Psalms 66 commentary

The holy church throughout all the world lifts up her voice, to laud that Name which is above every name, to make the praise of Jesus glorious, both by word and deed; that others may be led to glorify him also. But nothing can bring men to do this aright, unless his effectual grace create their hearts anew unto holiness; and in the redemption by the death of Christ, and the glorious deliverances it effects, are more wondrous works than Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage.

The Lord not only preserves our temporal life, but maintains the spiritual life which he has given to believers. By afflictions we are proved, as silver in the fire. The troubles of the church will certainly end well. Through various conflicts and troubles, the slave of Satan escapes from his yoke, and obtains joy and peace in believing: through much tribulation the believer must enter into the kingdom of God.

We should declare unto those that fear God, what he has done for our souls, and how he has heard and answered our prayers, inviting them to join us in prayer and praise; this will turn to our mutual comfort, and to the glory of God. We cannot share these spiritual privileges, if we retain the love of sin in our hearts, though we refrain from the gross practice, Sin, regarded in the heart, will spoil the comfort and success of prayer; for the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination of the Lord. But if the feeling of sin in the heart causes desires to be rid of it; if it be the presence of one urging a demand we know we must not, cannot comply with, this is an argument of sincerity. And when we pray in simplicity and godly sincerity, our prayers will be answered. This will excite gratitude to Him who hath not turned away our prayer nor his mercy from us. It was not prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it. That is the foundation of our hopes, the fountain of our comforts; and ought to be the matter of our praises.

PSALM 66

There may have been one deliverance in particular, which the Psalmist celebrates here in the name of the Church, but he includes the many and various mercies which God had all along conferred upon his chosen people. While he takes notice of the divine interposition in their behalf, in a crisis of great mercy and distress, he suggests it as matter of comfort under trial, that their subjection to the tyranny of their enemies had been designed to prove them as silver in the furnace. At the close, he would appear to speak of himself individually, and adduces it as a proof of his integrity, that God had heard him, for God does not grant acceptance to the wicked.

To the chief musician, the Song of a Psalm. “This psalm is anonymous; nor can we, with certainty, determine to what time it relates. Venema refers it to the reign of Hezekiah, and supposes it to celebrate the deliverance which was effected by the destruction of Sennacherib’s army. Rudinger is of opinion, that it celebrates the opening of the sacred temple, after the return from Babylon. It must be owned, that we have nothing but conjecture to offer on this subject; yet it appears to me that the latter of these opinions is the most probable.” — Walford.

Psalm 66:1-4

1. Shout unto God, all the earth. 2. Sing the honor of his name: make glorious his praise. “Ou, mettez gloire a sa louan.” — Fr. marg. “Or, put glory to his praise.” 3. Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! in the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies lie [or feign submission] unto thee. 4. All the earth shall worship thee, and they shall sing unto thee; they shall sing thy name. Selah.

1. Shout unto God, all the earth The psalm begins with this general declaration, which is afterwards reduced to particulars. “Generalis est praefatio, quam mox sequentur hypotheses.” — Lat. “C’est une preface generale, dont les applications speciales suivent incontinent apres.” — Fr. He addresses himself to the whole world, and from this it would seem evident, that he predicts the extent to which the kingdom of God should reach at the coming of Christ. In the second verse the call is repeated with increasing vehemency, to stir up to the praises of God, such as might otherwise be remiss in the service. To sing the honor of his name, is an expression sufficiently obvious; meaning, that we should extol his sacred name in a manner suitable to its dignity, so that it may obtain its due and deserved adoration. But the clause which follows is rather ambiguous. Some think that it conveys a repetition of the same idea contained in other words, and read, set forth the glory of his praise. Hammond’s objection to this is, that if כבור, glory, were in the construct state, governing the noun which follows, and giving this reading, the glory of his, praise, the vowel should be changed from kamets, to segol I prefer taking the Hebrew word signifying praise to be in the accusative case; rendering the words literally, make a glory his praise. And by this I understand him to mean, not as some do, that we should glory exclusively in his praises, This is Aben Ezra’s view. He would read, “Make your glory his praise;” that is, let it be your glory to praise him. but simply, that we highly exalt his praises, that they may be glorious. The Psalmist is not satisfied with our declaring them moderately, and insists that we should celebrate his goodness in some measure proportionably to its excellence.

PSALM 66

Psa 66:1-20. The writer invites all men to unite in praise, cites some striking occasions for it, promises special acts of thanksgiving, and celebrates God's great mercy.

1. Make ... noise--or, "Shout."

2. his name--as in Psa 29:2.

make his praise glorious--literally, "place honor, His praise," or, "as to His praise"; that is, let His praise be such as will glorify Him, or, be honorable to Him.

3-4. A specimen of the praise.

How terrible--(Compare Psa 65:8).

submit--(Compare Margin), show a forced subjection (Psa 18:44), produced by terror.

5-6. The terrible works illustrated in Israel's history (Ex 14:21). By this example let rebels be admonished.

7. behold the nations--watch their conduct.

8-9. Here is, perhaps, cited a case of recent deliverance.

10-12. Out of severe trials, God had brought them to safety (compare Is 48:10; 1Pe 1:7).

13-15. These full and varied offerings constitute the payment of vows (Le 22:18-23).

16-20. With these he unites his public thanks, inviting those who fear God (Psa 60:4; 61:5, His true worshippers) to hear. He vindicates his sincerity, inasmuch as God would not hear hypocrites, but had heard him.

Make a joyfull noise - Sing aloud to God, all ye lands - all ye people who, from different parts of the Babylonish empire, are now on return to your own land.

The honor of his name - Let his glorious and merciful acts be the subject of your songs.

How terrible art thou - Consider the plagues with which he afflicted Egypt before he brought your fathers from their captivity, which obliged all his enemies to submit.

Thine enemies submit themselves - Literally, lie unto thee. This was remarkably the case with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They promised again and again to let the people go, when the hand of the Lord was upon them: and they as frequently falsified their word.

All the earth - The whole land shall worship thee. There shall no more an idol be found among the tribes of Israel. This was iterally true. After the Babylonish captivity the Israelites never relapsed into idolatry.

Selah - Remark it: this is a well attested truth.

Come and see the works of God - Let every man lay God's wonderful dealings with us to heart; and compare our deliverance from Babylon to that of our fathers from Egypt.

He turned the sea into dry land - This was a plain miracle: no human art or contrivance could do this. Even in the bed of the waters They did rejoice in him. We have not less cause to praise and be thankful.

Be ruleth by his power - His omnipotence is employed to support his followers, and cast down his enemies.

His eyes behold the nations - He sees what they purpose, what they intend to do; and what they will do, if he restrain them not.

Let not the rebellious exalt themselves - They shall not succeed in their designs: they have their own aggrandizement in view, but thou wilt disappoint and cast them down.

Selah - Mark this. It is true.

O bless our God - Who have so much cause as you to sing praises to the Lord? Hear what he has done for you:

Which holdeth our soul in life - Literally, "he who placeth our soul בחיים bachaiyim, in lives." We are preserved alive, have health of body, and feel the life of God in our hearts.

And suffereth not her feet to be moved - Keeps us steadfast in his testimonies. We have our life, our liberty, and our religion. O, what hath the Lord wrought for us! "Make, therefore, the voice of his praise to be heard." Let God and man know you are thankful.

For thou, O God, hast proved us - This is a metaphor taken from melting and refining metals; afflictions and trials of various kinds are represented as a furnace where ore is melted, and a crucible where it is refined. And this metaphor is used especially to represent cases where there is doubt concerning the purity of the metal, the quantity of alloy, or even the nature or kind of metal subjected to the trial. So God is said to try the Israelites that he might know what was in them; and whether they would keep his testimonies: and then, according to the issue, his conduct towards them would appear to be founded on reason and justice.

Thou broughtest us into the net - This refers well to the case of the Israelites, when, in their departure from Egypt, pursued by the Egyptians, having the Red Sea before them, and no method of escape, Pharaoh said, "The wilderness hath shut them in, - they are entangled;" comparing their state to that of a wild beast in a net.

Affliction upon our loins - Perhaps this alludes to that sharp pain in the back and loins which is generally felt on the apprehension of sudden and destructive danger.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads - Thou hast permitted us to fall under the dominion of our enemies; who have treated us as broken infantry are when the cavalry dashes among their disordered ranks, treading all under the horses' feet.

We went through fire and through water - Through afflictions of the most torturing and overwhelming nature. To represent such, the metaphors of fire and water are often used in Scripture. The old Psalter considers these trials as a proof of the uprightness of those who were tried - We passid thrugh fire and watir: that is, thurgh wa and wele, as a man that leves noght his waye for hete na for kald, for dry na for wette; and thou out lede us fra tribulacyon intill koling (cooling) that is, in till endles riste, that we hope to hafe after this travell.

Wealthy place - Well watered place, to wit, the land of Judea.

I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings - Now that thou hast restored us to our own land, and established us in it, we will establish thy worship, and offer all the various kinds of sacrifices required by thy law.

I will pay thee my vows - We often vowed, if thou wouldst deliver us from our bondage, to worship and serve thee alone: now thou hast heard our prayers, and hast delivered us; therefore will we fulfill our engagements to thee. The old Psalter gives this a pious turn: - I sall yelde till the my woues, that is, the vowes of louying (praising) the; whilk vowes my lipes divisid sayand, that I am noght, and thou arte all: and I hafe nede of the, noght thou of me. This is a right distinction - It is certainly a good distinction, and it is strictly true. The allsufficient God needs not his creatures.

When I was in trouble - This is generally the time when good resolutions are formed, and vows made; but how often are these forgotten when affliction and calamity are removed!

I will offer, etc. - Thou shalt have the best of the herd and of the fold; the lame and the blind shall never be given to thee for sacrifice.

The incense of rams - The fine effluvia arising from the burning of the pure fat.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God - While in captivity, the psalmist had sought the Lord with frequent prayer for his own personal salvation, and for the deliverance of the people; and God blessed him, heard his prayer, and turned the captivity. Now that he is returned in safety, he is determined to perform his vows to the Lord; and calls on all them that fear their Maker, who have any religious reverence for him, to attend to his account of the Lord's gracious dealings with him. He proposes to tell them his spiritual experience, what he needed, what he earnestly prayed for, and what God has done for him. Thus he intended to teach them by example, more powerful always than precept, however weighty in itself, and impressively delivered.

I cried unto him with my mouth - My prayer was fervent; he heard and answered; and my tongue celebrated his mercies; and he as graciously received my thanksgiving, as he compassionately heard my prayer.

If I regard iniquity in my heart - "If I have seen (ראיתי raithi) iniquity in my heart," if I have known it was there, and encouraged it; if I pretended to be what I was not; if I loved iniquity, while I professed to pray and be sorry for my sin; the Lord, אדני Adonai, my Prop, Stay, and Supporter, would not have heard, and I should have been left without help or support.

Verily God hath heard me - A sure proof that my prayer was upright, and my heart honest, before him.

Blessed be God - I therefore praise God, who has not turned aside my prayer, and who has not withheld his mercy from me. Thus he told them what God had done for his soul.

All lands - Ye people of all nations. He invites the Gentile world, to the contemplation and celebration of God's works.

We - Our nation, or our ancestors, in whose loins we then were.

Proved us - As it were in a burning furnace; and with a design to purge out our dross.

Net - Which our enemies laid for us.

To ride - To use us like slaves.

I will go - One speaks in the name of all the rest. Incense - With the fat of rams, which is no less pleasing to God than incense.

Iniquity - Any sin. In heart - If my heart had been false to God, although I might have forborne outward acts. If I had been guilty of that, by heart was set upon sin, or I desired only that which I resolved in my heart to spend upon my lusts.

1 MAke a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands .

Ye people of all Nations, who have seen the wonderful Power and Wisdom, and fidelity, and goodness of God in our Deliverance, it becomes you to acknowledge it with Admiration and Rejoycing. Or, all the Land, or this Land. But the former Sence is more probable from v. 4. where this Word is so used. And it is very Proper to this place, and usual in other places of Scripture, to invite the Gentile World, to the Contemplation and Celebration of God's Works, to and for his People. See Deut. 32. 43. 1 Chron. 16. 23, 24.

Marginal references: Heb. all the [illegible: 1 word].

2 Sing forth the honour of his name, make his praise glorious .

(i. e.) Praise him in an extraordinary and Eminent degree, so as he may have much Glory from you.

3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works ! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee .

To wit, to thine Enemies, as it follows.

Heb. Lye unto thee, (i. e.) Profess subjection to thee, not sincerely and freely, but by Constraint, and out of a servile Fear.

Marginal references: Or, yield seigned Obedience.; Heb. Lye.

4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee , they shall sing to thy Name, Selah.

Many People of divers Nations shall be so affected with thy stupendious Works, that they shall Worship and Praise thee for them, and all People should do so, and shall have just cause to do so; and the time will come when all Nations will actually do so, to wit, in the days of the Messias.

5 Come and see the works of God, he is terrible in his doing toward the Children of men .

Consider them wisely and seriously, for God's Glory, and for your own good.

To all his Enemies, whom he calls the Children of Men; Partly, in way of Contempt, to shew how unable they are; Either, to avoid or resist the great God; and Partly, in opposition to his own People, who are frequently called the Children of God.

Marginal references: Psal. 46. 8.

6 He turned the sea into dry land, they went through the flood on foot, there did we rejoyce in him.

Or River, to wit, Iordan.

(i. e.) Our Nation, or our Ancestors, in whose Loyns we then were, and the Benefit of which Antient Deliverance we at this day enjoy. See the like Expressions. Psal. 81. 5. Hose. 12. 4. The whole People of Israel, are oft Considered as one Body, continued through all succeeding Generations, United in the Bound of the same Covenant and Worship, and in the Possession of the same Promises, and Priviledges, and Blessings, and Acted by one and the same Spirit; and therefore several and contrary things may reasonably be ascribed to them, in regard of their several Parts and Ages, and what was done in one Age, may be imputed to another by Vertue of their strict Conjunction with the same Body.

Marginal references: Exod. 14. 21.; Josh. 3. 17.

7 He ruleth by his power for ever , his eyes behold the nations , let not the rebellious exalt themselves , Selah.

The same Power which God had and put forth for his People in Antient time, he still hath in as great Vigour as ever, and is not at all weakened by Age, and is as able and ready to Act for them now, as ever he was: which he hath shewed by this Late and Glorious instance.

He sees all their secret and subtil Devices, and can and will defeat them, when he sees fit.

Lift up their Hands against God, or against his People. Or, the Rebellions (i. e. Those People which Rebel against this Almighty God and his Laws) shall not exalt themselves, as they Vainly hope and Design to do, but shall be brought down and destroyed, as is hereby implyed.

Marginal references: Psal. 11. 4:

8 O bless our God, ye people , and make the voyce of his praise to be heard.

Of other Nations, that have served, or yet do serve other Gods.

9. Which holdeth our soul in life , and suffereth not our feet to be moved .

Who by a Succession of Miracles of Mercy, hath kept us alive in the midst of a thousand Deaths, to which we were exposed, and hath restored us to Life, when we were like Dead men and dry Bones scattered at the Mouth of the Grave.

To wit, so as to fall into Mischief and utter Ruin, as our Enemies designed.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

10 For thou, O God, hast proved us, thou hast tryed us, as silver is tryed .

Or, Yet or Nevertheless. Though thou hast hitherto helped us, and now delivered us, yet for a season thou hast sorely afflicted us.

(i. e.) Severely, as if it were in a burning Furnace; and with a Design to try our sincerity, and to purge out the Dross, or the wicked from among us.

Marginal references: Psal. 17. 3.

11 Thou broughtest us into the net , thou laidst affliction upon our loyns.

Which our Enemies laid for us, and which could never have taken or held us, but by the Permission and Disposal of thy Providence, which gave us into their hands.

12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads ; we went through fire, and through water ; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place .

Weak and Mortal, and miserable Men, as the Word signifies, no better nor stronger then we, if thou hadst not given them Power over us.

