to Aggravate or Increase it. Or, I was dumb with quietness, (i. e.) Not out of Sullenness, but with Submissiveness to God's Dispensations, which is oft noted by silence.

I forbare to speak what I justly might upon that occasion, l[illegible: 1+ letters]st, the Flood-gates of Speech being once opened, and Speech stirring up my Passion, I should by degrees break forth into some indecent and sinful Expressions, to the Dishonour of God, the wounding of m[illegible: 1+ letters]ne own Conscience, and the offence of others. Or, this may be a proverbial Speech signifying strict silence; Like that, Gen. 31. 29. speak to him neither good nor bad, (i. e.) Nothing at all, to wit, about that matter to perswade him to return.

My silence did not asswage my Grief but increase it, as it naturally and commonly doth.

Marginal references: Heb. Trouble[illegible: 1+ letters].

3. My heart was hot within me, while I was musing , the fire burned : then spake I with my tongue .

(i. e.) Considering in my own Thoughts, the great wickedness and successfulness of mine Enemies, and other wicked Men; and withal mine own and other good Mens Integrity, attended with great Troubles and Miseries in this Life.

My Thoughts kindled my Passions.

To wit, such Words, as I had purposed not to speak, v. 1: Rash and impatient Words; Either▪ 1. Some Words not here expressed: Which having uttered [illegible: 1 word] Men, he turneth his Speech to God, v. 4. Or, 2. Those which here follow.

4. LORD , make me to know my end , and the measure of my days, what it is , that I may know how frail I am .

This Verse contains Either, 1. A Correction of himself, for his impatient Motions or Speeches, and his Retirement to God for Relief, under these perplexing and sadding Thoughts. Or, 2. A Declaration of the Words which he spake.

Either, 1. Practically so as to prepare for it. Or, 2. Experimentally, as Words of Knowledge are oft used. And so this is a secret desire of Death, that he might be free from such Torments, as made his Life a burden to him. Or, 3. By Revelation; that I may have some Prospect or Fore-knowledge, when my Calamities will be ended: Which argued impatience, and an unwillingness to wait long for Deliverance.

(i. e.) The end of my Life, as is Evident from the following Words.

How long or short it is, or the utmost extent or Period of the days of my Life.

Or, How long, (Or, How little, for the Word may be, and is by divers Interpreters, taken both ways:) Time I have, or shall Continue here.

Marginal references: Psal. 119. 84.; Or, what time I have here.

5. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth , and mine age is nothing before thee : verily every man at his best State , is altogether vanity , Selah.

Which is one of the least Measures, (i. e.) Very short. These and the following Words are Either. 1. A Con[illegible: 1+ letters]nunuance of his Complaint that although his days were of themselves very short, yet God seemed to grudge him their natural length, and threatned to make them shorter, and to cut him off before his time. Or rather, 2. A Consolation and Correction of his last Words, as if he said; Why, am I so greedy to know the end of my Life, seeing I do already know this that my Life cannot last very long, and therefore if my Troubles be sharp, they will be but short.

Next to nothing for Substance and for Continuance.

(i. e.) In thy Judgment, and therefore in Truth and Reality: Or, if Compared with thee, and with thy everlasting Duration. Comp. Psal. 90. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 8.

Prince or Peasant, Wise or Fools, good or bad.

Heb. though settled or Established: When he stands fastest, and likely to continue longest, in regard of his Health and Strength, and all possible means whereby Life may be secured, supported or prolonged.

All that he is or hath, is as Light and Vain, and unstable as Vanity it self, there is nothing but Vanity and uncertainty, in all his outward Enjoyments, in the Constitution of his Body; yea, in the very Temper and Endowments of his Mind. By which general Condition of all mankind, he indeavours to quiet and Compose his Mind, to bear the common Lot.

Marginal references: Heb. settled.; Psal. 62. 9. & 144. 4.

6. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew : surely they are disquieted in vain : he heapeth up riches, and knoweth [illegible: 1+ letters]ot who shall gather them .

(i. e.) Passeth the Course of his Life; Or, goeth about busily and restlesly hither and thither, as this Verb in this Conjugation signifies, and as the next Verb more plainly expresseth.

Heb. In a shadow or Image, (i. e.) In an imaginary rather than a real Life in the pursuit of vain Imaginations, in which there is nothing solid or Satisfactory. Or, as some Read it, Like a shadow, to which Man's Life is Compared, Iob 14. 2. Man and his Life, and all his Happiness in this World, are rather Appearances and Representations and Dreams, than Truths and Real[illegible: 1+ letters]ties.

Or, troubled: Heb. They make a noise, or Bus[illegible: 1+ letters]ling, or Tumult, with unwearied Industry, seeking for Riches, as it follows, and Troubling and Vexing both themselves and others, in the pursuit of them, as this Word implies.

To no purpose; Or without any Real or Considerable benefit, to him or his.

For his own use, and for his Posterity after him.

Whether his Children, or Strangers, or Enemies, shall possess and enjoy them.

Marginal references: Heb. an Image. Psal. 73. 20.; [illegible: 1+ letters]ob 27. 17. [illegible: 1 word]. 2, 21, 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. & 5. 14.

7. And now LORD, what wait I for? my hope is in thee .

Seeing this Life and all its Enjoyme[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] are so vain and short to all Men, and especially to me, [illegible: 1 word] never expect nor seek for Happiness here, from the[illegible: 1+ letters] Vanities, I will Compose my self Patiently and Conte[illegible: 1+ letters]dly to bear both my own Afflictions, and the Prosperity and Glory of ungodly Men, for both are Vanishing and Transitory things, a[illegible: 1+ letters] I will seek for Happiness no where but in the Love and [illegible: 1 word] of God, in serving and glorifying him here, and in the [illegible: 1 word] ▪ or Confident Expectation of enjoying him here[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ in the mean time, of receiving from him [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] and Assistances, which my present Condition▪

8. De[illegible: 1+ letters]ver me from all my [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ; make me not the reproach of [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] .

That I may not be disappointed of [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of enjoy [illegible: 1+ letters] thee, and thy Favour, which is the [illegible: 1 word] that I desi[illegible: 1+ letters]e, pardon all my sins, which stand [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] Cloud between thee and me, and fill me with Fea[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] my Condition both here and hereafter.

Let not their Prosperity and my Misery give them Occasion, to deride and Reproach me, for my serving of thee, and trusting in thee, to so little purpose or Advantage.

(i. e.) Of wicked Men, who, though they profess and think themselves to be Wi[illegible: 1+ letters]e, yet indeed are Fools, as is manifest from their Eager pursuit of fruitless Vanities, v. 6. and from their Gross neglect of God, and of his Service, who onely is able to make them Happy.

9. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth ; because thou didst it .

To wit, in way of Murmuring, or Repining against thee, o[illegible: 1+ letters] thy Providence, as I promise I would be, v. 1. For though, when I looked onely to Instruments, I was Discomposed, and did at last speak a foolish Word, yet when I did Recollect my self and looked up to thee, the first Cause and Soveraign disposer of this, and all other things, I return to my former silence.

What? Either, 1. And particularly, Absolom's Rebellion; wherein I acknowledge thy just Hand in punishing my sins. Or, 2. And more generally, whatsoever is done in these Matters, all the Events which befall all Men, whether good or bad; The Afflictions of the one, and the Prosperity of the other: All which are the Effects of thy Counsel and Providence, in which all Men ought to acquiesce.

Marginal references: Job 4[illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ 4, 5▪

10. Remove thy stroke away from me : I am consumed , by the blow of thine hand.

But although I may not, I will not, open my Mouth to Complain of thee, yet I may open it to Complain and Pray to thee, that thou wouldest take off the Judgment, which thou hast inflicted upon me.

Help me therefore, before I be utterly and irrecoverably lost.

Marginal references: Job 9. [illegible: 1+ letters]4.; Heb. Conflict.

11. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity , thou makest his beauty to consume away like a m[illegible: 1+ letters]th : surely every man is vanity , Selah.

(i. e.) With Punishment, which are o[illegible: 1+ letters]t s[illegible: 1+ letters] called, See Psal. 6. 1. and 76. 6.

(i. e.) Dost punish him as his iniquity deserves.

Heb. his Desire, (i. e.) His desiderable things, as this Word signifies, Lam. 1. 11. Dan. 9. 23. and 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 3. 11. 19. His Comeliness, Strength, Wealth and Prosperity, and all his present Excellencies or Felicities.

Either, 1. Passively, as a Moth is quickly and easily crushed to Pieces with a touch; as this Phrase is used, Iob 4. 19. Or, 2. Actively, as a Moth consumeth a Garment, as it is, Iob 13. 28. Isa. 50. 9. to which God Compareth himself and his Judgments, secretly and insensibly consuming a People, Isa. 51. 8. Ho[illegible: 1+ letters]a 5. 12.

And this Confirms what I said, v. 5. That every Man is Vanity. Which though men in the height of their Prosperity will not believe, yet when God Contendeth with them, by his Judgments they are forced to acknowledge it.

Marginal references: Heb. that which is desired in him to [illegible: 1+ letters]elt away▪; Vers. 5.

12. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry, hold not thy peace at my Tears : for I am a stranger with thee , and a sojourner, as all my fathers were .

Joyned with my Prayers, Heb. 5. 7.

Though I be not onely a Native, but either anointed, or actually King of this Land, yet in Truth I am but a Stranger, both in regard of my very uncertain and short Continuance here, where I am onely in my [illegible: 1+ letters] Journey or Passage, to my real and long Home, which is in the other World; and in Respect of the many wants, and Hardships, and Contempts, and Injuries to which I am exposed▪ as men usually are in strange Lands. And therefore, I greatly need and desire thy Pity, and Help, Oh thou who art the Patron of Strangers, whom thou hast Commended to our Care and kindness, Exod. 12. 48. Levit. 19. 33. and 25. 35. &c.

Either, 1. In thy sight or Judgment, and therefore truly. We are apt to flatter our selves, and can hardly believe that we are but Strangers here, where we seem to have settled Habitations and Possessions, but thou knowest the Truth of the Business, that we are really such. Or, [illegible: 1+ letters]. In thy Land or Territory, in which I sojourn onely by thy leave and Favour, and during thy Pleasure, as this whole Phrase is used, Levit. 25. 23. whence these Words are taken, is also, v. 35, 36. 39. 40. 45. 47. where that Branch of it, with thee is so meant. And withal this Phrase both here and Levit. 25. 23. may have a further Emphasis in it, implying that every Israelite, and particularly David himself, in Respect of men, were the Proprietors or owners of their Portions, of which no other man might deprive or dispossess them, and therefore David's Enemies had done wrongfully in banishing him from his, and from the Lords inheritance; but yet in Respect of God they were but strangers, and God was the onely Proprietor of it.

Both in thy Judgment expressed, Levit. 25. 23. and in their own Opinion, Heb. 11. 13. &c. Upon which Account thou didst take a special Care of them, and therefore do so to me also.

Marginal references: Lev. 25. 23. 1 Chr. 29. 15. Psal. 119. 19▪ Heb. 11. 13. 1 Pet. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 11.

13. O spare me , that I may recov[illegible: 1+ letters]r strength , before I go hence , and be no more.

Or, Cease from me, (i. e.) From afflicting me, do not destroy me. My Life at best is but short and miserable, as I have said, and thou knowest, sufficient for it is the Evil thereof▪ do not add Affliction to the Afflicted.

Both in my outward and inward Man, both which are much weakened and oppressed. Or, that I may be Refreshed, or Comforted, eased of the Burden of my sins, and thy Terrors Consequent upon them, and better prepared for a Comfortable and happy D[illegible: 1+ letters] solution.

Heb. Before I go, to wit, unto the Grave, as this Phrase is used, Gen. 15. 2. and 25. 32. or the way of all the Earth, as the Phrase is Compleated, I[illegible: 1+ letters]s. 23. 14. or, whence I shall not return, as it is, Iob 10. 21. or, which is all one, into that place and state in which I shall not be, to wit, amongst the Living, or in this World, as this Phrase is frequently used, both in Scripture, as Gen. 5. 24. Gen. 37. 30. and 42. 36. and in Heathen Authors: Of which see my Latin Synopsis.

Prayers of One Sorely Tried at the Sight of the Prosperity of the Ungodly

In Psa 38:14 the poet calls himself a dumb person, who opens not his mouth; this submissive, resigned keeping of silence he affirms of himself in the same words in Psa 39:3 also. This forms a prominent characteristic common to the two Psalms, which fully warranted their being placed together as a pair. There is, however, another Psalm, which is still more closely related to Psa 39:1-13, viz., Psa 62:1-12, which, together with Psa 4:1-8, has a similar historical background. The author, in his dignity, is threatened by those who from being false friends have become open enemies, and who revel in the enjoyment of illegitimately acquired power and possessions. From his own experience, in the midst of which he commits his safety and his honour to God, he derives the general warnings, that to trust in riches is deceptive, and that power belongs alone to God the Avenger - two doctrines, in support of which the issue of the affair with Absalom was a forcible example. Thus it is with Psa 62:1-12, and in like manner Psa 39:1-13 also. Both Psalms bear the name of Jeduthun side by side with the name of David at their head; both describe the nothingness of everything human in the same language; both delight more than other Psalms in the use of the assuring, confident אך; both have סלה twice; both coincide in some points with the Book of Job; the form of both Psalms, however, is so polished, transparent, and classic, that criticism is not authorized in assigning to this pair of Psalms any particular poet other than David. The reason of the redacteur not placing Psa 62:1-12 immediately after Psa 39:1-13 is to be found in the fact that Psa 62:1-12 is an Elohim-Psalm, which could not stand in the midst of Jahve-Psalms.

