Psalms 8 commentary

The psalmist seeks to give unto God the glory due to his name. How bright this glory shines even in this lower world! He is ours, for he made us, protects us, and takes special care of us. The birth, life, preaching, miracles, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus are known through the world. No name is so universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of the Saviour of mankind. But how much brighter it shines in the upper world! We, on this earth, only hear God's excellent name, and praise that; the angels and blessed spirits above, see his glory, and praise that; yet he is exalted far above even their blessing and praise. Sometimes the grace of God appears wonderfully in young children. Sometimes the power of God brings to pass great things in his church, by very weak and unlikely instruments, that the excellency of the power might the more evidently appear to be of God, and not of man. This he does, because of his enemies, that he may put them to silence.

We are to consider the heavens, that man thus may be directed to set his affections on things above. What is man, so mean a creature, that he should be thus honoured! so sinful a creature, that he should be thus favoured! Man has sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is appointed their lord. This refers to Christ. In Heb 2:6–8, the apostle, to prove the sovereign dominion of Christ, shows he is that Man, that Son of man, here spoken of, whom God has made to have dominion over the works of his hands. The greatest favour ever showed to the human race, and the greatest honour ever put upon human nature, were exemplified in the Lord Jesus. With good reason does the psalmist conclude as he began, Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, which has been honoured with the presence of the Redeemer, and is still enlightened by his gospel, and governed by his wisdom and power! What words can reach his praises, who has a right to our obedience as our Redeemer?

PSALM 8.

David, reflecting upon God’s fatherly beneficence towards mankind, is not content with simply giving thanks for it, but is enraptured by the contemplation of it.

To the chief musician upon Hagittith. A song of David.

Psalm 8:1

1. O Jehovah, our Lord! This first word is the incommunicable name of God; the next word, אדנינו, Adonenu, our Lord, is derived from the root דן, dan, which signifies to rule, to judge, to support. How wonderful is thy name in all the earth, to set “Pourceque tu as mis.” — Fr. “Because thou hast set.” “Ou, qui as mis, ou que de mettre.” — Fr. Marg. “Or, who hast set, or even to set.” thy glory above the heavens!

Whether גתית, Gittith, signifies a musical instrument or some particular tune, or the beginning of some famous and well-known song, I do not take upon me to determine. Those who think that the psalm is so called because it was composed in the city of Gath, give a strained and far-fetched explanation of the matter. Of the other three opinions, of which I have spoken, it is not of much importance which is adopted. The principal thing to be attended to is what the psalm itself contains, and what is the design of it. David, it is true, sets before his eyes the wonderful power and glory of God in the creation and government of the material universe; but he only slightly glances at this subject, as it were, in passing, and insists principally on the theme of God’s infinite goodness towards us. There is presented to us in the whole order of nature, the most abundant matter for showing forth the glory of God, but, as we are unquestionably more powerfully affected with what we ourselves experience, David here, with great propriety, expressly celebrates the special favor which God manifests towards mankind; for this, of all the subjects which come under our contemplation, is the brightest mirror in which we can behold his glory. It is, however, strange why he begins the psalm with an exclamation, when the usual way is first to give an account of a thing, and then to magnify its greatness and excellence. But if we remember what is said in other passages of Scripture, respecting the impossibility of expressing in words the works of God, we will not be surprised that David, by this exclamation, acknowledges himself unequal to the task of recounting them. David, therefore, when reflecting on the incomprehensible goodness which God has been graciously pleased to bestow on the human race, and feeling all his thoughts and senses swallowed up, and overwhelmed in the contemplation, exclaims that it is a subject worthy of admiration, because it cannot be set forth in words. “Puisque langue ne bouche ne la scauroit exprimer.” — Fr. “Because neither tongue nor mouth can express it.” Besides, the Holy Spirit, who directed David’s tongue, doubtless intended, by his instrumentality, to awaken men from the torpor and indifference which is common to them, so that they may not content themselves with celebrating the infinite love of God and the innumerable benefits which they receive at his hand, in their sparing and frigid manner, but may rather apply their whole hearts to this holy exercise, and put forth in it their highest efforts. This exclamation of David implies, that when all the faculties of the human mind are exerted to the utmost in meditation on this subject, “A louer les graces de Dieu.” — Fr. “In praising the grace of God.” they yet come far short of it.

The name of God, as I explain it, is here to be understood of the knowledge of the character and perfections of God, in so far as he makes himself known to us. I do not approve of the subtle speculations of those who think the name of God means nothing else but God himself. It ought rather to be referred to the works and properties by which he is known, than to his essence. David, therefore, says that the earth is full of the wonderful glory of God, so that the fame or renown thereof not only reaches to the heavens, but ascends far above them. The verb תנה, tenah, has been rendered by some in the preterite tense, hast set, but in my judgment, those give a more accurate translation who render it in the infinitive mood, to place or to set; because the second clause is just an amplification of the subject of the first; as if he had said, the earth is too small to contain the glory or the wonderful manifestations of the character and perfections of God. According to this view, אשר, asher, will not be a relative, but will have the meaning of the expletive or exegetic particle even, which we use to explain what has preceded. “Mais vaudra autant cornroe Que, dont on use pour declarer ce qui a preced.“ — Fr.

Psalm 8:2

2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast founded thy strength, because of thy adversaries, that thou mightest put to flight the enemy and avenger.

PSALM 8

Psa 8:1-9. Upon [or according to the] Gittith, probably means that the musical performance was directed to be according to a tune of that name; which, derived from Gath, a "wine-press," denotes a tune (used in connection with gathering the vintage) of a joyous character. All the Psalms to which this term is prefixed [Psa 8:1; 81:1; 84:1] are of such a character. The Psalmist gives vent to his admiration of God's manifested perfections, by celebrating His condescending and beneficent providence to man as evinced by the position of the race, as originally created and assigned a dominion over the works of His hands.

1. thy name--perfections (Psa 5:11; 7:17).

who hast set--literally, "which set Thou Thy glory," &c., or "which glory of Thine set Thou," &c., that is, make it more conspicuous as if earth were too small a theater for its display. A similar exposition suits the usual rendering.

2. So manifest are God's perfections, that by very weak instruments He conclusively sets forth His praise. Infants are not only wonderful illustrations of God's power and skill, in their physical constitution, instincts, and early developed intelligence, but also in their spontaneous admiration of God's works, by which they put to shame--

still--or, silence men who rail and cavil against God. A special illustration of the passage is afforded in Mt 21:16, when our Saviour stilled the cavillers by quoting these words; for the glories with which God invested His incarnate Son, even in His humiliation, constitute a most wonderful display of the perfections of His wisdom, love, and power. In view of the scope of Psa 8:4-8 (see below), this quotation by our Saviour may be regarded as an exposition of the prophetical character of the words.

sucklings--among the Hebrews were probably of an age to speak (compare 1Sa 1:22-24; Mr 7:27).

ordained--founded, or prepared, and perfected, which occurs in Mt 21:16; taken from the Septuagint, has the same meaning.

strength--In the quotation in the New Testament, praise occurs as the consequence or effect put for the cause (compare Psa 118:14).

avenger--as in Psa 44:16; one desirous of revenge, disposed to be quarrelsome, and so apt to cavil against God's government.

3-4. The allusion to the magnificence of the visible heavens is introduced for the purpose of illustrating God's condescension, who, though the mighty Creator of these glorious worlds of light, makes man the object of regard and recipient of favor.

5-8. God has placed man next in dignity to angels, and but a little lower, and has crowned him with the empire of the world.

glory and honour--are the attributes of royal dignity (Psa 21:5; 45:3). The position assigned man is that described (Ge 1:26-28) as belonging to Adam, in his original condition, the terms employed in detailing the subjects of man's dominion corresponding with those there used. In a modified sense, in his present fallen state, man is still invested with some remains of this original dominion. It is very evident, however, by the apostle's inspired expositions (He 2:6-8; 1Co 15:27, 28) that the language here employed finds its fulfilment only in the final exaltation of Christ's human nature. There is no limit to the "all things" mentioned, God only excepted, who "puts all things under." Man, in the person and glorious destiny of Jesus of Nazareth, the second Adam, the head and representative of the race, will not only be restored to his original position, but exalted far beyond it. "The last enemy, death," through fear of which, man, in his present estate, is "all his lifetime in bondage" [He 2:15], "shall be destroyed" [1Co 15:26]. Then all things will have been put under his feet, "principalities and powers being made subject to him" [1Pe 3:22]. This view, so far from being alien from the scope of the passage, is more consistent than any other; for man as a race cannot well be conceived to have a higher honor put upon him than to be thus exalted in the person and destiny of Jesus of Nazareth. And at the same time, by no other of His glorious manifestations has God more illustriously declared those attributes which distinguish His name than in the scheme of redemption, of which this economy forms such an important and essential feature. In the generic import of the language, as describing man's present relation to the works of God's hands, it may be regarded as typical, thus allowing not only the usual application, but also this higher sense which the inspired writers of the New Testament have assigned it.

9. Appropriately, the writer closes this brief but pregnant and sublime song of praise with the terms of admiration with which it was opened.

O Lord our Lord - יהוה אדנינו Yehovah Adoneynu; O Jehovah our Prop, our Stay, or Support. אדני Adonai is frequently used: sometimes, indeed often, for the word יהוה Yehovah itself. The root דן dan signifies to direct, rule, judge, support. So Adonai is the Director, Ruler, Judge, Supporter of men. It is well joined with Jehovah; this showing what God is in himself; that, what God is to man; and may here very properly refer to our Lord Jesus.

How excellent is thy name in all the earth! - How illustrious is the name of Jesus throughout the world! His incarnation, birth, humble and obscure life, preaching, miracles, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are celebrated through the whole world. His religion, the gifts and graces of his Spirit, his people - Christians - his Gospel and the preachers of it are everywhere spoken of. No name is so universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of the Savior of mankind. Amen.

Thy glory above the heavens - The heavens are glorious, the most glorious of all the works of God which the eye of man can reach; but the glory of God is infinitely above even these. The words also seem to intimate that no power, earthly or diabolical, can lessen or injure that glory. The glory and honor which God has by the Gospel shall last through time, and through eternity; and of that glory none shall be able to rob him, to whom majesty and dominion are eternally due. This has been applied by some to the resurrection of our Lord. He rose from the dead, and ascended above all heavens; and by these his glory was sealed, his mission accomplished, and the last proof given to his preceding miracles.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings - We have seen how our Lord applied this passage to the Jewish children, who, seeing his miracles, cried out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Mat 21:16. And we have seen how the enemy and the avenger - the chief priests and the scribes - were offended because of these things; and as the Psalm wholly concerns Jesus Christ, it is most probable that in this act of the Jewish children the prophecy had its primary fulfillment; and was left to the Jews as a witness and a sign of the Messiah, which they should have acknowledged when our Lord directed their attention to it.

There is also a very obvious sense in which the mouths of babes and sucklings show forth the praises of God; viz., the means by which they derive their first nourishment. In order to extract the milk from the breasts of their mothers, they are obliged to empty their own mouths entirely of air, that the eternal air, pressing on the breast, may force the milk through its proper canals into the mouth of the child, where there is no resistance, the child having extracted all air from its own mouth which in this case resembles a perfectly exhausted receiver on the plate of an airpump; and the action of sucking is performed on the same principle that the receiver is exhausted by the working of the airpump. Of this curious pneumatic action the child is capable the moment it breathes; and, its strength considered, performs it as perfectly the first hour as it does in any other period of its childhood or infancy. What does all this argue? Why instinct. And pray what is instinct? You cannot tell. But here is an operation by which the pure Boylean vacuum is made; and this by an infant without any previous teaching! Do you suppose that this is an easy operation, and that it requires little skill? You are mistaken. You have done this yourself while an infant under the sole guidance of God. Can you do it now? You are startled! Shall I tell you what appears to you a secret? There is not one in ten thousand adults, who have had their first nourishment from the breasts of their mothers who can perform the same operation again! And those who have had occasion to practice it have found great difficulty to learn that art which, in the first moment of their birth, they performed to perfection! Here is the finger of God; and here, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, he has ordained such a strength of evidence and argument in favor of his being his providence, and his goodness, as is sufficient to still and confound every infidel and atheist in the universe, all the enemies of righteousness, and all the vindicators of desperate and hopeless causes and systems.

The words may also be applied to the apostles and primitive preachers of the Gospel; to the simple and comparatively unlearned followers of Christ, who, through his teaching, were able to confound the wise among the Jews, and the mighty among the heathens: and in this sense our Lord uses the term babes, Mat 11:25 : "I thank thee, O Father - because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes."

We may also witness, in the experience of multitudes of simple people who have been, by the preaching of the Gospel, converted from the error of their ways, such a strength of testimony in favor of the work of God in the heart and his effectual teaching in the mind, as is calculated to still, or reduce to silence, every thing but bigotry and prejudice, neither of which has either eyes or ears. This teaching, and these changing or converting influences, come from God. They are not acquired by human learning; and those who put this in the place of the Divine teaching never grow wise to salvation. To enter into the kingdom of heaven, a Man must become as a little child.

When I Consider thy heavens - כי אראה ki ereh; Because I will see. He had often seen the heavens with astonishment, and he purposes to make them frequent subjects of contemplation; and he could not behold them without being affected with the skill, contrivance, and power, manifested in their formation.

The work of thy fingers - What a view does this give of the majesty of God! The earth is nearly eight thousand English miles in diameter: but to form an adequate conception of its magnitude, we must consider it in its superficial and solid contents. Upon the supposition that the earth's polar diameter is seven thousand nine hundred and forty miles, and its equatorial, seven thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven, (estimates considered to very near approximations to the truth), the whole superficies of the terraqueous globe will amount to about one hundred and ninety-eight millions, nine hundred and eighty thousand, seven hundred square miles; and its solid contents, in cubic miles will be expressed by the following figures: 264,544,857,944, i.e., two hundred and sixty-four thousand five hundred and forty-four millions, eight hundred and fifty-seven thousand, nine hundred and forty-four. Great as we have shown the bulk of the earth to be, from the most accurate estimates of its diameter it is but small when compared with the bulks of some of the other bodies in the solar system. The planet Herschel, or Georgium Sidus, known on the continent of Europe by the name of Uranus, is eighty times and a half greater than the earth; Saturn, nine hundred and ninety-five times greater; Jupiter, one thousand two hundred and eighty-one times greater; and the sun, the most prodigious body in the system, one million three hundred and eightyfour thousand, four hundred and sixty-two times greater. The circumference of the sun contains not fewer than two millions seven hundred and seventy-seven thousand English miles; and a degree of latitude, which on the earth amounts only to sixty-nine miles and a half, will on the sun (the circle being supposed in both instances to be divided into three hundred and sixty degrees) contain not less than about seven thousand seven hundred and forty miles, a quantity almost equal to the terrestrial axis. But the immense volume (in cubic miles) which the solar surface includes amounts to the following most inconceivable quantity: 366,252,303,118,866,128, i.e., three hundred and sixty six thousand two hundred and fifty-two billions, three hundred and three thousand one hundred and eighteen millions, eight hundred and sixty-six thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight. Notwithstanding the amazing magnitude of the sun, we have abundant reason to believe that some of the fixed stars are much larger; and yet we are told they are the work of God's Fingers! What a hand, to move, form, and launch these globes! This expression is much more sublime than even that of the prophet: "Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure; and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance!" Isa 40:12. This is grand; but the heavens being the work Of God's Fingers is yet more sublime.

The moon and the stars - The sun is not mentioned, because the heavens - the moon, planets, and stars - could not have appeared, had he been present. Those he wished to introduce because of their immense variety, and astonishing splendor; and, therefore, he skilfully leaves out the sun, which would have afforded him but one object, and one idea. To have mentioned him with the others would have been as ridiculous in astronomy, as the exhibition of the top and bottom of a vessel would be in perspective. Various critics have endeavored to restore the Sun to this place: and even Bishop Horsley says, "It is certainly strange that the sun should be omitted, when the moon and the stars are so particularly mentioned." But with great deference to him, and to Dr. Kennicott, who both show how the text may be mended I say, it would be most strange had the psalmist introduced the sun, for the reasons already assigned. The Spirit of God is always right; our head is sometimes, our hearts seldom so.

Which thou hast ordained - כוננתה conantah, which thou hast prepared and established. Made their respective spheres, and fitted them for their places. Space to matter, and matter to space; all adjusted in number, weight, and measure.

What is man - מה אנוש mah enosh, what is wretched, miserable man; man in his fallen state, full of infirmity, ignorance, and sin?

That thou art mindful of him? - That thou settest thy heart upon him, keepest him continually in thy merciful view.

And the son of man - ובן אדם uben Adam, and the son of Adam, the first great rebel; the fallen child of a fallen parent. See the note on Job 7:17. Some think eminent men are here intended. What is man in common; what the most eminent men; that thou shouldst be mindful of them, or deign to visit them?

That thou visitest him? - By sending thy Holy Spirit to convince him of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is by these visits that man is preserved in a salvable state. Were God to withhold them, there would be nothing in the soul of man but sin, darkness, hardness, corruption, and death.

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels - The original is certainly very emphatic: ותחסרחו מעט מאלהים vattechasserchu meat meelohim, Thou hast lessened him for a little time from God. Or, Thou hast made him less than God for a little time. See these passages explained at large in the notes on Heb 2:6 (note), etc., which I need not repeat here.

Thou madest him to have dominion - Jesus Christ, who, being in the form of God, and equal with God, for a time emptied himself, and made himself of no reputation; was afterwards highly exalted, and had a name above every name. See the notes referred to above, and those on Phi 2:6-9 (note).

Thou hast put all things under his feet - Though the whole of the brute creation was made subject to Adam in his state of innocence; yet it could never be literally said of him, that God had put all things under his feet, or that he had dominion over the work of God's hands; but all this is most literally true of our Lord Jesus; and to him the apostle, Heb 2:6, etc., applies all these passages.

All sheep and oxen - All domestic animals, and those to be employed in agriculture.

Beasts of the field - All wild beasts, and inhabitants of the forest.

The fowl of the air - All these were given to man in the beginning; and he has still a general dominion over them; for thus saith the Lord: "The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every Beast of the Earth, and upon every Fowl of the Air, and upon all that Moveth upon the Earth, and upon all the Fishes of the Sea; into your hand are they delivered;" Gen 9:2. To this passage the psalmist most obviously refers.

O Lord our Lord - The psalmist concludes as he began. Jehovah, our prop and support! his name is excellent in all the earth. The name of Jesus is celebrated in almost every part of the habitable globe; for his Gospel has been preached, or is in the progress of being preached, through the whole world. Bibles and missionaries are now carrying his name, and proclaiming his fame, to the utmost nations of the earth.

The whole of this Psalm, and the seventh and eighth verses in particular, have been the subject of much spiritualization in ancient and modern times. I shall give two examples: one from the pious Bishop Horne; the other from the ancient Latino - Scotico - English Psalter, mentioned before.