To Ride upon our Shoulders. By thy Permission they have used us like Slaves, yea like Beasts, to carry their Persons or Burdens: Compare Isa. 51. 23.

(i. e.) Through various and dangerous Tryals, and Calamities: See Psal. 32. 6. and 69. 2. Ezek. 15. 7. and 30. 8.

Heb. Into a moist, or Well-watered place, such as Canaan was both in a Proper Sence, and figuratively, as being replenished with Divine Graces and Blessings.

Marginal references: Heb. Moist. [illegible: 1 word]. 68. 6.

15 I will offer unto thee burnt-sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams : I will offer bullocks with goats, Selah.

With the fat of Rams, which in these Peace-offerings was burnt upon the Altar, and so vanished into Smoke like Incense, and which is no less pleasing to God than Incense.

y Hitherto he spoke in the plural Number, but now he begins to speak in the singular Number, but still the Speech is continued of the same Person or Persons: onely sometimes the whole Body speaks; and sometimes one Man speaks in the Name of all the rest.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God , and I will declare what he hath done for my soul .

Whether Israelites or Gentiles proselyted to them. Let every Israelite take notice of what God hath done for the Nation in general, and let the Gentiles observe God's goodness to the Children of Israel.

Which he hath held in Life, as he said v. 9: in the greatest dangers of Death.

17 I cryed unto him with my mouth , and he was extolled with my tongue.

With a loud Voyce and great Fervency: Or it is a Pleonasme, as Psal. 44. 1. We have heard with our Ears.

(i. e.) Praised by me; To wit, for answering my Prayers.

18 If I regard iniquity in my heart , the LORD will not hear me .

Heb. If I have or had seen, or looked upon, to wit, with approbation and affection, as Iob 31. 26. Hab. 1. 13. Men look upon what they like, and turn away their Face from what they loath or hate.

Any sin whatsoever, and especially Idolatry, which is oft expressed by this Word, to which the Israelites were very prone, and to which they had most powerful Temptations from the Examples, and Counsels, and Promises, and Threats of the Idolaters, in whose Land and Power they had been. And so this is a Purgation of themselves from that Crime, somewhat like that Psal. 44. 20, 21. and in general, from those gross and Reigning sins, whereof they had been guilty formerly.

If my Heart was false to God, and did cleave to Idols, or to any Wickedness, although I might for some prudential Reasons forbear the gross and outward Acts. Compare Psal. 44. 17, 18. If I had been guilty of that Hypocrisie, wherewith mine Enemies charged me, and had been a secret Favourer of Wickedness when I pretended great Piety. Or, If I did not Cry unto God with my Heart, but onely howled for Corn and Wine, &c. and whilst I cryed to God with my Tongue, my Heart was set upon sin, or I desired onely that which I resolved in mine Heart, to spend upon my Lusts.

Or, Would not have heard me; as divers learned Interpreters translate it, the Future being put Potentially, as is usual among the Hebrews. For God heareth not sinners, Ioh. 9. 31. nor Hypocrites, Iob 27. 8, 9. Prov. 15. 29.

Marginal references: Prov. 28. 9. [illegible: 1 word] 1. 15. [illegible: 1 word] 9. 31. [illegible: 1 word].. 4. 3.; [illegible: 1 word]. see.

19 But verily God hath heard me , he hath attended to the voyce of my prayer.

Which is a publick Vindication, and a divine Testimony of my Integrity, against all my false Accusers.

20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

Or, rejected or removed, to wit, from his sight and Audience, but hath received and granted it.

Though he had now ascribed his own Innocency, and sincere Piety, yet he imputeth not God's hearing of his Prayers to that, but solely unto God's Grace and Mercy.

Psa 66:1-4

The phrase שׂים כבוד ל signifies “to give glory to God” in other passages (Jos 7:19; Isa 42:12), here with a second accusative, either (1) if we take תּהלּתו as an accusative of the object: facite laudationem ejus gloriam = gloriosam (Maurer and others), or (2) if we take כבוד as an accusative of the object and the former word as an accusative of the predicate: reddite honorem laudem ejus (Hengstenberg), or (3) also by taking תהלתו as an apposition: reddite honorem, scil. laudem ejus (Hupfeld). We prefer the middle rendering: give glory as His praise, i.e., to Him as or for praise. It is unnecessary, with Hengstenberg, to render: How terrible art Thou in Thy works! in that case אתּה ought not to be wanting. מעשׂיך might more readily be singular (Hupfeld, Hitzig); but these forms with the softened Jod of the root dwindle down to only a few instances upon closer consideration. The singular of the predicate (what a terrible affair) here, as frequently, e.g., Psa 119:137, precedes the plural designating things. The song into which the Psalmist here bids the nations break forth, is essentially one with the song of the heavenly harpers in Rev 15:3., which begins, Μεγάλα καὶ θαυμαστὰ τὰ ἔργα σου.

Psa 66:5-7

Although the summons: Come and see... (borrowed apparently from Psa 46:9), is called forth by contemporary manifestations of God’s power, the consequences of which now lie open to view, the rendering of Psa 66:6, “then will we rejoice in Him,” is nevertheless unnatural, and, rightly looked at, neither grammar nor the matter requires it. For since שׁם in this passage is equivalent to אז, and the future after אז takes the signification of an aorist; and since the cohortative form of the future can also (e.g., after עד, Psa 73:7, and in clauses having a hypothetical sense) be referred to the past, and does sometimes at least occur where the writer throws himself back into the past (2Sa 22:38), the rendering: Then did we rejoice in Him, cannot be assailed on syntactical grounds. On the “we,” cf. Jos 5:1, Chethîb, Hos 12:1-14 :54. The church of all ages is a unity, the separate parts being jointly involved in the whole. The church here directs the attention of all the world to the mighty deeds of God at the time of the deliverance from Egypt, viz., the laying of the Red Sea and of Jordan dry, inasmuch as it can say in Psa 66:7, by reason of that which it has experienced ibn the present, that the sovereign power of God is ever the same: its God rules in His victorious might עולם, i.e., not “over the world,” because that ought to be בּעולם, but “in eternity” (accusative of duration, as in Psa 89:2., Psa 45:7), and therefore, as in the former days, so also in all time to come. His eyes keep searching watch among the peoples; the rebellious, who struggle agaisnt His yoke and persecute His people, had better not rise, it may go ill with them. The Chethîb runs ירימוּ, for which the Kerî is ירוּמוּ. The meaning remains the same; הרים can (even without יד, ראשׁ, קרן, Psa 65:5) mean “to practise exaltation,” superbire. By means of למו this proud bearing is designated as being egotistical, and as unrestrainedly boastful. Only let them not imagine themselves secure in their arrogance! There is One more exalted, whose eye nothing escapes, and to whose irresistible might whatever is not conformed to His gracious will succumbs.

Psa 66:8-12

The character of the event by which the truth has been verified that the God who redeemed Israel out of Egypt still ever possesses and exercises to the full His ancient sovereign power, is seen from this reiterated call to the peoples to share in Israel’s Gloria. God has averted the peril of death and overthrow from His people: He has put their soul in life (בּחיּים, like בּישׁע in Psa 12:6), i.e., in the realm of life; He has not abandoned their foot to tottering unto overthrow (mowT the substantive, as in Psa 121:3; cf. the reversed construction in Psa 55:23). For God has cast His people as it were into a smelting-furnace or fining-pot in order to purify and to prove them by suffering; - this is a favourite figure with Isaiah and Jeremiah, but is also found in Zec 13:9; Mal 3:3. Eze 19:9 is decisive concerning the meaning of מצוּדה, where הביא במצודות signifies “to bring into the holds or prisons;” besides, the figure of the fowling-net (although this is also called מצוּדה as well as מצודה) has no footing here in the context. מצוּדה (vid., Psa 18:3) signifies specula, and that both a natural and an artificial watch-post on a mountain; here it is the mountain-hold or prison of the enemy, as a figure of the total loss of freedom. The laying on of a heavy burden mentioned by the side of it in Psa 66:11 also accords well with this. מוּעקה, a being oppressed, the pressure of a burden, is a Hophal formation, like מטּה, a being spread out, Isa 8:8; cf. the similar masculine forms in Psa 69:3; Isa 8:13; Isa 14:6; Isa 29:3. The loins are mentioned because when carrying heavy loads, which one has to stoop down in order to take up, the lower spinal region is called into exercise. אנושׁ is frequently (Psa 9:20., Psa 10:18; Psa 56:2, Isa 51:12; 2Ch 14:10) the word used for tyrants as being wretched mortals, perishable creatures, in contrast with their all the more revolting, imperious, and self-deified demeanour. God so ordered it, that “wretched men” rode upon Israel’s head. Or is it to be interpreted: He caused them to pass over Israel (cf. Psa 129:3; Isa 51:23)? It can scarcely mean this, since it would then be in dorso nostro, which the Latin versions capriciously substitute. The preposition ל instead of על is used with reference to the phrase ישׁב ל: sitting upon Israel’s head, God caused them to ride along, so that Israel was not able to raise its head freely, but was most ignominiously wounded in its self-esteem. Fire and water are, as in Isa 43:2, a figure of vicissitudes and perils of the most extreme character. Israel was nigh to being burnt up and drowned, but God led it forth לרויה, to an abundant fulness, to abundance and superabundance of prosperity. The lxx, which renders εἰς ἀναψυχήν (Jerome absolutely: in refrigerium), has read לרוחה; Symmachus, εἰς εὐρυχωρίαν, probably reading לרחבה (Psa 119:45; Psa 18:20). Both give a stronger antithesis. But the state of straitness or oppression was indeed also a state of privation.

Psa 66:13-15

From this point onwards the poet himself speaks, but, as the diversity and the kind of the sacrifices show, as being a member of the community at large. The עולות stand first, the girts of adoring homage; בּ is the Beth of the accompaniment, as in Lev 16:3; 1Sa 1:24, cf. Heb 9:25. “My vows” refer more especially to פּצה פּה ׃שׁלמי נדר also occurs elsewhere of the involuntary vowing to do extraordinary things urged from one by great distress (Jdg 11:35). אשׁר is an accusative of the object relating to the vows, quae aperuerunt = aperiendo nuncupaverunt labia mea (Geier). In Psa 66:15 עשׂה, used directly (like the Aramaic and Phoenician עבד) in the signification “to sacrifice” (Exo 29:36-41, and frequently), alternates with העלה, the synonym of הקטיר. The sacrifices to be presented are enumerated. מיחים (incorrect for מחים) are marrowy, fat lambs; lambs and bullocks (בּקר) have the most universal appropriation among the animals that were fit for sacrifices. The ram (איל), on the contrary, is the animal for the whole burnt-offering of the high priest, of the princes of the tribes, and of the people; and appears also as the animal for the shelamim only in connection with the shelamim of Aaron, of the people, of the princes of the tribes, and, in Num 6:14, of the Nazarite. The younger he-goat (עתּוּד) is never mentioned as an animal for the whole burnt-offering; but, indeed, as an animal for the shelamim of the princes of the tribes in Num. 7. It is, therefore, probable that the shelamim which were to be offered in close connection with the whole burnt-offerings are introduced by עם, so that קטרת signifies the fat portions of the shelamim upon the altar smoking in the fire. The mention of “rams” renders it necessary that we should regard the poet as here comprehending himself among the people when he speaks thus.

Psa 66:16-20

The words in Psa 66:16 are addressed in the widest extent, as in Psa 66:5 and Psa 66:2, to all who fear God, wheresoever such are to be found on the face of the earth. To all these, for the glory of God and for their own profit, he would gladly relate what God has made him to experience. The individual-looking expression לנפשׁי is not opposed to the fact of the occurrence of a marvellous answering of prayer, to which he refers, being one which has been experienced by him in common with the whole congregation. He cried unto God with his mouth (that is to say, not merely silently in spirit, but audibly and importunately), and a hymn (רומם,Kimchi (Michlol 146 a) and Parchon (under רמם) read רומם with Pathach; and Heidenheim and Baer have adopted it. something that rises, collateral form to רומם, as עולל and שׁובב to עולל and שׁובב) was under my tongue; i.e., I became also at once so sure of my being heard, that I even had the song of praise in readiness (vid., Psa 10:7), with which I had determined to break forth when the help for which I had prayed, and which was assured to me, should arrive. For the purpose of his heart was not at any time, in contradiction to his words, און, God-abhorred vileness or worthlessness; ראה with the accusative, as in Gen 20:10; Psa 37:37 : to aim at, or design anything, to have it in one’s eye. We render: If I had aimed at evil in my heart, the Lord would not hear; not: He would not have heard, but: He would not on any occasion hear. For a hypocritical prayer, coming from a heart which has not its aim sincerely directed towards Him, He does not hear. The idea that such a heart was not hidden behind his prayer is refuted in Psa 66:19 from the result, which is of a totally opposite character. In the closing doxology the accentuation rightly takes תּפלּתי וחסדּו as belonging together. Prayer and mercy stand in the relation to one another of call and echo. When God turns away from a man his prayer and His mercy, He commands him to be silent and refuses him a favourable answer. The poet, however, praises God that He has deprived him neither of the joyfulness of prayer nor the proof of His favour. In this sense Augustine makes the following practical observation on this passage: Cum videris non a te amotam deprecationem tuam, securus esto, quia non est a te amota misericordia ejus.

All Mankind Exhorted to Praise God.

1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2 Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 3 Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 4 All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah. 5 Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him. 7 He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.

I. In these verses the psalmist calls upon all people to praise God, all lands, all the earth, all the inhabitants of the world that are capable of praising God, v. 1. 1. This speaks the glory of God, that he is worthy to be praised by all, for he is good to all and furnishes every nation with matter for praise. 2. The duty of man, that all are obliged to praise God; it is part of the law of creation, and therefore is required of every creature. 3. A prediction of the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ; the time should come when all lands should praise God, and this incense should in every place be offered to him. 4. A hearty good-will which the psalmist had to this good work of praising God. He will abound in it himself, and wishes that God might have his tribute paid him by all the nations of the earth and not by the land of Israel only. He excites all lands, (1.) To make a joyful noise to God. Holy joy is that devout affection which should animate all our praises; and, though it is not making a noise in religion that God will accept of (hypocrites are said to cause their voice to be heard on high, Isa. lviii. 4), yet, in praising God, [1.] We must be hearty and zealous, and must do what we do with all our might, with all that is within us. [2.] We must be open and public, as those that are not ashamed of our Master. And both these are implied in making a noise, a joyful noise. (2.) To sing with pleasure, and to sing forth, for the edification of others, the honour of his name, that is, of all that whereby he has made himself known, v. 2. That which is the honour of God's name ought to be the matter of our praise. (3.) To make his praise glorious as far as we can. In praising God we must do it so as to glorify him, and that must be the scope and drift of all our praises. Reckon it your greatest glory to praise God, so some. It is the highest honour the creature is capable of to be to the Creator for a name and a praise.

II. He had called upon all lands to praise God (v. 1), and he foretels (v. 4) that they shall do so: All the earth shall worship thee; some in all parts of the earth, even the remotest regions, for the everlasting gospel shall be preached to every nation and kindred; and this is the purport of it, Worship him that made heaven and earth, Rev. xiv. 6, 7. Being thus sent forth, it shall not return void, but shall bring all the earth, more or less, to worship God, and sing unto him. In gospel times God shall be worshipped by the singing of Psalms. They shall sing to God, that is, sing to his name, for it is only to his declarative glory, that by which he has made himself known, not to his essential glory, that we can contribute any thing by our praises.