To the inscribed למנצּח, לידיתוּן is added in this instance. The name is also written thus in Psa 77:1; 1Ch 16:38; Neh 11:17, and always with the Kerî ידוּתוּן, which, after the analogy of זבוּלוּן, is the more easily pronouncible pointing (Psa 62:1). It is an offshoot of the form ידוּת or ידית; cf. שׁבוּת and שׁבית, חפשׁוּת and חפשׁית. It is the name of one of David’s three choir-masters or precentors - the third in conjunction with Asaph and Heman, 1Ch 16:41., Psa 25:1., 2Ch 5:12; 2Ch 35:15, and is, without doubt, the same person as איתן, 1 Chr. 15, a name which is changed into ידותון after the arrangement in Gibeon, 1 Chr. 16. Consequently side by side with למנצח, לידותון will be the name of the מנצח himself, i.e., the name of the person to whom the song was handed over to be set to music. The fact that in two inscriptions (Psa 62:1; Psa 77:1) we read על instead of the ל of לידיתון, does not militate against this. By ל Jeduthun is denoted as the person to whom the song was handed over for performance; and by על, as the person to whom the performance was assigned. The rendering: “to the director of the Jeduthunites,” adopted by Hitzig, is possible regarding the ידותון as used as a generic name like אהרן in 1Ch 12:27; 1Ch 27:17; but the customary use of the ל in inscriptions is against it.

The Psalm consists of four stanzas without any strophic symmetry. The first three are of only approximately the same compass, and the final smaller stanza has designedly the character of an epilogue.

Psa 39:1-3 (Hebrew_Bible_39:2-4) The poet relates how he has resolved to bear his own affliction silently in the face of the prosperity of the ungodly, but that his smart was so overpowering that he was compelled involuntarily to break his silence by loud complaint. The resolve follows the introductory אמרתּי in cohortatives. He meant to take heed to his ways, i.e., his manner of thought and action, in all their extent, lest he should sin with his tongue, viz., by any murmuring complaint concerning his own misfortune, when he saw the prosperity of the ungodly. He was resolved to keep (i.e., cause invariably to press) a bridling (cf. on the form, Gen 30:37), or a bridle (capistrum), upon his mouth, so long as he should see the ungodly continuing and sinning in the fulness of his strength, instead of his speedy ruin which one ought to expect. Then he was struck dumb דּוּמיּה, in silence, i.e., as in Psa 62:2, cf. Lam 3:26, in resigned submission, he was silent מטּוב, turned away from (vid., Psa 28:1; 1Sa 7:8, and frequently) prosperity, i.e., from that in which he saw the evil-doer rejoicing; he sought to silence for ever the perplexing contradiction between this prosperity and the righteousness of God. But this self-imposed silence gave intensity to the repressed pain, and this was thereby נעכּר, stirred up, excited, aroused; the inward heat became, in consequence of restrained complaint, all the more intense (Jer 20:9): “and while I was musing a fire was kindled,” i.e., the thoughts and emotions rubbing against one another produced a blazing fire, viz., of irrepressible vexation, and the end of it was: “I spake with my tongue,” unable any longer to keep in my pain. What now follows is not what was said by the poet when in this condition. On the contrary, he turns away from his purpose, which has been proved to be impracticable, to God Himself with the prayer that He would teach him calm submission.

Psa 39:4-6 (Hebrew_Bible_39:5-7) He prays God to set the transitoriness of earthly life clearly before his eyes (cf. Psa 90:12); for if life is only a few spans long, then even his suffering and the prosperity of the ungodly will last only a short time. Oh that God would then grant him to know his end (Job 6:11), i.e., the end of his life, which is at the same time the end of his affliction, and the measure of his days, how it is with this (מה, interrog. extenuantis, as in Psa 8:5), in order that he may become fully conscious of his own frailty! Hupfeld corrects the text to אני מה־חלד, after the analogy of Psa 89:48, because חדל cannot signify “frail.” But חדל signifies that which leaves off and ceases, and consequently in this connection, finite and transitory or frail. מה, quam, in connection with an adjective, as in Psa 8:2; Psa 31:20; Psa 36:8; Psa 66:3; Psa 133:1. By הן (the customary form of introducing the propositio minor, Lev 10:18; Lev 25:20) the preceding petition is supported. God has, indeed, made the days, i.e., the lifetime, of a man טפחות, handbreadths, i.e., He has allotted to it only the short extension of a few handbreadths (cf. ימים, a few days, e.g., Isa 65:20), of which nine make a yard (cf. πήχυιος χρόνος in Mimnermus, and 1Sa 20:3); the duration of human life (on חלד vid., Psa 17:14) is as a vanishing nothing before God the eternal One. The particle אך is originally affirmative, and starting from that sense becomes restrictive; just as רק is originally restrictive and then affirmative. Sometimes also, as is commonly the case with אכן, the affirmative signification passes over into the adversative (cf. verum, verum enim vero). In our passage, agreeably to the restrictive sense, it is to be explained thus: nothing but mere nothingness (cf. Psa 45:14; Jam 1:2) is every man נצּב, standing firmly, i.e., though he stand never so firmly, though he be never so stedfast (Zec 11:16). Here the music rises to tones of bitter lament, and the song continues in Psa 39:7 with the same theme. צלם, belonging to the same root as צל, signifies a shadow-outline, an image; the בּ is, as in Psa 35:2, Beth essentiae: he walks about consisting only of an unsubstantial shadow. Only הבל, breath-like, or after the manner of breath (Psa 144:4), from empty, vain motives and with vain results, do they make a disturbance (pausal fut. energicum, as in Psa 36:8); and he who restlessly and noisily exerts himself knows not who will suddenly snatch together, i.e., take altogether greedily to himself, the many things that he heaps up (צבר, as in Job 27:16); cf. Isa 33:4, and on  - ām = αὐτά, Lev 15:10 (in connection with which אלה הדברים, cf. Isa 42:16, is in the mind of the speaker).

Psa 39:7-11 (Hebrew_Bible_39:8-12) It is customary to begin a distinct turning-point of a discourse with ועתּה: and now, i.e., in connection with this nothingness of vanity of a life which is so full of suffering and unrest, what am I to hope, quid sperem (concerning the perfect, vid., on Psa 11:3)? The answer to this question which he himself throws out is, that Jahve is the goal of his waiting or hoping. It might appear strange that the poet is willing to make the brevity of human life a reason for being calm, and a ground of comfort. But here we have the explanation. Although not expressly assured of a future life of blessedness, his faith, even in the midst of death, lays hold on Jahve as the Living One and as the God of the living. It is just this which is so heroic in the Old Testament faith, that in the midst of the riddles of the present, and in the face of the future which is lost in dismal night, it casts itself unreservedly into the arms of God. While, however, sin is the root of all evil, the poet prays in Psa 39:9 before all else, that God would remove from him all the transgressions by which he has fully incurred his affliction; and while, given over to the consequences of his sin, he would become, not only to his own dishonour but also to the dishonour of God, a derision to the unbelieving, he prays in Psa 39:9 that God would not permit it to come to this. כּל, Psa 39:9, has Mercha, and is consequently, as in Psa 35:10, to be read with å (not ŏ), since an accent can never be placed by Kametz chatûph. Concerning נבל, Psa 39:9, see on Psa 14:1. As to the rest he is silent and calm; for God is the author, viz., of his affliction (עשׂה, used just as absolutely as in Ps 22:32; Psa 37:5; 52:11, Lam 1:21). Without ceasing still to regard intently the prosperity of the ungodly, he recognises the hand of God in his affliction, and knows that he has not merited anything better. But it is permitted to him to pray that God would suffer mercy to take the place of right. נגעך is the name he gives to his affliction, as in Psa 38:12, as being a stroke (blow) of divine wrath; תּגרת ידך, as a quarrel into which God’s hand has fallen with him; and by אני, with the almighty (punishing) hand of God, he contrasts himself the feeble one, to whom, if the present state of things continues, ruin is certain. In Psa 39:12 he puts his own personal experience into the form of a general maxim: when with rebukes (תּוכחות from תּוכחת, collateral form with תּוכחה, תּוכחות) Thou chastenest a man on account of iniquity (perf. conditionale), Thou makest his pleasantness (Isa 53:3), i.e., his bodily beauty (Job 33:21), to melt away, moulder away (ותּמס, fut. apoc. from המסה to cause to melt, Psa 6:7), like the moth (Hos 5:12), so that it falls away, as a moth-eaten garment falls into rags. Thus do all men become mere nothing. They are sinful and perishing. The thought expressed in Psa 39:6 is here repeated as a refrain. The music again strikes in here, as there.

Psa 39:12-13 (Hebrew_Bible_39:13-14) Finally, the poet renews the prayer for an alleviation of his sufferings, basing it upon the shortness of the earthly pilgrimage. The urgent שׁמעה is here fuller toned, being שׁמעה.So Heidenheim and Baer, following Abulwalîd, Efodi, and Mose ha-Nakdan. The Masoretic observation לית קמץ חטף, “only here with Kametzchateph,” is found appended in codices. This Chatephkametz is euphonic, as in לקחה, Gen 2:23, and in many other instances that are obliterated in our editions, vid., Abulwalîd, חרקמה ס, p. 198, where even מטּהרו = מטּהרו, Psa 89:45, is cited among these examples (Ges. §10, 2 rem.).

Side by side with the language of prayer, tears even appear here as prayer that is intelligible to God; for when the gates of prayer seem to be closed, the gates of tears still remain unclosed (שׁערי דמעות לא ננעלו), B. Berachoth 32b. As a reason for his being heard, David appeals to the instability and finite character of this earthly life in language which we also hear from his own lips in 1Ch 29:15. גּר is the stranger who travels about and sojourns as a guest in a country that is not his native land; תּושׁב is a sojourner, or one enjoying the protection of the laws, who, without possessing any hereditary title, has settled down there, and to whom a settlement is allotted by sufferance. The earth is God's; that which may be said of the Holy Land (Lev 25:23) may be said of the whole earth; man has no right upon it, he only remains there so long as God permits him. כּכל־אבותי glances back even to the patriarchs (Gen 47:9, cf. Psa 23:4). Israel is, it is true, at the present time in possession of a fixed dwelling-place, but only as the gift of his God, and for each individual it is only during his life, which is but a handbreadth long. May Jahve, then - so David prays - turn away His look of wrath from him, in order that he may shine forth, become cheerful or clear up, before he goes hence and it is too late. השׁע is imper. apoc. Hiph. for השׁעה (in the signification of Kal), and ought, according to the form הרב, properly to be השׁע; it is, however, pointed just like the imper. Hiph. of שׁעע in Isa 6:10, without any necessity for explaining it as meaning obline (oculos tuos) = connive (Abulwalîd), which would be an expression unworthy of God. It is on the contrary to be rendered: look away from me; on which compare Job 7:19; Job 14:6; on אבליגה cf. ib. Job 10:20; Job 9:27; on אלך בּטרם, ib.Job 10:21; on ואיננּי, ib. Job 7:8, Job 7:21. The close of the Psalm, consequently, is re-echoed in many ways in the Book of Job The Book of Job is occupied with the same riddle as that with which this Psalm is occupied. But in the solution of it, it advances a step further. David does not know how to disassociate in his mind sin and suffering, and wrath and suffering. The Book of Job, on the contrary, thinks of suffering and love together; and in the truth that suffering also, even though it be unto death, must serve the highest interests of those who love God, it possesses a satisfactory solution. (In the Hebrew, v.1 is the designation 'A Psalm of David, when he fled before Absolom, his son.'; from then on v.1-8 in English translation corresponds to v.2-9 in the Hebrew)

Devout Reflections; Brevity and Vanity of Life.

1 I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, 4 Lord , make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

David here recollects, and leaves upon record, the workings of his heart under his afflictions; and it is good for us to do so, that what was thought amiss may be amended, and what was well thought of may be improved the next time.

I. He remembered the covenants he had made with God to walk circumspectly, and to be very cautious both of what he did and what he said. When at any time we are tempted to sin, and are in danger of falling into it, we must call to mind the solemn vows we have made against sin, against the particular sin we are upon the brink of. God can, and will, remind us of them (Jer. ii. 20, Thou saidst, I will not transgress), and therefore we ought to remind ourselves of them. So David did here.

1. He remembers that he had resolved, in general, to be very cautious and circumspect in his walking (v. 1): I said, I will take heed to my ways; and it was well said, and what he would never unsay and therefore must never gainsay. Note, (1.) It is the great concern of every one of us to take heed to our ways, that is, to walk circumspectly, while others walk at all adventures. (2.) We ought stedfastly to resolve that we will take heed to our ways, and frequently to renew that resolution. Fast bind, fast find. (3.) Having resolved to take heed to our ways, we must, upon all occasions, remind ourselves of that resolution, for it is a covenant never to be forgotten, but which we must be always mindful of.