That of Bisnop Horne, on the Psa 8:7 and Psa 8:8, is as follows: "Adam, upon his creation, was invested with sovereign dominion over the creatures, in words of the same import with these, Gen 1:28, which are therefore here used, and the creatures particularized, to inform us that what the first Adam lost by transgression, the second Adam gained by obedience. That glory which was set above the heavens could not but be over all things on the earth; and accordingly we hear our Lord saying, after his resurrection, 'All power is given unto me in heaven and earth,'Mat 28:18. Nor is it a speculation unpleasing or unprofitable to consider that he who rules over the material world is Lord also of the intellectual or spiritual creation represented thereby. "The souls of the faithful, lowly, and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who like oxen, are strong to labor in the Church, and who by expounding the word of life tread out the corn for the nourishment of the people, own him for their kind and beneficent Master. Nay, tempers fierce and untractable as the wild beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will. Spirits of the angelic kind, that, like the birds of the air, traverse freely the superior region, move at his command; and these evil ones, whose habitation is in the deep abyss, even to the great leviathan himself, all, all are put under the feet of the King Messiah; who, because he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, was therefore highly exalted, and had a name given him above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, whether of things in heaven, or things on earth, or things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father; Phi 2:8, etc." Thus far the pious bishop.

I shall now give, as a singular curiosity, the whole Psalm, with its translation and paraphrase, from the ancient MS. already mentioned; inserting first the Latin text; next, the translation; and, thirdly, the paraphrase. The Latin text seems to be the old Itala, or Antehieronymian; at least it has readings which have been thought peculiar to that version. Psa 8:1-9 Psa 8:1

Domine Deus noster, quoniam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra.

Trans. Lord our Lord, qwat thi name es wonderfull in al the Erde.

Par. The prophete in louing, bygynnes and says: Lord of al, thow ert specialy our Lord that dredes the, loves the. "Thi name" that es the ioy and the fame of thi name Ihesu: for the creaturs that thu hes made and bought qwat it es wonderful. Als so say withouten end: for nane suffis for to knaw al creaturs: in qwilk wonder of the, and that in al the Erd, nought in a party anely.

Quoniam elevata est magnificencia tua super Celos.

Trans. For lyfted es thi worchyp aboven hevens.

Par. That es at say, thu ert mare worthy to be loued and wirchepyd than any Aungel or haly Saule may thynk. Psa 8:2

Ex ore infancium et lactencium perfecisti laudem, propter inimicos tuos, ut destruas inimicum et ultorem.

Trans. Of the mouth of nought spekand, and sowkand, thou has made louying, for thin enmys, that tbou destroye the enmy and the venger.

Par. Nought anely thow ert loued of perfite men, bot of the mouthe of barnes that spekes nought: Zit there er tha that kan nought speke the wisdom of this werld: and of soukand, the qwilk gladdely resayves the lare of haly Kyrk theare moder. Thow has made thi luf thug perfyte for thin enmys: fals cristen men, to schame and to schende for thai er wer than er haythen men. That thu destruy the enmy; that es, he that es wyse in his awen eghen; and wil nought be underloute til thi wil: "and the venger": that es he that defends his Syn; and sais that he synnes nought; or that his syn es les than other mennes. Psa 8:3

Quoniam videbo celos tuos, et opera digitorum tuorum, lunam et stellas quas tu fundasti.

Trans. For I sal se thi hevens werkes of thi fyngers the mone and the Sternys the quilk thow groundid.

Par. Thow destrues al that es contrariand til the; bot i in al thying confourom me to do thi wil, for thi i sal se in lyf withouten end. "Thi hevens", that es Aungels and Apostels the qwilk er werkes of thi fingers: that es, that er mode perfyte thurgh the Haly Gost, of qwam es seven gyftes. Of he be bot a Spirit, als mani fyngers er in a hand. And i sal see the "Mone", that es haly Kyrk: and the sternes that es ilk a ryghtwise man by hym selfe, the qwilk thu groundid in charite. Psa 8:4

Quid est homo quod memor es ejus; aut filius hominis, quoniam visitas eum?

Trans. What es man that thu ert menand of hym: or son of man for thou visites hym?

Par. Als it war with despyte, he sais "man", erdely and synful, qwat es he, that thu has mynd of hym. Als fer sett fra the; at the lest gyfand hym hele and ese of body. Or "son of man": that es, he that es gastely, and beres the ymage of heven. Qwat es he, for thou visits hym. Als present the qwilk es nere the for clennes of lyf. Or "son of man" he calles Crist, thrugh qwam he visits mannes kynd. Psa 8:5

Minuisti eum paullo minus ab angelis: gloria et honore coronasti eum; et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum.

Trans. Thow lessed hym a littil fra aungels; with ioy and honor thu coround hym: and thu sett him aboven the werkes of thi hend.

Par. Crist was lessed fra aungels, for he was dedely, and mught suffer pyne; but a littel; for in other thyng, es he abouen aungels, thair Kyng and Sychthu thou coround hym with ioy, that es with brighthede of body, na mare sufferand pyne; and honor, for he es honorable til al: and thou sett hym abouen aungels and al creatures. Psa 8:6, Psa 8:7

Omnia subjecisti sub pedibus ejus: oves et boves insuper et pecora campi.

Trans. Al thynges thu underkest undyr his fete: schepe and oxen al over that, and the bestes of the feld.

Par. That undyr hys Lordschyp and hys myght, in has cestyn al thyng: tha er "schepe" that er innocentes, als well aungels als men. "And oxen", tha er, traveland men gastely, in haly Kyrk, "over that"; and the "bestes of the feld"; thai er lufers of this werld, wonnand, in the feld of fleschly lusts; noght in hillis of vertus; and so be the brode way thai ga til hell. Psa 8:8

Volucres celi et pisces maris qui perambulant semitas maris.

Trans. Fowls of heven and fysche of the see, that gas the wayes of the see.

Par. "Fowls of heven", er prowde men that wald hee thair setil abouen al other. "Fysches of the see", er covaytus men, the qwilk in the ground of the werld, sekes erthdly gudes, that all stretes in the see, sone wither oway. Al thir sal be underlout til Crist onther herts in grace, or thare in pine. Psa 8:9

Domine Deus noster, quam admirabile est nomen tuum in universa terra.

Trans. Lard our Lard qwat thi name is wonderful in al the erth.

Par. Als he bigan swa he endes, schewand that bygyning and endyng of al gode, is of Gode; and til his louing agh i for to be done.

The reader will no doubt be struck with the remarkable agreement between the pious bishop of Norwich and this ancient translator and paraphrast, particularly on the Psa 8:7 and Psa 8:8. The language also is in several respects singular. The participle of the present tense, which we terminate with "ing", is here almost always terminated with "and." So "Spekand, sowkand, gyfand, sufferand, traveland", for speaking, sucking, giving, suffering, travelling, etc.

As the participle signifies the continuance of the action, the termination and seems much more proper than ing; speak - and, i.e., continuing to speak; give - and, continuing to give; suffer - and, suffer more; travel - and, travel on, etc. There are some words in this ancient MS. which I have met nowhere else.

In - Not only in Israel, but among all nations. Which shews that this psalm speaks of the Messiah, and the times of the New Testament. Heavens - Where thy throne of glory is established, where the blessed angels celebrate thy praises, where Christ sitteth at thy right hand in glorious majesty, from whence he poureth down excellent gifts upon babes.

1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the Earth ! who hast set thy glory above the heavens .

(i. e.) Thy Fame or Glory, as it is explained in the next clause, and as the Name commonly signifies, as Gen. 6. 4. Eccles. 7. 1. Phil. 2. 9. And this Glory of God is most eminent in the Gospel, and the work of Redemption.

Not only in Israel, to which the Name and Knowledg of God was confined, Psal. 76. 2. and 147. 19. but among all Nations. Which shews that this Psalm speaks of the Messias, and the times of the new Testament. See Isai. 40. 5. Mal. 1. 5. &c.

What do I speak of the Earth? thy Glory or Praise reacheth to the Heavens, and indeed, above all the visible Heavens, even to the Heaven of Heavens; where thy Throne of Glory is established, where the blessed Angels celebrate thy Praises, where Christ sitteth at thy right Hand in glorious Majesty, from whence he poureth down excellent Gifts upon Babes, &c. as it followeth.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 113. 4▪ [illegible: 1 word]. 13.

2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength , because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger .

Either 1. Properly such. For there is much of God's Glory seen in Infants in their Conception and strange Progress from small and contemptible Beginnings, in their Preservation and Nourishment in the dark Cell of the Womb, in their bringing forth, and bringing up, in providing Breasts and Milk for them, and keeping them from innumerable Dangers, from which they are utterly unable to keep themselves. But this though it sets forth God's Praise, yet how it stills the Enemy and Avenger, seems not clear. Or rather 2. Metaphorically so called, babes not so much in age and years, as in disposition and condition, weak and foolish, and contemptible and harmless Persons, who are very frequently called Babes or Children, as 2. Chron. 13. 7. Prov. 1. 4. Eccles. 10. 16. Isa. 3. 4. Mat. 18. 3. [illegible: 1+ letters]ph. 4. 14. &c. For such are very unfit to grapple with an Enemy: and therefore when such Persons conquer the most powerful and malicious Enemies, it must needs exceedingly confound and silence them, and mightily advance the Glory of God: as indeed it did, when such mean and obscure Persons as the Apostles, and Ministers, and Disciples of Christ were, did maintain and propagate the Gospel in spight of all the Wi[illegible: 1+ letters], and Power, and Rage of their Enemies. See 1. Cor. 1. 25, 27, 28, 29. And of such Babes as these Christ himself expounds this place, Mat 21. 16. Of which more, God willing, upon that place.

Or, thou hast sounded (or confirmed, or established, or firmly setled, or fitted, or pe[illegible: 1+ letters]fected, as it is rendered by the LXX and vulgar Latin here, and by St. Matthew, Ch. 21. 16. (i. e.) perfectly or firmly setled) Strength: By which he seems to understand either 1. The Celebration or Praise of his Strength or Power, by comparing this with Mat. 21. 16. where it is rendered Praise. So it is onely a Metonymy of the Adjunct, which is most frequent in Scripture and all Authors. And so the word Strength seems to be taken Psal. 29. 1. and 96. 7. Or 2. A strong and mighty Kingdom, the Abstract being put for the Concrete, than which nothing is more frequent, even the Kingdom of Christ, or his Gospel, which is oft called the Arm or Power of God, as Psal. 110. 2. Isa. 53. 1. 1. Cor. 1. 18, 24. And this Kingdom being an everlasting, and invincible, and all-conquering Kingdom, Dan. 2. 44. it is no wonder it is here called Strength. And this Gospel or Kingdom is here said to be founded or established, not by the Hands or valiant Actions of Men of Might, as other Kingdoms are, but meerly by the [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] Babes, &c. (i. e.) by the Words and Discourses of Christ's Apostles and Disciples. Which is justly observed and celebrated here as a wonderful Work of God.

(i. e.) Silence, and Confound, and Conquer, either by Convincing and Converting them, or by destroying them.

The Enemies of God and of his People, the Devil, the head of them, whose Kingdom and Power is abolished by this means, and all Men who fight under his Banner against God and Christ and his Members.

Which Title most truly and fitly agrees, first [illegible: 1+ letters]o the Devil, who being sente[illegible: 1+ letters]d by God to eternal Flames, and Conquered, and Tormented by Christ, maketh it his great business to revenge himself, which because he cannot do upon God and Christ, he indeavours to do it upon their Servants and Children; and next, to all these Men who are his Vassals and espouse his Quarrel; who also are provoked and conceive, though falsly, that they are injured by the Gospel, and by the Pr[illegible: 1+ letters]achers, Professors, and Pr[illegible: 1+ letters]ctisers of it, and therefore seek to revenge themselves o[illegible: 1+ letters] them. Whereof we have an eminent Instance, [illegible: 1+ letters]evel. 11. 10. Compare Heb. 11. 37.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 21. 16.; [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] to [illegible: 1 word]

3. When I consider thy heavens , the work of thy fingers , the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained ;

Thine by Creation, as it follows, and

(i. e.) of thy hand, as it is expressed Psal. 102. 25. A part being here put for the whole: God's hand and finger being indifferently used to note his Power, as Exod. 8. 19. L[illegible: 1+ letters]k. 11. 20. &c. Though some conceive that by this Phrase he intended to signify, both with what facility God made this glorious Work, even with a touch of his Finger; and with what curiou[illegible: 1+ letters] and exquisite Artifice he framed it; the Fingers being much used in such Works.

Either the Son is included under this general Title: or he omitted it, because he made this Psalm by Night, when the Sun did not fall within his Contemplation.

Or, established, or directed, or disposed, or ordered, (i. e.) placed in that excellent and unalterable Order, and directed to all their several Courses or Motions.

4. What is man that thou art mindful of him ? and the son of man that thou visitest him ?

(i. e.) How mean and inconsiderable a thing is Man, if compared with thy glorious Majesty, who art so infinite in Power and Wisdom, as thou hast shewed in the Frame of the Heavens, &c.

Heb. infirm, or miserable man. By which it is apparent that he speaks of Man, not according to the sta[illegible: 1+ letters]e of his Creation, but as fallen into a state of Sin and Misery, and Mortality.

(i. e.) Carest for him, and conferrest such high Favours upon him.

Heb. the son of Adam, that great Apostate from, and Rebel against God, the finful Son of a sinful Father, his Son b[illegible: 1+ letters] likeness of Disposition and Manners no less than by Procreation. All which tends to magnify the following Mercy.

Not in anger, as that Word is sometimes used, but with thy Grace and Mercy, as it is taken Gen. 21. 1. Exod. 4. 31. Psal. 65. 9. and 106. 4. and 144, 3.

Marginal references: Job. 7. 17▪ Psal. 144. 4. Heb. 2. [illegible: 1+ letters].

5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels , and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Thou hast in and through Christ merci[illegible: 1+ letters]ully and wonderfully restored Man to his primitive and happy Estate, in which he was but one remove below the Angels; from which he was fa[illegible: 1+ letters]len by Sin.

(i. e.) Man, fallen and lost Man: who is indeed actually crowned and restored to the Glory and Dominion here following, not in his own person, but in Christ his Head and Representative, who received this Crown and Dominion, not so much for himself, who did not need it, as for Man's good and in his stead; which also he will in due time communicate unto all his Members. And so the two differing Expositions of this place concerning Mankind, and concerning Christ, may be reconciled. For he speaks of that happy and honourable Estate by God's Favour conferred, first upon Christ, of whom therefore this place is rightly Expounded, Heb. 2. 6, 7, 8. and then by his hands upon Mankind, even upon all that believe in him. And so this whole p[illegible: 1+ letters]ce compared with that, may be thus Pa[illegible: 1+ letters]aphrased. What is Man that thou shouldest mind or visit him by thy Son whom thou hast sent into the World! Who, that he might restore Man to that happy and glorious Estate which was but a little below that of the Angels, was pleased to take upon him Man's miserable and mortal Nature, and thereby to make himself (who was far above all Angels, even their Lord and God) lo[illegible: 1+ letters]er than the Angels, mortal and miserable for a little time; after which he was advanced to the highest Honour, and to an universal Dominion over all God's Works, the Angels not excepted.

Marginal references: Heb the Gods Psal. 82. 6. & 138. 1.

6. Thou madest him to have Dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet :

Thou didst give all Power and all things into his hands, Mat. 28. 18. Iohn 13. 3.

Both in Heaven, where are the Angels mentioned v. 5. and in the Earth, Air and Sea, as it follows. For nothing is excepted besides God, 1. Cor. 15. 25, 27. Heb. 2. 8.

(i. e.) Made them subject to him, as this Phrase oft signifies. See Deut. 33. 3. Iudg. 5. 27. Psal. 18. 38. and 110. 1.

Marginal references: G[illegible: 1+ letters]n. 1. 26, 28.; 1. Cor. 15. 25.

7. All sheep and oxen , yea, and the beasts of the field :

(i. e.) The wild Beasts: which together with divers Fowls and Fishes were subject to Christ, and are governed and employed as it pleaseth them; although many of them be without the reach, and are not brought under the Power of any other Man.

Marginal references: Heb. Flocks of [illegible: 1 word] all of them.; Here is no perfect Enumeration, but under these are comprehended all other Beasts, and much more Men and Angels.

The Praise of the Creator’s Glory Sung by the Starry Heavens to Puny Man

Ps. 7 closed with a similar prospect of his enemies being undeceived by the execution of the divine judgments to Psa 6:1-10. The former is the pendant or companion to the latter, and enters into detail, illustrating it by examples. Now if at the same time we call to mind the fact, that Psa 6:1-10, if it be not a morning hymn, at any rate looks back upon sleepless nights of weeping, then the idea of the arrangement becomes at once clear, when we find a hymn of the night following Psa 6:1-10 with its pendant, Ps 7. David composes even at night; Jahve’s song, as a Korahite psalmist says of himself in Psa 42:9, was his companionship even in the loneliness of the night. The omission of any reference to the sun in Psa 8:4 shows that Psa 8:1-9 is a hymn of this kind composed in the night, or at least one in which the writer transfers himself in thought to the night season. The poet has the starry heavens before him, he begins with the glorious revelation of Jahve’s power on earth and in the heavens, and then pauses at man, comparatively puny man, to whom Jahve condescends in love and whom He has made lord over His creation. Ewald calls it a flash of lightning cast into the darkness of the creation.

Even Hitzig acknowledges David’s authorship here; whereas Hupfeld is silent, and Olshausen says that nothing can be said about it. The idea, that David composed it when a shepherd boy on the plains of Judah, is rightly rejected again by Hitzig after he has been at the pains to support it. (This thought is pleasingly worked out by Nachtigal, Psalmen gesungen vor David’s Thronbesteigung, 1797, after the opinion of E. G. von Bengel, cum magna veri specie.) For, just as the Gospels do not contain any discourses of our Lord belonging to the time prior to His baptism, and just as the New Testament canon does not contain any writings of the Apostles from the time prior to Pentecost, so the Old Testament canon contains no Psalms of David belonging to the time prior to his anointing. It is only from that time, when he is the anointed one of the God of Jacob, that he becomes the sweet singer of Israel, on whose tongue is the word of Jahve, 2Sa 23:1.

The inscription runs: To the Precentor, on the Gittith, a Psalm of David. The Targum translates it super cithara, quam David de Gath attulit. According to which it is a Philistine cithern, just as there was (according to Athenaeus and Pollux) a peculiar Phoenician and Carian flute played at the festivals of Adonis, called γίγγρας, and also an Egyptian flute and a Doric lyre. All the Psalms bearing the inscription על־הגּתּית   (Psa 8:1-9, 81, Psa 84:1-12) are of a laudatory character. The gittith was, therefore, an instrument giving forth a joyous sound, or (what better accords with its occurring exclusively in the inscriptions of the Psalms), a joyous melody, perhaps a march of the Gittite guard, 2Sa 15:18 (Hitzig).