III. That we may be furnished with matter for praise, we are here called upon to come and see the works of God; for his own works praise him, whether we do or no; and the reason why we do not praise him more and better is because we do not duly and attentively observe them. Let us therefore see God's works and observe the instances of his wisdom, power, and faithfulness in them (v. 5), and then speak of them, and speak of them to him (v. 3): Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works, terrible in thy doings! 1. God's works are wonderful in themselves, and such as, when duly considered, may justly fill us with amazement. God is terrible (that is, admirable) in his works, through the greatness of his power, which is such, and shines so brightly, so strongly, in all he does, that it may be truly said there are not any works like unto his works. Hence he is said to be fearful in praises, Exod. xv. 11. In all his doings towards the children of men he is terrible, and to be eyed with a holy awe. Much of religion lies in a reverence for the divine Providence. 2. They are formidable to his enemies, and have many a time forced and frightened them into a feigned submission (v. 3): Through the greatness of thy power, before which none can stand, shall thy enemies submit themselves unto thee; they shall lie unto thee (so the word is), that is, they shall be compelled, sorely against their wills, to make their peace with thee upon any terms. Subjection extorted by fear is seldom sincere, and therefore force is no proper means of propagating religion, nor can there be much joy of such proselytes to the church as will in the end be found liars unto it, Deut. xxxiii. 29. 3. They are comfortable and beneficial to his people, v. 6. When Israel came out of Egypt, he turned the sea into dry land before them, which encouraged them to follow God's guidance through the wilderness; and, when they were to enter Canaan, for their encouragement in their wars Jordan was divided before them, and they went through that flood on foot; and such foot, so signally owned by heaven, might well pass for cavalry, rather than infantry, in the wars of the Lord. There did the enemies tremble before them (Exod. xv. 14, 15; Josh. v. 1), but there did we rejoice in him, both trust his power (for relying on God is often expressed by rejoicing in him) and sing his praise, Ps. cvi. 12. There did we rejoice; that is, our ancestors did, and we in their loins. The joys of our fathers were our joys, and we ought to look upon ourselves as sharers in them. 4. They are commanding to all. God by his works keeps up his dominion in the world (v. 7): He rules by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations. (1.) God has a commanding eye; from the height of heaven his eye commands all the inhabitants of the world, and he has a clear and full view of them all. His eyes run to and fro through the earth; the most remote and obscure nations are under his inspection. (2.) He has a commanding arm; his power rules, rules for ever, and is never weakened, never obstructed. Strong is his hand, and high is his right hand. Hence he infers, Let not the rebellious exalt themselves; let not those that have revolting and rebellious hearts dare to rise up in any overt acts of rebellion against God, as Adonijah exalted himself, saying, I will be king. Let not those that are in rebellion against God exalt themselves as if there were any probability that they should gain their point. No; let them be still, for God hath said, I will be exalted, and man cannot gainsay it.

The Saints Exhorted to Praise God.

8 O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard: 9 Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved. 10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. 11 Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. 12 Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

In these verses the psalmist calls upon God's people in a special manner to praise him. Let all lands do it, but Israel's land particularly. Bless our God; bless him as ours, a God in covenant with us, and that takes care of us as his own. Let them make the voice of his praise to be heard (v. 8); for from whom should it be heard but from those who are his peculiar favourites and select attendants? Two things we have reason to bless God for:—

I. Common protection (v. 9): He holdeth our soul in life, that it may not drop away of itself; for, being continually in our hands, it is apt to slip through our fingers. We must own that it is the good providence of God that keeps life and soul together and his visitation that preserves our spirit. He puts our soul in life, so the word is. He that gave us our being, by a constant renewed act upholds us in our being, and his providence is a continued creation. When we are ready to faint and perish he restores our soul, and so puts it, as it were, into a new life, giving new comforts. Non est vivere, sed valere, vita—It is not existence, but happiness, that deserves the name of life. But we are apt to stumble and fall, and are exposed to many destructive accidents, killing disasters as well as killing diseases, and therefore as to these also we are guarded by the divine power. He suffers not our feet to be moved, preventing many unforeseen evils, which we ourselves were not aware of our danger from. To him we owe it that we have not, long ere this, fallen into endless ruin. He will keep the feet of his saints.

II. Special deliverance from great distress. Observe,

1. How grievous the distress and danger were, v. 11, 12. What particular trouble of the church this refers to does not appear; it might be the trouble of some private persons or families only. But, whatever it was, they were surprised with it as a bird with a snare, enclosed and entangled in it as a fish in a net; they were pressed down with it, and kept under as with a load upon their loins, v. 11. But they owned the hand of God in it. We are never in the net but God brings us into it, never under affliction but God lays it upon us. Is any thing more dangerous than fire and water? We went through both, that is, afflictions of different kinds; the end of one trouble was the beginning of another; when we had got clear of one sort of dangers we found ourselves involved in dangers of another sort. Such may be the troubles of the best of God's saints, but he has promised, When thou passest through the waters, through the fire, I will be with thee, Isa. xliii. 1. Yet proud and cruel men may be as dangerous as fire and water, and more so. Beware of men, Matt. x. 17. When men rose up against us, that was fire and water, and all that is threatening (Ps. cxxiv. 2, 3, 4), and that was the case here: "Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads, to trample upon us and insult over us, to hector and abuse us, nay, and to make perfect slaves of us; they have said to our souls, Bow down, that we may go over," Isa. li. 23. While it is the pleasure of good princes to rule in the hearts of their subjects it is the pride of tyrants to ride over their heads; yet the afflicted church in this also owns the hand of God: "Thou hast caused them thus to abuse us;" for the most furious oppressor has no power but what is given him from above.

2. How gracious God's design was in bringing them into this distress and danger. See what the meaning of it is (v. 10): Thou, O God! hast proved us, and tried us. Then we are likely to get good by our afflictions, when we look upon them under this notion, for then we may see God's grace and love at the bottom of them and our own honour and benefit in the end of them. By afflictions we are proved as silver in the fire. (1.) That our graces, by being tried, may be made more evident and so we may be approved, as silver, when it is touched and marked sterling, and this will be to our praise at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. i. 7) and perhaps in this world. Job's integrity and constancy were manifested by his afflictions. (2.) That our graces, by being exercised, may be made more strong and active, and so we may be improved, as silver when it is refined by the fire and made more clear from its dross; and this will be to our unspeakable advantage, for thus we are made partakers of God's holiness, Heb. xii. 10. Public troubles are for the purifying of the church, Dan. xi. 35; Rev. ii. 10; Deut. viii. 2.

3. How glorious the issue was at last. The troubles of the church will certainly end well; these do so, for (1.) The outlet of the trouble is happy. They are in fire and water, but they get through them: "We went through fire and water, and did not perish in the flames or floods." Whatever the troubles of the saints are, blessed be God, there is a way through them. (2.) The inlet to a better state is much more happy: Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place, into a well-watered place (so the word is), like the gardens of the Lord, and therefore fruitful. God brings his people into trouble that their comforts afterwards may be the sweeter and that their affliction may thus yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, which will make the poorest place in the world a wealthy place.

David Resolves to Praise God; David Declaring What God Has Done for His Soul.

13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows, 14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble. 15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. 16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. 17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: 19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. 20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

The psalmist, having before stirred up all people, and all God's people in particular, to bless the Lord, here stirs up himself and engages himself to do it.

I. In his devotions to his God, v. 13-15. He had called upon others to sing God's praises and to make a joyful noise with them; but, for himself, his resolutions go further, and he will praise God, 1. By costly sacrifices, which, under the law, were offered to the honour of God. All people had not wherewithal to offer these sacrifices, or wanted zeal to be at such an expense in praising God; but David, for his part, being able, is as willing, in this chargeable way to pay his homage to God (v. 13): I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings. His sacrifices should be public, in the place which God had chosen: "I will go into thy house with them." Christ is our temple, to whom we must bring our spiritual gifts, and by whom they are sanctified. They should be the best of the king—burnt-sacrifices, which were wholly consumed upon the altar, to the honour of God, and of which the offerer had no share; and burnt-sacrifices of fatlings, not the lame or the lean, but the best fed, and such as would be most acceptable at his own table. God, who is the best, must be served with the best we have. The feast God makes for us is a feast of fat things, full of marrow (Isa. xxv. 6), and such sacrifices should we bring to him. He will offer bullocks with goats, so liberal will he be in his return of praise, and not strait-handed: he would not offer that which cost him nothing, but that which cost him a great deal. And this with the incense of rams, that is, with the fat of rams, which being burnt upon the altar, the smoke of it would ascend like the smoke of incense. Or rams with incense. The incense typifies Christ's intercession, without which the fattest of our sacrifices will not be accepted. 2. By a conscientious performance of his vows. We do not acceptably praise God for our deliverance out of trouble unless we make conscience of paying the vows we made when we were in trouble. This was the psalmist's resolution (v. 13, 14), I will pay thee my vows, which my lips have uttered when I was in trouble. Note, (1.) It is very common, and very commendable, when we are under the pressure of any affliction, or in the pursuit of any mercy, to make vows, and solemnly to speak them before the Lord, to bind ourselves out from sin and bind ourselves more closely to our duty; not as if this were an equivalent, or valuable consideration, for the favour of God, but a qualification for receiving the tokens of that favour. (2.) The vows which we made when we were in trouble must not be forgotten when the trouble is over, but be carefully performed, for better it is not to vow than to vow and not pay.

II. In his declarations to his friends, v. 16. He calls together a congregation of good people to hear his thankful narrative of God's favours to him: "Come and hear, all you that fear God, for, 1. You will join with me in my praises and help me in giving thanks." And we should be as desirous of the assistance of those that fear God in returning thanks for the mercies we have received as in praying for those we want. 2. "You will be edified and encouraged by that which I have to say. The humble shall hear of it and be glad, Ps. xxxiv. 2. Those that fear thee will be glad when they see me (Ps. cxix. 74), and therefore let me have their company, and I will declare to them, not to vain carnal people that will banter it and make a jest of it" (pearls are not to be cast before swine); "but to those that fear God, and will make a good use of it, I will declare what God has done for my soul," not in pride and vain-glory, that he might be thought more a favourite of heaven than other people, but for the honour of God, to which we owe this as a just debt, and for the edification of others. Note, God's people should communicate their experiences to each other. We should take all occasions to tell one another of the great and kind things which God has done for us, especially which he has done for our souls, the spiritual blessings with which he has blessed us in heavenly things; these we should be most affected with ourselves, and therefore with these we should be desirous to affect others. Now what was it that God had done for his soul? (1.) He had wrought in him a love to the duty of prayer, and had by his grace enlarged his heart in that duty (v. 17): I cried unto him with my mouth. But if God, among other things done for our souls, had not given us the Spirit of adoption, teaching and enabling us to cry, Abba, Father, we should never have done it. That God has given us leave to pray, a command to pray, encouragements to pray, and (to crown all) a heart to pray, is what we have reason to mention with thankfulness to his praise; and the more if, when we cried to him with our mouth, he was extolled with our tongue, that is, if we were enabled by faith and hope to give glory to him when we were seeking for mercy and grace from him, and to praise him for mercy in prospect though not yet in possession. By crying to him we do indeed extol him. He is pleased to reckon himself honoured by the humble believing prayers of the upright, and this is a great thing which he has done for our souls, that he has been pleased so far to unite interests with us that, in seeking our own welfare, we seek his glory. His exaltation was under my tongue (so it may be read); that is, I was considering in my mind how I might exalt and magnify his name. When prayers are in our mouths praises must be in our hearts. (2.) He had wrought in him a dread of sin as an enemy to prayer (v. 18): If I regard iniquity in my heart, I know very well the Lord will not hear me. The Jewish writers, some of them that have the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, put a very corrupt gloss upon these words: If I regard iniquity in my heart, that is (say they), If I allow myself only in heart-sins, and iniquity does not break out in my words and actions, God will not hear me, that is, he will not be offended with me, will take no notice of it, so as to lay it to my charge; as if heart-sins were no sins in God's account. The falsehood of this our Saviour has shown in his spiritual exposition of the law, Matt. v. But the sense of this place is plain: If I regard iniquity in my heart, that is, "If I have favourable thoughts of it, if I love it, indulge it, and allow myself in it, if I treat it as a friend and bid it welcome, make provision for it and am loth to part with it, if I roll it under my tongue as a sweet morsel, though it be but a heart sin that is thus countenanced and made much of, if I delight in it after the inward man, God will not hear my prayer, will not accept it, nor be pleased with it, nor can I expect an answer of peace to it." Note, Iniquity, regarded in the heart, will certainly spoil the comfort and success of prayer; for the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. Those that continue in love and league with sin have no interest either in the promise or in the Mediator, and therefore cannot expect to speed in prayer. (3.) He had graciously granted him an answer of peace to his prayers (v. 19): "But verily God has heard me; though, being conscious to myself of much amiss in me, I began to fear that my prayers would be rejected, yet, to my comfort, I found that God was pleased to regard them." This God did for his soul, by answering his prayer, he gave him a token of his favour and an evidence that he had wrought a good work in him. And therefore he concludes (v. 20), Blessed be God. The two foregoing verses are the major and minor propositions of a syllogism: If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear my prayer; that is the proposition: but verily God has heard me; that is the assumption, from which he might have rationally inferred, "Therefore I do not regard iniquity in my heart;" but, instead of taking the comfort to himself, he gives the praise to God: Blessed be God. Whatever are the premises, God's glory must always be the conclusion. God has heard me, and therefore blessed be God. Note, What we win by prayer we must wear with praise. Mercies in answer to prayer do, in a special manner, oblige us to be thankful. He has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy. Lest it should be thought that the deliverance was granted for the sake of some worthiness in his prayer, he ascribes it to God's mercy. This he adds by way of correction: "It was not my prayer that fetched the deliverance, but his mercy that sent it." Therefore God does not turn away our prayer, because he does not turn away his own mercy, for that is the foundation of our hopes and the fountain of our comforts, and therefore ought to be the matter of our praises.

PSAL. LXVI.

To the Master of the Musicke, a Song, a Psalme.

SHout ye unto God all the earth. With Psalme sing the glory of his name, put glory to his praise. Say unto God, how fearefull is every of thy workes! through the greatnesse of thy strength, thine enemies shall falsly deny to thee. Let all the earth bow downe themselves to thee, and sing Psalme to thee; let them sing Psalme to thy name Selah.

Come and see the workes of God; he is fearefull in his doing toward the sonnes of Adam. He turned sea to dry land, they passed thorow the River on foot, there did wee rejoyce in him. He ruleth with his power for ever, his eyes espie among the nations; the rebellious, let them not exalt themselves Selah.

Ye peoples, blesse our God, and make the voice of his praise to be heard. That putteth our soule in life, and hath not given our foot to be moved. For thou, O God, hast proved us, thou hast tried us as silver is tried. Thou hast brought us into the net, thou hast laid straitnesse on our loines. Thou hast caused men to ride upon our head, we came into fire and into waters, and thou hast brought us out to an abundant place. I will come into thine house with burnt-offerings, I will pay to thee my vowes. Which my lips have opened, and my mouth hath spoken in the distresse upon me. Burnt offerings of marrowed rammes I will offer up to thee with incense; I will make ready beeves, with goat-bucks Selah. Come heare ye and I will tell, all ye that feare God, what he hath done to my soule. Vnto him I called with my mouth, and he was extolled under my tongue. If I had seene in my heart painfull iniquitie, the Lord would not have heard. But surely God hath heard, hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer and his mercy from me.