2. He remembers that he had in particular covenanted against tongue-sins—that he would not sin with his tongue, that he would not speak amiss, either to offend God or offend the generation of the righteous, Ps. lxxiii. 15. It is not so easy as we could wish not to sin in thought; but, if an evil thought should arise in his mind, he would lay his hand upon his mouth, and suppress it, that it should go no further: and this is so great an attainment that, if any offend not in word, the same is a perfect man; and so needful a one that of him who seems to be religious, but bridles not his tongue, it is declared His religion is vain. David had resolved, (1.) That he would at all times watch against tongue-sins: "I will keep a bridle, or muzzle, upon my mouth." He would keep a bridle upon it, as upon the head; watchfulness in the act and exercise is the hand upon the bridle. He would keep a muzzle upon it, as upon an unruly dog that is fierce and does mischief; by particular stedfast resolution corruption is restrained from breaking out at the lips, and so is muzzled. (2.) That he would double his guard against them when there was most danger of scandal—when the wicked is before me. When he was in company with the wicked he would take heed of saying any thing that might harden them or give occasion to them to blaspheme. If good men fall into bad company, they must take heed what they say. Or, when the wicked is before me, in my thoughts. When he was contemplating the pride and power, the prosperity and flourishing estate, of evil-doers, he was tempted to speak amiss; and therefore then he would take special care what he said. Note, The stronger the temptation to a sin is the stronger the resolution must be against it.

II. Pursuant to these covenants he made a shift with much ado to bridle his tongue (v. 2): I was dumb with silence; I held my peace even from good. His silence was commendable; and the greater the provocation was the more praiseworthy was his silence. Watchfulness and resolution, in the strength of God's grace, will do more towards the bridling of the tongue than we can imagine, though it be an unruly evil. But what shall we say of his keeping silence even from good? Was it his wisdom that he refrained from good discourse when the wicked were before him, because he would not cast pearls before swine? I rather think it was his weakness; because he might not say any thing, he would say nothing, but ran into an extreme, which was a reproach to the law, for that prescribes a mean between extremes. The same law which forbids all corrupt communication requires that which is good and to the use of edifying, Eph. iv. 29.

III. The less he spoke the more he thought and the more warmly. Binding the distempered part did but draw the humour to it: My sorrow was stirred, my heart was hot within me, v. 3. He could bridle his tongue, but he could not keep his passion under; though he suppressed the smoke, that was as a fire in his bones, and, while he was musing upon his afflictions and upon the prosperity of the wicked, the fire burned. Note, Those that are of a fretful discontented spirit ought not to pore much, for, while they suffer their thoughts to dwell upon the causes of the calamity, the fire of their discontent is fed with fuel and burns the more furiously. Impatience is a sin that has its ill cause within ourselves, and that is musing, and its ill effects upon ourselves, and that is no less than burning. If therefore we would prevent the mischief of ungoverned passions, we must redress the grievance of ungoverned thoughts.

IV. When he did speak, at last, it was to the purpose: At the last I spoke with my tongue. Some make what he said to be the breach of his good purpose, and conclude that, in what he said, he sinned with his tongue; and so they make what follows to be a passionate wish that he might die, like Elijah (1 Kings xix. 4) and Job, ch. vi. 8, 9. But I rather take it to be, not the breach of his good purpose, but the reformation of his mistake in carrying it too far; he had kept silence from good, but now he would so keep silence no longer. He had nothing to say to the wicked that were before him, for to them he knew not how to place his words, but, after long musing, the first word he said was a prayer, and a devout meditation upon a subject which it will be good for us all to think much of.

1. He prays to God to make him sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of life and the near approach of death (v. 4): Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days. He does not mean, "Lord, let me know how long I shall live and when I shall die." We could not, in faith, pray such a prayer; for God has nowhere promised to let us know, but has, in wisdom, locked up that knowledge among the secret things which belong not to us, nor would it be good for us to know it. But, Lord, make me to know my end, means, "Lord, give me wisdom and grace to consider it (Deut. xxxii. 29) and to improve what I know concerning it." The living know that they shall die (Eccl. ix. 5), but few care for thinking of death; we have therefore need to pray that God by his grace would conquer that aversion which is in our corrupt hearts to the thoughts of death. "Lord, make me to consider," (1.) "What death is. It is my end, the end of my life, and all the employments and enjoyments of life. It is the end of all men," Eccl. vii. 2. It is a final period to our state of probation and preparation, and an awful entrance upon a state of recompence and retribution. To the wicked man it is the end of all joys; to a godly man it is the end of all griefs. "Lord, give me to know my end, to be better acquainted with death, to make it more familiar to me (Job xvii. 14), and to be more affected with the greatness of the change. Lord, give me to consider what a serious thing it is to die." (2.) "How near it is. Lord, give me to consider the measure of my days, that they are measured in the counsel of God" (the end is a fixed end, so the word signifies; my days are determined, Job xiv. 5) "and that the measure is but short: My days will soon be numbered and finished." When we look upon death as a thing at a distance we are tempted to adjourn the necessary preparations for it; but, when we consider how short life is, we shall see ourselves concerned to do what our hand finds to do, not only with all our might, but with all possible expedition. (3.) That it is continually working in us: "Lord, give me to consider how frail I am, how scanty the stock of life is, and how faint the spirits which are as the oil to keep that lamp burning." We find by daily experience that the earthly house of this tabernacle is mouldering and going to decay: "Lord, make us to consider this, that we may secure mansions in the house not made with hands."

2. He meditates upon the brevity and vanity of life, pleading them with God for relief under the burdens of life, as Job often, and pleading them with himself for his quickening to the business of life.

(1.) Man's life on earth is short and of no continuance, and that is a reason why we should sit loose to it and prepare for the end of it (v. 5): Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand-breadth, the breadth of four fingers, a certain dimension, a small one, and the measure whereof we have always about us, always before our eyes. We need no rod, no pole, no measuring line, wherewith to take the dimension of our days, nor any skill in arithmetic wherewith to compute the number of them. No; we have the standard of them at our fingers' end, and there is no multiplication of it; it is but one hand-breadth in all. Our time is short, and God has made it so; for the number of our months is with him. It is short, and he knows it to be so: It is as nothing before thee. He remembers how short our time is, Ps. lxxix. 47. It is nothing in comparison with thee; so some. All time is nothing to God's eternity, much less our share of time.

(2.) Man's life on earth is vain and of no value, and therefore it is folly to be fond of it and wisdom to make sure of a better life. Adam is Abel—man is vanity, in his present state. He is not what he seems to be, has not what he promised himself. He and all his comforts lie at a continual uncertainty; and if there were not another life after this, all things considered, he were made in vain. He is vanity; he is mortal, he is mutable. Observe, [1.] How emphatically this truth is expressed here. First, Every man is vanity, without exception; high and low, rich and poor, all meet in this. Secondly, He is so at his best estate, when he is young, and strong, and healthful, in wealth and honour, and the height of prosperity; when he is most easy, and merry, and secure, and thinks his mountain stands strong. Thirdly, He is altogether vanity, as vain as you can imagine. All man is all vanity (so it may be read); every thing about him is uncertain; nothing is substantial and durable but what relates to the new man. Fourthly, Verily he is so. This is a truth of undoubted certainty, but which we are very unwilling to believe and need to have solemnly attested to us, as indeed it is by frequent instances. Fifthly, Selah is annexed, as a note commanding observation. "Stop here, and pause awhile, that you may take time to consider and apply this truth, that every man is vanity." We ourselves are so. [2.] For the proof of the vanity of man, as mortal, he here mentions three things, and shows the vanity of each of them, v. 6. First, The vanity of our joys and honours: Surely every man walks (even when he walks in state, when he walks in pleasure) in a shadow, in an image, in a vain show. When he makes a figure his fashion passes away, and his great pomp is but great fancy, Acts xxv. 23. It is but a show, and therefore a vain show, like the rainbow, the gaudy colours of which must needs vanish and disappear quickly when the substratum is but a cloud, a vapour; such is life (Jam. iv. 14), and therefore such are all the gaieties of it. Secondly, The vanity of our griefs and fears. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Our disquietudes are often groundless (we vex ourselves without any just cause, and the occasions of our trouble are often the creatures of our own fancy and imagination), and they are always fruitless; we disquiet ourselves in vain, for we cannot, with all our disquietment, alter the nature of things nor the counsel of God; things will be as they are when we have disquieted ourselves ever so much about them. Thirdly, The vanity of our cares and toils. Man takes a great deal of pains to heap up riches, and they are but like heaps of manure in the furrows of the field, good for nothing unless they be spread. But, when he has filled his treasures with his trash, he knows not who shall gather them, nor to whom they shall descend when he is gone; for he shall not take them away with him. He asks not, For whom do I labour? and that is his folly, Eccl. iv. 8. But, if he did ask, he could not tell whether he should be a wise man or a fool, a friend or a foe, Eccl. ii. 19. This is vanity.

Confidence in God; David Pleading with God.

7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. 12 Hear my prayer, O Lord , and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

The psalmist, having meditated on the shortness and uncertainty of life, and the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all the comforts of life, here, in these verses, turns his eyes and heart heaven-ward. When there is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature it is to be found in God, and in communion with him; and to him we should be driven by our disappointments in the world. David here expresses,

I. His dependence on God, v. 7. Seeing all is vanity, and man himself is so, 1. He despairs of a happiness in the things of the world, and disclaims all expectations from it: "Now, Lord, what wait I for? Even nothing from the things of sense and time; I have nothing to wish for, nothing to hope for, from this earth." Note, The consideration of the vanity and frailty of human life should deaden our desires to the things of this world and lower our expectations from it. "If the world be such a thing as this, God deliver me from having, or seeking, my portion in it." We cannot reckon upon constant health and prosperity, nor upon comfort in any relation; for it is all as uncertain as our continuance here. "Though I have sometimes foolishly promised myself this and the other from the world, I am now of another mind." 2. He takes hold of happiness and satisfaction in God: My hope is in thee. Note, When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust to, and we should thereby be quickened to take so much the faster hold of him by faith.

II. His submission to God, and his cheerful acquiescence in his holy will, v. 9. If our hope be in God for a happiness in the other world, we may well afford to reconcile ourselves to all the dispensations of his providence concerning us in this world: "I was dumb; I opened not my mouth in a way of complaint and murmuring." He now again recovered that serenity and sedateness of mind which were disturbed, v. 2. Whatever comforts he is deprived of, whatever crosses he is burdened with, he will be easy. "Because thou didst it; it did not come to pass by chance, but according to thy appointment." We may here see, 1. A good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us. Of every event we may say, "This is the finger of God; it is the Lord's doing," whoever were the instruments. 2. A good man, for that reason, saying nothing against it. He is dumb, he has nothing to object, no question to ask, no dispute to raise upon it. All that God does is well done.

III. His desire towards God, and the prayers he puts up to him. Is any afflicted? let him pray, as David here,

1. For the pardoning of his sin and the preventing of his shame, v. 8. Before he prays (v. 10), Remove thy stroke from me, he prays (v. 8), "Deliver me from all my offences, from the guilt I have contracted, the punishment I have deserved, and the power of corruption by which I have been enslaved." When God forgives our sins he delivers us from them, he delivers us from them all. He pleads, Make me not a reproach to the foolish. Wicked people are foolish people; and they then show their folly most when they think to show their wit, by scoffing at God's people. When David prays that God would pardon his sins, and not make him a reproach, it is to be taken as a prayer for peace of conscience ("Lord, leave me not to the power of melancholy, which the foolish will laugh at me for"), and as a prayer for grace, that God would never leave him to himself, so far as to do any thing that might make him a reproach to bad men. Note, This is a good reason why we should both watch and pray against sin, because the credit of our profession is nearly concerned in the preservation of our integrity.

2. For the removal of his affliction, that he might speedily be eased of his present burdens (v. 10): Remove thy stroke away from me. Note, When we are under the correcting hand of God our eye must be to God himself, and not to any other, for relief. He only that inflicts the stroke can remove it; and we may then in faith, and with satisfaction, pray that our afflictions may be removed, when our sins are pardoned (Isa. xxxviii. 17), and when, as here, the affliction is sanctified and has done its work, and we are humbled under the hand of God.

(1.) He pleads the great extremity he was reduced to by his affliction, which made him the proper object of God's compassion: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. His sickness prevailed to such a degree that his spirits failed, his strength was wasted, and his body emaciated. "The blow, or conflict, of thy hand has brought me even to the gates of death." Note, The strongest, and boldest, and best of men cannot bear up under, much less make head against, the power of God's wrath. It was not his case only, but any man will find himself an unequal match for the Almighty, v. 11. When God, at any time, contends with us, when with rebukes he corrects us, [1.] We cannot impeach the equity of his controversy, but must acknowledge that he is righteous in it; for, whenever he corrects man, it is for iniquity. Our ways and our doings procure the trouble to ourselves, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. It is the yoke of our transgressions, though it be bound with his hand, Lam. i. 14. [2.] We cannot oppose the effects of his controversy, but he will be too hard for us. As we have nothing to move in arrest of his judgment, so we have no way of escaping the execution. God's rebukes make man's beauty to consume away like a moth; we often see, we sometimes feel, how much the body is weakened and decayed by sickness in a little time; the countenance is changed; where are the ruddy cheek and lip, the sprightly eye, the lively look, the smiling face? It is the reverse of all this that presents itself to view. What a poor thing is beauty; and what fools are those that are proud of it, or in love with it, when it will certainly, and may quickly, be consumed thus! Some make the moth to represent man, who is as easily crushed as a moth with the touch of a finger, Job iv. 19. Others make it to represent the divine rebukes, which silently and insensibly waste and consume us, as the moth does the garment. All this abundantly proves what he had said before, that surely every man is vanity, weak and helpless; so he will be found when God comes to contend with him.