Kurtz makes this Psalm into four tetrastichic strophes, by taking Psa 8:2 and v. 10 by themselves as the opening and close of the hymn, and putting Psa 8:2 (Thou whose majesty...) to the first strophe. But אשׁר is not rightly adapted to begin a strophe; the poet, we think, would in this case have written אתה אשׁר תנה הודו.

Psa 8:1-2 (Hebrew_Bible_8:2-3) Here, for the first time, the subject speaking in the Psalm is not one individual, but a number of persons; and who should they be but the church of Jahve, which (as in Neh 10:30) can call Jahve its Lord (אדנינוּ, like אדני from אדנים plur. excellentiae, Ges. §108, 2); but knowing also at the same time that what it has become by grace it is called to be for the good of the whole earth? The שׁם of God is the impress (cognate Arabic wasm, a sign, Greek σῆμα) of His nature, which we see in His works of creation and His acts of salvation, a nature which can only be known from this visible and comprehensible representation (nomen = gnomen).Cf. Oehler’s art. Name in Herzog’s Real-Encyklopädie.

This name of God is certainly not yet so known and praised everywhere, as the church to which it has been made known by a positive revelation can know and praise it; but, nevertheless, it, viz., the divine name uttered in creation and its works, by which God has made Himself known and capable of being recognised and named, ifs אדּיר amplum et gloriosum, everywhere through out the earth, even if it were entirely without any echo. The clause with אשׁר must not be rendered: Who, do Thou be pleased to put Thy glory upon the heavens (Gesenius even: quam tuam magnificentiam pone in caelis), for such a use of the imperat. after אשׁר is unheard of; and, moreover, although it is true a thought admissible in its connection with the redemptive history (Psa 57:6, 12) is thus obtained, it is here, however, one that runs counter to the fundamental tone, and to the circumstances, of the Psalm. For the primary thought of the Psalm is this, that the God, whose glory the heavens reflect, has also glorified Himself in the earth and in man; and the situation of the poet is this, that he has the moon and stars before his eyes: how then could he wish that heaven to be made glorious whose glory is shining into his eyes! It is just as impracticable to take תּנה as a contraction of נתנה, like תּתּה   2Sa 22:41, = נתתּה, as Ammonius and others, and last of all Böhl, have done, or with Thenius (Stud. u. Krit. 1860 S. 712f.) to read it so at once. For even if the thought: “which (the earth) gives (announces) Thy glory all over the heavens” is not contrary to the connection, and if נתן עז, Psa 68:34, and נתן כבוד, Jer 13:16, can be compared with this נתן הוד, still the phrase נתן הוד על means nothing but to lay majesty on any one, to clothe him with it, Num 27:20; 1Ch 29:25; Dan 11:21, cf. Psa 21:6; and this is just the thought one looks for, viz., that the name of the God, who has put His glory upon the heavens (Psa 148:13) is also glorious here below. We must, therefore, take תּנה, although it is always the form of the imper. elsewhere, as infin., just as רדה occurs once in Gen 46:3 as infin. (like the Arab. rı̆da a giving to drink, lı̆da a bringing forth - forms to which לדה and the like in Hebrew certainly more exactly correspond). תּנה הודך signifies the setting of Thy glory (prop. τὸ τιθέναι τὴν δόξαν σου) just like דּעה את־ה the knowledge of Jahve, and Obad. Psa 8:5, שׂים קנּך, probably the setting of thy nest, Ges. §133. 1. It may be interpreted: O Thou whose laying of Thy glory is upon the heavens, i.e., Thou who hast chosen this as the place on which Thou hast laid Thy glory (Hengst.). In accordance with this Jerome translates it: qui posuisti gloriam tuam super caelos. Thus also the Syriac version with the Targum: dejabt (דיהבת) shubhoch 'al shemajo, and Symmachus: ὃς ἔταξας τὸν ἔπαινόν σου ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν. This use of the nomen verbale and the genitival relation of אשׁר to תּנה הודך, which is taken as one notion, is still remarkable. Hitzig considers that no reasonable man would think and write thus: but thereby at the same time utterly condemns his own conjecture תּן ההודך (whose extending of glory over the heavens). This, moreover, goes beyond the limits of the language, which is only acquainted with תּן as the name of an animal. All difficulty would vanish if one might, with Hupfeld, read נתתּה. But תנה has not the slightest appearance of being a corruption of נתתה. It might be more readily supposed that תּנה is an erroneous pointing for תּנה (to stretch or extend, cf. Hos 8:10 to stretch forth, distribute): Thou whose glory stretches over the heavens, - an interpretation which is more probable than that it is, with Paulus and Kurtz, to be read תּנּה: Thou whose glory is praised (pass. of the תּנּה in Jdg 5:11; Jdg 11:40, which belongs to the dialect of Northern Palestine), instead of which one would more readily expect יתנּה. The verbal notion, which is tacitly implied in Psa 113:4; Psa 148:13, would then be expressed here. But perhaps the author wrote תּנה הודך instead of נתתּ הודך, because he wishes to describe the setting out of the heavens with divine splendourIn the first Sidonian inscription אדּיר occurs as a by-name of the heavens (שמם אדרם). as being constantly repeated and not as done once for all. There now follows, in Psa 8:3, the confirmation of Psa 8:2: also all over the earth, despite its distance from the heavens above, Jahve’s name is glorious; for even children, yea even sucklings glorify him there, and in fact not mutely and passively by their mere existence, but with their mouth. עולל (= מעולל), or עולל is a child that is more mature and capable of spontaneous action, from עולל (Poel of עלל ludere),According to this derivation עולל (cf. Beduin עאלול, ‛âlûl a young ox) is related to תּעלוּל; whereas עוּל as a synonym of יונק signifies one who is supported, sustained. For the radical signification of עוּל according to the Arabic ‛âl , fut. o. is “to weigh heavy, to be heavy, to lie upon; to have anything incumbent upon one’s self, to carry, support, preserve,” whence ‛ajjil the maintained child of the house, and (ajjila (Damascene ‛êla) he who is dependent upon one for support and the family depending upon the paterfamilias for sustenance. Neither Arab. ‛âl , fut. o., nor gâl , fut. i. usually applied to a pregnant woman who still suckles, has the direct signification to suckle. Moreover, the demon Ghul does not receive its name from swallowing up or sucking out (Ges.), but from destroying (Arab. gâl , fut. o.). according to 1Sa 22:19; Psa 15:3, distinct from יונק, i.e., a suckling, not, however, infans, but, - since the Hebrew women were accustomed to suckle their children for a long period, - a little child which is able to lisp and speak (vid., 2 Macc. 7:27). Out of the mouth of beings such as these Jahve has founded for Himself עז. The lxx translates it the utterance of praise, αἶνον; and עז certainly sometimes has the meaning of power ascribed to God in praise, and so a laudatory acknowledgment of His might; but this is only when connected with verbs of giving, Psa 29:1; Psa 68:35; Psa 96:7. In itself, when standing alone, it cannot mean this. It is in this passage: might, or victorious power, which God creates for Himself out of the mouths of children that confess Him. This offensive and defensive power, as Luther has observed on this passage, is conceived of as a strong building, עז as מעוז (Jer 16:19) i.e., a fortress, refuge, bulwark, fortification, for the foundation of which He has taken the mouth, i.e., the stammering of children; and this He has done because of His enemies, to restrain (השׁבּית to cause any one to sit or lie down, rest, to put him to silence, e.g., Isa 16:10; Eze 7:24) such as are enraged against Him and His, and are inspired with a thirst for vengeance which expresses itself in curses (the same combination is found in Psa 44:17). Those meant, are the fierce and calumniating opponents of revelation. Jahve has placed the mouth of children in opposition to these, as a strong defensive controversive power. He has chosen that which is foolish and weak in the eyes of the world to put to shame the wise and that which is strong (1Co 1:27). It is by obscure and naturally feeble instruments that He makes His name glorious here below. and overcomes whatsoever is opposed to this glorifying.

Psa 8:3-5 (Hebrew_Bible_8:4-6) Stier wrongly translates: For I shall behold. The principal thought towards which the rest tends is Psa 8:5 (parallel are Psa 8:2 a, 3), and consequently Psa 8:4 is the protasis (par., Psa 8:2), and כּי accordingly is = quum, quando, in the sense of quoties. As often as he gazes at the heavens which bear upon themselves the name of God in characters of light (wherefore he says שׁמיך), the heavens with their boundless spaces (an idea which lies in the plur. שׁמים) extending beyond the reach of mortal eye, the moon (ירח, dialectic ורח, perhaps, as Maurer derives it, from ירח = ירק subflavum esse), and beyond this the innumerable stars which are lost in infinite space (כּוכבים = כּבכּבים prop. round, ball-shaped, spherical bodies) to which Jahve appointed their fixed place on the vault of heaven which He has formed with all the skill of His creative wisdom (כּונן to place and set up, in the sense of existence and duration): so often does the thought “what is mortal man...?” increase in power and intensity. The most natural thought would be: frail, puny man is as nothing before all this; but this thought is passed over in order to celebrate, with grateful emotion and astonished adoration, the divine love which appears in all the more glorious light, - a love which condescends to poor man, the dust of earth. Even if אנושׁ does not come from אנשׁ to be fragile, nevertheless, according to the usage of the language, it describes man from the side of his impotence, frailty, and mortality (vid., Psa 103:15; Isa 51:12, and on Gen 4:26). בּן־אדם, also, is not without a similar collateral reference. With retrospective reference to עוללים וינקים, בּן־אדם is equivalent to ילוּד־אשּׁה in Job 14:1 : man, who is not, like the stars, God’s directly creative work, but comes into being through human agency born of woman. From both designations it follows that it is the existing generation of man that is spoken of. Man, as we see him in ourselves and others, this weak and dependent being is, nevertheless, not forgotten by God, God remembers him and looks about after him (פּקד of observing attentively, especially visitation, and with the accus. it is generally used of lovingly provident visitation, e.g., Jer 15:15). He does not leave him to himself, but enters into personal intercourse with him, he is the special and favoured object whither His eye turns (cf. Psa 144:3, and the parody of the tempted one in Job 7:17.).

It is not until Psa 8:6 that the writer glances back at creation. ותּחסּרהוּ (differing from the fut. consec. Job 7:18) describes that which happened formerly. חסּר מן signifies to cause to be short of, wanting in something, to deprive any one of something (cf. Ecc 4:8). מן is here neither comparative (paullo inferiorem eum fecisti Deo), nor negative (paullum derogasti ei, ne esset Deus), but partitive (paullum derogasti ei divinae naturae); and, without אלהים being on that account an abstract plural, paullum Deorum, = Dei (vid., Genesis S. 66f.), is equivalent to paullum numinis Deorum. According to Gen 1:27 man is created בּצלם אלהים, he is a being in the image of God, and, therefore, nearly a divine being. But when God says: “let us make man in our image after our likeness,” He there connects Himself with the angels. The translation of the lxx ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ ̓ ἀγγέλους, with which the Targum and the prevailing Jewish interpretations also harmonize, is, therefore, not unwarranted. Because in the biblical mode of conception the angels are so closely connected with God as the nearest creaturely effulgence of His nature, it is really possible that in מאלהים David may have thought of God including the angels. Since man is in the image of God, he is at the same time in the likeness of an angel, and since he is only a little less than divine, he is also only a little less than angelic. The position, somewhat exalted above the angels, which he occupies by being the bond between all created things, in so far as mind and matter are united in him, is here left out of consideration. The writer has only this one thing in his mind, that man is inferior to God, who is רוּח, and to the angels who are רוּחות (Isa 31:3; Heb 1:14) in this respect, that he is a material being, and on this very account a finite and mortal being; as Theodoret well and briefly observes: τῷ θνητῷ τῶν ἀγγέλων ἠλάττωται. This is the מעט in which whatever is wanting to him to make him a divine being is concentrated. But it is nothing more than מעט. The assertion in Psa 8:6 refers to the fact of the nature of man being in the image of God, and especially to the spirit breathed into him from God; Psa 8:6, to his godlike position as ruler in accordance with this his participation in the divine nature: honore ac decore coronasti eum. כּבוד is the manifestation of glory described from the side of its weightiness and fulness; הוד (cf. הד, הידד) from the side of its far resounding announcement of itself (vid., on Job 39:20); הדר from the side of its brilliancy, majesty, and beauty. הוד והדר, Psa 96:6, or also הדר כּבור הוד ה, Psa 145:5, is the appellation of the divine doxa, with the image of which man is adorned as with a regal crown. The preceding fut. consec. also stamps תּעטּרהוּ and תּמשׁילהוּ as historical retrospects. The next strophe unfolds the regal glory of man: he is the lord of all things, the lord of all earthly creatures.

Psa 8:6-8 (Hebrew_Bible_8:7-9) Man is a king, and not a king without territory; the world around, with the works of creative wisdom which fill it, is his kingdom. The words “put under his feet” sound like a paraphrase of the רדה in Gen 1:26, Gen 1:28, כּל is unlimited, as in Job 13:1; Job 42:2; Isa 44:24. But the expansion of the expression in Psa 8:8, Psa 8:9 extends only to the earth, and is limited even there to the different classes of creatures in the regions of land, air, and water. The poet is enthusiastic in his survey of this province of man’s dominion. And his lofty poetic language corresponds to this enthusiasm. The enumeration begins with the domestic animals and passes on from these to the wild beasts-together the creatures that dwell on terra firma. צנה (צנא Num 32:24) from צנה (צנא) Arab. dnâ (dn'), as also Arab. dân , fut. o., proliferum esse is, in poetry, equivalent to צאן, which is otherwise the usual name for small cattle. אלפים (in Aramaic, as the name of the letter shows, a prose word) is in Hebrew poetically equivalent to בּקר; the oxen which willingly accommodate themselves to the service of man, especially of the husbandman, are so called from אלף to yield to. Wild animals, which in prose are called חיּת הארץ, (השּׂדה) here bear the poetical name בּהמות שׂדי, as in Joe 2:22, cf. Joe 1:20, 1Sa 17:44. שׂדי (in pause שׂדי) is the primitive form of שׂדה, which is not declined, and has thereby obtained a collective signification. From the land animals the description passes on to the fowls of the air and the fishes of the water. צפּור is the softer word, instead of עוף; and שׁמים is water. צפּור is the softer word, instead of עוף; and שׁמים is used without the art. according to poetical usage, whereas היּם without the art. would have sounded too scanty and not sufficiently measured. In connection with ימּים the article may be again omitted, just as with שׁמים. עבר is a collective participle. If the following were intended: he (or: since he), viz., man, passes through the paths of the sea (Böttcher, Cassel, and even Aben-Ezra and Kimchi), then it would not have been expressed in such a monostich, and in a form so liable to lead one astray. The words may be a comprehensive designation of that portion of the animal kingdom which is found in the sea; and this also intended to include all from the smallest worm to the gigantic leviathan: ὁππόσα ποντοπόρους παρεπιστείβουσι κελεύθους (Apollinaris). If man thus rules over every living thing that is round about him from the nearest to the most remote, even that which is apparently the most untameable: then it is clear that every lifeless created thing in his vicinity must serve him as its king. The poet regards man in the light of the purpose for which he was created.

Psa 8:9 (Hebrew_Bible_8:10) 8:10. He has now demonstrated what he expressed in Psa 8:2, that the name of Jahve whose glory is reflected by the heavens, is also glorious on earth. Thus, then, he can as a conclusion repeat the thought with which he began, in a wider and more comprehensive meaning, and weave his Psalm together, as it were, into a wreath.

It is just this Psalm, of which one would have least expected it, that is frequently quoted in the New Testament and applied to the Messiah. Indeed Jesus’ designation of Himself by ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, however far it may refer back to the Old Testament Scriptures, leans no less upon this Psalm than upon Dan 7:13. The use the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 2:6-8) makes of Psa 8:5 of this Psalm shows us how the New Testament application to the Messiah is effected. The psalmist regards man as one who glorifies God and as a prince created of God. The deformation of this position by sin he leaves unheeded. But both sides of the mode of regarding it are warranted. On the one hand, we see that which man has become by creation still in operation even in his present state; on the other hand, we see it distorted and stunted. If we compare what the Psalm says with this shady side of the reality, from which side it is incongruous with the end of man’s creation, then the song which treats of the man of the present becomes a prophecy of the man of the future. The Psalm undergoes this metamorphosis in the New Testament consciousness, which looks more to the loss than to that which remains of the original. In fact, the centre of the New Testament consciousness is Jesus the Restorer of that which is lost. The dominion of the world lost to fallen man, and only retained by him in a ruined condition, is allotted to mankind, when redeemed by Him, in fuller and more perfect reality. This dominion is not yet in the actual possession of mankind, but in the person of Jesus it now sits enthroned at the right hand of God. In Him the idea of humanity is transcendently realised, i.e., according to a very much higher standard than that laid down when the world was founded. He has entered into the state-only a little (βραχύ τι) beneath the angels - of created humanity for a little while (βραχύ τι), in order to raise redeemed humanity above the angels. Everything (כּל) is really put under Him with just as little limitation as is expressed in this Psalm: not merely the animal kingdom, not merely the world itself, but the universe with all the ruling powers in it, whether they be in subjection or in hostility to God, yea even the power of death (1Co 15:27, cf. Eph 1:22). Moreover, by redemption, more than heretofore, the confession which comes from the mouth of little children is become a bulwark founded of God, in order that against it the resistance of the opponents of revelation may be broken. We have an example of this in Mat 21:16, where our Lord points the pharisees and scribes, who are enraged at the Hosanna of the children, to Psa 8:3. Redemption demands of man, before everything else, that he should become as a little child, and reveals its mysteries to infants, which are hidden from the wise and intelligent. Thus, therefore, it is μικροὶ καὶ νήπιοι, whose tongue is loosed by the Spirit of God, who are to put to shame the unbelieving; and all that this Psalm says of the man of the present becomes in the light of the New Testament in its relation to the history of redemption, a prophecy of the Son of man κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν, and of the new humanity.

Glory of God in His Works.