Annotations. SHout] to wit, with a joyfull or triumphant noise: see Psal. 41. 12. all the earth] or, all the land, that is, the inhabitants thereof, as the Chaldee explaineth. So vers. 4. and Psal. 98. 4. and 100. 1. and often in the Scripture. Vers. 2. put glorie] in Greeke, give glory to his praise, that is, make his praise glorious and honourable. A like phrase is in Ios. 7. 19. put glory to Iehovah, that is, give him glory. Vers. 3. fearefull is every, &c.] or, fearefull art thou in thy works. One word singular, and another plurall, meaneth exactly all and every one, as Psal. 57. 2. and 62. 5. falsly deny] or l. e, that is, fainedly submit: See Psal. 18. 45. Vers. 4. Let all] or, All shall. Vers. 5. in his doing] or, in practise; the Greek translateth, in counsels: See Psal. 9. 12. Vers. 6. sea to dry land] the red sea God turned to dry land by a strong east wind, dividing the waters, that Israel might goe thorow it, Exod. 14. 21, 22. thorow the river] Iarden, when the banks thereof were full, was dried; the waters stood still on an heape till all the people went thorow it, Ios. 3. 13, 14,—17. So the Chaldee explaineth it, [illegible: 1 word] the river [illegible: 1 word] the sonnes of Israel went on their feet. there did we rejoyce] he teacheth them to apply their fathers deliverances to themselves: for all things fore-written are for our learning and use, Rom. 15 4. Alike speech another Prophet useth, he found him in Rethel, and there he spake with us, Hos. 12. 4. The Chaldee paraphraseth, I will lead them to the mount of the house of the Sanctuary, there we will rejoyce in his Word. Vers. 7. espie] that is, watchfully view in the nations, that is, (as Solomon expoundeth it) in every place, both the evill (persons) and the good, Prov. 15. 3. the rebellious] or, the off-fallen, froward and refractarie persons, which exasperate and provoke the Lord to bitternesse, as the Greeke here translateth. exalt] or, be exalted (puft up) in themselves. Vers. 8. peoples] tribes of Israel, called also pe[illegible: 1 letter] ples, Act. 4. 27. make to bee heard] or, cause (men) to heare, sound forth audibly: See Psal. 26. 7. Vers. 9. That putteth our soule in life] that is, first giveth, then preserveth life, and finally, restoreth our dead soules unto life. Saving from dangers of death, Psal. 30. 4. quickning them that were dead in sinnes. Ephes. 2. 1. The Chaldee expounds it, the life of the world to com[illegible: 1 letter], given ou[illegible: 1 letter]foot to be moved] that is, suffered our estate to be changed to our ruine: So Psal. 38. 17. and 121. 3. See Psal. 15. 5. Vers. 10. as silver is tried] Hebr. as to try silver; and this meaneth sore afflictions, as at large is shewed, Ezek. 22. 19, 20, 21, 22. wherefore when God mentioneth lesser trialls, he saith, Loe, I have tried thee, but not as silver, Isa. 48. 10. Hereby also is meant a purifying from drosle and corruption by afflictions. See Mal. 3. 3. Zach. 13. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 7. Vers. 11. straightnes] or affliction, as the Greek also turneth it; but hereby a strait chaine or wringing girt may bee meant, such as burthens are tied with to beasts backs. Vers. 12. upon our head] to use us as beasts for to carry them; it meaneth servile subjection: See the like in Isa. 51. 23. came into fire and into waters] that is, passed thorow afflictions of sundry sorts, Psal. 32. 6. Ezek. 15. 6, 7. Also in Num. 31. 23. those things are said to come into (or passe thorow) fire, which would abide the same without being consumed, as metals. That sense hath also use here, as after is shewed. an abundant place] or, a moist, a well watered land, where we may drinke our fill. The Greeke calleth it a refreshing; which well fitteth with the comforts of the Gospell, as Act. 3. 29. Vers. 14. opened] that is, uttered, or promised distinctly and seriously, as the Greeke saith, distinguished: for the mouth being opened in vowes, signifieth that they may not be called backe, Iudg. 11. 35, 36. distresse upon me] or in my distresse: so Psal. 18. 7. and 59. 17. Vers. 15. marrowed rammes] that is, fat and lusty. The word rammes is in Hebrew set after the word incense: which may therefore be read, the incense (or perfume) of rams, meaning the fat which was burned on the altar. And so it may intend peace offerings, as before he mentioned burnt offerings: See Levit. 3. 9, 10, 11. compared with Levit. 1. 10,—13. The Chaldee expoundeth it, incense of spices, and sacrifices of Rams. make ready] or offer, as the Greeke interpreteth it. The Hebrew word to make or doe, is used for dressing or making ready of meat, or sacrifices, Gen. 18. 8. Iudg. 6. 19. Exod. 10. 25. and 29. 36. Levit. 16. 24. and 22. 23. beeves] the Hebrew bakar is the Beefe generally; one for many, as in Psal. 8. 9. These were the principall sacrifices, Lev. 1. 2, 10. Ver. 17. under my tongue] that is, with my tongue: or it may be meant of the heart and inward parts, which are under the tongue. Vers. 18. If I had seene in my heart] that is, had regarded with it: so to see, is to behold with a corrupt affection, Iob 31. 26. Thus God cannot see evill, Habak. 1. 13. would not have heard] for, God heareth not sinners, Iohn 9. 31. nor hypocrites, Iob 27. 8 9. Prov. 15. 29. The Greeke maketh it a wish, Let not the Lord heare me.

PSAL. LXVI.

VErſ. 1. Make a joyful noyſe unto God, all yee lands] Heb. All the earth; ſhout aloud for joy as the people did at the return of the Ark, ſo that the earth rang again. God ſhall one day ſhew himſelf to be the God not of Jews only, but of Gentiles alſo; theſe ſhall as well cry Chriſt, as thoſe Jeſus; theſe ſay, Father, as thoſe Abba. And as there was great joy in Samaria, when the Goſpel was there firſt received, Acts 8.8. ſo ſhall there bee the like in all other parts of the earth.

Verſ. 2. Make his praiſe glorious] Heb. Put glory to his praiſe; ſo Joſh. 7.19. Gods glory is as himſelf, eternal and infinite, no way capable of our addition or detraction: howbeit to try how we prize it, and will exalt it, he declareth that he accounteth himſelf made more glorious by us, when we receive him into our hearts as King of glory, and praiſe him accordingly.

Verſ. 3. Say unto God] Hereby it appeareth, that this among other Pſalms of like nature, was written for the perpetual uſe of the Church, and to ſerve for a ſet form of praiſing God, as occaſion required, either in publick, or private.

Shall thine enemies ſubmit themſelves unto thee] Heb. Shall lye unto thee; that is, ſaith Kimchi, ſhall deny that they ever did any thing againſt thee, or thy people. Or rather, they ſhall perforce acknowledge thy power and proweſſe; as Julian the Apoſtate did in his laſt Viciſti Galilae: they ſhall alſo yeeld obedience to thee, ſuch as it is, becauſe they can neither will nor chuſe; this Virtus nolentium nulla eſt.

Verſ. 4. All the earth ſhall worſhip thee] Heb. They ſhall bow down to thee, ſtoop to thy Government, ſubmit to the Scepter of thy Kingdom, they ſhall become the Kingdoms of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt. O dieculam illam! O mora! Chriſte veni.

Selab] Let that thy Kingdom come; come ſpeedily, come in our days,Bimherab. Beiamenn. as the modern Jews pray daily.

Verſ. 5. Come and ſee] Venite, vidite; Hee taketh good people by the hand, as it were, leading them to the ſight of Gods ſtupendious proceedings, which may not be ſlighted, Iſa. 5.12.

Toward the children of men] For they are his chief care, and about them is his providence principally exerciſed.

Verſ. 6. He turned the ſea into dry land] A mercy much celebrated, and not without cauſe, in all after-ages.

They went thorough the floud on foot] That is, thorough the River Jordan, when it had over-flowed the banks; and met with no enemy on the other ſide, to forbid their landing.

There did we rejoyce in him] We who were then in the loyns of our fore-fathers, and ſo ſhared in their joy. See Hoſ. 12.4. with the Note.

Verſ. 7. He ruleth by his power] As ſole Soveraign, univerſal Monarch, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Seſoſtris King of Aegypt would needs bee ſtiled [non-Latin text not transcribed], Emperour of the whole World;Herod. l. 2. he lived about the time of Sampſon, and periſhed by the hands of his own houſhold-ſervants.

His eyes behold the Nations] For which purpoſe they run to and fro through the earth, 2 Chron. 16.9.

Let not the rebellious, &c.] Heb. The off-faln, froward, and refractory perſons; theſe ſhall ſoon be repreſt, and creſt-faln.

Verſ. 8. O bleſs our God, yee people] We muſt not only publiſh Gods praiſes, but provoke others alſo ſo to do.

Verſ. 9. Which holdeth our ſoul in life] Heb. Putteth, that is, beſtoweth life on us, preſerveth it, reſtoreth it. Some think this Pſalm was made upon Davids deliverance from the Giant that ſought to kill him, 2 Sam. 21.16.

And ſuffereth not our feet to be moved] David gave back diverſe paces, ſay the Hebrews, but was ſeaſonably reſcued by Abiſhai, who ſlew the Philiſtine.

Verſ. 10. For thou, O God, haſt proved us] Non ut ipſe ſciat ſed ut ſ[illegible: 1 letter]ire n[illegible: 1 letter]s[illegible: 1 letter] faciat, ſaith Auſtine. God proveth his people, not thereby to better his own knowledge of them, Joh. 2.25. & 6.6. & 21.17, Acts 1.24. but to bring them to a better knowledge of their own, both Vices and Graces. It is not known what Corn will yeeld, till it come to the Flail; nor what Grapes, till they come to the Preſs. Grace is hid in Nature, as ſweet water in Roſe-leaves; the fire of affliction fetcheth it out.

Thou haſt tried us as Silver] The wicked alſo are tried, Revel. 3.10. but they prove reprobate ſilver, Jer. 6.28.30. or at beſt, as Alchymy gold, that will not bear the ſeventh fire, as Job did, chap. 23.10.

Verſ. 11. Thou broughteſt us into the Net] A Metaphor from Hunters, or Fowlers; Vtitur figuris tanquam in poemate.

Thou layedſt affliction upon our loyns] Co[illegible: 1 letter]rctationem in lumbis; wee are not only hampered, as in a Net, but fettered, as with chains; as if we had been in the Jaylors or Hangmans hands.

Verſ. 12. Thou haſt cauſed men to ride over our heads] Subjected us to the villanies and outrages of the baſeſt perſons, who have uſed us more like beaſts than men.

We went thorough fire, and thorough water] That is, thorough variety of ſharpeſt afflictions, noted out by this Proverbial paſſage; Fire and Water are mercileſs Elements. Aelius Pertinax fortune pila pervulgatè dicebatur, quòd variis caſibus exercit us fuit. It is the true Chriſtians comfort, that nothing befalleth him but by a ſweet providence; and that God goeth along with him into both fire and water, Iſa. 43.2. to ſee that he take no hurt by either.

But thou broughteſt us out into a wealthy place] Heb. Moyſt, that is, into the air, ſaith Aben-Ezra, (oppoſed to Fire and Water) where wee might draw breath, and live comfortably; In locum irriguum, in refrigerium. It is but winking, ſaid that Martyr at the ſtake, and we ſhall bee in Heaven immediatly. The Arabick hath it, Eduxiſti nos ad requiem. Confer Acts 3.19.

Verſ. 13. I will go into thim houſe, &c.] I will begin to others in that publick ſolemn Thankſgiving, and not grutch at the coſt, I will be Vir gregis, as the He-Goat before the flocks, Jer. 50.8.

Verſ. 14. Which my lips have uttered] Heb. Have opened, that is, which I have uttered diductis labiis, with lips wide open. Videmus qualiter vota nuncupari ſoleant, ſaith Vatablus, Here we ſee after what ſort vows uſe to be made; when we are under any preſſing affliction: but when once delivered, how heavily many come off in point of paiment.

And my mouth hath ſpoken when I was in trouble] Then, men will promiſe any thing for eaſe and releaſe; But what ſaith the Italian Proverb? Sciapato il morbo, frandato il Santo, when the Diſeaſe is cured, the Saint is defrauded. Horace calleth upon Macaenas (who in his Sickneſs had vowed to build a Temple) — Reddero victimasLib. 2. Od. 17 Aedem que votivam memento: Nos humilem feriemus agnam.

Verſ. 15. I will offer unto thee burnt ſacrifices of fatlings] Heb. Marrow, the very beſt of the beſt: and better I could beteem the Lord, if I had it.

With the Incenſe of Rams] Which being offered infaith, and as Figures of that great Sacrifice to come, ſhall be accepted of God for a ſweet-ſmelling ſavour.

I will offer Bullocks with Gouts] Faciam [illegible: 1 letter]oves: this, Ecci[illegible: 2 letters] alledgeth (but abſurdly) to prove the Popiſh unbloudy ſacrifice of the Maſs; as if Chriſt when he ſaid. This do ye in [illegible: 1 word] of me, had meant, Thus ſacrifice ye.

Verſ. 16. Come and hear] He had ſaid before, Come and ſee, verſ. 5. He held it a greater honour, Prodeſſe [illegible: 1 word] pra[illegible: 1 letter]ſſe.

All yee that [illegible: 1 word] God] For ſuch only will hear to good purpoſe, others either cannot, or care not.

And I will declare, &c.] Communicate unto you my Soul-ſecrets, and experiments; There is no ſmall good to be gotten by ſuch declarations. Bilney perceiving Latimer to bee zealous without knowledge, came to him in his ſtudy, and deſired him for Gods ſake to hear his confeſſion. I did ſo, ſaith Latimer, and to ſay the truth, by his confeſſion, I learned more than afore in many years.Act. & Mon. So from that time forward I began to ſmell the Word of God, and forſake the School-Doctors, and ſuch fooleries.

Verſ. 17. I cryed unto him] I prayed fervently and frequently.

And he was extolled, &c.] My prayers were ſoon turned into praiſes, which I ſilently framed within my ſelf, even while I was praying.

Verſ. 18. If I regard iniquity in mine heart] If I have but a [illegible: 1 letter]exths-mind to it, as we ſay; If I caſt but a leering-look towards it, if there be in mee but an irreſolution againſt it; how much more then if I allow it and wallow in i[illegible: 2 letters] He who chuſeth to hold faſt ſin, doth, by his own election, forſake mercy, Jon. 2.8. neither let ſuch a man think that he ſhall receive any thing at the hands of God, Jam. 1.7. As in a wound, a plaſter prevaileth not, whiles the Iron remaineth within; ſo neither prayer, while ſin rankleth. God will never accept of a good motion from a bad mouth, as that State in ſtory would not. A man may deliver an excellent ſpeech, but becauſe of his ſtinking breath, we may have no pleaſure to hear him: ſo in this caſe. Prayer is a pouring out of the heart, as hath been already obſerved. If iniquity harbour there, prayer is obſtructed, and if it do break out, it will have the ſcent and ſavour of that iniquity upon it, and thereby diſpleaſe. Kimchi maketh this ſtrange ſenſe (quite from the purpoſe, and from the truth) If I regard iniquity only in my heart, ſo that I break not forth into outward act; God will not hear, i. e. ſo hear, as to impute it, or to account it a ſin. Phariſaice.

Verſ. 19. But verily God hath heard mee] As I well perceive by his anſwer full and enlarged as the cloud that riſeth out of the earth in thin and inſenſible vapours, falleth down in great and abundant ſhowers.

Verſ. 20. Bleſſed be God, &c.] This is the concluſion of Davids ſyllogiſm, in this and the two former verſes; and herein his Logick is better than Ariſtotles.

Make a joyful noise unto God. "In Zion, "where the more instructed saints were accustomed to profound meditation, the song was silent unto God, and was accepted of him; but in the great popular assemblies a joyful noise was more appropriate and natural, and it would be equally acceptable. If praise is to be wide spread, it must be vocal; exulting sounds stir the soul and cause a sacred contagion of thanksgiving. Composers of tunes for the congregation should see to it that their airs are cheerful; we need not so much noise, as joyful noise. God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation. All praise from all nations should be rendered unto the Lord. Happy the day when no shouts shall be presented to Juggernaut or Boodh, but all the earth shall adore the Creator thereof. All ye lands. Ye heathen nations, ye who have not known Jehovah hitherto, with one consent let the whole earth rejoice before God. The languages of the lands are many, but their praises should be one, addressed to one only God.

Sing forth the honour of his name. The noise is to be modulated with tune and time, and fashioned into singing, for we adore the God of order and harmony. The honour of God should be our subject, and to honour him our object when we sing. To give glory to God is but to restore to him his own. It is our glory to be able to give God glory; and all our true glory should be ascribed unto God, for it is his glory. "All worship be to God only, "should be the motto of all true believers. The name, nature, and person of God are worthy of the highest honour. Make his praise glorious. Let not his praise be mean and grovelling: let it arise with grandeur and solemnity before him. The pomp of the ancient festivals is not to be imitated by us, under this dispensation of the Spirit, but we are to throw so much of heart and holy reverence into all our worship that it shall be the best we can render. Heart worship and spiritual joy render praise more glorious than vestments, incense, and music could do.