(2.) He pleads the good impressions made upon him by his affliction. He hoped that the end was accomplished for which it was sent, and that therefore it would be removed in mercy; and unless an affliction has done its work, though it may be removed, it is not removed in mercy. [1.] It had set him a weeping, and he hoped God would take notice of that. When the Lord God called to mourning, he answered the call and accommodated himself to the dispensation, and therefore could, in faith, pray, Lord, hold not thy peace at my tears, v. 12. He that does not willingly afflict and grieve the children of men, much less his own children, will not hold his peace at their tears, but will either speak deliverance for them (and, if he speak, it is done) or in the mean time speak comfort to them and make them to hear joy and gladness. [2.] It had set him a praying; and afflictions are sent to stir up prayer. If they have that effect, and when we are afflicted we pray more, and pray better, than before, we may hope that God will hear our prayer and give ear to our cry; for the prayer which by his providence he gives occasion for, and which by his Spirit of grace he indites, shall not return void. [3.] It had helped to wean him from the world and to take his affections off from it. Now he began, more than ever, to look upon himself as a stranger and sojourner here, like all his fathers, not at home in this world, but travelling through it to another, to a better, and would never reckon himself at home till he came to heaven. He pleads it with God: "Lord, take cognizance of me, and of my wants and burdens, for I am a stranger here, and therefore meet with strange usage; I am slighted and oppressed as a stranger; and whence should I expect relief but from thee, from that other country to which I belong?"

3. He prays for a reprieve yet a little longer (v. 13): "O spare me, ease me, raise me up from this illness that I may recover strength both in body and mind, that I may get into a more calm and composed frame of spirit, and may be better prepared for another world, before I go hence by death, and shall be no more in this world." Some make this to be a passionate wish that God would send him help quickly or it would be too late, like that, Job x. 20, 21. But I rather take it as a pious prayer that God would continue him here till by his grace he had made him fit to go hence, and that he might finish the work of life before his life was finished. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee.

PSAL. XXXIX.

To the master of the musicke to Ieduthun; a Psalme of David.

I Said I will take heed to my waies from sinning with my tongue: I will keepe a bridle on my mouth, while the wicked is before me. I was dumbe with stilnesse, I was silent from good, and my paine was troubled. Mine heart was hot within mee, in my meditation the fire burned, I spake with my tongue. Iehovah, make mee to know mine end, and the measure of my daies what it is: let me know how soone ceasing I am. Loe, thou hast given my dayes of hand bredths, and my worldly time is as nothing before thee; surely all vanitie is every man, though setled Selah. Surely in an image walketh each man, surely in vanitie doe they make a stirre, hee heapeth up, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now what expect I Lord? my hopefull expectation it is for thee. Deliver me from all my trespasses, put me not the reproach of the foole. I am dumbe, I will not open my mouth, because thou hast done it. Turne away thy plague from mee; by the striking of thine hand I am consumed. With reproofes for iniquitie thou chastisest a man, and makest that which is to be desired of his, to melt away as a moth: surely vanitie is every man Selah. Heare my prayer, Iehovah, and mine out-cry, give eare unto my teares; cease not as deafe, for a stranger I am with thee, a sojourner as all my fathers. Stay from me, and let me refresh my selfe before I goe, and I be not.

Annotations. TO Ieduthun] or, for him: and it may be meant not onely for his person, but for his posteritie, as Aaron is put for the Aaronites, 1 Chron. 12. 27. This Ieduthun and his sonnes were singers in Israel with the harpe: hee prophesied for the confessing and giving praise to Iehovah, 1 Chron. 25. 3. So Psal. 77. 1. The Chaldee addeth to the title thus: To praise for the keeping of the house of the Sanctuarie, by the mouth of Ieduthun. Vers. 2. take heed] or, beware, observe. The like speech is used, 1 King. 2. 4. from sinning] that is, as the Greeke translateth, that I sin not, or misse not. If any man sinne not in word, he is a perfect man and able to bridle all the bodie, Iam. 3. 2. a bridle] or mousell: the Greeke turneth it a ward: by this the untamednesse of the tongue is noted, which must by force and watchfulnesse be restrained. See Iam. 3. 3,—8. Vers. 3. with stilnesse] or, silentnesse, tamed subjection; as the word often signifieth, Psal. 4. 5. Wherefore the Greeke here turneth it, I was humbled. from good] in Greeke, from good things, which the Chaldee explaineth, the words of the Law. my paine was troubled] my sore was exulcerate, renewed (as the Greeke saith,) and increased. Vers. 4. fire burned] with this speech of David we may compare that of Ieremie; And I said I will not mention him, nor speake any more in his name: but it was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and could no longer, Ier. 20. 9. Vers. 5. how soone ceasing] how temporary, fraile, brittle and short-lived; as the Chaldee expoundeth it, when I shall cease out of the world; or, how defective I am: so the Greeke saith, what I lacke, to wit, of the end of my dayes; what is the terme and period of my life. Vers. 6. of hand bredths] that is, thou hast exactly measured them out, and they are but short. A hand bredth is a short measure, the bredth of foure fingers. my worldly time] my life-time, my temporary age. The Greeke translateth it, my substance; the Chaldee, my bodie. The Hebrew Cheled, is the world; Psal. 17. 14. used here for mans life-time in this world. So Psal. 89. 48. Iob 11. 17. surely] or, but onely. all vanitie] or, a meere vapour, all manner vanitie, and nothing else. Whatsoever vanitie is in the world, may all be seene in man. The Hebrew Hebel is a soone-vanishing vapour, as the breath of ones mouth. To this the Apostle hath reference, saying; What is your life? it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and afterward vanisheth away, Iam. 4. 14. every man] or, all mankinde, Hebr. all Adam. Adam called his second sonne Hebel, that is, vanitie, Gen. 4. 2. and here David saith, that all Adam (every man) is Hebel, vanitie. Solomon in Ecclesiastes declareth this at large. See also Psal. 62. 10. though setled] or standing, stedfast, and in good estate: in Greeke, living. The Chaldee saith, but all just ones live for ever. Vers. 7. walketh in an image] or, in a shadow, that is, obscurely, changeth daily, leadeth an imaginary life, rather than a life it selfe, and so soone passeth hence; He fleeth as a shadow, and abideth not, Iob 14. 2. So Paul saith, the fashion (or hiew) of this world goeth away, 1 Cor. 7. 31. The Chaldee explaineth it otherwise, walketh in the image of the Lord. make a sturre] or a tumult, disquieting themselves and one another. he heapeth] that is, any one heapeth up, to wit, goods, and knowes not who shall enjoy them. See Eccles. 2. 18, 19. Vers. 9. put me not] or, expose, make me not to be the reproach of the foole, of Nabal; whereof see Psal. 14. 1. Vers. 10. I am dumbe] or tongue-tied. This is a profession of his patient sufferance of the things laid upon him by God. And so did David carry himselfe, 2 Sam. 16. 10. and Aaron, Levit. 10. 3. Vers. 11. the striking] or buffeting: this noteth the greatnesse and oft reiteration of his trouble. Vers. 12. melt] that is, consume away. as a moth] to wit, as a moth-worme consumeth, or perisheth, which is suddenly, as Iob 4. 19. they are destroyed before the moth. Or, as the moth consumeth garments, so thou with thy rebukes consumest them, as Hos. 5. 12. Iob 13. 28. Isa. 50. 9. and 51. 8. that which is to be desired of his] or his desirable; meaning his beautious grace, best strength, dignitie, and every whit of him, that is amiable, to be desired, or liked: which the Greeke expoundeth to be his soule; the Chaldee, his bodie. Vers. 13. unto my teares] which cry unto God, (as bloud is said to cry, Gen. 4. 10.) or, which are joyned with earnest prayers, as Heb. 5. 7. a stranger with thee] This is taken from the Law, Levit. 25. 23. The land is mine, yee are but strangers and sojourners with me. The like acknowledgement is also in 1 Chron. 29. 15. Hence saith the Apostle, They confessed that they were strangers and pilgrimes on the earth, and, they that say such things, declare plainly that they seeke a country, to wit, an heavenly, Hebr. 11. 13, 14, 16. Vers. 14. Stay] or Leave off, to wit, thine anger, or affliction: or, Looke away, shut the eye, as this word sometime signifieth, Isa. 6. 10. and let me refresh) or, that I may recover strength. This speech is taken from Iob 10. 20, 21. Igoe] to wit, unto death: See Gen. 15. 2. and 25. 32. and 5. 24.

PSAL. XXXIX.

Verſ. 1. I ſaid, I will take heed] He reſolved ſo Pſal. 38.13, 14. ſc. Ejuſdem [illegible: 1 word] eſt hic [illegible: 1 word] cum [illegible: 1 word] Cimch[illegible: 1 letter] no continue as one deaf and dumb, to uſe Iſ[illegible: 2 letters]cks Apology to ſcoffing Iſmael, viz. no Apology, unleſſe it be that which is Reall; for Ʋivendo melius arguuntur obtrectatores, quam loquendo, ſlanderers and railers are beſt anſwered by ſilence.

That I ſin not with my tongue] An hard task, a long leſſon, as Pambus in the Eccleſiaſticall hiſtory, found it by experience; and after many years tryall, could not take it out. For the tongue is an unruly Member: And if any man offend not in word, the ſame is a perfect man, and able alſo to bridle the whole body, Jam. 3.2. David reſolved to temper his tongue, and to keep a bridle or a muzzle for his mouth, whiles he was in extremity of pain, and in the preſence of the Wicked, who lay at the catch, and would ſoon exclaim; but his heart deceived him, for he quickly after brake his word, verſ. 3. and made a raſh requeſt, verſ. 4. ſo great need is there that the beſt pray to God to keep the door, as Pſal. 141.3.

Verſ. 2. I was dumb with ſilence] As not willing either to open the mouthes of thoſe dead dogs; or to caſt pearles before thoſe ſenſuall ſwine.

I held my peace even from good] That good which I might have ſpoken in mine own defence, and their reproof, ne miſcerem illiud cum malo, ſaith One,Intellige [illegible: 1 word] bono licito, non de bon[illegible: 1 letter] neceſſario [illegible: 1 word] praecepto. leſt ſome evill ſhould be mingled with it; as mud and gravell is with the clear water that runs down a current.

And my ſorrow was ſtirred] Heb. Troubled; Though I had ſomewhat to do, to do it. Corruption muſt be curb'd, and kept in by violence, Jam. 1.26.

Hanc fraenis, hanc tu compeſce catenis.

Verſ. 3. My beart was hot within me] It was almoſt ſuff ocated for want of vent. By heat of heart, and fire kindled, ſaith One, the Prophet meaneth,T. W. in loc. not only the greatneſs of his grief, as they that are grievouſly ſick feel great force and power of heat; but he meaneth alſo ſome motions that he had to impatiency and fretting; to which fault they are very much ſubject, that are hot, and given to heat, Thus He. This diſtemper to prevent, God and Nature have placed the heart neer unto the lungs, ut cum irâ accenditur, pulmonis humore temperetur, that when it is heated with wrath, it may bee cooled and qualified by the allay of the lungs.

While I was muſing, the fire burnt] This ſheweth that thoughts and affections are the mutuall cauſes one of another; ſo that thoughts kindle affections, and theſe cauſe thoughts to boil. And hence it is, faith a Reverend man, that new-converts, having new and ſtrong affections, can with more pleaſure think of God, than any.

Then ſpake I with my tongue] But better he had held his tongue, according to his firſt reſolution. The Greeks have a ſaying, Let a man either keep ſilence, or ſpeak that which is better than [illegible: 1 letter]lence. Auſtin paraphraſeth thus; when I refrained ſo from ſpeaking, for fear of ſpeaking evill, that I ſpake no good, I was troubled at this my ſilence; leſt my ſin ſhould be counted greater for this ſilence, than my vertue in refraining from ſpeaking evill.

Verſ. 4. Lord, make mee to know mine end] This Auſt in expoundeth of Heaven the end of all his troubles, which he now ſighed after. But Vatablus, Calvin, and moſt modern Interpreters conceive that David doth here ingenuouſly confeſſe that he grudged againſt God; conſidering the greatneſſe of his grief, and the ſhortneſſe of his life.

And the meaſure of my dayes] An admalorum qua perfero compenſationem ſufficiant, whether they are likely to be enow to make mee amends for my grievous ſufferings. This hee ſeemeth to ſpeak either out of impatiency, or curioſity at leaſt.

That I may know how frail I am] How ſoon-ceaſing, and ſhort liv'd.Quam darabilis ſum. Trem[illegible: 1 letter] Vatablus hath it, quam mandanus ſim, how long I am like to be a man of this World, this vale of miſery, and valley of tears.