1 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

The psalmist here sets himself to give to God the glory due to his name. Dr. Hammond grounds a conjecture upon the title of this psalm concerning the occasion of penning it. It is said to be upon Gittith, which is generally taken for the tune, or musical instrument, with which this psalm was to be sung; but he renders it upon the Gittite, that is, Goliath the Gittite, whom he vanquished and slew (1 Sam. xvii.); that enemy was stilled by him who was, in comparison, but a babe and a suckling. The conjecture would be probable enough but that we find two other psalms with the same title, Ps. lxxxi. and lxxxiv.. Two things David here admires:—

I. How plainly God displays his glory himself, v. 1. He addresses himself to God with all humility and reverence, as the Lord and his people's Lord: O Lord our Lord! If we believe that God is the Lord, we must avouch and acknowledge him to be ours. He is ours, for he made us, protects us, and takes special care of us. He must be ours, for we are bound to obey him and submit to him; we must own the relation, not only when we come to pray to God, as a plea with him to show us mercy, but when we come to praise him, as an argument with ourselves to give him glory: and we shall never think we can do that with affection enough if we consider, 1. How brightly God's glory shines even in this lower world: How excellent is his name in all the earth! The works of creation and Providence evince and proclaim to all the world that there is an infinite Being, the fountain of all being, power, and perfection, the sovereign ruler, powerful protector, and bountiful benefactor of all the creatures. How great, how illustrious, how magnificent, is his name in all the earth! The light of it shines in men's faces every where (Rom. i. 20); if they shut their eyes against it, that is their fault. There is no speech or language but the voice of God's name either is heard in it or may be. But this looks further, to the gospel of Christ, by which the name of God, as it is notified by divine revelation, which before was great in Israel only, came to be so in all the earth, the utmost ends of which have thus been made to see God's great salvation, Mark xvi. 15, 16. 2. How much more brightly it shines in the upper world: Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens. (1.) God is infinitely more glorious and excellent than the noblest of creatures and those that shine most brightly. (2.) Whereas we, on this earth, only hear God's excellent name, and praise that, the angels and blessed spirits above see his glory, and praise that, and yet he is exalted far above even their blessing and praise. (3.) In the exaltation of the Lord Jesus to the right hand of God, who is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person, God set his glory above the heavens, far above all principalities and powers.

II. How powerfully he proclaims it by the weakest of his creatures (v. 2): Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, or perfected praise, the praise of thy strength, Matt. xxi. 16. This intimates the glory of God, 1. In the kingdom of nature. The care God takes of little children (when they first come into the world the most helpless of all animals), the special protection they are under, and the provision nature has made for them, ought to be acknowledged by every one of us, to the glory of God, as a great instance of his power and goodness, and the more sensibly because we have all had the benefit of it, for to this we owe it that we died not from the womb, that the knees then prevented us, and the breasts, that we should suck. "This is such an instance of thy goodness, as may for ever put to silence the enemies of thy glory, who say, There is no God." 2. In the kingdom of Providence. In the government of this lower world he makes use of the children of men, some that know him and others that do not (Isa. xlv. 4), and these such as have been babes and sucklings; nay, sometimes he is pleased to serve his own purposes by the ministry of such as are still, in wisdom and strength, little better than babes and sucklings. 3. In the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of the Messiah. It is here foretold that by the apostles, who were looked upon but as babes, unlearned and ignorant men (Acts iv. 13), mean and despicable, and by the foolishness of their preaching, the devil's kingdom should be thrown down as Jericho's walls were by the sound of rams' horns. The gospel is called the arm of the Lord and the rod of his strength; this was ordained to work wonders, not out of the mouth of philosophers or orators, politicians or statesmen, but of a company of poor fishermen, who lay under the greatest external disadvantages; yea, we hear children crying, Hosanna to the Son of David, when the chief priests and Pharisees owned him not, but despised and rejected him; to that therefore our Saviour applied this (Matt. xxi. 16) and by it stilled the enemy. Sometimes the grace of God appears wonderfully in young children, and he teaches those knowledge, and makes those to understand doctrine, who are but newly weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts, Isa. xxviii. 9. Sometimes the power of God brings to pass great things in his church by very weak and unlikely instruments, and confounds the noble, wise, and mighty, by the base, and weak, and foolish things of the world, that no flesh may glory in his presence, but the excellency of the power may the more evidently appear to be of God, and not of man, 1 Cor. i. 27, 28. This he does because of his enemies, because they are insolent and haughty, that he may still them, may put them to silence, and put them to shame, and so be justly avenged on the avengers; see Acts iv. 14; vi. 10. The devil is the great enemy and avenger, and by the preaching of the gospel he was in a great measure stilled, his oracles were silenced, the advocates of his cause were confounded, and unclean spirits themselves were not suffered to speak.

In singing this let us give God the glory of his great name, and of the great things he has done by the power of his gospel, in the chariot of which the exalted Redeemer rides forth conquering and to conquer, and ought to be attended, not only with our praises, but with our best wishes. Praise is perfected (that is, God is in the highest degree glorified) when strength is ordained out of the mouth of babes and sucklings.

Condescension of God.

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

David here goes on to magnify the honour of God by recounting the honours he has put upon man, especially the man Christ Jesus. The condescensions of the divine grace call for our praises as much as the elevations of the divine glory. How God has condescended in favour to man the psalmist here observes with wonder and thankfulness, and recommends it to our thoughts. See here,

I. What it is that leads him to admire the condescending favour of God to man; it is his consideration of the lustre and influence of the heavenly bodies, which are within the view of sense (v. 3): I consider thy heavens, and there, particularly, the moon and the stars. But why does he not take notice of the sun, which much excels them all? Probably because it was in a night-walk, but moon-light, that he entertained and instructed himself with this meditation, when the sun was not within view, but only the moon and the stars, which, though they are not altogether so serviceable to man as the sun is, yet are no less demonstrations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator. Observe, 1. It is our duty to consider the heavens. We see them, we cannot but see them. By this, among other things, man is distinguished from the beasts, that, while they are so framed as to look downwards to the earth, man is made erect to look upwards towards heaven. Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri jussit—To man he gave an erect countenance, and bade him gaze on the heavens, that thus he may be directed to set his affections on things above; for what we see has not its due influence upon us unless we consider it. 2. We must always consider the heavens as God's heavens, not only as all the world is his, even the earth and the fulness thereof, but in a more peculiar manner. The heavens, even the heavens, are the Lord's (Ps. cxv. 16); they are the place of the residence of his glory and we are taught to call him Our Father in heaven. 3. They are therefore his, because they are the work of his fingers. He made them; he made them easily. The stretching out of the heavens needed not any outstretched arm; it was done with a word; it was but the work of his fingers. He made them with very great curiosity and fineness, like a nice piece of work which the artist makes with his fingers. 4. Even the inferior lights, the moon and stars, show the glory and power of the Father of lights, and furnish us with matter for praise. 5. The heavenly bodies are not only the creatures of the divine power, but subject to the divine government. God not only made them, but ordained them, and the ordinances of heaven can never be altered. But how does this come in here to magnify God's favour to man? (1.) When we consider how the glory of God shines in the upper world we may well wonder that he should take cognizance of such a mean creature as man, that he who resides in that bright and blessed part of the creation, and governs it, should humble himself to behold the things done upon this earth; see Ps. cxiii. 5, 6. (2.) When we consider of what great use the heavens are to men on earth, and how the lights of heavens are divided unto all nations (Deut. iv. 19, Gen. i. 15), we may well say, "Lord, what is man that thou shouldst settle the ordinances of heaven with an eye to him and to his benefit, and that his comfort and convenience should be so consulted in the making of the lights of heaven and directing their motions!"

II. How he expresses this admiration (v. 4): "Lord, what is man (enosh, sinful, weak, miserable man, a creature so forgetful of thee and his duty to thee) that thou art thus mindful of him, that thou takest cognizance of him and of his actions and affairs, that in the making of the world thou hadst a respect to him! What is the son of man, that thou visitest him, that thou not only feedest him and clothest him, protectest him and providest for him, in common with other creatures, but visited him as one friend visits another, art pleased to converse with him and concern thyself for him! What is man—(so mean a creature), that he should be thus honoured—(so sinful a creature), that he should be thus countenanced and favoured!" Now this refers,

1. To mankind in general. Though man is a worm, and the son of man is a worm (Job xxv. 6), yet God puts a respect upon him, and shows him abundance of kindness; man is, above all the creatures in this lower world, the favourite and darling of Providence. For, (1.) He is of a very honourable rank of beings. We may be sure he takes precedence of all the inhabitants of this lower world, for he is made but a little lower than the angels (v. 5), lower indeed, because by his body he is allied to the earth and to the beasts that perish, and yet by his soul, which is spiritual and immortal, he is so near akin to the holy angels that he may be truly said to be but a little lower than they, and is, in order, next to them. He is but for a little while lower than the angels, while his great soul is cooped up in a house of clay, but the children of the resurrection shall be isangeloi—angels' peers (Luke xx. 36) and no longer lower than they. (2.) He is endued with noble faculties and capacities: Thou hast crowned him with glory and honour. He that gave him his being has distinguished him, and qualified him for a dominion over the inferior creatures; for, having made him wiser than the beasts of the earth and the fowls of heaven (Job xxxv. 11), he has made him fit to rule them and it is fit that they should be ruled by him. Man's reason is his crown of glory; let him not profane that crown by disturbing the use of it nor forfeit that crown by acting contrary to its dictates. (3.) He is invested with a sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures, under God, and is constituted their lord. He that made them, and knows them, and whose own they are, has made man to have dominion over them, v. 6. His charter, by which he holds this royalty, bears equal date with his creation (Gen. i. 28) and was renewed after the flood, Gen. ix. 2. God has put all things under man's feet, that he might serve himself, not only of the labour, but of the productions and lives of the inferior creatures; they are all delivered into his hand, nay, they are all put under his feet. He specifies some of the inferior animals (v. 7, 8), not only sheep and oxen, which man takes care of and provides for, but the beasts of the field, as well as those of the flood, yea, and those creatures which are most at a distance from man, as the fowl of the air, yea, and the fish of the sea, which live in another element and pass unseen through the paths of the seas. Man has arts to take these; though many of them are much stronger and many of them much swifter than he, yet, one way or other, he is too hard for them, Jam. iii. 7. Every kind of beasts, and birds, and things in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed. He has likewise liberty to use them as he has occasion. Rise, Peter, kill and eat, Acts x. 13. Every time we partake of fish or of fowl we realize this dominion which man has over the works of God's hands; and this is a reason for our subjection to God, our chief Lord, and to his dominion over us.

2. But this refers, in a particular manner, to Jesus Christ. Of him we are taught to expound it, Heb. ii. 6-8, where the apostle, to prove the sovereign dominion of Christ both in heaven and in earth, shows that he is that man, that son of man, here spoken of, whom God has crowned with glory and honour and made to have dominion over the works of his hands. And it is certain that the greatest favour that ever was shown to the human race, and the greatest honour that ever was put upon the human nature, were exemplified in the incarnation and exaltation of the Lord Jesus; these far exceed the favours and honours done us by creation and providence, though they also are great and far more than we deserve. We have reason humbly to value ourselves by it and thankfully to admire the grace of God in it, (1.) That Jesus Christ assumed the nature of man, and, in that nature, humbled himself. He became the Son of man, a partaker of flesh and blood; being so, God visited him, which some apply to his sufferings for us, for it is said (Heb. ii. 9), For the suffering of death, a visitation in wrath, he was crowned with glory and honour. God visited him; having laid upon him the iniquity of us all, he reckoned with him for it, visited him with a rod and with stripes, that we by them might be healed. He was, for a little while (so the apostle interprets it), made lower than the angels, when he took upon him the form of a servant and made himself of no reputation. (2.) That, in that nature, he is exalted to be Lord of all. God the Father exalted him, because he had humbled himself, crowned him with glory and honour, the glory which he had with him before the worlds were, set not only the head of the church, but head over all things to the church, and gave all things into his hand, entrusted him with the administration of the kingdom of providence in conjunction with and subserviency to the kingdom of grace. All the creatures are put under his feet; and, even in the days of his flesh, he gave some specimens of his power over them, as when he commanded the winds and the seas, and appointed a fish to pay his tribute. With good reason therefore does the psalmist conclude as he began, Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, which has been honoured with the presence of the Redeemer, and is still enlightened by his gospel and governed by his wisdom and power!

In singing this and praying it over, though we must not forget to acknowledge, with suitable affections, God's common favours to mankind, particularly in the serviceableness of the inferior creatures to us, yet we must especially set ourselves to give glory to our Lord Jesus, by confessing that he is Lord, submitting to him as our Lord, and waiting till we see all things put under him and all his enemies made his footstool.

PSAL. VIII.

To the master of the musicke upon Gittith; a Psalme of David.

IEhovah our Lord, how wondrous excellent is thy name in all the earth, which hast given thy glorious Majestie above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast founded strength, because of thy distressers, to make cease the enemie and selfe-avenger. When I behold thy heavens, the worke of thy fingers, the moone and the stars which thou hast stably constituted; What is sorry man that thou remembrest him, and the son of Adam that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him lesser a little than the Gods, and crowned him with glory and comely honor. Thou gavest him dominion over the works of thy hands: all thou didst set under his feet. Sheep and oxen all of them, and also the beasts of the field. The fowle of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, that which passeth thorow the paths of the seas. Iehovah our Lord, how wondrous excellent is thy name in all the earth.

Annotations. GIttith] or the Gittith, which title is also given to the 81 and 84 Psalmes. Gath in Hebrew is a wine-presse, Isa. 63. 2. It is also the name of a citie of the Philistims, 1 Sam. 17. 4. A citie also of the Levites was called Gath-rimmon, Ios. 21. 25. whereupon Obed-Edom the son of Ieduthun, a Levite and singer in Israel, was called a Gittite, 2 Sam. 6. 10. So by Gittith here may be meant, either such instruments as were used by the posteritie of Obed-Edom the Gittite, or that these Psalmes were made upon occasion of transporting Gods arke from the house of that Obed-Edom, the history whereof is in 2 Sā. 6. 6. 10. 11, 12, &c. or that these Psalmes were to be sung for praise of God at the Vintage when grapes were pressed. And according to this the Greeke translateth it the wine-presses. Or it may be the name of some musicall instrument; and so the Chaldee Paraphrast translateth it, To sing upon the harpe that came from Gath. Vers. 2. our Lord] or, our sustainers: See the note on Psal. 2. 4 wondrous excellent] or wondrous ample, illustrious and magnificent. The originall word signifieth ample or large, and excellent withall, cleare and splendent in glory: The Greek turneth it wonderfull: the Chaldee, high and landable. So in v. 10. name] this word is often used for renowne or glory, Gen. 6 4 Eccle. 7. 3. Phil. 2. 9. as on the contrary, vile persons are called men without name, Iob 30 8. Gods name is also used for his kingdome and Gospell, Mat. 19. 29. compared with Luk. 18. 29. Mar. 10. 29. And this Psalme treateth of the spreading of Christs Kingdome and Gospell, as after is manifested. hast given] that is, put or set; as, I have given, Isa. 42. 1. is by the Evangelist in Greeke, I will put, Mat. 12. 18. and in the Hebrew text, as, he hath given thee over them for king, 2 Chr. 9. 8. for which is written in 1 Kings 10 9. he hath set (or put.) It may also import a setting sure or stablishing; as, thou hast given thy people, 1 Chr. 17. 22. that is, thou hast stablished thy people, 2 Sam. 7. 24. Here also is a grammatical change in the Hebrew; to give, for thou hast given. glorious majestie] venerable or praise-worthy glory. The word Hodh, is generall for any laudable grace or vertue for which one is celebrated, reverenced and commended. above] or over, or upon the heavens. This phrase is used of God, Num. 27. 20. where he willeth Moses to give of his glorious majestie upon Iosua: and may have use in the mysticall applying of this Psalm to Christs kingdom, as Mat. 21. 26. teacheth us: heaven; being also often used in Scripture for the Church of Christ, Isa. 65. 17. and 66. 22. Rev. 21. 1. Vers. 3. hast founded] that is, firmely decreed, appointed, and consequently fitted and perfected, as the Greeke katertiso (which the Apostle useth) signifieth, Mat. 21. 16. So in Esth. 1. 8. the king had founded, that is, decreed, appointed. See also before, Psal. 2. 2. strength] that is, strong praise, for so this word seemeth often to be used, as Ps. 29. 1. and 96. 7. and 118. 14. therefore the Greeke which the Apostle followeth, Mat. 21. 16. translateth it praise. This word strength or firmnesse, may be taken for kingdome firmly strengthened, as in this place, so in Ps. 110. 2. and 86. 16. and 89. 11. to make cease] that is, put to silence, or doe away, abolish, and destroy. So after in Psal. 119. 119. and 89. 45. and 46. 10. selfe-avenger] or, him that avengeth himselfe; the proud and mighty which will not suffer his honour or gaine to be diminished. So Ps. 44. 17. This was fu[illegible: 1 letter]filled, when children crying Hosanna to welcome Christ, the chiefe Priests and Scribes disdained, & sought to destroy him: but he stopped their mouthes by alleaging this Scripture, Mat. 21. 15, 16. Mark. 11. 18. Gods people are taught though they suffer wrong, not to avenge themselves, but to give place unto wrath, Rom. 12. 19. Vers. 5. what is sorry man] to wit, thus thinke I with my selfe, what is man, &c. Here man is called Aenosh, (the name of Adams nephew, Gen. 4. 26.) which signifieth dolefull, sorry, sorrowfull, wretched, and sick incurably. And this name is given to all men, to put them in mind of their misery and mortality; as Ps. 9. 21. let the heathens know that they be Aenosh. son of Adam] or, of earthly man. As before men are called Aenosh for their dolefull estate by sin; so are they called Adam, and sons of Adam, that is, earthly, to put them in mind of their originall and end, which were made of Adamah the earth, even of the dust, and to dust shall again return, Gen. 27. and 3. [illegible: 1 letter]9. Adam was the name both of man and woman, Gen. 5. 2. and is also the name of all their children, Ps. 22. 7. and 36. 7. and 39. 6. and in many other places. See the note on Psal. 49 3. visitest him] that is, hast care of, providest for, and lookest to him. The originall word thus largely signifieth, and is used indifferently for visiting with favour, as Ps. 65. 10. or with displeasure, as Psal. 59. 6. Here it is meant for good; for Gods providence is singular towards man, and his visitation preserveth our spirit, Iob 10. 12. Compare also herewith, Psal. 144. 3. Iob 7. 17, 18. Vers. 6. For thou madest him lesser] or, And thou madest him lack; or, Though thou madest him to want a little of the Gods. a little] The originall word signifieth either a little while, Psal. 37. 10. or a little deale, Ps. 37. [illegible: 1 letter]6. 1 Sam. 14. 29. The Greeke brachuti (which the Apostle useth) also signifieth both, Act. 5. 34. Ioh. 6. 7. howbeit, by his applying this to Christ, he seemeth to meane a little or short time, Heb. 2. 7. 9. than the Gods] or than God; but by Gods here is meant the Angels, as the Apostle expoundeth it, according both to the Greeke version & Chaldee paraphrase. And those heavenly spirits are for their office and service called Angels, that is, messengers; but for their honorable dignity they are called Gods, here & in Ps 97. 7. & the sons of God, Iob 1. 6. & 38. 7. The Princes of the earth are named Gods, Psal. 82. 6. how much more may the Angels be called so, that are Chiefe Princes, Dan. 10. 13. and crownedst him] This may be understood of man as he was first made in Gods image, and Lord of the world, Gen. 1. 26. but since the transgression, it is peculiar to Christ and to Christian men that have their dignity restored by Christ. Vnto him the Apostle applieth this Psalme, thus: We see Iesus crowned with glory and honour, which was a little made lesser than the Angels, through the suffering of death, that by the grace of God he might taste death for all, Hebr. 2. 9. Glory seemeth to respect inward vertues, as wisdome, holinesse, &c. and Honour for his outward good estate in ruling over the creatures, as vers. 7, 8, 9. comely honour] The Hebrew hadar denoteth all honourable comelinesse, honest, grave, adorned decencie. Vers. 7. all, didst thou set] in the first creation God gave man rule over fishes, fowles, beasts, and all that moveth on the earth, Gen. 1. 26. but after, for his sake and sinne, the earth was cursed, and he enjoyed it with sorrow, Gen. 3. 17. But the Son of man, who is heire of all things, Hebr. 1. 2. restoreth our losse, and will cause the remnant of the people, even who-soever overcommeth, to inherit all things, Zach. 8. 12. Rev. 21. 7. though unto man living here in sorrowes, we yet see not all things subdued, Hebr. 2. 8. Vers. 8. Sheepe and oxen] or Flockes and herds; the flocke comprehending both sheepe and goats, Levit. 1. 10. Vers. 9. The fowle] that is, fowles or birds; one is used for many or all; so the Hebrew often speaketh of other things, as ship, for ships, 1 King. 10. 22. with 2 Chron. 9. 21. speare, for speares, 2 King. 11. 10. with 2 Chro. 23. 9. So Psal. 20. 8. and 34. 8. of the heavens] that is, of the aire, for all this Outspred or firmament spred over the face of the earth, God called Heavens, Gen. 1. 17. the place also above where the Sunne and starres are, be called heavens, Gen. 1. 17. and the highest place where the Angels dwell, (and God himselfe is said to sit in,) is likewise called heaven, Matth. 5. 9. and 24. 36. and by the Apostle named the third heaven, 2 Cor. 12. 2. So other Scriptures mention the birds of heaven, Matth. 13. 32. the winds of heaven, Dan. 7. 2. the clouds of heaven, Dan. 7. 13. the dew of heaven, Dan. 4. 12, &c. The Hebrew name Shamajim, hath the forme of the duall number: but the Evangelists expresse it indifferently by the singular or plurall; as where one saith, your reward is great in the heavens, Mat. 5. 12. another saith, it is much in heaven, Luk. 6. 23.