Say unto God. Turn all your praises to him. Devotion, unless it be resolutely directed to the Lord, is no better than whistling to the wind. How terrible art thou in thy works. The mind is usually first arrested by those attributes which cause fear and trembling; and, even when the heart has come to love God, and rest in him, there is an increase of worship when the soul is awed by an extraordinary display of the more dreadful of the divine characteristics. Looking upon the convulsions which have shaken continents, the hurricanes which have devastated nations, the plagues which have desolated cities, and other great and amazing displays of divine working, men may well say: How terrible art thou in thy works. Till we see God in Christ, the terrible predominates in all our apprehensions of him. Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee; but, as the Hebrew clearly intimates, it will be a forced and false submission. Power brings a man to his knee, but love alone wins his heart. Pharaoh said he would let Israel go, but he lied unto God; he submitted in word but not in deed. Tens of thousands, both in earth and hell, are rendering this constrained homage to the Almighty; they only submit because they cannot do otherwise; it is not their loyalty, but his power, which keeps them subjects of his boundless dominion.

All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee. All men must even now prostrate themselves before thee, but a time will come when they shall do this cheerfully; to the worship of fear shall be added the singing of love. What a change shall have taken place when singing shall displace sighing, and music shall thrust out misery! They shall sing to thy name. The nature and works of God will be the theme of earth's universal song, and he himself shall be the object of the joyful adoration of our emancipated race. Acceptable worship not only praises God as the mysterious Lord, but it is rendered fragrant by some measure of knowledge of his name or character. God would not be worshipped as an unknown God, nor have it said of his people, "Ye worship ye know not what." May the knowledge of the Lord soon cover the earth, that so the universality of intelligent worship may be possible: such a consummation was evidently expected by the writer of this Psalm; and, indeed, throughout all Old Testament writings, there are intimations of the future general spread of the worship of God. It was an instance of wilful ignorance and bigotry when the Jews raged against the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. Perverted Judaism may be exclusive, but the religion of Moses, and David, and Isaiah was not so. Selah. A little pause for holy expectation is well inserted after so great a prophecy, and the uplifting of the heart is also a seasonable direction. No meditation can be more joyous that excited by the prospect of a world reconciled to its Creator.

Come and see the works of God. Such glorious events, as the cleaving of the Red Sea and the overthrow of Pharaoh, are standing wonders, and throughout all time a voice sounds forth concerning them —"Come and see." Even till the close of all things, the marvellous works of God at the Red Sea will be the subject of meditation and praise; for, standing on the sea of glass mingled with fire, the triumphal armies of heaven sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. It has always been the favourite subject of the inspired bards, and their choice was most natural. He is terrible in his doing toward the children of men. For the defence of his church and the overthrow of her foes he deals terrific blows, and strikes the mighty with fear. O thou enemy, wherefore dost thou vaunt thyself? Speak no more so exceeding proudly, but remember the plagues which bowed the will of Pharaoh, the drowning of Egypt's chariots in the Red Sea, the overthrow of Og and Sihon, the scattering of the Canaanites before the tribes. This same God still liveth, and is to be worshipped with trembling reverence.

He turned the sea into dry land. It was no slight miracle to divide a pathway through such a sea, and to make it fit for the traffic of a whole nation. He who did this can do anything, and must be God, the worthy object of adoration. The Christian's inference is that no obstacle in his journey heavenward need hinder him, for the sea could not hinder Israel, and even death itself shall be as life; the sea shall be dry land when God's presence is felt. They went through the flood on foot. Through the river the tribes passed dry shod, Jordan was afraid because of them.

"What ailed thee, O thou mighty sea?

Why rolled thy waves in dread?

What bade thy tide, O Jordan, flee

And bare its deepest bed?"

"O earth, before the Lord, the God

Of Jacob, tremble still;

Who makes the waste a watered sod,

The flint a gushing rill."

There did we rejoice in him. We participate this day in that ancient joy. The scene is so vividly before us that it seems as if we were there personally, singing unto the Lord because he hath triumphed gloriously. Faith casts herself bodily into the past joys of the saints, and realises them for herself in much the same fashion in which she projects herself into the bliss of the future, and becomes the substance of things hoped for. It is to be remarked that Israel's joy was in her God, and there let ours be. It is not so much what he has done, as what he is, that should excite in us a sacred rejoicing. "He is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him."

He ruleth by his power for ever. He has not deceased, nor abdicated, nor suffered defeat. The prowess displayed at the Red Sea is undiminished: the divine dominion endures throughout eternity. His eyes behold the nations. Even as he looked out of the cloud upon the Egyptians and discomfited them, so does he spy out his enemies, and mark their conspiracies. His hand rules and his eye observes, his hand has not waxed weak, nor his eye dim. As so many grasshoppers he sees the people and tribes, at one glance he takes in all their ways. He oversees all and overlooks none. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. The proudest have no cause to be proud. Could they see themselves as God sees them they would shrivel into nothing. Where rebellion reaches to a great head, and hopes most confidently for success, it is a sufficient reason for abating our fears, that the Omnipotent ruler is also an Omniscient observer. O proud rebels, remember that the Lord aims his arrows at the high soaring eagles and brings them down from their nest among the stars. "He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree." After a survey of the Red Sea and Jordan, rebels, if they were in their senses, would have no more stomach for the fight, but would humble themselves at the Conqueror's feet. Selah. Pause again, and take time to bow low before the throne of the Eternal.

O bless our God, ye people. Ye chosen seed, peculiarly beloved, it is yours to bless your covenant God as other nations cannot. Ye should lead the strain, for he is peculiarly your God. First visited by his love, ye should be foremost in his praise. And make the voice of his praise to be heard. Whoever else may sing with bated breath, do you be sure to give full tongue and volume to the song. Compel unwilling ears to hear the praises of your covenant God. Make rocks, and hills, and earth, and sea, and heaven itself to echo with your joyful shouts.

Which holdeth our soul in life. At any time the preservation of life, and especially the soul's life, is a great reason for gratitude but much more when we are called to undergo extreme trials, which of themselves would crush our being. Blessed be God, who, having put our souls into possession of life, has been pleased to preserve that heaven given life from the destroying power of the enemy. And suffereth not our feet to be moved. This is another and precious boon. If God has enabled us not only to keep our life, but our position, we are bound to give him double praise. Living and standing is the saint's condition through divine grace. Immortal and immoveable are those whom God preserves. Satan is put to shame, for instead of being able to slay the saints, as he hoped, he is not even able to trip them up. God is able to make the weakest to stand fast, and he will do so.

For thou, O God, hast proved us. He proved his Israel with sore trials. David had his temptations. All the saints must go to the proving house; God had one Son without sin, but he never had a son without trial. Why ought we to complain if we are subjected to the rule which is common to all the family, and from which so much benefit has flowed to them? The Lord himself proves us, who then shall raise a question as to the wisdom and the love which are displayed in the operation? The day may come when, as in this case, we shall make hymns out of our griefs, and sing all the more sweetly because our mouths have been purified with bitter draughts. Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Searching and repeated, severe and thorough, has been the test; the same result has followed us as in the case of precious metal, for the dross and tin have been consumed, and the pure ore has been discovered. Since trial is sanctified to so desirable an end, ought we not to submit to it with abounding resignation.

Thou broughtest us into the net. The people of God in the olden time were often enclosed by the power of their enemies, like fishes or birds entangled in a net; there seemed no way of escape for them. The only comfort was that God himself had brought them there, but even this was not readily available, since they knew that he had led them there in anger as a punishment for their transgressions; Israel in Egypt was much like a bird in the fowler's net. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. They were pressed even to anguish by their burdens and pains. Not on their backs alone was the load, but their loins were pressed and squeezed with the straits and weights of adversity. God's people and affliction are intimate companions. As in Egypt every Israelite was a burden bearer, so is every believer while he is in this foreign land. As Israel cried to God by reason of their sore bondage, so also do the saints. We too often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us. The time will come when, for every ounce of present burden, we shall receive a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. They stormed, and hectored, and treated us like the mire of the street. Riding the high horse, in their arrogance, they, who were in themselves mean men, treated the Lord's people as if they were the meanest of mankind. They even turned their captives into beasts of burden, and rode upon their heads, as some read the Hebrew. Nothing is too bad for the servants of God when they fall into the hands of proud persecutors. We went through fire and through water. Trials many and varied were endured by Israel in Egypt, and are still the portion of the saints. The fires of the brick kiln and the waters of the Nile did their worst to destroy the chosen race; hard labour and child murder were both tried by the tyrant, but Israel went through both ordeals unharmed, and even thus the church of God has outlived, and will outlive, all the artifices and cruelties of man. Fire and water are pitiless and devouring, but a divine fiat stays their fury, and forbids these or any other agents from utterly destroying the chosen seed. Many an heir of heaven has had a dire experience of tribulation; the fire through which he has passed has been more terrible than that which chars the bones, for it has fed upon the marrow of his spirit, and burned into the core of his heart; while the waterfloods of affliction have been even more to be feared than the remorseless sea, for they have gone in even unto the soul, and carried the inner nature down into deeps horrible, and not to be imagined without trembling. Yet each saint has been more than conqueror hitherto, and, as it has been, so it shall be. The fire is not kindled which can burn the woman's seed, neither does the dragon know how to vomit a flood which shall suffice to drown it. But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. A blessed issue to a mournful story. Canaan was indeed a broad and royal domain for the once enslaved tribes: God, who took them into Egypt, also brought them into the land which flowed with milk and honey, and Egypt was in his purposes en route to Canaan. The way to heaven is via tribulation.

"The path of sorrow and that path alone,

Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."

How wealthy is the place of every believer, and how doubly does he feel it to be so in contrast with his former slavery: what songs shall suffice to set forth our joy and gratitude for such a glorious deliverance and such a bountiful heritage. More awaits us. The depth of our griefs bears no proportion to the height of our bliss. For our shame we have double, and more than double. Like Joseph we shall rise from the prison to the palace, like Mordecai we shall escape the gallows prepared by malignity, and ride the white horse and wear the royal robe appointed by benignity. Instead of the net, liberty; instead of a burden on the loins, a crown on our heads; instead of men riding over us, we shall rule over the nations: fire shall no more try us, for we shall stand in glory on the sea of glass mingled with fire; and water shall not harm us, for there shall be no more sea. O the splendour of this brilliant conclusion to a gloomy history. Glory be unto him who saw in the apparent evil the true way to the real good. With patience we will endure the present gloom, for the morning cometh. Over the hills faith sees the daybreak, in whose light we shall enter into the wealthy place.

I will. The child of God is so sensible of his own personal indebtedness to grace, that he feels that he must utter a song of his own. He joins in the common thanksgiving, but since the best public form must fail to meet each individual case, he makes sure that the special mercies received by him shall not be forgotten, for he records them with his own pen, and sings of theme with his own lips. I will go into thy house with burnt offerings; the usual sacrifices of godly men. Even the thankful heart dares not come to God without a victim of grateful praise; of this as well as of every other form of worship, we may say, "the blood is the life thereof." Reader, never attempt to come before God without Jesus, the divinely promised, given, and accepted burnt offering. I will pay thee my vows. He would not appear before the Lord empty, but at the same time he would not boast of what he offered, seeing it was all due on account of former vows. After all, our largest gifts are but payments; when we have given all, we must confess, "O Lord, of thine own have we given unto thee." We should be slow in making vows, but prompt in discharging them. When we are released from trouble, and can once more go up to the house of the Lord, we should take immediate occasion to fulfil our promises. How can we hope for help another time, if we prove faithless to covenants voluntarily entered upon in hours of need.

I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings. The good man will give his best things to God. No starveling goat upon the hills will he present at the altar, but the well fed bullocks of the luxuriant pastures shall ascend in smoke from the sacred fire. He who is miserly with God is a wretch indeed. Few devise liberal things, but those few find a rich reward in so doing. With the incense of rams. The smoke of burning rams should also rise from the altar; he would offer the strength and prime of his flocks as well as his herds. Of all we have we should give the Lord his portion, and that should be the choicest we can select. It was no waste to burn the fat upon Jehovah's altar, nor to pour the precious ointment upon Jesus' head; neither are large gifts and bountiful offerings to the church of God any diminution to a man's estate: such money is put to good interest and placed where it cannot be stolen by thieves nor corroded by rust. I will offer bullocks with goats. A perfect sacrifice, completing the circle of offerings, should show forth the intense love of his heart. We should magnify the Lord with the great and the little. None of his ordinances should be disregarded; we must not omit either the bullocks or the goats. In these three verses we have gratitude in action, not content with words, but proving its own sincerity by deeds of obedient sacrifice. Selah. It is most fit that we should suspend the song while the smoke of the victims ascends the heavens; let the burnt offerings stand for praises while we meditate upon the infinitely greater sacrifice of Calvary.

Come and hear. Before, they were bidden to come and see. Hearing is faith's seeing. Mercy comes to us by way of ear gate. "Hear, and your soul shall live." They saw how terrible God was, but they heard how gracious he was. All ye that fear God. These are a fit audience when a good man is about to relate his experience; and it is well to select our hearers when inward soul matters are our theme. It is forbidden us to throw pearls before swine. We do not want to furnish wanton minds with subjects for their comedies, and therefore it is wise to speak of personal spiritual matters where they can be understood, and not where they will be burlesqued. All God fearing men may hear us, but far hence ye profane. And I will declare what he hath done for my soul. I will count and recount the mercies of God to me, to my soul, my best part, my most real self. Testimonies ought to be borne by all experienced Christians, in order that the younger and feebler sort may be encouraged by the recital to put their trust in the Lord. To declare man's doings is needless; they are too trivial, and, besides, there are trumpeters enough of man's trumpery deeds; but to declare the gracious acts of God is instructive, consoling, inspiriting, and beneficial in many respects. Let each man speak for himself, for a personal witness is the surest and most forcible; second hand experience is like "cauld kale het again; "it lacks the flavour of first hand interest. Let no mock modesty restrain the grateful believer from speaking of himself, or rather of God's dealings to himself, for it is justly due to God; neither let him shun the individual use of the first person, which is most correct in detailing the Lord's ways of love. We must not be egotists, but we must be egotists when we bear witness for the Lord.

I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. It is well when prayer and praise go together, like the horses in Pharaoh's chariot. Some cry who do not sing, and some sing who do not cry: both together are best. Since the Lord's answers so frequently follow close at the heels of our petitions, and even overtake them, it becomes us to let our grateful praises keep pace with our humble prayers. Observe that the psalmist did both cry and speak; the Lord has cast the dumb devil out of his children, and those of them who are least fluent with their tongues are often the most eloquent with their hearts.

If I regard iniquity in my heart. If, having seen it to be there, I continue to gaze upon it without aversion; if I cherish it, have a side glance of love toward it, excuse it, and palliate it; The Lord will not hear me. How can he? Can I desire him to connive at my sin, and accept me while I wilfully cling to any evil way? Nothing hinders prayer like iniquity harboured in the breast; as with Cain, so with us, sin lieth at the door, and blocks the passage. If thou listen to the devil, God will not listen to thee. If you refuse to hear God's commands, he will surely refuse to hear thy prayers. An imperfect petition God will hear for Christ's sake, but not one which is wilfully miswritten by a traitor's hand. For God to accept our devotions, while we are delighting in sin, would be to make himself the God of hypocrites, which is a fitter name for Satan than for the Holy One of Israel.

