No. XV. Psalm xxi.-Upon the Deliverance and Exaltation of Christ, the Vengeance he should take upon those who had attempted to destroy him, and the Failure of that Attempt. No. 15. The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord, exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation. Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not denied him the request of his lips. For thou shalt prevent him with the blessings of goodness; and shalt set a crown of pure gold upon his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him a long life, even for ever and ever. His honour is great in thy salvation; glory and great worship shalt thou lay upon him. For thou shalt give him everlasting felicity; and make him glad with the joy of thy countenance. And why? because the King putteth his trust in the Lord; and in the mercy of the most Highest he shall not miscarry; all thine enemies shall feel thy hand thy right hand shall find out them that hate thee. Thou shalt make them like a fiery oven in time of thy wrath the Lord shall destroy them in his displeasure, and the fire shall consume them. Their fruit shalt thou "he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of Da"vid.' (Isa. lv. 3.) Wherefore he saith also in another Psalm, 66 Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption;' for "David, after he had served his own generation by the will of "God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw cor"ruption, but he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption." Acts xiii. 34-37. See Mede, B. i. Disc. 13. p. 49. "The King." How properly Christ is spoken of under this title may be seen from Nos. 9. 12. and 13. According to No. 9. the sceptre was to be his; according to No. 12. he was to have the throne of his Father, and to be established in what God calls "my kingdom;" and in No. 13. God gives him the appellation of my King. "Life," &c. See Psalm xxii. 20. root out of the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended mischief against thee, and imagined such a device as they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou put them to flight: and the strings of thy bow shalt thou make ready against the face of them. Psalm xxi. 1-12". No. XVI. Psalm xxii.-Foretelling God's temporary Desertion of Christ, his Humiliation, the Scorn with which he should be treated, his Distress, the Death he should suffer, the parting his Garments and casting Lots for his Vesture, his anxious Prayer to God for Deliverance, his Thanksgiving for receiving it, the coming in of the Gentiles to God's Worship, the Establishment of God's Kingdom, the Redemption of Man through Christ, and the Foundation of Christ's Church. No. 16. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me: and art so far from my health, and from the words of my complaint? O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season also I take no rest and thou continuest holy, O thou worship of Israel. Our fathers hoped in thee, they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them. They called upon thee, and were holpen : they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But as for me, I am a worm, and no man: a very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out their lips and shake their heads, saying, "He trusted in God, "that he would deliver him; let him deliver him, if he "will have him." But thou art he that took me out of my h I am not aware that this Psalm is expressly mentioned in the New Testament as referring to our Saviour: but some of the best writers so consider it; it is applicable to him in every particular, and the language seems far too high for any other person. mother's womb; thou wast my hope, when I hanged yet upon my mother's breasts. I have been left unto thee ever since I was born: thou art my God, even from my mother's womb. O go not from me, for trouble is hard at hand, and there is none to help me. Many oxen are come about me: fat bulls of Basan close me in on every side. They gape upon me with their mouths, as it were a ramping and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart also in the midst of my body is even like melting wax. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my gums: and thou shalt bring me into the dust of death. For many dogs are come about me, and the counsel of the wicked layeth siege against me. They pierced my hands and my feet: I may tell all my bones: they stand staring and looking upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord; thou art my succour: haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword: my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth thou hast heard me also from among the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. O praise the Lord, ye that fear him, magnify him, all ye of the seed of Jacob, and fear him, all ye seed of Israel: for he hath not despised nor abhorred the low estate of the poor: he hath not hid his face from him; but when he called unto him, he heard him. My praise is of thee in the great congregation: my vows will I perform in the sight of them that fear him. The poor shall eat, and be satisfied: they that seek after the Lord shall praise him your heart shall live for ever. All the ends of the world shall remember themselves, and be turned unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the Governor among the people. All such as be fat upon earth, have eaten and worshipped. All they that go down into the dust shall kneel before him: and no man hath quickened his own soul. My seed shall serve him they shall be counted unto the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and the heavens shall declare his righteousness, unto a people that shall be born, whom the Lord hath made. Psalm xxii. 1-32. 66 i There can be no doubt of the prophetic character and application of this Psalm. When our Saviour was on the cross, and cried out with a loud voice, it was in the words with which this Psalm begins, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. xxvii. 46. Mark xv. 34. " They that passed by whilst he was on the cross, reviled him, wagging their heads." Matt. xxvii. 39. When the chief Priests with the Scribes and Elders mocked him, part of their language was "he trusted in God, "let him deliver him now, if he will have him.” Matt. xxvii. 41-43. In crucifixion, which was a Roman, not a Jewish punishment, the hands and the feet were nailed to the cross, so that the prophecy, "they pierced my hands and my feet," was thereby verified, and the prediction, "they part "my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture," was literally and singularly fulfilled. St. Matthew says "they "parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled "which was spoken by the Prophet, they parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots!'" Mark states only, that "they parted his garments, casting lots upon them what every man should take; "—the passage in Luke (Luke xxiii. 34.) is only, "they parted his raiment, and "cast lots; "—but St. John is more particular. His statement is this" The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, "took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a " part; and also his coat-now the coat was without seam"woven from the top throughout.-They said therefore among "themselves, 'Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it "shall be.' That the Scripture might be fulfilled, which "saith, they parted my raiment among them, and upon my " vesture did they cast lots.' These things therefore the sol"diers did." John xix. 23, 24. 66 6 66 2 XVII. Noticing the Deliverance God should give to Christ, and the Purposes of Christ's Coming, viz. to be God's Servant, to do God's Will, to inculcate Righteousness, and to take upon himself and make an Atonement for, the Sins of the World, with an anxious Prayer to God for Aid, and an Intimation of Vengeance upon his Opponents. No. 17. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my calling. He brought me also out of the horrible pit, out of the mire and clay, and set my feet upon the rock, and ordered my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even a thanksgiving unto our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man that hath set his hope in the Lord, and turned not unto the proud, and to such as go about with lies. O Lord my God, great are the wondrous works that thou hast done, like as be also thy thoughts which are to us ward, and yet there is no man that ordereth them unto thee. If I should declare them, and speak of them, they should be more than I am able to express. Sacrifice and meat offering thou wouldest not, but mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin hast thou not required; then said I, "Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it is writ"ten of me, that I should fulfil thy will, O my God; I am " content to do it; yea, thy law is within my heart. I have "declared thy righteousness in the great congregation; "lo, I will not refrain my lips, O Lord, and that thou "knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my "heart, my talk has been of thy truth, and of thy salva"tion. I have not kept back thy loving mercy and truth, "from the great congregation. Withdraw not thou thy "mercy from me, O Lord: let thy loving kindness and "thy truth alway preserve me. For innumerable trou |