PSAL. VIII.

TO the chief Muſician upon Gittith] Upon the Cittern, or Gittern brought from Gath, ſaith the Chaldee Paraphraſt; or that was uſed by the Sons of Obed-Edom the Gittite, 2 Sam. 6.10. or, that was ſung at the Wine-preſſes, as the Greek hath it, for a thankſ-giving in time of Vintage. This laſt Aben-Ezra diſliketh, though I ſee no reaſon why he ſhould.

Verſ. 1.Vani homines exponunt de torculari. Ab. Ezra. O Lord, our Lord &c.] The ſcope of this whole Pſalm is, to ſet us a wondering at, and magnifying the Majeſty and Magnificence of the Almighty; together with his inexpreſſible goodneſs to Mankind;

1 In our Creation in Adam.

2 In our Reſtauration by Chriſt: which laſt is the true end of this Pſalm, as appeareth Mat. 21.15. 1 Cor. 15.27. and Heb. 2.8.

How excellent is thy Name] This, David ſpeaketh as one ſwallowed up with admiration at that Nomen illud Magnificum & Majeſtativum, that Glory, Honour, Power, Wiſdom, Goodneſs, &c. that being inveſted in God, and manifeſted in the Creature (Gods Handy-work) ſhould make us both wonder and inquire into Gods excellencies, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Ariſt. Rhet. lib. 1. cap. 11 according to that of Ariſtotle, to admire, and learn at once is a pleaſant thing: and ſure that which is admirable, ſtirreth up deſire to ſee further into it. Admiratio peperit Philoſophiam, ſaith another, Admiration brought forth Philoſophy; let it breed devotion in us, and a deſire to praiſe God, who hath therefore diſplayed his excellencies in his Works, that we might give him his due glory. The Angels ſhouted at the Creation, Job 38.4, 5, 6, and ſhall we be dul, and dumb? God tells Job of his own great Works, (the Elephant, and Whale eſpecially) and thereby brings him to a right temper. The Elephant is in Chaldee called Pil, of a word that ſignifieth Wonderful; becauſe the Wonders of Gods glory do ſo marvellouſly appear in him. See Job 40.15, 16, &c with the Notes. The Philoſophers make Iris, Plate. or the Rainbow, the Daughter of Thaumas, or Admiration; but becauſe that when they knew God, ſcil. Per ſpecies Creaturarum, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations — therefore were they given up to a reprobate ſenſe, Rom. 1.21.28.

In all the earth?] Where a man cannot look beſide a Miracle, ſo full of God are all places.

Who haſt ſet thy glory above the Heavens] Nam in eis robu[illegible: 1 letter] Dei maximè apparet; for in the Heavens (how much more above them) doth the glory of God chiefly appear: the Earth is a ſmall point in compariſon of the Heavens, and is governed by them, as R. David here noteth.

Verſ. 2. Out of the mouth of Babes and ſucklings] For whom, God hath filled two Bottles of Milk againſt they come into the World: and in whoſe birth, ſuſtenance, and wonderful protection (for Puerilitas eſt periculorum pelagus) but eſpecially in their holy and religious education, much of Gods Providence, Power, and Goodneſs is clearly ſeen and ſet forth to the conviction of the vileſt Atheiſts. So that, beſides the Earth and the Heavens, we have very Infants Preachers of Gods praiſes, and more effectual Oratours than ever were Iſocrates, Demoſthenes, Pericles, &c. ſo our Saviour underſtands it, Mat. 21.10. where the Children ſang Hoſanna when the Phariſees were ſilent. It is ſometimes ſeen, that Ipſa Deo blandos fundant cunabula flores.

John Baptiſt ſprang in the Wombe for joy of Jeſus. Hierom writeth of Paula, that noble Matron, that ſhe rejoyced in nothing more than this, That ſhe heard her Neece Paula ſing Hallelujah in her Cradle. Bellarmine tells us out of Theodoret, In cunis cunis ba[illegible: 2 letters] butienti lin[illegible: 2 letters] Hallelujah Cantare. Hi[illegible: 2 letters] that the Children of Samoſatena playing at Tenniſ-ball in the midſt of the Market, did ſolemnly caſt it into the fire, becauſe it had but toucht the foot of the Aſſe, wheron Lucius the Heretical Biſhop rode. The Children of Merindal ſo poſed, and anſwered one another, in matters of Religion, before the perſecuting Biſhop of Cavaillon, that a religious man that ſtood by ſaid unto the Biſhop, I muſt needs confeſs that I have often been at the Diſputation of the Doctors in Sorbon, Act & Mon[illegible: 2 letters] fol. 865. Ibid. 1156. but yet I never learned ſo much as I have done by hearing theſe young children. When Mr. Blecter the Biſhops Chaplain told Mr. Wiſehart the Scotch Martyr, that he had a Devil in him, and the ſpirit of Error; a Childe that ſtood by anſwered him, ſaying, A Devil cannot ſpeak ſuch words as yonder man ſpeaketh. At the burning of John Laurence at Colcheſter, as he was ſitting in the fire (for ſtand he could not, he had been ſo hardly uſed in the Priſon) the young Children came about the fire, and cried, Lord, ſtrengthen thy Servant, and keep thy promiſe. Ibid. 1403. Here was ſtrength out of the mouthes of little ones, taught betime to ſpeak the language of Canaan. Sed vae vae parentibus illis (ſaith Polanus on the Text) But wo, wo to thoſe Parents who make their Children (whom God would have to be witneſſes of his Majeſty) witneſſes of their impiety, pride, and vanity.

That thou mighteſt ſtill the enemy and the avenger] i.e. Silence Atheiſts and Perſecutors.

Verſ. 3. When I conſider thy Heavens] And that men ſhould be much in this conſideration, both the bolt-upright figure of their bodies may moniſh them, and alſo that fifth Muſcle which God hath ſet in Mans eye (whereas other Creatures have but four) to draw it upward, Ut ejus auxilio coelum intueremur, ſaith the Anatomiſt, that by the help thereof we might conſider the Heavens. This,Columb. de re Anatom. l. 5. c. 9. thoſe Chriſtians that do not, ſhall have thoſe Heathens riſing up in Judgement againſt them. Anaxagoras Clazomenius, who uſed to ſay, that he was therefore born that he might contemplate the Heavens. And Ennius, who blameth Epicurus for that Dum palato quid ſit optimum judicaret, coeli palatium non ſuſpexerit, he did ſo purvey for his Palate, that he looked not up to Heavens Palace. Certain it is, that many men have ſo much to do upon Earth, that they cannot have while to caſt an eye towards Heaven, as the Duke of Alva told a great Prince, who asked him if he had taken notice of the laſt Eclips. That wonderful Globe of Silver ſent by King Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turk, lively expreſſing the wonderful motions,Turk. Hiſt. 71 and converſions of the Caeleſtial frame, the hourly paſſing of the Time, the Change and Full of the Moon, &c. was much more beheld and admired, than Heaven it ſelf is by moſt people. True it is, that that Globe was a moſt curious and ſtrange Piece of Work, deviſed and perfected by the moſt cunning Aſtronomers, for Maximilian the Emperour, whoſe noble minde never ſpared for any coſt to obtain things of rare and ſtrange deviſe. But what was all this to the Heavens? That

Work of Gods finger] That is, moſt elaborate and accurate; a Metaphor from Embroyderers, or from them that make Tapeſtry. Aben-Ezra's Note here is, Digiti ſunt decem, & ſphaera ſunt decem, As there are ten Fingers, ſo there are ten Spheres, &c.

The Moon and the Stars] No mention of the Sun, becauſe included in this word Heaven; wherein by Day the Sun is moſt conſpicuous, as by Night, the Moon and Stars.

VVhich thou haſt ordained] That was a witty ſpeech of Cyril, They were [non-Latin text not transcribed] Athieſts by Night, who worſhipped the Sun, and Atheiſts by Day, who worſhipped the Moon and Stars.

Verſ. 4. What is man that thou art mindful of him?] Sorry, ſickly man, a Maſs of Mortalities, a Map of Miſeries, a mixture or compound of Dirt and Sin? And yet God is mindful of him; he not only takes care of him in an ordinary way, as he doth other Creatures, but ſingularly attendeth, and affecteth him, as a Father doth his deareſt Childe. Heis, Divini ingenii cura, ſaith one; he is the end of all in a ſemi-circle, ſaith another Philoſopher; meaning, that all things in the World were made for man, and man made for God: Neither is there ſo much of the glory of God in all his Works of Wonder, as in one gracious performance of a godly perſon. But if we underſtand the Text (as the Apoſtle doth, Heb. 2.6.) of the Man Chriſt Jeſus, Hic homo & filius hominis qualis & quantus eſt, Deus bone! ſaith Junius.

And the Son of Man] Heb.Arrian in Epictet. Of earthly men; for what is the greateſt Potentate, but [non-Latin text not transcribed] a peece of Clay neatly made up?

That thou viſiteſt him?] That thou mindeſt him more than other Creatures, and makeſt him Lord of all? thy viſitation preſerveth his ſpirit, Job 10.12.

Verſ. 5. For thou haſt made hima little lower than the Angels] Compare here with Heb. 2.6, 7. and it will appear that whatſoever is ſpoken here of man, is applied to Chriſt, and ſo is proper to the Saints, by vertue of their union with Chriſt; in which reſpect they are more glorious, ſaith one, than Heaven, Angels, or any Creature. This is their dignity: and for their duty they muſt therefore give the more earnest heed to the Doctrin of the Goſpel, leſt at any time they ſhould leak, or let ſlip the ſame, but retain and obey it. This is the Apoſtles own inference, Heb. 2.5, 6, 7. for thus he argueth: Unto the Angels God hath not put in ſubjection the World to come, where of we ſpeak; But to man (for whoſe ſake the Son of God came in the fleſh, for whoſe ſake the Goſpel was preached, for whoſe ſake wee ſpeak of that World to come) he hath; therefore it behooveth man to obſerve, and obey the Goſpel.

And haſt crowned him with glory and honour] Some refer this to the reaſonable Soul, whereby he not only differeth from Beaſts, but draweth nigh to the heavenly Nature. As Rome was an Epitome of the World; as Athens was the Greece of Greece; and as one ſaid to his Friend who deſired to ſee Athens, Viſo Solone vidiſti omnia, when thou haſt ſeen Solon thou haſt ſeen all Athens: So man is a little World, and is therefore called every Creature, Mark 16, 15. and the Saints (in whom Gods Image is repaired) are called All things, Coloſ. 1.20. Chriſt being unto them All, and in all.

Verſ. 6. Thou madeſt him to have dominion, &c.] He had ſo at firſt, Gen. 1.26. and ſhall have again, Zech. 8.12. Rev. 21.7. mean while (though Rebellis facta eſt Creatura homini, quia homo numini, the Creature rebelleth againſt man, becauſe man doth againſt God; yet) we cannot but ſee ſome foot-ſteps remaining of that ancient Soveraignty,Tully. Plutarch. E[illegible: 1 letter]ncus. which the very Heathens alſo acknowledged, and there-hence fetched excellent Arguments for a Providence. Lions hate Apes, but fear men; though Simia quam ſimilis, turpiſſima beſtia, nobis: Hereof no probable reaſon can be given but this, That God hath put all things under mans feet; inſomuch as that the moſt timerous men dare kick and beat the hugeſt Elephants. Indeed by reaſon of Sin, as was ſaid, we ſee not all things ſubdued. Heb. 12.8. But why hath Nature denied to Horſes,Bodin. Theat. Nat. p 405. Aſſes, Camels, Elephants. Deer, &c. a Gall, which it hath given to Lions, Wolves, and other fierce Creatures? Surely herein appeareth the wonderful Wiſdom and goodneſs of God; who hath done this, that thoſe ſo ſerviceable Creatures might be the better tamed, and ſubdued by man. Let man conſider (ſaith one well) what excellency he hath loſt through Adams fall, and bewail his miſery. Let him alſo on the other ſide well weigh the grace beſtowed on him in Chriſt, and be joyful and thankful or mercy; knowing this, that if the Creatures be not now ſubjected unto us, it is by reaſon of the Body and relicks of Sin, that yet remain in us; and that therefore if we would have a conqueſt over the Creatures, we muſt begin firſt to get a victory upon ſin, or elſe we ſhall never profit that way.

Thou haſt put all things under his feet] The Earth hath its name from treading upon it; teaching us,Terra à teendo. 1 To trample upon earthly things, as baſe and bootleſs; not to dote upon them with out hearts, nor graſp them over greedily with our hands: as that covetous Cardinal Sylberperger, who took ſo great felicity in Mony, that when he was grievouſly tormented with the Gout, his only remedy to eaſe his pain was, to have a Baſon full of Gold ſet before him, into which he would put his lame hands, turning the Gold upſide down. But if Silver and Gold be a mans happineſs, then it is in the earth, and ſo (which is ſtrange) nearer Hell than Heaven, and ſo nearer the Devil than God. The ancient Romans had for a difference in their Nobility, a little ornament in the form of a Moon, to ſhew that all worldly things were mutable; and they wore it upon their ſhooes, to ſhew that they trod all under their feet. 2. By this poſture of all things sunder mans feet, God would teach him to uſe them as a Stirrop, for the raiſing of his heart to thoſe things above. A ſanctified fancy can make every Creature a Ladder to Heaven, and ſay with that Father, Si tanti vitreum, quanti verum margaritum? If this traſh be ſo highly eſteemed of, how much more the true Treaſure?

Verſ. 7. All Sheep and Oxen, &c.] There are Beaſts ad eſum et ad uſum, ſaith one. Some are profitable dead, not alive, as the Hogge; ſome alive, not dead, as the Dogge, Horſe, &c. ſome both, as the Oxe; yet none ſo profitable as the Sheep, who hath Wool for Raiment, Skin for Parchment, Fleſh for Meat, Guts for Muſick, and was therefore in Sacrifice ſo frequently offered.

Verſ. 8. The Fowl of the air] Theſe Moſes ſeemeth to have forgot, in that diſcontented ſpeech of his, Numb. 11.22. but God ſent thoſe murmurers ſuch a drift of Quails (meat of Kings, with their bread of Angels) as he could not have imagined, or hoped for.

And the Fiſh of the Sea] Piſcis of Paſco. Many Iſlands are maintained, and people fed by Fiſh. In Hebrew the ſame word ſignifieth a Pond, or Fiſh-pool, and a Bleſſing. And ſurely it is a bleſſing to any Country that they have plenty, and dainty, of theſe good Creatures,

And whatſoever paſſeth, &c.] As Whales, and other great Fiſhes, which make a ſmooth path in a calm Sea, as a Ship or Boat doth, Job 41.23, &c. See the Note there.

Verſ. 9. O Lord, our Lord, &c.] Prius incipit Propheta mirari quam loqui, & deſinit loqui non mirari. The Pſalmiſt endeth as he began, tranſported with an extaſie of admiration. So he begins, and ends many of his Pſalms with Hallelujah. Betwixt God and us the diſtance is infinite; and if it were poſſible our love and thankfulneſs ſhould fill up that diſtance, and extend it ſelf to infiniteneſs, ſaith a grave Divine.

Unable to express the glory of God, the Psalmist utters a note of exclamation. O Jehovah our Lord! We need not wonder at this, for no heart can measure, no tongue can utter, the half of the greatness of Jehovah. The whole creation is full of his glory and radiant with the excellency of his power; his goodness and his wisdom are manifested on every hand. The countless myriads of terrestrial beings, from man the head, to the creeping worm at the foot, are all supported and nourished by the Divine bounty. The solid fabric of the universe leans upon his eternal arm. Universally is he present, and everywhere is his name excellent. God worketh ever and everywhere. There is no place where God is not. The miracles of his power await us on all sides. Traverse the silent valleys where the rocks enclose you on either side, rising like the battlements of heaven till you can see but a strip of the blue sky far overhead; you may be the only traveler who has passed through that glen; the bird may start up affrighted, and the moss may tremble beneath the first tread of human foot; but God is there in a thousand wonders, upholding yon rocky barriers, filling the flowercups with their perfume, and refreshing the lonely pines with the breath of his mouth. Descend, if you will, into the lowest depths of the ocean. where undisturbed the water sleeps, and the very sand is motionless in unbroken quiet, but the glory of the Lord is there, revealing its excellence in the silent palace of the sea. Borrow the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, but God is there. Mount to the highest heaven, or dive into the deepest hell, and God is in both hymned in everlasting song, or justified in terrible vengeance. Everywhere, and in every place, God dwells and is manifestly at work. Nor on earth alone is Jehovah extolled, for his brightness shines forth in the firmament above the earth. His glory exceeds the glory of the starry heavens; above the region of the stars he hath set fast his everlasting throne, and there he dwells in light ineffable. Let us adore him "who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; who maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south." (Job 9:8, 9.) We can scarcely find more fitting words than those of Nehemiah, "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee." Returning to the text we are led to observe that this Psalm is addressed to God, because none but the Lord himself can fully know his own glory. The believing heart is ravished with what it sees, but God only knows the glory of God. What a sweetness lies in the little word our, how much is God's glory endeared to us when we consider our interest in him as our Lord. How excellent is thy name! no words can express that excellency; and therefore it is left as a note of exclamation. The very name of Jehovah is excellent, what must his person be. Note the fact that even the heavens cannot contain his glory, it is set above the heavens, since it is and ever must be too great for the creature to express. When wandering among the Alps, we felt that the Lord was infinitely greater than all his grandest works, and under that feeling we roughly wrote these few lines: —

Yet in all these how great soe'er they be,

We see not Him. The glass is all too dense

And dark, or else our earthborn eyes too dim.