Verſ. 5. Behold, thou haſt made my dayes as an handbreadth] i. e. Four fingers broad, (which is one of the leaſt Geometricall meaſures, or a ſpan-long) as ſome interpret it. Now to ſpend the ſpan of this tranſitory life, after the wayes of a mans own heart, is to bereave himſelf of a room in that City of Pearl, and to periſh for ever. Or take it for an handbreadth; ſhould a man, having his lands divided into four parts (anſwerable to thoſe four fingers breadth) leave three of them untilled? ſhould he not make the beſt of that little time that he hath? that he be not taken with his task undone? Themiſtocles dyed about an hundred and ſeven years of age; and when he was to dye, he was grieved upon this ground, Now I am to dye faith he, when I begin to be wiſe. But Stultus ſemper incipit vivere, ſaith Seneca; and ſuch complaints are bootleſſe. O live quickly, live apace and learn of the Devil at leaſt to be moſt buſy as knowing that our time is ſhort, Rev. 12.12. To complain of the miſeries of life, and to wiſh for death, as David here ſeemeth to do (and as did Job, chap. 3.19. & 6.9. & 7.15. and Moſes, Num. 11.11, 15. Elias, 1 King. 19.4. Jeremy, chap. 20.14. Jonas 4.3.) is a ſign of a prevailing temptation, and of a ſpirit fainting under it. We muſt fight againſt ſuch impatiency; and learn to do the like by life, as we do by a leaſe, wherein if our time be but ſhort, we rip up the grounds, eat up the graſſe, cut down the copſes, and take all the liberty the leaſe will afford.

Mine age is as nothing] Heb. My world, that is my time of aboad in the World is but a magnum Nibil, as one ſaith of honour; Punctumeſt quod vivimus, & puncto minus, a meer Salve vale, a non-entity.

Verily every man at his beſt eſtate] When hee is beſt conſtituted and underlaid, ſet to live,Profecto omnimoda vani tas omnis homo eſt quantumvis conſtitutus maxime. Tremel. Kimchi. as one would think, firmus & fixus, ſetled on his beſt bottom, yet even then he is all over vanity; All Adam is all Abel, as the originall runs elegantly, alluding to thoſe two proper names, like as Pſal. 144.3, 4. Adam is Abels mate, or man is like to a ſoon vaniſhing vapour; ſuch as is the breath of ones mouth. See Jam. 4.14. a feeble flaſh, a curious picture of Nothing.

Verſ. 6. Surely every man walk[illegible: 1 letter]th in a vain ſhew] Heb. In an image, or, in a ſhadow, as Job 14. 2. in the ſhadow of death as ſome ſenſe it; his life is like a picture drawn upon the water, ſaith Theodoret; it paſſeth away as an haſty, headlong torrent. Verily, ſurely, ſurely, it is ſo; Selah, you may ſeal to it.

Surely they are diſquieted in vain] Heb. They keep a ſtirre, and trouble the World, as did great Alexander; who ſurfetting of his exceſſive fortunes, from the darling of Heaven,Two fits of an ague could ſhake greit Tamerlan to death. came to be the diſdain of the Earth, which hee had ſo oft diſquieted. So the Emperour Adrian, who troubling himſelf and others to little good purpoſe, dyed with this ſaying in his mouth, Omnia fui, & nibil profuit, I have tryed all concluſions, but go nothing. And ſaith not Salomon as much in his Eccleſia ſtes?

Hee heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who ſhall gather them] i.e. Enjoy them. See Eccleſ. 2.18, 19. and be moderate. Think when you lock up your mony in your cheſt (ſaith One who ſhall ſhortly lock you up in your coffin. Think how that this very night thy ſoul may he required of thee; and then whoſe ſhall thoſe things be which thou haſt provided. Luk. 12.20?

Verſ. 7. [illegible: 1 letter]eza. And now Lord, what wait I for?] q. d. Abſit ergo ut de iſt is quiſquiliis ſim anxius, Farre be it from mee to trouble my ſelf about theſe tranſitory trifles; I am bent to depend on thee alone, to wait for thy favour, and deſire it above all earthly felicity; to place all my hope on thee alone, who being my Lord, wilt nor, canſt not caſt off thy poor ſervant, who deſireth to fear thy Name.

Verſ. 8. Deliver mee from all my tranſgreſſions] But eſpecially from that of impatiently deſiring to dye out of diſcontent, verſ. 4. The ſenſe of this one ſin brought many more to remembrance; as a man by looking over his debt-book for one thing, meets with more. God giveth the penitent generall diſcharges; neither calleth he any to an after-reckoning.

Make m[illegible: 1 letter]e not the reproach of the fooliſh] Let not any Wicked one (for ſuch are all fooles in Gods dictionary) lay this folly in my diſh, that I ſo fooliſhly deſired death in a pet.

Verſ. 9. I was dumb. I opened not my mouth] Or, Better thus, I ſhould have been dumb, and not have opened my mouth, according to my firſt reſolution. I ſhould not have reaſoned, or rather wrangled with thee, as verſ. 4. but have kiſſed thy rod in an humble ſubmiſſion, and have known that the rod of Aaron, and pot of Manna muſt go together. Macrobius writeth that the image of Angeronia among the old Romans was placed on the Altar of Volupia, with the mouth cloſed and ſealed up; to ſignifie, that ſuch as patiently and ſilently bear their griefs, do thereby attain to greateſt pleaſures.

Becauſe thou didſt it] This is indeed a quieting conſideration, and will notably quell and kill unruly paſſions. Set but God before them, when they are tumultuating, and all will be ſoon huſht. This made Jacob ſo patient in the rape of his Daughter Dinah; Job, in the loſſe of his goods by the Sabaan ſpoylers; David, in the barkings of that dead dog Shim[illegible: 1 letter]i; that noble Lord of Pleſſis, in the loſſe of his only ſon, a Gentleman of marvellous great hopes, ſlain in the wars of the Low-Countries. His Mother more impatient, dyed of the grief of it: But his Father laid his hand on his mouth, when Gods hand was on his back; and uſed theſe very words, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, becauſe thou didſt it.

Verſ. 10. Removethy ſtroke away from mee] Having firſt prayed off his ſin, hee would now pray off his pain; though it leſſe troubled him; and for eaſe, he repaireth, to Jehovah that healeth, as well as woundeth, Hoſ. 6.1.

nam qui tibi vulnera fecit. Solus Achilleo tellere more poteſt.Ovid. Triſt 1.

I am conſumed by the blow of thine hand] Heb. By the conflict or buffettings. Oh keep out of his fingers; for it is a fearfull thing to fall into them, Heb. 10. Caveb is autem ſipavebis.

Verſ. 11. When thou with rebukes doeſt correct man for iniquity] Or, Shouldeſt thou but correct him according to his iniquity; correct him I ſay, or inſtruct him. Kimchi his Note here is, Morbi ſunt interpretes inter Deum & homines increpantes, ut Job 33.19. Diſeaſes are Gods chiding meſſages, or reall rebukes.

Thou makeſt his beauty] Heb. What ſoever in him is deſirable, all his prime and pride, pulchritudinem & praeſtantiam, his beauty and bravery, as that of Jonas his gourd.

To conſume away like a moth] Heb. To melt away as a moth, which is eaſily cruſht betwixt ones fingers, Job 4.19. or actively, as a moth,Quam[illegible: 1 letter]is [illegible: 1 word] palam fulmine è [illegible: 1 word] Vat. caeco morſu doth ſecretly and ſuddenly conſume the moſt precious garment, ſo doſt thou the Wicked by thy ſecret curſe, though themſelves or others little obſerve it.

Surely every man is vanity, Selah] See verſ. 5.

Verſ. 13. Hear my prayer O Lord, give ear, &c.] My prayer, my cry, my tears. See how his ardency in prayer grew by degrees, and ſo availed much, Jam. 5.16. we muſt riſe in our requeſts, pray, cry, weep, ask, ſeek, knock, let the Lord ſee that wee are in good earneſt; and then we may have any thing. Tears have a voice, and are very effectuall Oratours.

For I am a ſtranger with thee, and a ſojourner] And in that reſpect ſubject to many miſeries and moleſtations ſatanicall and ſecular, till I ſhall repatriaſſe get home (as Bernard expreſſeth it) and this was the condition of all my godly predeceſſors, who yet found favour with thee, and ſo I hope ſhall I.

Verſ. 13. O spare mee that I may recover ſtrength] Ut refociller, reficiar; Job maketh the like requeſt, chap. 10.20. Some breathing while they would have, and a time to recollect themſelves, before that laſt great encounter; They ſay in effect Differ, habent parvae commoda magna morae.

Before I go hence, and be no more] No more ſeen amongſt men. It is ſaid,Speed. 925. that Richard the third cauſed the dead corps of his two ſmothered Nephews to be cloſed in lead, and ſo put in a coffin full of holes and hooked at the ends with two hooks of Iron; and ſo to be caſt into a place called the black deeps, at the Thames mouth, whereby they ſhould never riſe up, nor be any more ſeen. Joſeph is not, and Simeon is not, Gen. 42.36. The Righteous periſh, Iſa. 57.1. when once I go hence, ſaith David here, viz. to my long home, Eccleſ. 12.5. there will be a Non ego, an end of mee as to this World; wherefore I beg a little reſpite.

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I said. I steadily resolved and registered a determination. In his great perplexity his greatest fear was lest he should sin; and, therefore, he cast about for the most likely method for avoiding it, and he determined to be silent. It is right excellent when a man can strengthen himself in a good course by the remembrance of a well and wisely formed resolve. "What I have written I have written, "or what I have spoken I will perform, may prove a good strengthener to a man in a fixed course of right. I will take heed to my ways. To avoid sin one had need be very circumspect, and keep one's actions as with a guard or garrison. Unguarded ways are generally unholy ones. Heedless is another word for graceless. In times of sickness or other trouble we must watch against the sins peculiar to such trials, especially against murmuring and repining. That I sin not with my tongue. Tongue sins are great sins; like sparks of fire ill words spread, and do great damage. If believers utter hard words of God in times of depression, the ungodly will take them up and use them as a justification for their sinful courses. If a man's own children rail at him, no wonder if his enemies' mouths are full of abuse. Our tongue always wants watching, for it is restive as an ill broken horse; but especially must we hold it in when the sharp cuts of the Lord's rod excite it to rebel. I will keep my mouth with a bridle, or more accurately, with a muzzle. The original does not so much mean a bridle to check the tongue as a muzzle to stop it altogether. David was not quite so wise as our translation would make him; if he had resolved to be very guarded in his speech, it would have been altogether commendable; but when he went so far as to condemn himself to entire silence, "even from good, "there must have been at least a little sullenness in his soul. In trying to avoid one fault, he fell into another. To use the tongue against God is a sin of commission, but not to use it at all involves an evident sin of omission. Commendable virtues may be followed so eagerly that we may fall into vices; to avoid Scylla we run into Charybdis. While the wicked is before me. This qualifies the silence, and almost screens it from criticism, for bad men are so sure to misuse even our holiest speech, that it is as well not to cast any of our pearls before such swine; but what if the psalmist meant, "I was silent while I had the prosperity of the wicked in my thoughts, "then we see the discontent and questioning of his mind, and the muzzled mouth indicates much that is not to be commended. Yet, if we blame we must also praise, for the highest wisdom suggests that when good men are bewildered with sceptical thoughts, they should not hasten to repeat them, but should fight out their inward battle upon its own battlefield. The firmest believers are exercised with unbelief, and it would be doing the devil's work with a vengeance if they were to publish abroad all their questionings and suspicions. If I have the fever myself, there is no reason why I should communicate it to my neighbours. If any on board the vessel of my soul are diseased, I will put my heart in quarantine, and allow none to go on shore in the boat of speech till I have a clean bill of health.

I was dumb with silence. He was as strictly speechless as if he had been tongueless —not a word escaped him. He was as silent as the dumb. I held my peace, even from good. Neither bad nor good escaped his lips. Perhaps he feared that if he began to talk at all, he would be sure to speak amiss, and, therefore, he totally abstained. It was an easy, safe, and effectual way of avoiding sin, if it did not involve a neglect of the duty which he owed to God to speak well of his name. Our divine Lord was silent before the wicked, but not altogether so, for before Pontius Pilate he witnessed a good confession, and asserted his kingdom. A sound course of action may be pushed to the extreme, and become a fault. And my sorrow was stirred. Inward grief was made to work and ferment by want of vent. The pent up floods are swollen and agitated. Utterance is the natural outlet for the heart's anguish, and silence is, therefore, both an aggravation of the evil and a barrier against its cure. In such a case the resolve to hold one's peace needs powerful backing, and even this is most likely to give way when grief rushes upon the soul. Before a flood gathering in force and foaming for outlet the strongest banks are likely to be swept away. Nature may do her best to silence the expression of discontent, but unless grace comes to her rescue, she will be sure to succumb.

My heart was hot within me. The friction of inward thoughts produced an intense mental heat. The door of his heart was shut, and with the fire of sorrow burning within, the chamber of his soul soon grew unbearable with heat. Silence is an awful thing for a sufferer, it is the surest method to produce madness. Mourner, tell your sorrow; do it first and most fully to God, but even to pour it out before some wise and godly friend is far from being wasted breath. While I was musing the fire burned. As he thought upon the ease of the wicked and his own daily affliction, he could not unravel the mystery of providence, and therefore he became greatly agitated. While his heart was musing it was fusing, for the subject was confusing. It became harder every moment to be quiet; his volcanic soul was tossed with an inward ocean of fire, and heaved to and fro with a mental earthquake; and eruption was imminent, the burning lava must pour forth in a fiery stream. Then spake I with my tongue. The original is grandly laconic. I spake. The muzzled tongue burst all its bonds. The gag was hurled away. Misery, like murder, will out. You can silence praise, but anguish is clamorous. Resolve or no resolve, heed or no heed, sin or no sin, the impetuous torrent forced for itself a channel and swept away every restraint.