But verily God hath heard me. Sure sign this that the petitioner was no secret lover of sin. The answer to his prayer was a fresh assurance that his heart was sincere before the Lord. See how sure the psalmist is that he has been heard; it is with him no hope, surmise, or fancy, but he seals it with a verily. Facts are blessed things when they reveal both God's heart as loving, and our own heart as sincere. He hath attended to the voice of my prayer. He gave his mind to consider my cries, interpreted them, accepted them, and replied to them; and therein proved his grace and also my uprightness of heart. Love of sin is a plague spot, a condemning mark, a killing sign, but those prayers, which evidently live and prevail with God, most clearly arise from a heart which is free from dalliance with evil. Let the reader see to it, that his inmost soul be rid of all alliance with iniquity, all toleration of secret lust, or hidden wrong.

Blessed be God. Be his name honoured and loved. Which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. He has neither withdrawn his love nor my liberty to pray. He has neither cast out my prayer nor me. His mercy and my cries still meet each other. The psalm ends on its key note. Praise all through is its spirit and design. Lord enable us to enter into it. Amen.

Whole Psalm. This Psalm is said to be recited on Easter day, by the Greek church: it is described in the Greek Bible as A Psalm of the Resurrection, and may be understood to refer, in a prophetic sense, to the regeneration of the world, through the conversion of the Gentiles. Daniel Cresswell.

Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Hebrew, all the earth; shout aloud for joy, as the people did at the return of the ark, so that the earth rang again. God shall show himself to be the God not of Jews only, but of Gentiles also; these shall as well cry Christ, as those Jesus; these say, Father, as those Abba. And, as there was great joy in Samaria when the gospel was there received (Ac 8:8), so shall there be the like in all other parts of the earth. John Trapp.

All ye lands. Where, consider, that he does not sing praises well, who desires to sing alone. Thomas Le Blanc.

Make his praise glorious. Another meaning is, give or place glory, that is, your glory to his praise, be fully persuaded when you praise him that it will redound to your own glory, regard this as your own glory; praise him in such a way that all your praises may be given to glorify God; or, let your glory tend in this direction that he may be praised. Desire not the glory of eternal blessedness, unless for the praise of God, as the blessed spirits in that temple do nothing but say glory to God, and sing the hymn of his glory without end, "Holy, holy, holy." Lorinus.

Say. Dicite, say, says David, delight to speak of God; Dicite, say something. There was more required than to think of God. Consideration, meditation, contemplation upon God and divine objects, have their place and their season; but this is more than that, and more than admiration too; for all these may come to an end in ecstasies, and in stupidities, and in useless and frivolous imaginations. John Donne.

Unto God. To God, not concerning God, as some interpret, but to God himself; to his praises, and with minds raised to God, as it is in Ps 66:4, sing to himself; Gejerus also correctly remarks, that the following discourse is addressed to God. Besides, it is to our God, as in Ps 66:8, O bless our God, ye people: he is called God absolutely, because he alone is the true God. Hermann Venema.

How terrible. Take from the Bible its awful doctrines, and from providence its terrible acts, and the whole system, under which God has placed us, would be emasculated. William S. Plumer.

Thine enemies shall submit themselves unto thee. In this, our first consideration is, that God himself hath enemies; and then, how should we hope to be, nay, why should we wish to be, without them. God had good, that is, glory from his enemies; and we may have good, that is, advantage in the way to glory, by the exercise of our patience, from enemies too. Those for whom God had done most, the angels, turned enemies first; vex not thou thyself, if those whom thou hast loved best hate thee deadliest... God himself hath enemies. Thine enemies shall submit, says the text, to God; there thou hast one comfort, though thou have enemies too; but the greater comfort is, that God calls thine enemies his. Nolite tangere Christus meos (Ps 105:15), says God of all holy people; you were as good touch me, as touch any of them, for, "they are the apple of mine eye" (Ps 17:8). Our Saviour Christ never expostulated for himself; never said, Why scourge you me? why spit you upon me? why crucify you me? As long as their rage determined in his person, he opened not his mouth; when Saul extended the violence to the church, to his servants, then Christ came to that, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" ...Here is a holy league, defensive and offensive; God shall not only protect us from others, but he shall fight for us against them; our enemies are his enemies. Condensed from John Donne.

Thine enemies submit themselves. Literally, lie unto thee. This was remarkably the case with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. They promised again and again to let the people go, when the hand of the Lord was upon them; and they as frequently falsified their word. Adam Clarke.

(second clause). In times of affliction every hypocrite —all tag and rag —will be ready to come in to God in an outward profession; but usually this submission to God at this time is not out of truth. Hence it is said, Through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee: in the original it is, they shall lie unto thee, and so it is translated by Arias Montanus, and some others, noting hereby that a forced submission to God is seldom in truth. Jeremiah Burroughs.

The earthquakes in New England occasioned a kind of religious panic. A writer, who was then one of the ministers of Boston, informs us, that immediately after the great earthquake, as it was called, a great number of his flock came and expressed a wish to unite themselves with the church. But, on conversing with them, he could find no evidence of improvement in their religious views or feelings, no convictions of their own sinfulness; nothing, in short, but a kind of superstitious fear, occasioned by a belief that the end of the world was at hand. All their replies proved that they had not found God, though they had seen the greatness of his power in the earthquake. Edward Payson, D.D.

Come and see the works of God. An indirect censure is here passed upon that almost universal thoughtlessness which leads men to neglect the praises of God. John Calvin.

Come and see. The church at all times appeals to the world, Come and see, as Jesus said to the two disciples of John the Baptist, and Philip to Nathanael. Joh 1:39,46. God's marvels are to be seen by all, and seeing them is the first step towards believing in their divine author. A. R. Faussett.

He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist refers to the passage through the Red Sea and the Jordan, not as to transactions which took place and were concluded at a given period of time, but as happening really in every age. God's guidance of his people is a constant drying up of the sea and of the Jordan, and the joy over his mighty deeds is always receiving new materials. E. W. Hengstenberg.

There did we rejoice in him; where those things have been done, there have we rejoiced in him, not taking any credit to ourselves as if they were our acts, but rejoicing and glorying in God, and have praised him, as may be seen in Exodus 15 and Joshua 3. The prophet uses the future for the past, unless, perhaps, he meant to insinuate that these miracles would be succeeded by much greater ones, of which they were only the types and figures. A much greater miracle is that men should pass over the bitter sea of this life, and cross the river of mortality, that never ceases to run, and which swallows up and drowns so many, and still come safe and alive to the land of eternal promise, and there rejoice in God himself, beholding him face to face; and yet this greater miracle is so accomplished by God, that many pass through this sea as if it were dry land, and cross this river with dry feet; that is to say, having no difficulty in despising all things temporal, be they good or be they bad; that is to say, being neither attached to the good things, nor fearing the evil things, of this world, that they may arrive in security at the heavenly Jerusalem, where we will rejoice in him, not in hope, but in complete possession for eternity. Robert Bellarmine.

His eyes behold the nations. The radical meaning of the word hku is augazein, to shine, and metonymically to examine with a bright eye; to inspect with a piercing glance, and thence to behold, for either good or evil, as Pr 15:3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Here it is taken in an adverse sense, and means, to watch from a watch tower, to threaten from a lofty place. Ps 37:32: "The wicked watcheth the righteous; "and Job 15:22: He is waited for "from the watch tower for the sword; "that is to say, the sword is drawn above the head of the wicked, as if it threatened him from the watch tower of God. But, at the same time, there is also a reference to God's looking from the pillar of fire, and of cloud, upon the host of Pharaoh in the Red Sea. Ex 14:24. Hermann Venema.

His eyes behold the nations. This should give check to much iniquity. Can a man's conscience easily and delightedly swallow that which he is sensible falls under the cognizance of God, when it is hateful to the eye of his holiness, and renders the action odious to him? "Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?" saith Job, (Job 31:4)... The consideration of this attribute should make us humble. How dejected would a person be if he were sure all the angels in heaven, and men upon earth, did perfectly know his crimes, with all their aggravations! But what is created knowledge to an infinite and just censuring understanding? When we consider that he knows our actions, whereof there are multitudes, and our thoughts, whereof there are millions; that he views all the blessings bestowed upon us; all the injuries we have returned to him; that he exactly knows his own bounty, and our ingratitude; all the idolatry, blasphemy, and secret enmity in every man's heart against him; all tyrannical oppressions, hidden lusts, omissions of necessary duties, violations of plain precepts, every foolish imagination, with all the circumstances of them, and that perfectly in all their full anatomy, every mite of unworthiness and wickedness in every circumstance... should not the consideration of this melt our hearts into humiliation before him, and make us earnest in begging pardon and forgiveness of him. Stephen Charnock.

Which holdeth our soul in life. As the works of creation at first, and upholding all by his power and providence, are yoked together as works of a like wonder, vouchsafed the creation in common, Heb 1:2-3; so just in the like manner we find regeneration and perseverance joined, as the sum of all other works in this life. Thus "begotten again, "and "kept by the power of God to salvation, "are joined by the Apostle, 1Pe 1:3,5, "Called and preserved in Christ Jesus; "so in Jude 1:1... "Blessed be God, "says Peter, "who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again." And, O bless our God, ye people, which holdeth our souls in life, says the psalmist. Yea, if we do narrowly eye the words in either, both Peter and the psalmist do bless God for both at once. Blessed be God for "begetting us," who are also "kept by the power of God;" so it follows in Peter. In the psalmist both are comprehended in this one word:

1. Which putteth our souls in life (so the margin, out of the Hebrew), that is, who puts life into your soul at the first, as he did into Adam when he made him a living soul;

2. And then which holdeth, that is, continueth our souls in that life. So the translators render it also, according to the psalmist's scope, and O bless the Lord, saith the psalmist, for these and both these. Thomas Goodwin.

Which holdest our soul in life. It is truth, that all we have is in the hand of God; but God keeps our life in his hand last of all, and he hath that in his hand in a special manner. Though the soul continue, life may not continue; there is the soul when there is not life: life is that which is the union of soul and body. Thou holdest our soul in life; that is, thou holdest soul and body together. So Daniel describes God to Belshazzar, Da 5:23, "The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified." The breath of princes is in the hand of God, and the same hand holds the breath of the meanest subject. This may be matter of comfort to us in times of danger, and times of death: when the hand of man is lifted up to take thy life, remember thy life is held in the hand of God; and as God said to Satan (Job 2:6): Afflict the body of Job, but save his life; so God saith still to bloody wretches, who are as the limbs of Satan: The bodies of such and such are in your hands, the estates of such and such are in your hands, but save their lives. Joseph Caryl.

Putteth our soul in life. An elegant and emphatic expression, only to be understood by observing the exact force of the words. The soul is the life, as is well known, the word Myv is to place, to place upon, to press in, the word Myyx signifies properly joinings, fastenings together, and hence those faculties and powers by which nature is held together and made firm. Hermann Venema.

Which holdeth our soul in life. He holdeth our soul in life, that it may not drop away of itself; for being continually in our hands, it is apt to slip through our fingers. Matthew Henry.

And suffereth not our feet to be moved. It is a great mercy to be kept from desperate courses in the time of sad calamities, to be supported under burdens, that we sink not; and to be prevented from denying God, or his truth, in time of persecution. David Dickson.

Thou, O God, hast proved us. It is not known what corn will yield, till it come to the flail; nor what grapes, till they come to the press. Grace is hid in nature, as sweet water in rose leaves; the fire of affliction fetcheth it out. —Thou hast tried us as silver. The wicked also are tried (Re 3:10), but they prove reprobate silver (Jer 6:28), or at best, as alchemy gold, that will not bear the seventh fire, as Job did (Job 23:10). John Trapp.

As silver is tried. Convinced from the frequent use of this illustration, that there was something more than usually instructive in the process of assaying and purifying silver, I have collected some few facts upon the subject. The hackneyed story of the refiner seeing his image in the molten silver while in the fire, has so charmed most of us, that we have not looked further; yet, with more careful study, much could be brought out. To assay silver requires great personal care in the operator. "The principle of assaying gold and silver is very simple theoretically, but in practice great experience is necessary to insure accuracy; and there is no branch of business which demands more personal and undivided attention. The result is liable to the influence of so many contingencies, that no assayer who regards his reputation will delegate the principal process to one not equally skilled with himself. Besides the result ascertainable by weight, there are allowances and compensations to be made, which are known only to an experienced assayer, and if these were disregarded, as might be the case with the mere novice, the report would be wide from the truth." (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) Pagnini's version reads: "Thou hast melted us by blowing upon us, "and in the monuments of Egypt, artificers are seen with the blowpipe operating with small fire places, with cheeks to confine and reflect the heat; the worker evidently paying personal attention, which is evident also in Mal 3:3, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." To assay silver requires a skilfully constructed furnace. The description of this furnace would only weary the reader, but it is evidently a work of art in itself. Even the trial of our faith is much more precious than that of gold which perisheth. He has refined us, but not with silver, he would not trust us there, the furnace of affliction is far more skilfully arranged than that. To assay silver the heat must be nicely regulated. "During the operation, the assayer's attention should be directed to the heat of the furnace, which must be neither too hot nor too cold: if too hot, minute portions of silver will be carried off with the lead, and so vitiate the assay; moreover, the pores of the cupel being more open, greater absorption will ensue, and there is liability to loss from that cause. One indication of an excess of heat in the furnace, is the rapid and perpendicular rising of the fumes to the ceiling of the muffle, the mode of checking and controlling which has been pointed out in the description of the improved furnace. When the fumes are observed to fall to the bottom of the muffle, the furnace is then too cold; and if left unaltered, it will be found that the cupellation has been imperfectly performed, and the silver will not have entirely freed itself from the base metals. (Encyclopaedia Britannica.) The assayer repeats his trying process. Usually two or more trials of the same piece are made, so that great accuracy may be secured. Seven times silver is said to be purified, and the saints through varied trials reach the promised rest." C. H. S.

Thou broughtest us into the net, etc. Our enemies have pursued us (like to wild beasts taken by the hunter) into most grievous straits (1Sa 13:6). They have used us like beasts of burden, and laid sore loads upon us, which they have fast bound upon our backs. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. Coarctationenem in lumbis; we are not only hampered, as in a net, but fettered, as with chains; as if we had been in the jailor's or hangman's hands. John Trapp.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. The agents are men. Man is a sociable living creature, and should converse with man in love and tranquillity. Man should be a supporter of man; is he become an overthrower? He should help and keep him up; doth he ride over him and tread him under foot? O apostasy, not only from religion, but even from humanity! Quid homini inimicissimum? Homo. (Seneca.) The greatest danger that befalls man comes whence it should least come, from man himself. Caetera animantia, says Pliny, in suo genere, probe degunt, &c. Lions fight not with lions; serpents spend not their venom on serpents; but man is the main suborner of mischief to his own kind...

1. They ride. What need they mount themselves upon beasts, that have feet malicious enough to trample on us? They have a "foot of pride, "Ps 36:11, from which David prayed to be delivered; a presumptuous heel, which they dare lift up against God; and, therefore, a tyrannous toe, to spurn dejected men. They need not horses and mules, that can kick with the foot of a revengeful malice, Ps 32:9.

2. Over us. The way is broad enough wherein they travel, for it is the devil's road. They might well miss the poor, there is room enough besides; they need not ride over us. It were more brave for them to justle with champions that will not give them the way. We never contend for their path; they have it without our envy, not without our pity. Why should they ride over us?

3. Over our heads. Is it not contentment enough to their pride to ride, to their malice to ride over us, but must they delight in bloodiness to ride over our heads? Will not the breaking of our arms and legs, and such inferior limbs, satisfy their indignation? Is it not enough to rack our strength, to mock our innocence, to prey on our estates, but must they thirst after our bloods and lives? Quo tendit saeva libido? Whither will their madness run? But we must not tie ourselves to the letter. Here is a mystical or metamorphical gradation of their cruelty. Their riding is proud; their riding over us is malicious; and their riding over our heads is bloody oppression. Thomas Adams.

(first clause). The time was when the Bonners and butchers rode over the faces of God's saints, and madefied (Madefy, to moisten, to make wet) the earth with their bloods, every drop whereof begot a new believer. Thomas Adams.