Yon Alps, that lift their heads above the clouds

And hold familiar converse with the stars,

Are dust, at which the balance trembleth not,

Compared with His divine immensity.

The snow-crown'd summits fail to set Him forth,

Who dwelleth in Eternity, and bears

Alone, the name of High and Lofty One.

Depths unfathomed are too shallow to express

The wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord.

The mirror of the creatures has no space

To bear the image of the Infinite. 'Tis true the Lord hath fairly writ his name,

And set his seal upon creation's brow.

But as the skilful potter much excels

The vessel which he fashions on the wheel,

E'en so, but in proportion greater far,

Jehovah's self transcends his noblest works.

Earth's ponderous wheels would break, her axles snap,

If freighted with the load of Deity.

Space is too narrow for the Eternal's rest,

And time too short a footstool for his throne.

E'en avalanche and thunder lack a voice,

To utter the full volume of his praise.

How then can I declare him? Where are words

With which my glowing tongue may speak his name?

Silent I bow, and humbly I adore.

Nor only in the heavens above is the Lord seen, but the earth beneath is telling forth his majesty. In the sky, the massive orbs, rolling in their stupendous grandeur, are witnesses of his power in great things, while here below, the lisping utterances of babes are the manifestations of his strength in little ones. How often will children tell us of a God whom we have forgotten! How doth their simple prattle refute those learned fools who deny the being of God! Many men have been made to hold their tongues, while sucklings have borne witness to the glory of the God of heaven. It is singular how clearly the history of the church expounds this verse. Did not the children cry "Hosannah!" in the temple, when proud Pharisees were silent and contemptuous? and did not the Saviour quote these very words as a justification of their infantile cries? Early church history records many amazing instances of the testimony of children for the truth of God, but perhaps more modern instances will be the most interesting. Fox tells us, in the Book of Martyrs, that when Mr. Lawrence was burnt in Colchester, he was carried to the fire in a chair, because through the cruelty of the Papists, he could not stand upright, several young children came about the fire, and cried as well as they could speak, "Lord, strengthen thy servant, and keep thy promise." God answered their prayer, for Mr. Lawrence died as firmly and calmly as any one could wish to breathe his last. When one of the Popish chaplains told Mr. Wishart, the great Scotch martyr, that he had a devil in him, a child that stood by cried out, "A devil cannot speak such words as yonder man speaketh." One more instance is still nearer to our time. In a postscript to one of his letters, in which he details his persecution when first preaching in Moorfields, Whitfield says, "I cannot help adding that several little boys and girls, who were fond of sitting round me on the pulpit while I preached, and handed to me people's notes —though they were often pelted with eggs, dirt, &c., thrown at me —never once gave way; but on the contrary, every time I was struck, turned up their little weeping eyes, and seemed to wish they could receive the blows for me. God make them, in their growing years, great and living martyrs for him who, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, perfects praise!" He who delights in the songs of angels is pleased to honour himself in the eyes of his enemies by the praises of little children. What a contrast between the glory above the heavens, and the mouths of babes and sucklings! yet by both the name of God is made excellent.

At the close of that excellent little manual entitled "The Solar System," written by Dr. Dick, we find an eloquent passage which beautifully expounds the text: —A survey of the solar system has a tendency to moderate the pride of man and to promote humility. Pride is one of the distinguishing characteristics of puny man, and has been one of the chief causes of all the contentions, wars, devastations, systems of slavery, and ambitious projects which have desolated and demoralized our sinful world. Yet there is no disposition more incongruous to the character and circumstances of man. Perhaps there are no rational beings throughout the universe among whom pride would appear more unseemly or incompatible than in man, considering the situation in which he is placed. He is exposed to numerous degradations and calamities, to the rage of storms and tempests, the devastations of earthquakes and volcanoes, the fury of whirlwinds, and the tempestuous billows of the ocean, to the ravages of the sword, famine, pestilence, and numerous diseases; and at length he must sink into the grave, and his body must become the companion of worms! The most dignified and haughty of the sons of men are liable to these and similar degradations as well as the meanest of the human family. Yet, in such circumstances, man —that puny worm of the dust, whose knowledge is so limited, and whose follies are so numerous and glaring —has the effrontery to strut in all the haughtiness of pride, and to glory in his shame.

When other arguments and motives produce little effect on certain minds, no considerations seem likely to have a more powerful tendency to counteract this deplorable propensity in human beings, than those which are borrowed from the objects connected with astronomy. They show us what an insignificant being — what a mere atom, indeed, man appears amidst the immensity of creation! Though he is an object of the paternal care and mercy of the Most High, yet he is but as a grain of sand to the whole earth, when compared to the countless myriads of beings that people the amplitudes of creation. What is the whole of this globe on which we dwell compared with the solar system, which contains a mass of matter ten thousand times greater? What is it in comparison of the hundred millions of suns and worlds which by the telescope have been descried throughout the starry regions? What, then, is a kingdom, a province, or a baronial territory, of which we are as proud as if we were the lords of the universe and for which we engage in so much devastation and carnage? What are they, when set in competition with the glories of the sky? Could we take our station on the lofty pinnacles of heaven, and look down on this scarcely distinguishable speck of earth, we should be ready to exclaim with Seneca, "Is it to this little spot that the great designs and vast desires of men are confined? Is it for this there is so much disturbance of nations, so much carnage, and so many ruinous wars? Oh, the folly of deceived men, to imagine great kingdoms in the compass of an atom, to raise armies to decide a point of earth with the sword!" Dr. Chalmers, in his Astronomical Discourses, very truthfully says, "We gave you but a feeble image of our comparative insignificance, when we said that the glories of an extended forest would suffer no more from the fall of a single leaf, than the glories of this extended universe would suffer though the globe we tread upon, 'and all that it inherits, should dissolve.'"

At the close of that excellent little manual entitled "The Solar System," written by Dr. Dick, we find an eloquent passage which beautifully expounds the text: —A survey of the solar system has a tendency to moderate the pride of man and to promote humility. Pride is one of the distinguishing characteristics of puny man, and has been one of the chief causes of all the contentions, wars, devastations, systems of slavery, and ambitious projects which have desolated and demoralized our sinful world. Yet there is no disposition more incongruous to the character and circumstances of man. Perhaps there are no rational beings throughout the universe among whom pride would appear more unseemly or incompatible than in man, considering the situation in which he is placed. He is exposed to numerous degradations and calamities, to the rage of storms and tempests, the devastations of earthquakes and volcanoes, the fury of whirlwinds, and the tempestuous billows of the ocean, to the ravages of the sword, famine, pestilence, and numerous diseases; and at length he must sink into the grave, and his body must become the companion of worms! The most dignified and haughty of the sons of men are liable to these and similar degradations as well as the meanest of the human family. Yet, in such circumstances, man —that puny worm of the dust, whose knowledge is so limited, and whose follies are so numerous and glaring —has the effrontery to strut in all the haughtiness of pride, and to glory in his shame.

When other arguments and motives produce little effect on certain minds, no considerations seem likely to have a more powerful tendency to counteract this deplorable propensity in human beings, than those which are borrowed from the objects connected with astronomy. They show us what an insignificant being — what a mere atom, indeed, man appears amidst the immensity of creation! Though he is an object of the paternal care and mercy of the Most High, yet he is but as a grain of sand to the whole earth, when compared to the countless myriads of beings that people the amplitudes of creation. What is the whole of this globe on which we dwell compared with the solar system, which contains a mass of matter ten thousand times greater? What is it in comparison of the hundred millions of suns and worlds which by the telescope have been descried throughout the starry regions? What, then, is a kingdom, a province, or a baronial territory, of which we are as proud as if we were the lords of the universe and for which we engage in so much devastation and carnage? What are they, when set in competition with the glories of the sky? Could we take our station on the lofty pinnacles of heaven, and look down on this scarcely distinguishable speck of earth, we should be ready to exclaim with Seneca, "Is it to this little spot that the great designs and vast desires of men are confined? Is it for this there is so much disturbance of nations, so much carnage, and so many ruinous wars? Oh, the folly of deceived men, to imagine great kingdoms in the compass of an atom, to raise armies to decide a point of earth with the sword!" Dr. Chalmers, in his Astronomical Discourses, very truthfully says, "We gave you but a feeble image of our comparative insignificance, when we said that the glories of an extended forest would suffer no more from the fall of a single leaf, than the glories of this extended universe would suffer though the globe we tread upon, 'and all that it inherits, should dissolve.'"

These verses may set forth man's position among the creatures before he fell; but as they are, by the apostle Paul, appropriated to man as represented by the Lord Jesus, it is best to give most weight to that meaning. In order of dignity, man stood next to the angels, and a little lower than they; in the Lord Jesus this was accomplished, for he was made a little lower than the angels by the suffering of death. Man in Eden had the full command of all creatures, and they came before him to receive their names as an act of homage to him as the viceregent of God to them. Jesus in his glory, is now Lord, not only of all living, but of all created things, and, with the exception of him who put all things under him, Jesus is Lord of all, and his elect, in him, are raised to a dominion wider than that of the first Adam, as shall be more clearly seen at his coming. Well might the Psalmist wonder at the singular exaltation of man in the scale of being, when he marked his utter nothingness in comparison with the starry universe. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels —a little lower in nature, since they are immortal, and but a little, because time is short; and when that is over, saints are no longer lower than the angels. The margin reads it, "A little while inferior to." Thou crownest him. The dominion that God has bestowed on man is a great glory and honour to him; for all dominion is honour, and the highest is that which wears the crown. A full list is given of the subjugated creatures, to show that all the dominion lost by sin is restored in Christ Jesus. Let none of us permit the possession of any earthly creature to be a snare to us, but let us remember that we are to reign over them, and not to allow them to reign over us. Under our feet we must keep the world, and we must shun that base spirit which is content to let worldly cares and pleasures sway the empire of the immortal soul.

Here, like a good composer, the poet returns to his key-note, falling back, as it were, into his first state of wondering adoration. What he started with as a proposition in the first verse, he closes with as a well proven conclusion, with a sort of quod erat demonstrandum. O for grace to walk worthy of that excellent name which has been named upon us, and which we are pledged to magnify!

Title. "Gittith," was probably a musical instrument used at their rejoicings after the vintage. The vintage closed the civil year of the Jews, and this Psalm directs us to the latter-day glory, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth, having subdued all his enemies. It is very evident that the vintage was adopted as a figurative representation of the final destruction of all God's enemies. Isaiah 63:1-6; Revelation 19:18-20. The ancient Jewish interpreters so understood this Psalm, and apply it to the mystic vintage. We may then consider this interesting composition as a prophetic anticipation of the kingdom of Christ, to be established in glory and honour in the "world to come," the habitable world. Hebrews 2:5. We see not yet all things put under his feet, but we are sure that the Word of God shall be fulfilled, and every enemy, Satan, death, and hell, shall be for ever subdued and destroyed, and creation itself delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:17-23. In the use of this Psalm, then, we anticipate that victory, and in the praise we thus celebrate, we go on from strength to strength, till, with him who is our glorious Head, we appear in Zion before God. W. Wilson, D.D., in loc. Whole Psalm. Now, consider but the scope of the Psalm, as the apostle quoteth it to prove the world to come. Hebrews 2. Any one that reads the Psalm would think that the psalmist doth but set forth old Adam in his kingdom, in his paradise, made a little lower than the angels —for we have spirits wrapped up in flesh and blood, whereas they are spirits simply —a degree lower, as if they were dukes, and we marquises; one would think, I say, that this were all his meaning, and that it is applied to Christ but by way of allusion. But the truth is, the apostle bringeth it in to prove and to convince these Hebrews, to whom he wrote, that that Psalm was meant of Christ, of that man whom they expected to be the Messiah, the Man Christ Jesus. And that he doth it, I prove by the sixth verse —it is the observation that Beza hath —"One in a certain place," quoting David. (Greek) hath testified; so we may translate it, hath testified it, etiam atque etiam, testified most expressly; he bringeth an express proof for it that it was meant of the Man Christ Jesus; therefore it is not an allusion. And indeed it was Beza that did first begin that interpretation that I read of, and himself therefore doth excuse it and make an apology for it, that he diverteth out of the common road, though since many others have followed him.

Now the scope of the Psalm is plainly this: in Romans 5:14, you read that Adam was a type of him that was to come. Now in Psalm 8, you find there Adam's world, the type of a world to come; he was the first Adam, and had a world, so the second Adam hath a world also appointed for him; there is his oxen and his sheep, and the fowls of the air, whereby are meant other things, devils perhaps, and wicked men, the prince of the air; as by the heavens there; the angels, or the apostles, that were preachers of the gospel.

To make this plain to you, that that Psalm where the phrase is used, "All things under his feet," and quoted by the apostle in Ephesians 1:22 —therefore it is proper —was not meant of man in innocency, but of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ; and therefore, answerably, that the world there is not this world, but a world on purpose made for this Messiah, as the other was for Adam.

First, it was not meant of man in innocency properly and principally. Why? Because in the first verse he saith, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength." There were no babes in the time of Adam's innocency, he fell before there were any. Secondly, he addeth, "That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger;" the devil that is, for he shewed himself the enemy there, to be a manslayer from the beginning. God would use man to still him; alas! he overcame Adam presently. It must be meant of another therefore, one that is able to still this enemy and avenger.

Then he saith, "How excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Adam had but paradise, he never propagated God's name over all the earth; he did not continue so long before he fell as to beget sons; much less did he found it in the heavens.

Again, verse 4, "What is man, and the son of man?" Adam, though he was man, yet he was not the son of man; he is called indeed, "the son of God" (Luke 3:38), but he was not filius hominis. I remember Ribera urgeth that.

But take an argument the apostle himself useth to prove it. This man, saith he, must have all subject to him; all but God, saith he; he must have the angels subject to him, for he hath put all principalities and powers under his feet, saith he. This could not be Adam, is could not be the man that had this world in a state of innocency; much less had Adam all under his feet. No, my brethren, it was too great a vassalage for Adam to have the creatures thus bow to him. But they are thus to Jesus Christ, angels and all; they are all under his feet, he is far above them.

Secondly, it is not meant of man fallen, that is as plain; the apostle himself saith so. "We see not," saith he, "all things subject unto him." Some think that it is meant as an objection that the apostle answereth; but it is indeed to prove that man fallen cannot be meant in Psalm 8. Why? Because, saith he, we do not see anything, all things at least, subject unto him; you have not any one man, or the whole race of man, to whom all things have been subject; the creatures are sometimes injurious to him. We do not see him, saith he, that is, the nature of man in general considered. Take all the monarchs in the world, they never conquered the whole world; there was never any one man that was a sinner that had all subject to him. "But we see," saith he —mark the opposition —"but we see Jesus," that Man, "crowned with glory and honour;" therefore it is this Man, and no man else; the opposition implieth it." . . . . So now it remaineth, then, that it is only Christ, God-man, that is meant in Psalm 8. And indeed, and in truth, Christ himself interpreteth the Psalm of himself; you have two witnesses to confirm it, Christ himself and the apostle. Matthew 21:16. When they cried hosanna to Christ, or "save now," and made him Saviour of the world, the Pharisees were angry, our Saviour confuteth them by this very Psalm: "Have ye not read," saith he, "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" He quoteth this very Psalm which speaks of himself; and Paul, by his warrant, and perhaps from that hint, doth thus argue out of it, and convince the Jews by it. Thomas Goodwin.

"How excellent is thy name in all the earth!" How illustrious is the name of Jesus throughout the world! His incarnation, birth, humble and obscure life, preaching, miracles, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are celebrated through the whole world. His religion, the gifts and graces of his Spirit, his people —Christians, his gospel, and the preachers of it, are everywhere spoken of. No name is so universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of the Saviour of mankind. Amen. Adam Clarke.

"Above the heavens;" not in the heavens, but "above the heavens;" even greater, beyond, and higher than they; "angels, principalities, and powers, being made subject unto him." As Paul says, he hath "ascended up far above all heavens." And with this his glory above the heavens is connected, his sending forth his name upon earth through his Holy Spirit. As the apostle adds in this passage, "He hath ascended up far above all heavens; and he gave some apostles." And thus here: "Thy name excellent in all the world;" "Thy glory above the heavens." Isaac Williams.

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength," etc. In a prophetical manner, speaking of that which was to be done by children many hundreds of years after, for the asserting of his infinite mercy in sending his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins. For so the Lord applieth their crying, "Hosannah to the Son of David" in the temple. And thus both Basil and other ancients, and some new writers also understand it. But Calvin will have it meant of God's wonderful providing for them, by turning their mother's blood into milk, and giving them the faculty to suck, thus nourishing and preserving them, which sufficiently convinceth all gainsayers of God's wonderful providence toward the weakest and shiftless of all creatures. John Mayer, 1653.

Who are these "babes and sucklings?"

1. Man in general, who springeth from so weak and poor a beginning as that of babes and sucklings, yet is at length advanced to such power as to grapple with, and overcome the enemy and the avenger.

2. David in particular, who being but a ruddy youth, God used him as an instrument to discomfit Goliath of Gath.

3. More especially our Lord Jesus Christ, who assuming our nature and all the sinless infirmities of it, and submitting to the weakness of an infant, and after dying is gone in the same nature to reign in heaven, till he hath brought all his enemies under his feet. Psalm 110:1., and 1 Corinthians 15:27. Then was our human nature exalted above all other creatures, when the Son of God was made of a woman, carried in the womb.

4. The apostles, who to outward appearance were despicable, in a manner children and sucklings in comparison of the great ones of the world; poor despised creatures, yet principal instruments of God's service and glory. Therefore 'tis notable, that when Christ glorifieth his Father for the wise and free dispensation of his saving grace (Matthew 11:25), he saith, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes," so called from the meanness of their condition. . . . And you shall see it was spoken when the disciples were sent abroad and had power given them over unclean spirits. "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." This he acknowledged to be an act of infinite condescension in God.

5. Those children that cried Hosannah to Christ, make up part of the sense, for Christ defendeth their practise by this Scripture. . . . . . .

6. Not only the apostles, but all those that fight under Christ's banner, and are listed into his confederacy, may be called babes and sucklings; first, because of their condition; secondly, their disposition. .