Lord. It is well that the vent of his soul was toward God and not towards man. Oh! if my swelling heart must speak, Lord let it speak with thee; even if there be too much of natural heat in what I say, thou wilt be more patient with me than man, and upon thy purity it can cast no stain; whereas if I speak to my fellows, they may harshly rebuke me or else learn evil from my petulance. Make me to know mine end. Did he mean the same as Elias in his agony, "Let me die, I am no better than my father"? Perhaps so. At any rate, he rashly and petulantly desired to know the end of his wretched life, that he might begin to reckon the days till death should put a finish to his woe. Impatience would pry between the folded leaves. As if there were no other comfort to be had, unbelief would fain hide itself in the grave and sleep itself into oblivion. David was neither the first nor the last who have spoken unadvisedly in prayer. Yet, there is a better meaning: the psalmist would know more of the shortness of life, that he might better bear its transient ills, and herein we may safely kneel with him, uttering the same petition. That there is no end to its misery is the hell of hell; that there is an end to life's sorrow is the hope of all who have a hope beyond the grave. God is the best teacher of the divine philosophy which looks for an expected end. They who see death through the Lord's glass, see a fair sight, which makes them forget the evil of life in foreseeing the end of life. And the measure of my days. David would fain be assured that his days would be soon over and his trials with them; he would be taught anew that life is measured out to us by wisdom, and is not a matter of chance. As the trader measures his cloth by inches, and ells, and yards, so with scrupulous accuracy is life measured out to man. That I may know how frail I am, or when I shall cease to be. Alas! poor human nature, dear as life is, man quarrels with God at such a rate that he would sooner cease to be than bear the Lord's appointment. Such pettishness in a saint! Let us wait till we are in a like position, and we shall do no better. The ship on the stocks wonders that the barque springs a leak, but when it has tried the high seas, it marvels that its timbers hold together in such storms. David's case is not recorded for our imitation, but for our learning.

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth. Upon consideration, the psalmist finds little room to bewail the length of life, but rather to bemoan its shortness. What changeful creatures we are! One moment we cry to be rid of existence, and the next instant beg to have it prolonged! A handbreadth is one of the shortest natural measures, being the breadth of four fingers; such is the brevity of life, by divine appointment; God hath made it so, fixing the period in wisdom. The behold calls us to attention; to some the thoughts of life's hastiness will bring the most acute pain, to others the most solemn earnestness. How well should those live who are to live so little! Is my earthly pilgrimage so brief? then let me watch every step of it, that in the little of time there may be much of grace. And mine age is as nothing before thee. So short as not to amount to an entity. Think of eternity, and an angel is as a newborn babe, the world a fresh blown bubble, the sun a spark just fallen from the fire, and man a nullity. Before the Eternal, all the age of frail man is less than one ticking of a clock. Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity. This is the surest truth, that nothing about man is either sure or true. Take man at his best, he is but a man, and a man is a mere breath, unsubstantial as the wind. Man is settled, as the margin has it, and by divine decree it is settled that he shall not be settled. He is constant only in inconstancy. His vanity is his only verity; his best, of which he is vain, is but vain; and this is verily true of every man, that everything about him is every way fleeting. This is sad news for those whose treasures are beneath the moon; those whose glorying is in themselves may well hang the flag half mast; but those whose best estate is settled upon them in Christ Jesus in the land of unfading flowers, may rejoice that it is no vain thing in which they trust.

Surely every man walketh in a vain shew. Life is but a passing pageant. This alone is sure, that nothing is sure. All around us shadows mock us; we walk among them, and too many live for them as if the mocking images were substantial; acting their borrowed parts with zeal fit only to be spent on realities, and lost upon the phantoms of this passing scene. Worldly men walk like travellers in a mirage, deluded, duped, deceived, soon to be filled with disappointment and despair. Surely they are disquieted in vain. Men fret, and fume, and worry, and all for mere nothing. They are shadows pursuing shadows, while death pursues them. He who toils and contrives, and wearies himself for gold, for fame, for rank, even if he wins his desire, finds at the end of his labour lost; for like the treasure of the miser's dream, it all vanishes when the man awakes in the world of reality. Read well this text, and then listen to the clamour of the market, the hum of the exchange, the din of the city streets, and remember that all this noise (for so the word means), this breach of quiet, is made about unsubstantial, fleeting vanities. Broken rest, anxious fear, over worked brain, failing mind, lunacy, these are the steps in the process of disquieting with many, and all to be rich, or, in other words, to load one's self with the thick clay; clay, too, which a man must leave so soon. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. He misses often the result of his ventures, for there are many slips between the cup and the lips. His wheat is sheaved, but an interloping robber bears it away —as often happens with the poor Eastern husbandman; or, the wheat is even stored, but the invader feasts thereon. Many work for others all unknown to them. Especially does this verse refer to those all gathering muckrakes, who in due time are succeeded by all scattering forks, which scatter riches as profusely as their sires gathered them parsimoniously. We know not our heirs, for our children die, and strangers fill the old ancestral halls; estates change hands, and entail, though riveted with a thousand bonds, yields to the corroding power of time. Men rise up early and sit up late to build a house, and then the stranger tramps along its passages, laughs in its chambers, and forgetful of its first builder, calls it all his own. Here is one of the evils under the sun for which no remedy can be prescribed.

And now, Lord, what wait I for? What is there in these phantoms to enchant me? Why should I linger where the prospect is so uninviting, and the present so trying? It were worse than vanity to linger in the abodes of sorrow to gain a heritage of emptiness. The psalmist, therefore, turns to his God, in disgust of all things else; he has thought on the world and all things in it, and is relieved by knowing that such vain things are all passing away; he has cut all cords which bound him to earth, and is ready to sound "Boot and saddle, up and away." My hope is in thee. The Lord is self existent and true, and therefore worthy of the confidence of men; he will live when all the creatures die, and his fulness will abide when all second causes are exhausted; to him, therefore, let us direct our expectation, and on him let us rest our confidence. Away from sand to rock let all wise builders turn themselves, for if not today, yet surely ere long, a storm will rise before which nothing will be able to stand but that which has the lasting element of faith in God to cement it. David had but one hope, and that hope entered within the veil, hence he brought his vessel to safe anchorage, and after a little drifting all was peace.

Deliver me from all my transgressions. How fair a sign it is when the psalmist no longer harps upon his sorrows, but begs freedom from his sins! What is sorrow when compared with sin! Let but the poison of sin be gone from the cup, and we need not fear its gall, for the bitter will act medicinally. None can deliver a man from his transgression but the blessed One who is called Jesus, because he saves his people from their sins; and when he once works this great deliverance for a man from the cause, the consequences are sure to disappear too. The thorough cleansing desired is well worthy of note: to be saved from some transgressions would be of small benefit; total and perfect deliverance is needed. Make me not the reproach of the foolish. The wicked are the foolish here meant: such are always on the watch for the faults of saints, and at once make them the theme of ridicule. It is a wretched thing for a man to be suffered to make himself the butt of unholy scorn by apostasy from the right way. Alas, how many have thus exposed themselves to well deserved reproach! Sin and shame go together, and from both David would fain be preserved.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. This had been far clearer if it had been rendered, "I am silenced, I will not open my mouth." Here we have a nobler silence, purged of all sullenness, and sweetened with submission. Nature failed to muzzle the mouth, but grace achieved the work in the worthiest manner. How like in appearance may two very different things appear! silence is ever silence, but it may be sinful in one case and saintly in another. What a reason for hushing every murmuring thought is the reflection, "because thou didst it."! It is his right to do as he wills, and he always wills to do that which is wisest and kindest; why should I then arraign his dealings? Nay, if it be indeed the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.

Remove thy stroke away from me. Silence from all repining did not prevent the voice of prayer, which must never cease. In all probability the Lord would grant the psalmist's petition, for he usually removes affliction when we are resigned to it; if we kiss the rod, our Father always burns it. When we are still, the rod is soon still. It is quite consistent with resignation to pray for the removal of a trial. David was fully acquiescent in the divine will, and yet found it in his heart to pray for deliverance; indeed, it was while he was rebellious that he was prayerless about his trial, and only when he became submissive did he plead for mercy. I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. Good pleas may be found in our weakness and distress. It is well to show our Father the bruises which his scourge has made, for peradventure his fatherly pity will bind his hands, and move him to comfort us in his bosom. It is not to consume us, but to consume our sins, that the Lord aims at in his chastisements.

When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity. God does not trifle with his rod; he uses it because of sin, and with a view to whip us from it; hence he means his strokes to be felt, and felt they are. Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. As the moth frets the substance of the fabric, mars all its beauty, and leaves it worn out and worthless, so do the chastisements of God discover to us our folly, weakness, and nothingness, and make us feel ourselves to be as worn out vestures, worthless and useless. Beauty must be a poor thing when a moth can consume it and a rebuke can mar it. All our desires and delights are wretched moth eaten things when the Lord visits us in his anger. Surely every man is vanity. He is as Trapp wittily says "a curious picture of nothing." He is unsubstantial as his own breath, a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away. Selah. Well may this truth bring us to a pause, like the dead body of Amasa, which, lying in the way, stopped the hosts of Joab.

Hear my prayer, O Lord. Drown not my pleadings with the sound of thy strokes. Thou hast heard the clamour of my sins, Lord; hear the laments of my prayers. And give ear unto my cry. Here is an advance in intensity: a cry is more vehement, pathetic, and impassioned, than a prayer. The main thing was to have the Lord's ear and heart. Hold not thy peace at my tears. This is a yet higher degree of importunate pleading. Who can withstand tears, which are the irresistible weapons of weakness? How often women, children, beggars, and sinners, have betaken themselves to tears as their last resort, and therewith have won the desire of their hearts! —"This shower, blown up by tempest of the soul, "falls not in vain. Tears speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues; they act as keys upon the wards of tender hearts, and mercy denies them nothing, if through them the weeper looks to richer drops, even to the blood of Jesus. When our sorrows pull up the sluices of our eyes, God will ere long interpose and turn our mourning into joy. Long may he be quiet as though he regarded not, but the hour of deliverance will come, and come like the morning when the dewdrops are plentiful. For I am a stranger with thee. Not to thee, but with thee. Like thee, my Lord, a stranger among the sons of men, an alien from my mother's children. God made the world, sustains it, and owns it, and yet men treat him as though he were a foreign intruder; and as they treat the Master, so do they deal with the servants. "It is no surprising thing that we should be unknown." These words may also mean, "I share the hospitality of God, "like a stranger entertained by a generous host. Israel was bidden to deal tenderly with the stranger, and the God of Israel has in much compassion treated us poor aliens with unbounded liberality. And a sojourner, as all my fathers were. They knew that this was not their rest; they passed through life in pilgrim guise, they used the world as travellers use an inn, and even so do I. Why should we dream of rest on earth when our fathers' sepulchres are before our eyes? If they had been immortal, their sons would have had an abiding city this side the tomb; but as the sires were mortal, so must their offspring pass away. All of our lineage, without exception, were passing pilgrims, and such are we. David uses the fleeting nature of our life as an argument for the Lord's mercy, and it is such a one as God will regard. We show pity to poor pilgrims, and so will the Lord.

TITLE. —"To Jeduthun." A Levite of the family of Merari, and one of the great masters of the temple music. The department superintended by Jeduthun and his colleagues in the temple service was that of the "instruments of the song of God, "by which are intended the nebel or psaltery, the kinnor or harp, and the metsiltaim or cymbals. In 2Ch 35:15, Jeduthun is called "the king's seer, " which would seem to indicate that he was the medium of divine guidance to David. The name occurs in the title of Psalms 39, 62, 77; where some have thought that it indicates some special kind of composition, and others some instrument of music, but without reason. William Lindsay Alexander, in Kitto's Cyclopaedia.

Whole Psalm. The most beautiful of all the elegies in the psalter. H. Ewald.

I said. It was to himself that he said it; and it is impossible for any other to prove a good or a wise man, without much of this kind of speech to himself. It is one of the most excellent and distinguishing faculties of a reasonable creature; much beyond vocal speech, for in that, some birds may imitate us; but neither bird nor beast has anything of this kind of language, of reflecting or discoursing with itself. It is a wonderful brutality in the greatest part of men, who are so little conversant in this kind of speech, being framed and disposed for it, and which is not only of itself excellent, but of continual use and advantage; but it is a common evil among men to go abroad, and out of themselves, which is a madness, and a true distraction. It is true, a man hath need of a well set mind, when he speaks to himself; for otherwise, he may be worse company to himself than if he were with others. But he ought to endeavour to have a better with him, to call in God to his heart to dwell with him. If thus we did, we should find how sweet this were to speak to ourselves, by now and then intermixing our speech with discourses unto God. For want of this, the most part not only lose their time in vanity, in their converse abroad with others, but do carry in heaps of that vanity to the stock which is in their own hearts, and do converse with them in secret, which is the greatest and deepest folly in the world. Robert Leighton.

No lesson so hard to be learned of us here, as the wise and discreet government of the tongue. David promised a singular care of this, I said, I will take heed, etc. Socrates reports of one Pambo, an honest, well meaning man, who came to his friend, desiring him to teach him one of David's Psalms, he read to him this verse. He answered: this one verse is enough, if I learn it well. Nineteen years after, he said, in all that time, he had hardly learned that one verse. Samuel Page.