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads. This verse is like that sea (Mt 8:24) so tempestuous at first, that the vessel was covered with waves; but Christ's rebuke quieted all, and there followed a great calm. Here are cruel Nimrods riding over innocent heads, as they would over fallow lands; and dangerous passages through fire and water; but the storm is soon ended, or rather the passengers are landed. Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. So that this strain of David's music, or psalmody, consists of two notes —one mournful, the other mirthful; the one a touch of distress, the other of redress: which directs our course to an observation of misery and of mercy; of grievous misery, of gracious mercy. There is desolation and consolation in one verse: a deep dejection, as laid under the feet of beasts; a happy deliverance, broughtest us out into a wealthy place. In both these strains God hath his stroke; he is a principal in this concert. He is brought in for an actor, and for an author; and actor in the persecution, and author in the deliverance. Thou causest, etc; Thou broughtest, etc. In the one he is a causing worker; in the other a sole working cause. In the one he is joined with company: in the other he works alone. He hath a finger in the former; his whole hand is in the latter. We must begin with misery before we come to mercy. If there were no trouble, we should not know the worth of a deliverance. The passion of the saints is given, by the hearty and ponderous description, for very grievous; yet it is written in the forehead of the text, "The Lord caused it." Thou causest men to ride, etc. Hereupon, some wicked libertine may offer to rub his filthiness upon God's purity, and to plead an authentic derivation of all his villainy against the saints from the Lord's warrant: He caused it. We answer, to the justification of truth itself, that God doth ordain and order every persecution that striketh his children, without any allowance to the instrument that gives the blow. God works in the same action with others, not after the same manner. In the affliction of Job were three agents —God, Satan, and the Sabeans. The devil works on his body, the Sabeans on his goods; yet Job confessed a third party: "The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away." Here oppressors trample on the godly, and God is said to cause it. He causeth affliction for trial (so Ps 66:10-11: Thou hast tried us, etc.); they work it for malice; neither can God be accused nor they excused. Thomas Adams.

Thou hast placed men over our heads. Thus Jerome renders, although the Hebrew noun vwga, is in the singular, the word itself denotes an obscure, mean man, who is mentioned with indignity, but ought to be buried in oblivion. The singular noun is taken collectively, and so also is wgvar, with the affix. Such were the Egyptian and Babylonish idolaters, whom the Hebrew served. To place any one over the head of another, or, as the Hebrew word tbkrh means, to ride, to be superior to, to subdue to oneself and subject, and to sit upon and insult, just as the horseman rules with the rein, and spur, and whip the beast which he rides. Lorinus.

To ride over our heads. This is an allusion to beasts of burden, and particularly to camels, whose heads the rider almost sits over, and so domineers over them as he pleases. Thomas Fenton, in "Annotations on the Book of Job, and the Psalms." 1732.

We went through fire and through water. The children of Israel when they had escaped the Red Sea, and seen their enemies the Egyptians dead, they thought all was cocksure, and therefore sang Epicinia, songs of rejoicing for the victory. But what followed within a while? The Lord stirred up another enemy against them from out their bowels, as it were, which was hunger, and this pinched them sorer, they thought, than the Egyptian. But was this the last? No; after the hunger came thirst, and this made them to murmur as much as the former; and after the thirst came fiery serpents, and fire and pestilence, and Amalekites, and Midianites, and what not? Thus hath it been with the church not only under the law, but also under Christ, as it might be easily declared unto you. Neither hath it been better with the several members thereof; they likewise have been made conformable to the body and to the Head. What a sight of temptations did Abraham endure? So Jacob, so Joseph, so the patriarchs, so the prophets? Yea, and all they that would live godly in Christ Jesus, though their sorrow in the end were turned to joy, yet they wept and lamented first. Though they were brought at the length to a wealthy place, yet they passed through fire and water first. Miles Smith, 1624.

We went through fire and through water. There was a great variety of such perils; and not only of several, but of contrary sorts: We went through fire and through water, either of which singly and alone denotes an extremity of evils. Thus, through water (Ps 69:1-2): "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." Or, through fire (Eze 15:7): "And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them." But when through both successively, one after the other, this denotes an accumulation of miseries, or trials, indeed: as we read Isa 43:2, with God's promise to his people in such conditions: "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Which promise is here, you see, acknowledged by the psalmist to have been performed: God was with the three children when they walked through the fire, in the very letter of Isaiah's speech; and with the children of Israel when they went through the water of the Red Sea. Thomas Goodwin.

We went through fire and through water. In allusion, probably, to the ordeal by fire and water, which is of great antiquity. On the question who had interred the body of Polynices:

"All denied:

Offering, in proof of innocence, to grasp

The burning steel, to walk through fire, and take

Their solemn oath they knew not of the deed." Sophocles. From T. S. Millington's "Testimony of the Heathen to the Truths of Holy Writ." 1863.

Fire and water. The Jewish law required both these for purification of spoil in war, where they could be borne. Nu 31:23: "Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified through the water of separation." God's saints are, therefore, subject to both ordeals. C. H. S.

But thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place. Every word is sweetly significant, and amplifies God's mercy to us. Four especially are remarkable: —

1. The deliverer;

2. The deliverance;

3. The delivered; and,

4. Their felicity or blessed advancement.

So there is the deliverer, aliquid celsitudinis, Thou; in the delivery, certitudinis, broughtest out, in the delivered, solitudinis, us; in the happiness, plenitudinis, into a wealthy place. There is highness and lowness, sureness and fulness. The deliverer is great, the deliverance is certain, the distress grievous, the exaltation glorious. There is yet a first word, that like a key unlocks this golden gate of mercy, a veruntamen: —BUT. This is vox respirationis, a gasp that fetcheth back again the very life of comfort. But thou broughtest, etc. We were fearfully endangered into the hands of our enemies; they rode and trod upon us, and drove us through hard perplexities. But thou, etc. If there had been a full point or period at our misery, if those gulfs of persecution had quite swallowed us, and all our light of comfort had been thus smothered and extinguished we might have cried, Periit spes nostra, yea, periit salus nostra. —Our hope, our help is quite gone. He had mocked us that would have spoken, Be of good cheer. This same but is like a happy oar, that turns our vessel from the rocks of despair, and lands it at the haven of comfort. Thomas Adams.

(second and third clause).

1. The outlet of the trouble is happy. They are in fire and water, yet they get through them; we went through fire and water, and did not perish in the flames or floods. Whatever the troubles of the saints are, blessed be God there is a way through them.

2. The inlet to a better state is much more happy. Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place, into a well watered place; for the word is, like the gardens of the Lord, and therefore fruitful. Matthew Henry.

(last clause). Thou, O God, with the temptation hast given the issue. Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.

1. Thou hast proved, and thou hast brought.

2. Thou laidest the trouble, and thou tookest it off; yea, and hast made us an ample recompense, for thou hast brought us to a moist, pleasant, lovely, fertile, rich place, a happy condition, a flourishing condition of things, so that thou hast made us to forget all our trouble. William Nicholson, in "David's Harp strung and tuned." 1662.

A wealthy place. The hand of God led them in that fire and water of affliction through which they went; but who led them out? The psalmist tells us in the next words: Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place; the margin saith, into a moist place. They were in fire and water before. Fire is the extremity of heat and dryness; water is the extremity of moistness and coldness. A moist place notes a due temperament of heat and cold, of dryness and moistness, and therefore elegantly shadows that comfortable and contented condition into which the good hand of God had brought them, which is significantly expressed in our translation by a wealthy place; those places flourishing most in fruitfulness, and so in wealth, which are neither over hot nor over cold, neither over dry not over moist. Joseph Caryl.

You see all the parts of this song; the whole concert or harmony of all is praising God. You see quo loco, in his house; quo modo, with burnt offering; quo animo, paying our vows. Thomas Adams.

Burnt offerings. For ourselves, be we sure that the best sacrifice we can give to God is obedience; not a dead beast, but a living soul. The Lord takes not delight in the blood of brutish creatures. It is the mind, the life, the soul, the obedience, that he requires: 1Sa 15:22, "To obey is better than sacrifice." Let this be our burnt offering, our holocaust, a sanctified body and mind given up to the Lord, Ro 12:1-2. First, the heart: "My son, give me thy heart." Is not the heart enough? No, the hand also: Isa 1:16, Wash the hands from blood and pollution. Is not the hand enough? No, the foot also: "Remove thy foot from evil." Is not the foot enough? No, the lips also: "Guard the doors of thy mouth; " Ps 34:13, "Refrain thy tongue from evil." Is not thy tongue enough? No, the ear also: "Let him that hath ears to hear, hear." Is not the ear enough? No, the eye also: "Let thine eyes be towards the Lord." Is not all this sufficient? No, give body and spirit: 1Co 6:20, "Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." When the eyes abhor lustful objects, the ear slanders, the foot erring paths, the hands wrong and violence, the tongue flattery and blasphemy, the heart pride and hypocrisy; this is thy holocaust, thy whole burnt offering. Thomas Adams.

In the burnt offerings, we see his approach to the altar with the common and general sacrifice; and next, in his paying vows, we see he has brought his peace offerings with him. Again, therefore, he says at the altar: I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings (Ps 66:15). This is the general offering, brought from the best of his flock and herd. Then follow the peace offerings: With the incense (trjq, fuming smoke) of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. Having brought his offerings, he is in no haste to depart, notwithstanding; for his heart is full. Ere, therefore, he leaves the sanctuary, he utters the language of a soul at peace with God: Ps 66:16-20. This, truly, is one whom the very God of peace has sanctified, and whose whole spirit, and body, and soul he will preserve blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1Th 5:23. Andrew A. Bonar.

Verses 13-15. He tells what were the vows he promised in his troubles, and says he promised the richest sacrifice of cattle that could be made according to the law. These were three —rams, cows, and goats. Rams included lambs; cows included heifers; and goats, kids. Robert Bellarmine.

In the burnt offerings, we see his approach to the altar with the common and general sacrifice; and next, in his paying vows, we see he has brought his peace offerings with him. Again, therefore, he says at the altar: I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings (Ps 66:15). This is the general offering, brought from the best of his flock and herd. Then follow the peace offerings: With the incense (trjq, fuming smoke) of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. Having brought his offerings, he is in no haste to depart, notwithstanding; for his heart is full. Ere, therefore, he leaves the sanctuary, he utters the language of a soul at peace with God: Ps 66:16-20. This, truly, is one whom the very God of peace has sanctified, and whose whole spirit, and body, and soul he will preserve blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1Th 5:23. Andrew A. Bonar.

Verses 13-15. He tells what were the vows he promised in his troubles, and says he promised the richest sacrifice of cattle that could be made according to the law. These were three —rams, cows, and goats. Rams included lambs; cows included heifers; and goats, kids. Robert Bellarmine.

Which my lips have uttered. Hebrew, have opened; that is which I have uttered, diductis labiis, with lips wide open. Videmus qualiter vota nuncupari soleant, saith Vatablus. Here we see after what sort vows used to be made, when we are under any pressing affliction; but when once delivered, how heavily many come off in point of payment. John Trapp.

Express mention is made of opened lips to indicate that the vows were made with great vehemence of mind, and in a state of need and pressure; so that his lips were broken through and widely opened. For the root, huk contains the idea of opening anything with violence; to break open, as the Latin expression is, rumpere labia. Hermann Venema.

I will offer, etc. Thou shalt have the best of the herd and of the fold. Adam Clarke.

Fatlings. For as I will not come empty into thy house, so I will not bring thee a niggardly present; but offer sacrifices of all sorts, and the best and choicest in every kind. Symon Patrick.

Bullocks with goats. That is, I will liberally provide for every part of the service at the tabernacle. Thomas Scott.

Come and hear, all ye that fear God. One reason why the saints are so often inviting all that fear God to come unto them is, because the saints see and know the great good that they shall get by those that fear God. The children of darkness are so wise in their generation as to desire most familiarity and acquaintance with those persons whom they conceive may prove most profitable and advantageous to them, and to pretend much friendship there where is hope of most benefit. And shall not the saints, the children of light, upon the same account wish and long for the society of those that fear God, because they see what great good they shall gain by them? It is no wonder that the company of those that fear God is so much in request, since it is altogether gainful and commodious; it's no wonder they have many invitations, since they are guests by which something is still gotten; and, indeed, among all persons living, those that fear God are the most useful and enriching. Samuel Heskins, in "Soul Mercies Precious in the Eyes of Saints... set forth in a little Treatise on Ps 66:16." 1654.

All ye that fear God. For such only will hear to good purpose; others either cannot, or care not. And I will declare, etc. Communicate unto you my soul secrets and experiments. There is no small good to be gotten by such declarations. Bilney, perceiving Latimer to be zealous without knowledge, came to him in his study and desired him for God's sake to hear his confession. "I did so, "saith Latimer, "and, to say the truth, by this confession I learned more than afore in many years. So from that time forward I began to smell the word of God, and forsake the school doctors, and such fooleries." John Trapp.

Ye that fear God. Observe the invitation given to those only who fear God, because "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; "he loosens the feet to come, opens the ears to hear; and therefore, he who has no fear of God will be called to no purpose, either to come or to hear. Robert Bellarmine.

I will declare. Consider the ends which a believer should purpose in the discharge of this duty ("of communicating Christian experience"). The principal end he should have in view when he declares his experience is the glory of that God, who hath dealt so bountifully with him. He would surely have the Lord exalted for his faithfulness and goodness to him; he would have it published that the name of the Lord might be great; that sinners might know that his God is faithful to his word; that he hath not only engaged to be "a present help in time of need, "but that he hath found him in reality to be so. As he knows the enemies of God are ready enough to charge him with neglect of his people, because of the trials and afflictions they are exercised with; so he would, in contradiction to them, declare what he hath found in his own experience, that in very faithfulness he afflicts those that are dearest to him. And with what lustre doth the glory of God shine, when his children are ready to acknowledge that he never called them out to any duty but his grace was sufficient for them; that he never laid his hand upon them in any afflictive exercise, but he, at the same time, supplied them with all those supports which they stood in need of? I say, for Christians thus to stand up, on proper occasions, and bear their experimental testimony to the faithfulness and goodness of God, what a tendency hath it to make the name of the Lord, who hath been their strong tower, glorious in the midst of the earth... How may we blush and be ashamed, that we have so much conversation in the world and so little about what God hath done for our souls? It is a very bad sign upon us, in our day, that the things of God are generally postponed; while either the affairs of state, or the circumstances of outward life, or other things, perhaps, of a more trifling nature, are the general subjects of our conversation. What! are we ashamed of the noblest, the most interesting subject? It is but a poor sign that we have felt anything of it, if we think it unnecessary to declare it to our fellow Christians. What think you? Suppose any two of us were cast upon a barbarous shore, where we neither understood the language, nor the customs of the inhabitants, and were treated by them with reproach and cruelty; do you think we should not esteem it a happiness that we could unburden ourselves to each other, and communicate our griefs and troubles? And shall we think it less so, while we are in such a world as this, in a strange land, and at a distance from our Father's house? Shall we neglect conversing with each other? No; let our conversation not only be in heaven, but about spiritual and heavenly things. Samuel Wilson (1703-1750), in "Sermons on Various Subjects."

I will declare. After we are delivered from the dreadful apprehensions of the wrath of God, it is our duty to be publicly thankful. It is for the glory of our Healer to speak of the miserable wounds that once pained us; and of that kind hand that saved us when we were brought very low. It is for the glory of our Pilot to tell of the rocks and of the sands; the many dangers and threatening calamities that he, by his wise conduct, made us to escape: and to see us safe on the shore, may cause others that are yet afflicted, and tossed with tempests, to look to him for help; for he is able and ready to save them as well as us. We must, like soldiers, when a tedious war is over, relate our combats, our fears, our dangers, with delight; and make known our experiences to doubting, troubled Christians, and to those that have not yet been under such long and severe trials as we have been. Timothy Rogers (1660-1729), in "A Discourse on Trouble of Mind."

This verse may be rendered thus: —I cried unto him with my mouth, and his exaltation was under my tongue; that is, I was considering and meditating how I might lift up and exalt the name of God, and make his praise glorious. Holy thoughts are said to be under the tongue when we are in a preparation to bring them forth. Joseph Caryl.