1. Because of their condition. . . . God in the government of the world is pleased to subdue the enemies of his kingdom by weak and despised instruments.

2. Because of their disposition: they are most humbly spirited. We are told (Matthew 18:3), "Except ye be converted and become as little children," etc. As if he had said, you strive for pre-eminence and worldly greatness in my kingdom; I tell you my kingdom is a kingdom of babes, and containeth none but the humble, and such as are little in their own eyes, and are contented to be small and despised in the eyes of others, and so do not seek after great matters in the world. A young child knoweth not what striving or state meaneth, and therefore by an emblem and visible representation of a child set in the midst of them, Christ would take them off from the expectation of a carnal kingdom. Thomas Manton, 1620-1677.

"That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." This very confusion and revenge upon Satan, who was the cause of man's fall, was aimed at by God at first; therefore is the first promise and preaching of the gospel to Adam brought in rather in sentencing him than in speaking to Adam, that the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head, it being in God's aim as much to confound him as to save poor man. Thomas Goodwin.

The work that is done in love loses half its tedium and difficulty. It is as with a stone, which in the air and on the dry ground we strain at but cannot stir. Flood the field where it lies, bury the block beneath the rising water; and now, when its head is submerged, bend to the work. Put your strength to it. Ah! it moves, rises from its bed, rolls on before your arm. So, when under the heavenly influences of grace the tide of love rises, and goes swelling over our duties and difficulties, a child can do a man's work, and a man can do a giant's. Let love be present in the heart, and "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings God ordaineth strength." Thomas Guthrie, D.D.

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings," etc. That poor martyr, Alice Driver, in the presence of many hundreds, did so silence Popish bishops, that she and all blessed God that the proudest of them could not resist the spirit in a silly woman; so I say to thee, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings" God will be honoured. Even thou, silly worm, shalt honour him, when it shall appear what God hath done for thee, what lusts he hath mortified, and what graces he hath granted thee. The Lord can yet do greater things for thee if thou wilt trust him. He can carry thee upon eagles' wings, enable thee to bear and suffer strong affliction for him, to persevere to the end, to live by faith, and to finish thy course with joy. Oh! in that he hath made thee low in heart, thy other lowness shall be so much the more honour to thee. Do not all as much and more wonder at God's rare workmanship in the ant, the poorest bug that creeps, as in the biggest elephant? That so many parts and limbs should be united in such a little space; that so poor a creature should provide in the summer-time her winter's food? Who sees not as much of God in a bee as in a greater creature? Alas! in a great body we look for great abilities and wonder not. Therefore, to conclude, seeing God hath clothed the uncomely parts with the more honour, bless God, and bear thy baseness more equally; thy greatest glory is yet to come, that when the wise of the world have rejected the counsel of God, thou hast (with those poor publicans and soldiers), magnified the ministry of the gospel. Surely the Lord will also be admired in thee (1 Thessalonians 1), a poor silly creature, that even thou wert made wise to salvation and believest in that day. Be still poor in thine own eyes, and the Lord will make thy proudest scornful enemies to worship at thy feet, to confess God hath done much for thee, and wish thy portion when God shall visit them. Daniel Rogers, 1642.

"When I consider." Meditation fits for humiliation. When David had been contemplating the works of creation, their splendour, harmony, motion, influence, he lets the plumes of pride fall, and begins to have self-abasing thoughts. "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him?" Thomas Watson.

"When I consider thy heavens," etc. David surveying the firmament, broke forth into this consideration: "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast created, what is man?" etc. How cometh he to mention the moon and stars, and omit the sun? the other being but his pensioners, shining with that exhibition of light which the bounty of the sun allots them. It is answered, this was David's night meditation, when the sun, departing to the other world, left the lesser lights only visible in heaven; and as the sky is best surveyed by night in the variety of the same. Night was made for man to rest in. But when I cannot sleep, may I, with the psalmist, entertain my waking with good thoughts. Not to use them as opium, to invite my corrupt nature to slumber, but to bolt out bad thoughts, which otherwise would possess my soul. Thomas Fuller, 1608 - 1661.

"Thy heavens." The carnal mind sees God in nothing, not even in spiritual things, his word and ordinances. The spiritual mind sees him in everything, even in natural things, in looking on the heavens and the earth and all the creatures —"THY heavens;" sees all in that notion, in their relation to God as his work, and in them his glory appearing; stands in awe, fearing to abuse his creatures and his favours to his dishonour. "The day is thine, and the night also is thine;" therefore ought not I to forget thee through the day, nor in the night. Robert Leighton, D.D.

"The stars." I cannot say that it is chiefly the contemplation of their infinitude, and the immeasurable space they occupy, that enraptures me in the stars. These conditions rather tend to confuse the mind; and in this view of countless numbers and unlimited space there lies, moreover, much that belongs rather to a temporary and human than to an eternally abiding consideration. Still less do I regard them absolutely with reference to the life after this. But the mere thought they are so far beyond and above everything terrestrial —the feeling, that before them everything earthly so utterly vanishes to nothing —that the single man is so infinitely insignificant in the comparison with these worlds strewn over all space —that his destinies, his enjoyments, and sacrifices, to which he attaches such a minute importance —how all these fade like nothing before such immense objects; then, that the constellations bind together all the races of man, and all the eras of earth, that they have beheld all that has passed since the beginning of time, and will see all that passes until its end; in thoughts like these I can always lose myself with a silent delight in the view of the starry firmament. It is, in very truth, a spectacle of the highest solemnity, when, in the stillness of night, in a heaven quite clear, the stars, like a choir of worlds, arise and descend, while existence, as it were, falls asunder into two separate parts; the one, belonging to earth, grows dumb in the utter silence of night, and thereupon the other mounts upward in all its elevation, splendour, and majesty. And, when contemplated from this point of view, the starry heavens have truly a moral influence on the mind. Alexander Von Humboldt, 1850.

"When I consider thy heavens," etc. Could we transport ourselves above the moon, could we reach the highest star above our heads, we should instantly discover new skies, new stars, new suns, new systems, and perhaps more magnificently adorned. But even there, the vast dominions of our great Creator would not terminate; we should then find, to our astonishment, that we had only arrived at the borders of the works of God. It is but little that we can know of his works, but that little should teach us to be humble, and to admire the divine power and goodness. How great must that Being be who produced these immense globes out of nothing, who regulates their courses, and whose mighty hand directs and supports them all! What is the clod of earth which we inhabit, with all the magnificent scenes it presents to us, in comparison of those innumerable worlds? Were this earth annihilated, its absence would no more be observed than that of a grain of sand from the sea shore. What then are provinces and kingdoms when compared with those worlds? They are but atoms dancing in the air, which are discovered to us by the sunbeams. What then am I, when reckoned among the infinite number of God's creatures? I am lost in mine own nothingness! But little as I appear in this respect, I find myself great in others. There is great beauty in this starry firmament which God has chosen for his throne! How admirable are those celestial bodies! I am dazzled with their splendour, and enchanted with their beauty! But notwithstanding this, however beautiful, and however richly adorned, yet this sky is void of intelligence. It is a stranger to its own beauty, while I, who am mere clay, moulded by a divine hand, am endowed with sense and reason. I can contemplate the beauty of these shining worlds; nay, more, I am already, to a certain degree, acquainted with their sublime Author; and by faith I see some small rays of his divine glory. O may I be more and more acquainted with his works, and make the study of them my employ, till by a glorious change I rise to dwell with him above the starry regions. Christopher Christian Sturm's "Reflections", 1750-1786.

"Work of God's fingers." That is most elaborate and accurate: a metaphor from embroiderers, or from them that make tapestry. John Trapp.

"When I consider thy heavens," etc. It is truly a most Christian exercise to extract a sentiment of piety from the works and the appearance of nature. It has the authority of the sacred writers upon its side, and even our Saviour himself gives it the weight and the solemnity of his example. "Behold the lilies of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin, yet your heavenly Father careth for them." He expatiates on the beauty of a single flower, and draws from it the delightful argument of confidence in God. He gives us to see that taste may be combined with piety, and that the same heart may be occupied with all that is serious in the contemplation of religion, and be at the same time alive to the charms and the loveliness of nature. The psalmist takes a still loftier flight. He leaves the world, and lifts his imagination to that mighty expanse which spreads above it and around it. He wings his way through space, and wanders in thought over its immeasurable regions. Instead of a dark and unpeopled solitude, he sees it crowded with splendour, and filled with the energy of the divine presence. Creation rises in its immensity before him, and the world, with all which it inherits, shrinks into littleness at a contemplation so vast and overpowering. He wonders that he is not overlooked amid the granduer and the variety which are on every side of him; and, passing upward from the majesty of nature to the majesty of nature's Architect, he exclaims, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that thou shouldest deign to visit him?" It is not for us to say whether inspiration revealed to the psalmist the wonders of modern astronomy. But, even though the mind be a perfect stranger to the science of these enlightened times, the heavens present a great and an elevating spectacle, an immense concave reposing upon the circular boundary of the world, and the innumerable lights which are suspended from on high, moving with solemn regularity along its surface. It seems to have been at night that the piety of the psalmist was awakened by this contemplation; when the moon and the stars were visible, and not when the sun had risen in his strength and thrown a splendour around him, which bore down and eclipsed all the lesser glories of the firmament. Thomas Chalmers, D.D., 1817.

"Thy heavens:"

This prospect vast, what is it? —weigh'd aright, 'Tis natures system of divinity,

And every student of the night inspires. 'Tis elder Scripture, writ by God's own hand:

Scripture authentic! uncorrupt by man. Edward Young.

"The stars." When I gazed into these stars, have they not looked down on me as if with pity from their serene spaces, like eyes glistening with heavenly tears over the little lot of man! Thomas Carlyle.

"When I consider the heavens," etc. Draw spiritual inferences from occasional objects. David did but wisely consider the heavens, and he breaks out into self-abasement and humble admiration of God. Glean matter of instruction to yourselves, and praise to your Maker from everything you see; it will be a degree of restoration to a state of innocency, since this was Adam's task in paradise. Dwell not upon any created object only as a virtuoso, to gratify your rational curiosity, but as a Christian, call religion to the feast, and make a spiritual improvement. No creature can meet our eyes but affords us lessons worthy of our thoughts, besides the general notices of the power and wisdom of the Creator. Thus may the sheep read us a lesson of patience, the dove of innocence, the ant and bee raise blushes in us for our sluggishness, and the stupid ox and dull ass correct and shame our ungrateful ignorance. . . . . He whose eyes are open cannot want an instructor, unless he wants a heart. Stephen Charnock.

"When I consider the heavens," etc. Draw spiritual inferences from occasional objects. David did but wisely consider the heavens, and he breaks out into self-abasement and humble admiration of God. Glean matter of instruction to yourselves, and praise to your Maker from everything you see; it will be a degree of restoration to a state of innocency, since this was Adam's task in paradise. Dwell not upon any created object only as a virtuoso, to gratify your rational curiosity, but as a Christian, call religion to the feast, and make a spiritual improvement. No creature can meet our eyes but affords us lessons worthy of our thoughts, besides the general notices of the power and wisdom of the Creator. Thus may the sheep read us a lesson of patience, the dove of innocence, the ant and bee raise blushes in us for our sluggishness, and the stupid ox and dull ass correct and shame our ungrateful ignorance. . . . . He whose eyes are open cannot want an instructor, unless he wants a heart. Stephen Charnock.

"What is man that thou art mindful of him?" etc. My readers must be careful to mark the design of the psalmist, which is to enhance, by this comparison, the infinite goodness of God; for it is, indeed, a wonderful thing that the Creator of heaven, whose glory is so surpassingly great as to ravish us with the highest admiration, condescends so far as graciously to take upon him the care of the human race. That the psalmist makes this contrast must be inferred from the Hebrew word (Heb.,) enosh, which we have rendered man, and which expresses the frailty of man rather than any strength or power which he possesses. . . . . Almost all interpreters render (Heb.), pakad, the last word of this verse, to visit; and I am unwilling to differ from them, since this sense suits the passage very well. But as it sometimes signifies to remember, and as we will often find in the Psalms the repetition of the same thought in different words, it may here be very properly translated to remember; as if David had said, "This is a marvelous thing, that God thinks upon men, and remembers them continually." John Calvin, 1509-1564.

"What is man?" But, O God, what a little lord hast thou made over this great world! The least corn of sand is not so small to the whole earth, as man is to the heaven. When I see the heavens, the sun, the moon, and stars, O God, what is man? Who would think that thou shouldest make all these creatures for one, and that one well-near the least of all? Yet none but he can see what thou hast done; none but he can admire and adore thee in what he seeth: how had he need to do nothing but this, since he alone must do it! Certainly the price and value of things consist not in the quantity; one diamond is worth more than many quarries of stone; one lodestone hath more virtue than mountains of earth. It is lawful for us to praise thee in ourselves. All thy creation hath not more wonder in it than one of us: other creatures thou madest by a simple command; MAN, not without a divine consultation: others at once; man thou didst form, then inspire: others in several shapes, like to none but themselves; man, after thine own image: others with qualities fit for service; man, for dominion. Man had his name from thee; they had their names from man. How should we be consecrated to thee above all others, since thou hast bestowed more cost on us than other! Joseph Hall, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, 1574-1656.

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou shouldst visit him?" And (Job 7:17, 18) "What is man, that thou shouldst magnify him? and that thou shouldst set thy heart upon him? and that thou shouldst visit him every morning?" Man, in the pride of his heart, seeth no such great matter in it; but a humble soul is filled with astonishment. "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15. Oh, saith the humble soul, will the Lord have respect unto such a vile worm as I am? Will the Lord acquaint himself with such a sinful wretch as I am? Will the Lord open his arms, his bosom, his heart to me? Shall such a loathsome creature as I find favour in his eyes? In Ezekiel 16: 1 - 5, we have a relation of the wonderful condescension of God to man, who is there resembled to a wretched infant cast out in the day of its birth, in its blood and filthiness, no eye pitying it; such loathsome creatures are we before God; and yet when he passed by, and saw us polluted in our blood, he said unto us, "Live." It is doubled because of the strength of its nature; it was "the time of love" (verse 8). This was love indeed, that God should take a filthy, wretched thing, and spread his skirts over it, and cover its nakedness and swear unto it, and enter into a covenant with it, and make it his: that is, that he should espouse this loathsome thing to himself, that he would be a husband to it; this is love unfathomable, love inconceivable, self-principle love; this is the love of God to man, for God is love. Oh, the depth of the riches of the bounty and goodness of God! How is his love wonderful, and his grace past finding out! How do you find and feel your hearts affected upon the report of these things? Do you not see matter of admiration and cause of wonder? Are you not as it were launched forth into an ocean of goodness, where you can see no shore, nor feel no bottom? Ye may make a judgment of yourselves by the motions and affections that ye feel in yourselves at the mention of this. For thus Christ judged of the faith of the centurion that said unto him, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof. When Jesus heard this, he marvelled, and said to them that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Matthew 8: 8-10. If, then, you feel not your souls mightily affected with this condescension of God, say thus unto your souls, What aileth thee, O my soul, that thou art no more affected with the goodness of God? Art thou dead, that thou canst not feel? Or art thou blind, that thou canst not see thyself compassed about with astonishing goodness? Behold the King of glory descending from the habitation of his majesty, and coming to visit thee! Hearest not thou his voice, saying, "Open to me, my sister: behold, I stand at the door and knock. Lift up yourselves, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in"? Behold, O my soul, how he waits still, while thou hast refused to open to him! Oh, the wonder of his goodness! Oh, the condescension of his love, to visit me, to sue unto me, to wait upon me, to be acquianted with me! Thus work up your souls into an astonishment at the condescension of God. James Janeway, 1674.

Man in Hebrew —infirm or miserable man —by which it is apparent that he speaks of man not according to the state of his creation, but as fallen into a state of sin, and misery, and mortality. Art mindful of him, i.e., carest for him, and conferrest such high favours upon him. The son of man, Hebrew, the son of Adam, that great apostate from and rebel against God; the sinful son of a sinlful father —his son by likeness of disposition and manners, no less than by procreation; all which tends to magnify the divine mercy. That thou visitest, him —not in anger, as that word is sometimes used, but with thy grace and mercy, as it is taken in Genesis 21:1; Exodus 4:31; Psalm 65:9; 106:4; 144:3.

"What is man?" The Scripture gives many answers to this question. Ask the prophet Isaiah, "What is man?" and he answers (Isaiah 40:6), man is "grass" —"All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." Ask David, "What is man?" He answers (Psalm 62:9), man is "a lie," not a liar only, or a deceiver, but "a lie," and a deceit. All the answers the Holy Ghost gives concerning man, are to humble man: man is ready to flatter himself, and one man to flatter another, but God tells us plainly what we are. . . . It is a wonder that God should vouchsafe a gracious look upon such a creature as man; it is wonderful, considering the distance between God and man, as man is a creature and God the creator. "What is man," that God should take notice of him? Is he not a clod of earth, a piece of clay? But consider him as a sinful and an unclean creature, and we may wonder to amazement: what is an unclean creature that God should magnify him? Will the Lord indeed put value on filthiness, and fix his approving eye upon an impure thing? One step further; what is rebellious man, man an enemy to God, that God should magnify him! what admiration can answer this question? Will God prefer his enemies, and magnify those who would cast him down? Will a prince exalt a traitor, or give him honour who attempts to take away his life? The sinful nature of man is an enemy to the nature of God, and would pull God out of heaven; yet God even at that time is raising man to heaven: sin would lessen the great God, and yet God greatens sinful man. Joseph Caryl.

"What is man?" Oh, the granduer and littleness, the excellence and the corruption, the majesty and meanness of man! Pascal, 1623-1662.

"Thou visitest him." To visit is, first, to afflict, to chasten, yea, to punish; the highest judgments in Scripture come under the notions of visitations. "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children" (Exodus 34:7), that is, punishing them. . . . . And it is a common speech with us when a house hath the plague, which is one of the highest strokes of temporal affliction, we used to say, "Such a house is visited." Observe then, afflictions are visitations. . . . Secondly, to visit, in a good sense, signifies to show mercy, and to refresh, to deliver and to bless; "Naomi heard how the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread." Ruth 1:6. "The Lord visited Sarah," etc. Genesis 21:1, 2. That greatest mercy and deliverance that ever the children of men had, is thus expressed, "The Lord hath visited and redeemed his people." Luke 1:68. Mercies are visitations; when God comes in kindness and love to do us good, he visiteth us. And these mercies are called visitations in two respects: 1. Because God comes near to us when he doth us good; mercy is a drawing near to a soul, a drawing near to a place. As when God sends a judgment, or afflicts, he is said to depart and go away from that place; so when he doth us good, he comes near, and as it were applies himself in favour to our persons and habitations. 2. They are called a visitation because of the freeness of them. A visit is one of the freest things in the world; there is no obligation but that of love to make a visit; because such a man is my friend and I love him, therefore I visit him. Hence that greatest act of free grace in redeeming the world is called a visitation, because it was as freely done as ever any friend made a visit to see his friend, and with infinite more freedom. There was no obligation on man's side at all, many unkindnesses and neglects there were; God in love came to redeem man. Thirdly, to visit imports an act of care and inspection, of tutorage and direction. The pastor's office over the flock is expressed by this act (Zechariah 10:3; Acts 15:36); and the care we ought to have of the fatherless and widows is expressed by visiting them. "Pure religion," saith the apostle James, "Is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (Chapter 1:27); and in Matthew 25:34, Christ pronounceth the blessing on them who, when he was in prison, visited him, which was not a bare seeing, or asking 'how do you,' but it was care of Christ in his imprisonment, and helpfulness and provision for him in his afflicted members. That sense also agrees well with this place, Job 7:17, 18, "What is man, that thou shouldst visit him?" Joseph Caryl.