That I sin not with my tongue. Man's mouth, though it be but a little hole, will hold a world full of sin. For there is not any sin forbidden in the law or gospel which is not spoken by the tongue, as well as thought in the heart, or done in the life. Is it not then almost as difficult to rule the tongue as to rule the world? Edward Reyner.

I will keep a muzzle on my mouth, whilst a wicked man is before me. New Translation, by Charles Carter,

While the wicked is before me. It is a vexation to be tied to hear so much impertinent babbling in the world, but profitable to discern and abhor it. A wonder that men can cast out so much wind, and the more they have to utter, the more they are prodigal of their own breath and of the patience of others, and careless of their own reckoning. If they believe to give account of every idle word, they would be more sparing of foolish speaking. I like either to be silent, or to speak that that may edify. At tables or meetings, I cannot stop the mouth of others, yet may I close mine own ears, and by a heavenly soul speech with God divert my mind from fruitless talking. Though I be among them I shall as little partake their prattling as they do my meditation. William Struther.

I was dumb with silence, etc. That is, for a while I did what I resolved; I was so long wholly silent, that I seemed in a manner to be dumb, and not able to speak. I held my peace, even from good; that is, I forbore to speak what I might well and lawfully enough have spoken, as from alleging anything that I might have said in mine own defence, from making my complaint to God, and desiring justice at his hands, and such like; to wit, lest by degrees I should have been brought to utter anything that was evil, and whilst I intended only to speak that which was good, some unseemly word might suddenly slip from me; or lest mine enemies should misconstrue anything I spake. Arthur Jackson.

I was dumb with silence. We shall enquire what kind of dumbness or silence this of the psalmist was, which he is commended for, and which would so well beseem us when we smart under the rod of God, and then the doctrine will be, in a great measure, evident by its own light. We shall proceed to our inquiry, 1. Negatively, to prevent mistakes. 2. Positively, and show you what it doth import.

First, negatively. 1. This dumbness doth not import any such thing, as if the prophet had been brought to that pass that he had nothing to say to God by way of prayer and supplication. He was not so dumb, but that he could pray and cry too. Ps 39:8,10-11. 2. Nor was he so dumb, as that he could not frame to the confession and bewailing of his sins. 3. Nor was it a dumbness of stupidity and senselessness. It doth not imply any such thing, as if by degrees he grew to that pass, he cared not for, or made no matter of his affliction, but set, as the proverb is, an hard heart against his hard hap. No, he did make his moan to God, and as he smarted, so he did lament under the sense of his afflicting hand. 4. Neither was he so dumb as not to answer God's voice in the rod that was upon him. 5. Much less was he dumb, and kept silence in any such sort as they did of whom Amos speaks Am 6:10, that in their misery they took up a resolution to mention the name of God no more, in whom they had gloried formerly.

Secondly, affirmatively. 1. He was dumb so as neither to complain of, nor quarrel with God's providence, nor to entertain any hard thoughts against him. Complain to God he did; but against him he durst not. 2. He neither did nor durst quarrel, or fall out with the ways of holiness for all his sufferings, a thing we are naturally prone unto. 3. He was dumb, so as not to defend himself, or justify his own ways before God, as if they were righteous, and he had not deserved what he suffered. 4. He was dumb, so as to hearken to the voice of the rod. "I will (saith he in another place) hear what God the Lord will speak." Ps 85:8. Now a man cannot listen to another while he will have all the talk and discourse to himself. 5. Lastly, the prophet was dumb, that is, he did acquiesce, and rest satisfied with God's dispensation; and that not only as good, but as best. Condensed from a Funeral Sermon by Thomas Burroughes, B.D., entitled, "A Sovereign Remedy for all kinds of Grief," 1657.

I held my peace. A Christian being asked what fruit he had by Christ: Is not this fruit, said he, not to be moved at your reproaches? In cases of this nature, we must refer all to God; si tu tacueris, Deus loquitur; if thou hold thy peace, God speaks for thee; and if God speaks for us, it is better than we can speak for yourselves. David saith, Obmutui, quia tu fecisti. I held my peace, for it was thy doing. Christopher Sutton, B.D., —1629, in Disce Vicere.

Verses 2-9. An invalid who had been ordered a couple of pills, took them very absurdly, for, in place of swallowing them at once, he rolled them about in his mouth, ground them to pieces, and so tasted their full bitterness. Gotthold was present, and thus mused. The insults and calumnies of a slanderer and adversary are bitter pills, and all do not understand the art of swallowing without chewing them. To the Christian, however, they are wholesome in many ways. They remind him of his guilt, they try his meekness and patience, they show him what he needs to guard against, and at last they redound to his honour and glory in the sight of him for whose sake they were endured. In respect of the pills of slander, however, as well as the others, it is advisable not to roll them about continually in our minds, or judge of them according to the flesh, and the world's opinion. This will only increase their bitterness, spread the savour of it to the tongue, and fill the heart with proportional enmity. The true way is to swallow, keep silence, and forget. We must inwardly devour our grief, and say, I will be dumb, and not open my mouth, because thou didst it. The best antidotes to the bitterness of slander, are the sweet promises and consolations of Scripture, of which not the least is this, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." Mt 5:11-12. Alas, my God! how hard it is to swallow the pills of obloquy, to bless them that curse me, to do good to them that hate me, and to pray for them that despitefully use me! But, Lord, as thou wilt have it so, give it as thou wilt have it, for it is a matter in which, without thy grace, I can do nothing! Christian Scriver.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. See David's carriage here; it was a patience not constrained, but from satisfaction of spirit: he saw love in his affliction, and that sweetened his soul. Joseph Symonds.

I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. God is training up his children here. This is the true character of his dealings with them. The education of his saints is the object he has in view. It is training for the kingdom; it is education for eternity...It is the discipline of love. Every step of it is kindness. There is no wrath nor vengeance in any part of the process. The discipline of the school may be harsh and stern; but that of the family is love. We are sure of this; and the consolation which it affords is unutterable. Love will not wrong us. There will be no needless suffering. Were this but kept in mind there would be fewer hard thoughts of God amongst men, even when his strokes are most severe. I know not a better illustration of what the feelings of a saint should be, in the hour of bitterness, than the case of Richard Cameron's father. The aged saint was in prison "for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ." The bleeding head of his martyred son was brought to him by his unfeeling persecutors, and he was asked derisively if he knew it. "I know it, I know it, " —said the father, as he kissed the mangled forehead of his fair haired son —"it is my son's, my own dear son's! It is the Lord! good is the will of the Lord, who cannot wrong me or mine, but who hath made goodness and mercy to follow us all our days." Horatius Bonar, in "The Night of Weeping, "1847.

Because thou didst it. This holy man had a breach made both at his body and spirit at this time; he was sick and sad; yet he remembers from whose hand the blow came. Thou, Lord, didst it; thou, whom I love dearly, and so can take it kindly; thou whom I have offended, and so take it patiently; yea, thou, who mightest have cast me into a bed of flames, instead of my bed of sickness, and therefore I accept thy correction thankfully. Thus he catches at the blow without retorting it back upon God by any quarrelling discontented language. William Gurnall.

Because thou didst it. We digest not a blow from our equals, but a blow from our king we can well digest. If the King of kings lays his hand on our backs, let us, beloved, lay our hands on our mouths. I am sure this stopped David's mouth from venting fretful speeches. "I held my tongue and said nothing." Why didst thou so, David? Because thou, Lord, didst it; and God gives this testimony of such an one; that he is a prudent man that keeps silence at an evil time. Am 5:13. Nicholas Estwick, B.D., 1644.

Perkins, in his "Salve for a Sick Man, "gives the "last words" of many holy men, among others of Calvin: —"I held my tongue, because thou, Lord, hast done it —I mourned as a dove —Lord, you ground me to powder, but it suffices me because it is thy hand."

I wondered once at providence, and called white providence black and unjust, that I should be smothered in a town where no soul will take Christ off my hand. But providence hath another lustre (shining; appearance) with God than with my bleared eyes. I proclaim myself a blind body, who knoweth not black and white, in the unco (strange) course of God's providence. Suppose that Christ should set hell where heaven is, and devils up in glory beside the elect angels (which yet cannot be), I would I had a heart to acquiesce in his way, without further dispute. I see that infinite wisdom is the mother of his judgments, and that his ways pass finding out. I cannot learn, but I desire to learn, to bring my thoughts, will, and lusts in under (close under) Christ's feet, that he may trample upon them. But, alas! I am still upon Christ's wrong side. Samuel Rutherford.

A little girl, in the providence of God, was born deaf and dumb. She was received, and instructed, at an institution established for these afflicted ones. A visitor was one day requested to examine the children thus sadly laid aside from childhood's common joys. Several questions were asked, and quickly answered by means of a slate and pencil. At length the gentleman wrote, Why were you born deaf and dumb? A look of anguish clouded for the moment the expressive face of the little girl; but it quickly passed, as she took her slate, and wrote, "Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in thy sight." Mrs. Rogers, in "The Shepherd King."

Remove thy plague away from me: thy plague and mine; thine by affliction, mine by passion; thine because thou didst send it, mine because I endure it; thine because it comes from thy justice, mine because it answers my injustice; remit what I have done, and remove what thou hast done. But whosoever laid it on, the Lord will take it off. Thomas Adams.

Remove, etc. Having first prayed off his sin, he would now pray off his pain, though it less troubled him; and for ease he repairs to Jehovah that healeth, as well as woundeth. Ho 6:1. John Trapp.

Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. The meaning may be, As the moth crumbles into dust under the slightest pressure, or the gentlest touch, so man dissolves with equal ease, and vanishes into darkness, under the finger of the Almighty. Paxton's Illustrations of Scripture.

Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth. Moths I must not omit naming. I once saw some knives, the black bone hafts of which were said to have been half consumed by them. I also saw the remains of a hair seated sofa which had been devoured. It is no uncommon thing to find dresses consumed in a single night. In Isa 51:6, "wax old" probably refers to a garment that is moth eaten. So in Ps 6:7 31:9, consumed means moth eaten; and again in Ps 39:11. John Gadsby.

Like a moth. The moths of the East are very large and beautiful, but short lived. After a few showers these splendid insects may be seen fluttering in every breeze, but the dry weather, and their numerous enemies, soon consign them to the common lot. Thus the beauty of man consumes away like that of this gay rover, dressed in his robes of purple, and scarlet, and green. John Kitto.

The body of man is as a "garment" to the soul: in this garment sin hath lodged a "moth, "which, by degrees, fretteth and weareth away, first, the beauty, then the strength, and finally, the contexture of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a consumption, or any other lingering distemper, nay, the slow and silent devastations of time alone, in the human frame, will need no farther illustration of this just and affecting similitude; but will discern at once the propriety of the reflection which follows upon it. Surely every man is vanity. George Horne.

Surely every man is vanity. What is greatness? Can we predicate it of man, independently of his qualities as an immortal being? or of his actions, independently of principles and motives? Then the glitter of nobility is not superior to the plumage of the peacock; nor the valour of Alexander to the fury of a tiger; nor the sensual delights of Epicurus to those of any animal that roams the forest. Ebenezer Porter, D.D., in Lectures on Homiletics, 1834.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, etc. Now, in this prayer of David, we find three things, which are the chief qualifications of all acceptable prayers. The first is humility. He humbly confesses his sins, and his own weakness and worthlessness. We are not to put on a stoical, flinty kind of spirit under our affliction, that so we may seem to shun womanish repinings and complaints, lest we run into the other evil, of despising the hand of God, but we are to humble our proud hearts, and break our unruly passions...The second qualification of this prayer is, fervency and importunity, which appears in the elegant gradation of the words, Hear my prayer, my words; if not that, yet, Give ear to my cry, which is louder; and if that prevail not, yet, Hold not thy peace at my tears, which is the loudest of all; so David, elsewhere, calls it the voice of weeping. ...The third qualification is faith. "He who comes to God must believe that he is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb 11:6. And, certainly, as he that comes to God must believe this, so he that believes this, cannot but come to God; and if he be not presently answered, "he that believes makes no haste, "he resolves patiently to wait for the Lord, and go to no other. Condensed from Robert Leighton.

Hold not thy peace at my tears. We may, in all humility, plead our heart breakings and weepings in sense of want of mercies which we crave, and our pantings and faintings after the same. Thomas Cobbett.

For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. Both in thy judgment expressed Le 25:23, and in their own opinion Heb 11:13. Upon which account thou didst take a special care of them, and therefore do so to me also. Matthew Poole.

I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner. How settled soever their condition be, yet this is the temper of the saints upon earth —to count themselves but strangers. All men indeed are strangers and sojourners, but the saints do best discern it, and most freely acknowledge it. Wicked men have no firm dwelling upon earth, but that is against their intentions; their inward thought and desire is that they may abide for ever; they are strangers against their wills, their abode is uncertain in the world, and they cannot help it. And pray mark, there are two distinct words used in this case, strangers and sojourners. A stranger is one that hath his abode in a foreign country, that is not a native and a denizen of the place, though he liveth there, and in opposition to the natives he is called a stranger: as if a Frenchman should live in England, he is a stranger. But a sojourner is one that intends not to settle, but only passes through a place, and is in motion travelling homeward. So the children of God in relation to a country of their own in another place, namely, heaven, they are denizens there, but strangers in the world; and they are sojourners and pilgrims in regard of their motion and journey towards their country. Thomas Manton.