He was extolled with my tongue. It is a proof that prayer has proceeded from unworthy motives, when the blessings which succeed it are not acknowledged with as much fervency as when they were originally implored. The ten lepers all cried for mercy, and all obtained it, but only one returned to render thanks. John Morison.

He was extolled with my tongue: literally an extolling (of Him was) under my tongue, implying fulness of praise (Ps 10:7). A store of praise being conceived as under the tongue, whence a portion might be taken on all occasions. The sense is, scarcely had I cried unto him when, by delivering me, he gave me abundant reason to extol him. (Ps 34:6.) A. R. Faussett.

With my tongue. Let the praise of God be in thy tongue, under thy tongue, and upon thy tongue, that it may shine before all men, and that they may see that thy heart is good. The fish lucerna has a shining tongue, (A reviewer condemns us for quoting false natural history, but no intelligent reader will be misled thereby. —Editor.) from which it takes its name; and in the depths of the sea the light of its tongue reveals it: if thy heart has a tongue, shining with the praises of God, it will sufficiently show itself of what sort it is. Hence the old saying, "Speak, that I may see thee." Thomas Le Blanc.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. The very supposition that "if he regarded iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not hear him, "implies the possibility that such may be the state even of believers; and there is abundant reason to fear that it is in this way their prayers are so often hindered, and their supplications so frequently remain unanswered. Nor is it difficult to conceive how believers may be chargeable with regarding iniquity in their heart, even amidst all the solemnity of coming into the immediate presence of God, and directly addressing him in the language of prayer and supplication. It is possible that they may put themselves into such a situation, in a state of mind but little fitted for engaging in that holy exercise; the world, in one form or another, may for the time have the ascendancy in their hearts; and there may have been so much formality in their confessions, and so much indifference in their supplications, that when the exercise is over, they could not honestly declare that they really meant what they acknowledged, or seriously desired what they prayed for. A Christian, it is true, could not be contented to remain in a state like this; and, when he is awakened from it, as he sooner or later will be, he cannot fail to look back upon it with humiliation and shame. But we fear there are seasons in which believers themselves may make a very near approach to such a state; and what then is the true interpretation of prayers offered up at such a moment? It is in fact saying, that there is something which, for the time, they prefer to what they are formally asking of God; that, though the blessing which they do ask may be for a time withheld, yet they would find a compensation in the enjoyment of the worldly things which do at the moment engross their affections; and that, in reality, they would not choose to have at that instant such an abundant communication of spiritual influence imparted to them, as would render these worldly objects less valuable in their estimation, and would turn the whole tide of their affections towards spiritual things... The Christian may sometimes betake himself to prayer, to ask counsel of God in some perplexity regarding divine truth, or to seek direction in some doubtful point of duty; but, instead of being prepared fairly to exercise his judgment in the hope that, while doing so, the considerations that lie of the side of truth will be made to his mind clear and convincing; he may have allowed his inclinations so to influence and bias his judgment towards the side of error, or in favour of the line of conduct which he wishes to pursue, that when he asks counsel it may only be in the hope that his previous opinion will be confirmed, and when he seeks direction it is in reality on a point about which he was previously determined... Another case is, I fear, but too common, and in which the believer may be still more directly chargeable with regarding iniquity in his heart. It is possible that there may be in his heart or life something which he is conscious is not altogether as it should be —some earthly attachment which he cannot easily justify —or some point of conformity to the maxims and practices of the world, which he finds it difficult to reconcile with christian principle; and yet all the struggle which these have from time to time cost him, may only have been an effort of ingenuity on his part to retain them without doing direct violence to conscience —a laborious getting up of arguments whereby to show how they may be defended, or in what way they may lawfully be gone into; while the true and simple reason of his going into them, namely, the love of the world, is all the while kept out of view. And, as an experimental proof of how weak and inconclusive all these arguments are, and at the same time how unwilling he still is to relinquish his favourite objects, he may be conscious that in confessing his sins he leaves them out of the enumeration, rather because he would willingly pass them over, than because he is convinced that they need not be there; he may feel that he cannot and dare not make them the immediate subject of solemn and deliberate communing with God; and, after all his multiplied and ingenuous defences, he may be reconciled to them at last, only by ceasing to agitate the question whether they are lawful or not. Robert Gordon, D.D., 1825.

Whence is it that a man's regarding or loving sin in his heart hinders his prayers from acceptance with God?

1. The first reason is, because in this case he cannot pray by the Spirit. All prayers that are acceptable with God are the breathings of his own Spirit with us. Ro 8:26. As without the intercession of Christ we cannot have our prayers accepted, so without the intercession of the Spirit we cannot pray...

2. The second reason is, because as long as a man regards iniquity in his heart he cannot pray in faith; that is, he cannot build a rational confidence upon any promise that God will accept him. Now, faith always respects the promise, and promise of acceptance is made only to the upright: so long, therefore, as men cherish a love of sin in their heart, they either understand not the promises, and so they pray without understanding, or they understand them, and yet misapply them to themselves, and so they pray in presumption: in neither case, they have little cause to hope for acceptance...

3. The third reason is, because while we regard iniquity in our hearts we cannot pray with fervency; which, next to sincerity, is the great qualification of prayer, to which God has annexed a promise of acceptance (Mt 11:12): "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Mt 7:7: those only that seek are like to find, and those that knock to have admittance; all which expressions denote vehemence and importunity. Now, the cause of vehemence, in our prosecution of any good, is our love of it; for proportionable to the affection we bear to anything is the earnestness of our desires and the diligence of our pursuit after it. So long, therefore, as the love of sin possesses our hearts, our love to spiritual things is dull, heavy, inactive, and our prayers for them must needs be answerable. O the wretched fallacy that the soul will here put upon itself! At the same time it will love its sin and pray against it; at the same time it will entreat for grace, with a desire not to prevail: as a father confesses of himself, that before his conversion he would pray for chastity, with a secret reserve in his wishes that God would not grant his prayer. Such are the mysterious, intricate treacheries by which the love of sin will make a soul deceive and circumvent itself. How languidly and faintly will it pray for spiritual mercies; conscience, in the meanwhile, giving the lie to every such petition! The soul, in this case, cannot pray against sin in earnest; it fights against it, but neither with hope nor intent to conquer; as lovers, usually, in a game one against another, with a desire to lose. So, then, while we regard iniquity, how is it possible for us to regard spiritual things, the only lawful object of our prayers? and, if we regard them not, how can we be urgent with God for the giving of them? And where there is no fervency on our part, no wonder if there is no answer on God's. Robert South, 1633-1716.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Though the subject matter of a saint's prayer be founded on the word, yet if the end he aims at be not levelled right, this is a door at which his prayer will be stopped: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." Jas 4:3. Take, I confess, a Christian in his right temper, and he aims at the glory of God; yet, as a needle that is touched with a loadstone may be removed from its point to which nature hath espoused it, though trembling till it again recovers it; so a gracious soul may in a particular act and request vary from this end, being jogged by Satan, yea, disturbed by an enemy nearer home —his own unmortified corruption. Do you not think it possible for a saint, in distress of body and spirit, to pray for health in the one, and comfort in the other, with too selfish a respect to his own ease and quiet? Yes, surely; and to pray for gifts and assistance in some eminent service, with an eye to his own credit and applause; to pray for a child with too inordinate a desire that the honour of his house may be built up in him. And this may be understood as the sense, in part, of that expression, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. For though to desire our own health, peace, and reputation, be not an iniquity, when contained within the limits that God hath set; yet, when they overflow at such a height, as to overtop the glory of God, yea, to stand but in a level with it, they are a great abomination. That which in the first or second degree is wholesome food, would be rank poison in the fourth or fifth: therefore, Christian, catechize thyself, before thou prayest: O, my soul, what sends thee on this errand? Know but thy own mind what thou prayest for, and thou mayest soon know God's mind how thou shalt speed. Secure God his glory, and thou mayest soon know God's mind how thou shalt speed. William Gurnall.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.

1. They regard iniquity in their heart, who practise it secretly, who are under restraint from the world, but are not possessed of an habitual fear of the omniscient God, the searcher of all hearts, and from whose eyes there is no covering of thick darkness where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Jer 23:24.

2. They regard iniquity in the heart, who entertain and indulge the desire of sin, although in the course of providence they may be restrained from the actual commission of it. I am persuaded the instances are not rare, of men feeding upon sinful desires, even when through want of opportunity, through the fear of man, or through some partial restraint of conscience, they dare not carry them into execution.

3. They regard iniquity in their heart, who reflect upon past sins with delight, or without sincere humiliation of mind. Perhaps our real disposition, both towards sin and duty, may be as certainly discovered by the state of our minds after, as in the time of action. The strength and suddenness of temptation may betray even a good man into the commission of sin; the backwardness of heart and power of inward corruption may make duty burdensome and occasion many defects in the performance; but every real Christian remembers his past sins with unfeigned contrition of spirit, and a deep sense of unworthiness before God; and the discharge of his duty, however difficult it may have been at the time, affords him the utmost pleasure on reflection. It is otherwise with many; they can remember their sins without sorrow, they can speak of them without shame, and sometimes even with a mixture of boasting and vain glory. Did you never hear them recall their past follies, and speak of them with such relish, that it seems to be more to renew the pleasure than to regret the sin? Even supposing such persons to have forsaken the practice of some sin, if they can thus look upon them with inward complacency, their seeming reformation must be owing to a very different cause from renovation of heart.

4. They regard iniquity in their heart, who look upon the sins of others with approbation; or, indeed, who can behold them without grief. Sin is so abominable a thing, so dishonouring to God, and so destructive to the souls of men, that no real Christian can witness it without concern. Hence it is so frequently taken notice of in Scripture, as the character of a servant of God, that he mourns for the sins of others. Ps 119:136,158.

5. In the last place, I suspect that they regard sin in the heart, who are backward to bring themselves to the trial, and who are not truly willing that God himself would search and try them. If any, therefore, are unwilling to be tried, if they are backward to self examination, it is an evidence of a strong and powerful attachment to sin. It can proceed from nothing but from a secret dread of some disagreeable discovery, or the detection of some lust which they cannot consent to forsake... There are but too many who though they live in the practice of sin, and regard iniquity in their hearts, do yet continue their outward attendance on the ordinances of divine institution, and at stated times lay hold of the seals of God's covenant. Shall they find any acceptance with him? No. He counts it a profane mockery; he counts it a sacrilegious usurpation. Ps 50:16-17. Shall they have any comfort in it? No: unless in so far as in righteous judgment he suffers them to be deceived; and they are deceived, and they are most unhappy, who lie longest under the delusion. Ps 50:21. Shall they have any benefit by it? No: instead of appeasing his wrath, it provokes his vengeance; instead of enlightening their minds, it blinds their eyes; instead of sanctifying their nature, it hardens their hearts. See a description of those who had been long favoured with outward privileges and gloried in them. Joh 12:39-40. So that nothing is more essential to an acceptable approach to God in the duties of his worship in general, and particularly to receiving the seals of his covenant, than a thorough and universal separation from all known sin. Job 11:13-14. John Witherspoon (1722-1749), in a Sermon entitled "The Petitions of the Insincere Unavailing."

Verses 18-20. Lord, I find David making a syllogism, in mood and figure, two propositions he perfected. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me; but verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer. Now I expected that David should have concluded thus: "Therefore I regard not wickedness in my heart; but far otherwise he concludes": Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. Thus David had deceived, but not wronged me. I looked that he should have clapped the crown on his own, and he puts it on God's head. I will learn this excellent logic; for I like David's better than Aristotle's syllogisms, that whatsoever the premise be, I make God's glory the conclusion. Thomas Fuller.

The terrible in God's works of nature and providence.

1. Who? All the earth.

(a) All, collectively, all classes and tribes.

(b) All numerically.

(c) All harmoniously.

2. What? Shall worship and sing.

(a) Humiliation; then,

(b) Exultation.

3. When? Shall, &c. Denotes

(a) Futurity.

(b) Certainty. God has spoken it. All things are tending towards it. G. R.

Here is —

1. A subject for general study: the Works of God.

2. For particular study: his doings towards, etc.

(a) These are the most wonderful.

(b) In these we are most concerned.

Sovereignty, immutability ("for ever"), and omniscience, —the enemies of proud rebels.

(last clause). To get a hearing for the gospel —difficult, necessary, and possible. Ways and means for so doing.

Verses 8-9.

1. Praise to.

(a) As God.

(b) As our God.

2. Praise for. Preservation.

(a) Of natural life.

(b) Of spiritual life.

3. Praise by, ye people.

(a) On your own account.

(b) On account of others.

Or

(a) Individually.

(b) Unitedly. G. R.

Perseverance the subject of gratitude.

1. The maintenance of the inner life.

2. The integrity of the outward character.

The assaying of the saints.

1. The design of the afflictions.

(a) To prove them.

(b) To reprove them.

2. The illustration of that design. As silver, etc.

3. The issue of the trial.

Verses 11-12. The hand of God should be acknowledged.

1. In our temptations: Thou broughtest us. 2. In our bodily afflictions: Thou laidest, etc.

3. In our persecutions: Thou hast caused, etc.

4. In our deliverances: Thou broughtest us out, etc. G. R.

Fire and water. Varied trials.

1. Discover different evils.

2. Test all parts of manhood.

3. Educate varied graces.

4. Endear many promises.

5. Illustrate divine attributes.

6. Afford extensive knowledge.

7. Create capacity for the varied joys of heaven.

(first clause). The rage of oppression. Thomas Adam's Sermon.

(last clause). A plentiful place, free from penury; a pleasant place, void of sorrow; a safe place, free from dangers and distresses. Daniel Wilcocks.

(last clause). The victory of patience, with the expiration of malice. Thomas Adams' Sermon.

(last clause). The wealth of a soul whom God has tried and delivered. Among other riches he has the wealth of experience, of strengthened graces, of confirmed faith, and of sympathy for others.

God's house; or, the place of praises. Thomas Adams' Sermon.

Verses 13-15.

1. Resolutions made (Ps 66:13).

(a) What? To offer praise.

(b) Why? For deliverance.

(c) Where? In thy house.

2. Resolutions uttered (Ps 66:14).

(a) To God.

(b) Before men.

3. Resolutions fulfilled.

(a) In public acknowledgment.

(b) In heartfelt gratitude.

(c) In more frequent attendance at the house of God.

(d) The renewed self dedication.

(e) In increased liberality. G. R.

1. What has God done for the soul of every Christian?

2. Why does the Christian wish to declare what God has done for his soul?

3. Why does he wish to make this declaration to those who only fear God?

(a) Because they alone can understand such a declaration.

(b) They alone will really believe him.

(c) They only will listen with interest, or join with him in praising his Benefactor. E. Payson.

1. Religious teaching should be simple: I will declare. 2. Earnest: Come and hear. 3. Seasonable: All ye that. 4. Discriminating: Fear God. 5. Experimental: What he hath, etc.

1. The two principal parts of devotion. Prayer and praise.

2. Their degree. In prayer, crying. In praise, extolling.

3. Their order.

(a) Prayer.

(b) Then praise. What is won by prayer is worn in praise.

Verses 18-19.

1. The test admitted.

2. The test applied.

3. The test approved.

The fact that God has heard prayer.

The mercy of God.

1. In permitting prayer.

2. In inclining to prayer.

3. In hearing prayer.

WORK UPON THE SIXTY-SIXTH PSALM

"A fourth Proceeding in the Harmony of King David's Harp. That is to say; A Godly and learned Exposition of six Psalms more of the princely Prophet David, beginning with the 62, and ending with the 67, Psalm." Done in Latin by the reverend Doctor VICTORINUS STRIGELIUS, Professor of Diunitie in the university of Lypsia in Germany, Anno 1562. Translated into English by Richard Robinson, Citizen of London. 1596... London... 1596. (The above is the "fourth, "and, as far as we have been able to discover, the last part of R. Robinson's Translation of Strigelius. The four parts, separately titled and paged, contain Expositions of Psalms 1-67. Dates: 1591-3-5-6.)