"What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visiteth him?"

Lord, what is man that thou

So mindful art of him? Or what's the son

Of man, that thou the highest heaven didst bow,

And to his aide didst runne?

Man's but a piece of clay

That's animated by thy heavenly breath,

And when that breath thou tak'st away,

Hee's clay again by death.

He is not worthy of the least

Of all Thy mercies at the best.

Baser than clay is he,

For sin hath made him like the beasts that perish,

Though next the angels he was in degree;

Yet this beast thou dost cherish.

Hee is not worthy of the least,

Of all thy mercies, hee's a beast.

Worse than a beast is man,

Who after thine own image made at first,

Became the divel's sonne by sin. And can

A thing be more accurst?

Yet thou thy greatest mercy hast

On this accursed creature cast.

Thou didst thyself abase,

And put off all thy robes of majesty,

Taking his nature to give him thy grace,

To save his life didst dye.

He is not worthy of the least

Of all thy mercies; one's a feast.

Lo! man is made now even

With the blest angels, yea, superiour farre,

Since Christ sat down at God's right hand in heaven,

And God and man one are.

Thus all thy mercies man inherits,

Though not the least of them he merits. Thomas Washbourne, D.D., 1654.

"What is man?"

How poor, how rich, how abject, how august,

How complicate, how wonderful is man!

How passing wonder HE who made him such!

Who centred in our make such strange extremes!

From different natures marvelously mix'd,

Connexion exquisite of distant worlds!

Distinguish'd link in being's endless chain!

Midway from nothing to the Deity!

A beam ethereal, sullied and absorb'd,

Though sullied and dishonour'd, still divine!

Dim miniature of greatness absolute!

An heir of glory! a frail child of dust! Helpless, immortal! insect infinite!

A worm! a god! I tremble at myself,

And in myself am lost. Edward Young, 1681-1775. (Verses 4-8) —"What is man," etc.: —Man is ev'ry thing,

And more: he is a tree, yet bears no fruit;

A beast, yet is, or should be more:

Reason and speech we onely bring.

Parrats may thank us, if they are not mute,

They go upon the score.

Man is all symmetrie,

Full of proportions, one limbe to another,

And all to all the world besides:

Each part may call the farthest, brother.

For head with foot hath private amitie,

And both with moons and tides.

Nothing hath got so farre,

But man hath caught and kept it, as his prey.

His eyes dismount the highest starre:

He is in little all the sphere.

Herbs gladly cure our flesh, because that they

Finde their acquaintance there.

For us the windes do blow;

The earth doth rest, heav'n move, and fountains flow.

Nothing we see, but means our good,

As our delight, or as our treasure:

The whole is, either our cupboard of food,

Or cabinet of pleasure.

The starres have us to bed:

Night draws the curtain, which the sun withdraws:

Musick and light attend our head.

All things unto our flesh are kinde

In their descent and being; to our minde

In their ascent and cause.

Each thing is full of dutie:

Waters united are our navigation;

Distinguished, our habitation;

Below, our drink; above, our meat:

Both are our cleanlinesse. Hath one such beautie?

Then how are all things neat!

More servants wait on man,

Than he'l take notice of: in ev'ry path

He treads down that which doth befriend him,

When sicknesse makes him pale and wan,

Oh, mightie love! Man is one world, and hath

Another to attend him. George Herbert, 1593.

"Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." Perhaps it was not so much in nature as in position that man, as first formed, was inferior to the angels. At all events, we can be sure that nothing higher could be affirmed of the angels, than that they were made in the image of God. If, then, they had originally superiority over man, it must have been in the degree of resemblance. The angel was made immortal, intellectual, holy, powerful, glorious, and in these properties lay their likeness to the Creator. But were not these properties given also to man? Was not man made immortal, intellectual, holy, powerful, glorious? And if the angel excelled the man, it was not, we may believe, in the possession of properties which had no counterpart in the man; both bore God's image, and both therefore had lineaments of the attributes which centre in Deity. Whether or not these lineaments were more strongly marked in the angels than in man, it were presumptuous to attempt to decide; but it is sufficient for our present purpose that the same properties must have been common to both, since both were modelled after the same divine image; and whatever originally the relative positions of the angel and the man, we cannot question that since the fall man had been fearfully inferior to the angels. The effect of transgression has been to debase all his powers, and so bring him down from his high rank in the scale of creation; but, however degraded and sunken, he still retains the capacities of his original formation, and since these capacities could have differed in nothing but degree from the capacities of the angel, it must be clear that they may be so purged and enlarged as to produce, if we may not say to restore, the equality. . . . Oh! it may be, we again say, that an erroneous estimate is formed, when we separate by an immense space the angel and the man, and bring down the human race to a low station in the scale of creation. If I search through the records of science, I may indeed find that, for the furtherance of magnificent purposes, God hath made man "a little lower than the angels;" and I cannot close my eyes to the melancholy fact, that as a consequence upon apostasy there has been a weakening and a rifling of those splendid endowments which Adam might have transmitted unimpaired to his children. And yet the Bible teems with notices, that so far from being by nature higher than men, angels even now possess not an importance which belongs to our race. It is a mysterious thing, and one to which we scarcely dare allude, that there has arisen a Redeemer of fallen men, but not of fallen angels. We would build no theory on so awful and inscrutable a truth; but is it too much to say, that the interference on the behalf of man and the non-interference on the behalf of angels, gives ground for the persuasion, that men occupy at least not a lower place than angels in the love and the solicitude of their Maker? Beside, are not angels represented as "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation?" And what is the idea conveyed by such a representation, if it be not that believers, being attended and waited on by angels, are as children of God marching forwards to a splendid throne, and so elevated amongst creatures, that those who have the wind in their wings, and are brilliant as a flame of fire, delight to do them honour? And, moreover, does not the repentance of a single sinner minister gladness to a whole throng of angels? And who shall say that this sending of a new wave of rapture throughout the hierarchy of heaven does not betoken such immense sympathy with men as goes far towards proving him the occupant of an immense space in the scale of existence? We may add, also, that angels learn of men; inasmuch as Paul declares to the Ephesians, that "now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places is made known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God." And when we further remember, that in one of those august visions with which the Evangelist John was favoured, he beheld the representatives of the church placed immediately before the eternal throne, whilst angels, standing at a greater distance, thronged the outer circle, we seem to have accumulated proof that men are not to be considered as naturally inferior to angels —that however they may have cast themselves down from eminence, and sullied the lustre and sapped the strength of their first estate, they are still capable of the very loftiest elevation, and require nothing but the being restored to their forfeited position, and the obtaining room for the development of their powers, in order to their shining forth as the illustrious ones of the creation, the breathing, burning images of the Godhead. . . . . The Redeemer is represented as submitting to be humbled —"made a little lower than the angels," for the sake or with a view to the glory that was to be the recompense of his sufferings. This is a very important representation —one that should be most attentively considered; and from it may be drawn, we think, a strong and clear argument for the divinity of Christ.

We could never see how it could be humility in any creature, whatever the dignity of his condition, to assume the office of a Mediator and to work out our reconciliation. We do not forget to how extreme degradation a Mediator must consent to be reduced, and through what suffering and ignominy he could alone achieve our redemption; but neither do we forget the unmeasured exaltation which was to be the Mediator's reward, and which, if Scripture be true, was to make him far higher than the highest of principalities and powers; and we know not where would have been the amazing humility, where the unparalleled condescension, had any mere creature consented to take the office on the prospect of such a recompense. A being who knew that he should be immeasurably elevated if he did a certain thing, can hardly be commended for the greatness of his humility in doing that thing. The nobleman who should become a slave, knowing that in consequence he should be made a king, does not seem to us to afford any pattern of condescension. He must be the king already, incapable of obtaining any accession to his greatness, ere his entering the state of slavery can furnish an example of humility. And, in like manner, we can never perceive that any being but a divine Being can justly be said to have given a model of condescension in becoming our Redeemer. . . . . If he could not lay aside the perfections, he could lay aside the glories of Deity; without ceasing to be God he could appear to be man; and herein we believe was the humiliation —herein that self-emptying which Scripture identifies with out Lord's having been "made a little lower than the angels." In place of manifesting himself in the form of God, and thereby centering on himself the delighted and reverential regards of all unfallen orders of intelligence, he must conceal himself in the form of a servant, and no longer gathering that rich tribute of homage, which had flowed from every quarter of his unlimited empire, produced by his power, sustained by his providence, he had the same essential glory, the same real dignity, which he had ever had. These belonged necessarily to his nature, and could no more be parted with, even for a time, than could that nature itself. But every outward mark of majesty and of greatness might be laid aside; and Deity, in place of coming down with such dazzling manifestations of supremacy as would have compelled the world he visited to fall prostrate and adore, might so veil his splendours, and so hide himself in an ignoble form, that when men saw him there should be no "beauty that they should desire him." And this was what Christ did, in consenting to be "made a little lower than the angels;" and in doing this he emptied himself, or "made himself of no reputation." The very being who in the form of God had given its light and magnificence to heaven appeared upon earth in the form of a servant; and not merely so —for every creature is God's servant, and therefore the form of a servant would have been assumed, had he appeared as an angel or an archangel —but in the form of the lowest of these servants, being "made in the likeness of men" —of men the degraded, the apostate, the perishing. Henry Melvill, B.D., 1854.

God magnifies man in the work of creation. The third verse shows us what it was that raised the psalmist to this admiration of the goodness of God to man: "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; Lord, what is man?" God in the work of creation made all these things serviceable and instrumental for the good of man. What is man, that he should have a sun, moon, and stars, planted in the firmament for him? What creature is this? When great preparations are made in any place, much provisions laid in, and the house adorned with richest furnitures, we say, "What is this man that comes to such a house?" When such a goodly fabric was raised up, the goodly house of the world adorned and furnished, we have reason admiringly to say, What is this man that must be the tenant or inhabitant of this house? There is yet a higher exaltation of man in the creation; man was magnified with the stamp of God's image, one part whereof the psalmist describes in the sixth verse, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet," etc. Thus man was magnified in creation. What was man that he should have the rule of the world given him? That he should be lord over the fish of the sea, and over the beasts of the field, and over the fowls of the air? Again, man was magnified in creation, in that God set him in the next degree to the angels; "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels;" there is the first part of the answer to this question, man was magnified in being made so excellent a creature, and in having so many excellent creatures made for him. All which may be understood of man as created in God's image; but since the transgression it is peculiar to Christ, as the apostle applies it (Hebrews 2:6), and if those who have their blood and dignity restored by the work of redemption, which is the next part of man's exaltation. Joseph Caryl.

God magnifies man in the work of creation. The third verse shows us what it was that raised the psalmist to this admiration of the goodness of God to man: "When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; Lord, what is man?" God in the work of creation made all these things serviceable and instrumental for the good of man. What is man, that he should have a sun, moon, and stars, planted in the firmament for him? What creature is this? When great preparations are made in any place, much provisions laid in, and the house adorned with richest furnitures, we say, "What is this man that comes to such a house?" When such a goodly fabric was raised up, the goodly house of the world adorned and furnished, we have reason admiringly to say, What is this man that must be the tenant or inhabitant of this house? There is yet a higher exaltation of man in the creation; man was magnified with the stamp of God's image, one part whereof the psalmist describes in the sixth verse, "Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet," etc. Thus man was magnified in creation. What was man that he should have the rule of the world given him? That he should be lord over the fish of the sea, and over the beasts of the field, and over the fowls of the air? Again, man was magnified in creation, in that God set him in the next degree to the angels; "Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels;" there is the first part of the answer to this question, man was magnified in being made so excellent a creature, and in having so many excellent creatures made for him. All which may be understood of man as created in God's image; but since the transgression it is peculiar to Christ, as the apostle applies it (Hebrews 2:6), and if those who have their blood and dignity restored by the work of redemption, which is the next part of man's exaltation. Joseph Caryl.

Augustine having allegorized much about the wine-presses in the title of this Psalm, upon these words, "What is man, or the son of man," the one being called (Heb.), from misery, the other (Heb.), the Son of Adam, or man, saith, that by the first is meant man in the state of sin and corruption; by the other, man regenerated by grace, yet called the son of man because made more excellent by the change of his mind and life, from old corruption to newness, and from an old to a new man; whereas he that is still carnal is miserable; and then ascending from the body to the head, Christ, he extols his glory as being set over all things, even the angels, and heavens, and the whole world as is elsewhere showed that he is. Ephesians 1:21. And then leaving the highest things he descended to "sheep and oxen;" whereby we may understand sanctified men and preachers, for to sheep are the faithful often compared, and preachers to oxen. 1 Corinthians 9. "Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn." "The beasts of the field" set forth the voluptuous that live at large, going in the broad way: the fowls of the air, the lifted up by pride: "the fishes of the sea," such as through a covetous desire of riches pierce into the lower parts of the earth, as the fishes dive to the bottom of the sea. And because men pass the sea again and again for riches, he addeth, "that passeth through the way of the sea," and to that of diving to the bottom of the waters may be applied (1 Timothy 6:9), "They that will be rich, fall into many noisome lusts, that drown the soul in perdition." And hereby seem to be set forth the three things of the world of which it is said, "they that love them, the love of the Father is not in them." "The lust of the heart" being sensuality; "the lust of the eyes," covetousness; to which is added, "the pride of life." Above all these Christ was set, because without all sin; neither could any of the devil's three temptations, which may be referred hereunto, prevail with him. And all these, as well as "sheep and oxen," are in the church, for which it is said, that into the ark came all manner of beasts, both clean and unclean, and fowls; and all manner of fishes, good and bad, came into the net, as it is in the parable. All which I have set down, as of which good use may be made by the discreet reader. John Mayer.

"Thou hast put all things under his feet." Hermodius, a nobleman born, upbraided the valiant captain Iphicrates for that he was but a shoemaker's son. "My blood," saith Iphicrates, "taketh beginning at me; and thy blood, at thee now taketh her farewell;" intimating that he, not honouring his house with the glory of his virtues, as the house had honoured him with the title of nobility, was but as a wooden knife put into an empty sheath to fill up the place; but for himself, he by his valorous achievements was now beginning to be the raiser of his family. Thus, in the matter of spirituality, he is the best gentleman that is the best Christian. The men of Berea, who received the word with all readiness, were more noble than those of Thessalonica. The burgesses of God's city be not of base lineage, but truly noble; they boast not of their generation, but their regeneration, which is far better; for, by their second birth they are the sons of God, and the church is their mother, and Christ their elder brother, the Holy Ghost their tutor, angels their attendants, and all other creatures their subjects, the whole world their inn, and heaven their home. John Spencer's "Things New and Old."

"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands," etc. For thy help against wandering thoughts in prayer. . . . . . labour to keep thy distance to the world, and that sovereignty which God hath given thee over it in its profits and pleasures, or whatever else may prove a snare to thee. While the father and master know their place, and keep their distance, so long children and servants will keep theirs by being dutiful and officious; but when they forget this, the father grows fond of the one, and the master too familiar with the other, then they begin to lose their authority and the others to grow saucy and under no command; bid them go, and it may be they will not stir; set them a task, and they will bid you do it yourself. Truly, thus it fares with the Christian; all the creatures are his servants, and so long as he keeps his heart at a holy distance from them, and maintains his lordship over them, not laying them to his bosom, which God hath put "under his feet," all is well; he marches to the duties of God's worship in a goodly order. He can be private with God, and these not be bold to crowd in to disturb him. William Gurnall.

He who rules over the material world, is Lord also of the intellectual or spiritual creation represented thereby. The souls of the faithful, lowly and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who, like oxen, are strong to labour in the church, and who, expounding the Word of Life, tread out the corn for the nourishment of the people, own him for their kind and beneficent Master; nay, tempers fierce and intractable as the beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will; spirits of the angelic kind, that, like the birds of the air, traverse freely the superior region, move at his command; and those evil ones whose habitation is in the deep abyss, even to the great leviathan himself, all are put under the feet of King Messiah. George Horne, D.D.

He who rules over the material world, is Lord also of the intellectual or spiritual creation represented thereby. The souls of the faithful, lowly and harmless, are the sheep of his pasture; those who, like oxen, are strong to labour in the church, and who, expounding the Word of Life, tread out the corn for the nourishment of the people, own him for their kind and beneficent Master; nay, tempers fierce and intractable as the beasts of the desert, are yet subject to his will; spirits of the angelic kind, that, like the birds of the air, traverse freely the superior region, move at his command; and those evil ones whose habitation is in the deep abyss, even to the great leviathan himself, all are put under the feet of King Messiah. George Horne, D.D.

Every dish of fish and fowl that come to our table, is an instance of this dominion man has over the works of God's hands, and it is a reason of our subjection to God our chief Lord, and to his dominion over us.

"O Lord, our Lord." Personal appropriation of the Lord as ours. The privilege of holding such a portion. "How excellent", etc. The excellence of the name and nature of God in all places, and under all circumstances.

Sermon or lecture upon the glory of God in creation and providence. "In all the earth." The universal revelation of God in nature and its excellency. "Thy glory above the heavens." The incomprehensible and infinite glory of God. "Above the heavens." The glory of God outsoaring the intellect of angels, and the splendour of heaven.

Infant piety, its possibility, potency, "strength," and influence, "that thou mightest still," etc.

The strength of the gospel not the result of eloquence or wisdom in the speaker.

Great results from small causes when the Lord ordains to work.

Great things which can be said and claimed by babes in grace.

The stilling of the powers of evil by the testimony of feeble believers.

The stilling of the Great Enemy by the conquests of grace.

Man's insignificance. God's mindfulness of man. Divine visits. The question, "What is man?" Each of these themes may suffice for a discourse, or they may be handled in one sermon.

Man's relation to the angels.

The position Jesus assumed for our sakes.

Manhood's crown —the glory of our nature in the person of the Lord

Jesus.

Verses 5, 6, 7, 8. The universal providential dominion of our Lord Jesus.

Man's rights and responsibilities towards the lower animals.

Man's dominion over the lower animals, and how he should exercise it.

Verse 6 (second clause). The proper place for all worldly things, "under his feet."

The wanderer in many climes enjoying the sweetness of his Lord's name in every condition.