A Stranger. 1. A stranger is one that is absent from his country, and from his father's house: so are we, heaven is our country, God is there, and Christ is there. 2. A stranger in a foreign country is not known, nor valued according to his birth and breeding: so the saints walk up and down in the world like princes in disguise. 3. Strangers are liable to inconveniences: so are godly men in the world. Religion, saith Tertullian, is like a strange plant brought from a foreign country, and doth not agree with the nature of the soil, it thrives not in the world. 4. A stranger is patient, standeth not for ill usage, and is contented with pilgrim's fare and lodging. We are now abroad and must expect hardship. 5. A stranger is wary, that he may not give offence, and incur the hatred and displeasure of the natives. 6. A stranger is thankful for the least favour; so we must be thankfully contented with the things God hath bestowed upon us: anything in a strange country is much. 7. A stranger, that hath a journey to go, would pass over it as soon as he can, and so we, who have a journey to heaven desire to be dissolved. 8. A stranger buyeth not such things as he cannot carry with him; he doth not buy trees, house, household stuff, but jewels and pearls, and such things as are portable. Our greatest care should be to get the jewels of the covenant, the graces of God's Spirit, those things that will abide with us. 9. A stranger's heart is in his country; so is a saint's. 10. A stranger is inquisitive after the way, fearing lest he should go amiss, so is a Christian. 11. A stranger provides for his return, as a merchant, that he may return richly laden. So we must appear before God in Sion. What manner of persons ought we to be? Let us return from our travel well provided. Condensed from Thomas Manton.

O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. Man in his corrupt state is like Nebuchadnezzar, he hath a beast's heart, that craves no more than the satisfaction of his sensual appetite; but when renewed by grace, then his understanding returns to him, by which he is enabled in praying for temporals to elevate his desires to a nobler end. Doth David pray that some farther time may be added to his temporal life? It is not out of a fond love for this world, but to prepare himself the better for another. Is he comforted with hopes of a longer stay here? It is not this world's carnal pleasures that kindle this joy in his holy breast, but the advantage that thereby he shall have for praising God in the land of the living...O spare me, that I may recover strength. David was not yet recovered out of that sin which had brought him exceeding low as you may perceive, Ps 39:10-11. And the good man cannot think of dying with any willingness till his heart be in a holier frame: and for the peace of the gospel, serenity of conscience, and inward joy; alas! all unholiness is to it as poison is to the spirits which drink them up. William Gurnall.

O spare me, etc. Attachment to life, the feeling cherished by the psalmist, when he thus appealed to the Sovereign of the universe, varies in its character with the occasions and the sentiments by which it is elicited and confirmed. Take one view of it, and you pronounce it criminal; take another, and you pronounce it innocent; take a third, and you pronounce it laudable.

1. Life may inspire a criminal attachment, warranting our censure. The most obvious and aggravated case is that in which the attachment has its foundations in the opportunities which life affords, of procuring "the wages of unrighteousness, "and "the pleasures of sin."

2. Life may inspire an innocent attachment, awakening our sympathy...Life is a scene in which we often descry a verdant and luxuriant spot, teeming with health, and ease, and harmony, and joy. We have beheld the husbands and the wives whose interwoven regards have, from year to year, alleviated all their afflictions, and heightened all their privileges. We have beheld the parents and the children whose fellowship has yielded them, through the shifting seasons, a daily feast. There are indulgent masters, and faithful servants; some neighbourhoods are undisturbed; some Christian societies are exquisitely attractive; here and there we have intercourse with those individuals in whom are seen the beauties of high character irradiated by the beans of general prosperity. You would pronounce no censure on a man thus happily connected, were he, when beginning to languish, as one "going the way of all the earth, to cry, "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

3. The last view which it has been proposed to take of human life, shows that it may inspire a laudable attachment, at once challenging our approbation, and urging us to bring our minds under its influence. The language before us admits of being illustrated as the prayer of a penitent, a saint, and a philanthropist.

(a). Commend him who pleads for life as a penitent. Was it recently that the Holy Spirit first wounded him with the arrows of conviction? Perhaps, he doubts the source, the quality, and the result, of his powerful feelings. He knows that we may be solemnly impressed, without being converted. There are many considerations which entitle to favourable opinion those who, not having arrived at a view of their moral state, at once evident and encouraging, wish earnestly to live till grace shall have carried them from victory to victory, and enabled them "to make" their "calling and election sure." Even they may fall from their steadfastness; and these words, "O spare me, that I may recover strength, "may proceed from the lips of a backslider, once more blushing, trembling, and petitioning to be restored.

(b). Commend him, in the next place, who pleads for life, as a saint. ...The distinguishing office of pleading, acting, and suffering, for the advancement of the divine honour among the profane, the sensual, the formal, and the worldly is delegated, exclusively, to "the saints which are upon the earth." Yet, surely he whose attachment to life is strongly enhanced by a commission which dooms him to the contradiction of sinners, and defers "the fulness of joy, "a saint so magnanimous and devoted, puts forth the expressions of a piety which the very angels are compelled to revere.

(c). Commend him, finally, who pleads for life as a philanthropist. I refer to the generous patron, a man intent on doing good. I would also refer to a fond parent. I would now refer to "a preacher of righteousness, ""a good minister of Jesus Christ."

Outline of a Sermon entitled "Attachment to Life, "preached by Joseph Hughes, M.A., as a Funeral Sermon for Rev. John Owen, M.A., 1822.

May not the very elect and faithful themselves fear the day of judgment, and be far from fetching comfort at it? I answer, he may. First, at his first conversion and soon after, before he have gotten a full persuasion of the remission of his sins. And again, in some spiritual desertion, when the Lord seems to leave a man to himself, as he did David and others, he may fear to think of the same. And lastly, when he hath fallen into some great sin after he is a strong man in Christ, he may fear death and judgment, and be constrained to pray with Job and David, O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. John Barlow's Sermon, 1618.

Verses 1-2. I was dumb, etc.

1. There is a time to be silent. He had been enabled to do this when reproached and unjustly accused by others. He did it for good; others might attribute it to sullenness, or pride, or timidity, or conscious guilt; but he did it for good. Breathe upon a polished mirror and it will evaporate and leave it brighter than before; endeavour to wipe it off, and the mark will remain.

2. There is a time to meditate in silence. The greater the silence without, often the greater commotion within. "His heart was hot." The more he thought, the warmer he grew. The fire of pity and compassion, the fire of love, the fire of holy zeal burned within him.

3. There is a time to speak. "Then spake I." The time to speak is when the truth is clear and strong in the mind, and the feeling of the truth is burning in the heart. The emotions burst forth as from a volcano. Jer 20:8-9. The language should always be a faithful representation of the mind and the heart. G. Rogers, Tutor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle College.

There is a sevenfold silence.

1. A stoical silence.

2. A politic silence.

3. A foolish silence.

4. A sullen silence.

5. A forced silence.

6. A despairing silence.

7. A prudent, a holy, a gracious silence. —Thomas Brooks' "Mute Christian."

Make me to know mine end.

1. What we may desire to know about our end. Not its date, place, circumstances, but

(a). Its nature. Will it be the end of saint or sinner?

(b). Its certainty.

(c). Its nearness.

(d). Its issues.

(e). Its requirements. In the shape of attention, preparation, passport.

2. Why ask God to make us know it? Because the knowledge is important, difficult to acquire, and can be effectually imparted by the Lord only. W. Jackson.

David prays,

1. That he may be enabled continually to keep in view the end of life: all things should be judged by their end. "Then understood I their end." Life may be honourable, and cheerful, and virtuous here; but the end! What will it be?

2. That he may be diligent in the performance of all the duties of this life. The measure of his days, how short, how much to be done, how little time to do it in!

3. He prays that he may gain much instruction and benefit from the frailties of life. That I may know, etc. My frailties may make me more humble, more diligent, while I am able for active service; more dependent upon divine strength, more patient and submissive to the divine will, more ripe for heaven.  —G. Rogers.

(last clause). Man is vanity, i.e., he is mortal, he is mutable. Observe how emphatically this truth is expressed here.

1. Every man is vanity, without exception, high and low, rich and poor.

2. He is so at his best estate; when he is young, and strong, and healthful, in wealth and honour, etc.

3. He is altogether vanity, as vain as you can imagine.

4. Verily he is so.

5. Selah is annexed, as a note commanding observation.  —Matthew Henry.

The vanity of man, as mortal, is here instanced in three things, and the vanity of each shown.

1. The vanity of our joys and honours: Surely every man walketh in a vain show.

2. The vanity of our griefs and fears: Surely they are disquieted in vain.

3. The vanity of our cares and toils: He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.  —Matthew Henry.

The world's trinity consists, 1. In fruitless honours: what appears to them to be substantial honours are but a vain show. 2. In needless cares. They are disquieted in vain. Imaginary cares are substituted for real ones. 3. In useless riches; such as yield no lasting satisfaction to themselves, or in their descent to others. G. Rogers.

What wait I for? 1. For what salvation as a sinner? Of works or grace —from Sinai or Calvary? 2. For what consolation as a sufferer? Earthly or heavenly? 3. For what supply as a suppliant? Meagre or bountiful? Present or future? 4. For what communication as a servant? Miraculous or ordinary? Pleasing or unacceptable? 5. For what instruction as a pupil? Mental or spiritual? Elating or humbling? Ornamental or useful? 6. For what inheritance as an heir? Sublunary or celestial? W. Jackson.

1. An urgent occasion. And now Lord, etc. There are seasons that should lead us specially to look up to God, and say, Now, Lord. "Father, the hour is come."

2. A devout exclamation, Now, Lord, what wait I for? Where is my expectation? where my confidence? To whom shall I look? I am nothing, the world is nothing, all earthly sources of confidence and consolation fail: What wait I for? In life, in death, in a dying world, in a coming judgment, in an eternity at hand; what is it that I need?  —G. Rogers.

1. Prayer should be general:Deliver me from all my transgressions. We often need anew to say, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Afflictions should remind us of our sins. If we pray to be delivered from all transgressions, we are sure to be delivered from the one for which affliction was sent.

2. Prayer should be particular:Make me not the reproach of the foolish. Suffer me not so to speak or show impatience in affliction as to give occasion even to the foolish to blaspheme. The thought that many watch for our halting should be a preservative from sin.  —G. Rogers.

1. The occasion referred to. I was dumb, etc. We are not told what the particular trial was, that each one may apply it to his own affliction, and because all are to be viewed in the same light.

2. The conduct of the psalmist upon that particular occasion: I opened not my mouth. (a) Not in anger and rebellion against God in murmurs or complaints. (b) Not in impatience, or complaining, or angry feelings against men. (c) The reason he assigns for this conduct: Because thou didst it. G. Rogers.

1. Afflictions are sent by God. Thy strokes. They are strokes of his hand, not of the rod of the law, but of the shepherd's rod. Every affliction is his stroke.

2. Afflictions are removed by God. Remove. He asks not for miracles, but that God in his own way, in the use of natural means, would interpose for his deliverance. We should seek his blessing upon the means employed for our deliverance both by ourselves and others. "Cause to remove, "etc.

3. Afflictions have their end from God. I am consumed by the conflict, etc. God hath a controversy with his people. It is a conflict between his will and their wills. The psalmist owns himself conquered and subdued in the struggle. We should be more anxious that this end should be accomplished than that the affliction should be removed, and when this is accomplished the affliction will be removed. G. Rogers.

1. The cause of our trials: "for iniquity." Oh, this trial is come to take away my comforts, my peace of mind, and the divine smile! No, this is all the fruit to take away their sin —the dross, none of the gold —sin, nothing but sin.

2. The effect of our trials. All that he counted desirable in this life, but not for his real good, is consumed. His robes which are beautiful in men's esteem are moth eaten, but the robe of righteousness upon his soul cannot decay.

3. The design of our trials. They are not penal inflictions, but friendly rebukes and fatherly corrections. On Christ our Surety the penal consequences were laid, upon us their paternal chastisements only.

4. The reasonableness of our trials. "Surely every man is vanity." How in a world like this could any expect to be exempt from trials! The world is the same to the Christian as before, and his body is the same. He has a converted soul in an unconverted body, and how can he escape the external ills of life? G. Rogers.

David pleads the good impressions made upon him by his affliction.

1. It had set him a weeping.

2. It had set him a praying.

3. It had helped to wean him from the world. —Matthew Henry.

(last clause). Am I a stranger and a sojourner with God? Let me realise, let me exemplify the condition.

1. Let me look for the treatment such characters commonly meet with.

2. And surely if any of my own nation be near me, I shall be intimate with them.

3. Let me not be entangled in the affairs of this life.

4. Let my affection be set on things that are above, and my conversation be always in heaven.

5. Let me be not impatient for home; but prizing it.  —W. Jay.

1. The subject of his petition —not that he may escape death and live always in this life, because he knows that he must go hence; but 1. That he may be recovered from his afflictions; and, 2. That he may continue longer in this life. Such a prayer is lawful when offered in submission to the will of God.

2. The reasons for this petition. 1. That he may remove by his future life, the calumnies that had been heaped upon him. 2. That he may have brighter evidences of his interest in the divine favour. 3. That he may become a blessing to others, his family and nation. 4. That he might have greater peace and comfort in death; and, 5. That he might "have an entrance ministered more abundantly, "etc.  —G. Rogers.

WORK UPON THE THIRTY-NINTH PSALM

Expository Lectures on Psalm Thirty-nine, in Archbishop Leighton's Works.