of iniquity," advisers to a presumptuously secure heart, and to an ignorant faith and hope in God; and therefore, the godly have a continual warfare with these: but which warfare they would not have, if they should at some time be vexed with this kind of tribulation themselves.

But if any one chooses rather by "workers of iniquity" to understand devils, who, in this hour of temptation fearfully assault the godly, and urge and drive them on to desperation, setting before their eyes good works, and telling them that if they do these they will have no reason to despair, and thus confirming desperation by presumption, and presumption by desperation, and all the while entangling their souls in these trammels of iniquity, that they might not worship God in true godliness of faith and hope:-if any one, I say, wishes to understand the passage thus, I will not oppose it: for devils are certainly the most crafty persuaders of souls to disobedience under a show of obedience: because it is peculiar to them to transform themselves into angels of light, and then more especially when they least ought to do it; that is, in the time of tribulation. I believe however that the prophet speaks against those men who are the enemies of true godliness: that is, those who cannot endure the knowing or being told, that their ignorant wisdom will drag thousands together with themselves into hell.

PSALM VII.

THE IGNORANCE OF DAVID, WHICH HE SUNG UNTO THE LORD CONCERNING THE WORDS OF THE ETHIOPIAN, THE SON OF JEMINI.

MANY have spent a deal of labour and toil upon this Psalm in order to shew what the scope of it is, and what the title indicates; and the matter still remains as

much as ever in dispute. We, in the mean time, will follow Burgensis, who seems to me to come nearer to the true point than any other; when he judges, that the Psalm is not to be understood of Saul, but of Shemei. And that we may see the propriety of thus understanding it, let us cite the words of the history recorded, 2 Sam. xvi. 5, "And when king David came to Bahurim, behold thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shemei, the son of Gera: he came forth and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David and all the people, and all the mighty men, were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shemei when he cursed, "Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned: and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son; and behold thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man." And when the servants of David wanted to kill Shemei, David said, "Let him alone, and let him curse, for God hath bidden him." And who is there that could dare to give the reason why David said so? "Behold, (says he) my son which came forth of my bowels seeketh my life! how much more now may this Benjamite curse me?"

It is evident, therefore, that he calls this cursing Shemei, in the title, the son of Jemini. And therefore, we have here also at the same time the words, upon the account of which he sung this Psalm; namely, on account of the curses of Shemei, by which, as a most bitter and persevering calumniator, he loaded him with false accusations. For we do not find in the history of Saul that he vomited forth any such words as these against David. Hence it must of necessity follow, that it is concerning the dreadful injury done him by these words that David speaks: as the text of the Psalm itself will show.

It now remains to be shown, why he particularly calls him Cush, which signifies an Ethiopian. Almost all commentators agree that this is a metaphor: be

cause, blackness always indicates a badness of character. As the poet of old also saith

Romans! of this man beware;

He is a dark-black character!

Even as, on the other hand, we call him white who is sincere and upright, and of a candid heart, and who is without any dark cast, (as the proverbial term goes.) Commentators suppose, therefore, that the proper name of the man was omitted by David, in the title, and that he made use of a new appellation suited to his heart and disposition. But if we do not admit this, we may consider that he had two names: which we frequently find in the sacred scriptures: as may be collected from the lineage of Christ, Matt. i. and Luke iii.: and as we find with respect to Zacharias the son of Jehoida, mentioned, Matt. xxiii. 35. Still therefore, the same point remainsthat, being silent about the name Shemei, he chose to call him by another name, " Ethiopian," rather than Shemei, as being an appellation more suited of his bad and malicious nature.

And now, if we receive these things, the ignorance here mentioned will discover itself of its own accord, and show what its meaning is. For as David was so far from acknowledging the justice of the curses of Shemei, as, even on his death bead, to command Solomon, 1 Kings ii. 9, that he should bring down his (Shemei's) hoar head to the grave with blood,' as a revenge for the curses that he had received from him; it is manifest, that he (David) had confessed his innocency unto God; and that this "ignorance" is nothing else but innocence for that of which we are not conscious to ourselves, we may be rightly said not to know, or to be ignorant of.

But, as it is wicked for any one to trust in his own thoughts, (according to Proverbs xxviii. 26, "He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool,") therefore, we are so to stand to this innocence of ours, as yet to fear the judgment of God, and not to glory in our innocence in

a way of security: but we are first to give glory to God, and confess before him that his judgment is one thing, and man's another: that thus, having received licence from him, we may profess our innocence before men, and yet not injure, but glorify, his judgment; and this we learn by temptation. Thus therefore David, though he knew that false things were laid to his charge, (that is, as far as his conscience was concerned,) yet, as he knew also that God had bidden Shemei thus to curse him, he feared lest they were true and just in the sight of God also; nor had he a sufficient confidence in his own conscience. In this same way also, the apostles had not sufficient confidence in themselves, when they heard that one of them should become the betrayer of their Lord. For such is the tender state of every godly man's conscience, that although innocent, he fears a sin where a sin is not. Such is the case where there is the fear of the Lord, and a sense of the inscrutable depth of his judgment.

Hence David, though innocent, yet fears that he was guilty of those things which were laid to his charge: and especially in this time of temptation, in which God seemed to favour the cause of his adversaries, and to strike him because of those things which are laid to his charge, though he knows nothing of them. And therefore, though he is not conscious of any crime either to himself or before men, yet, fearing lest he should be guilty in heart, (for God searcheth the heart and trieth the reins,) he teaches us in this Psalm, that which is taught by the Apostle, 2 Cor. x. 18, "For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."

Wherefore, although this Psalm be written concerning David and his ignorance; yet, as this evil of calumny is very common and frequent in the world, we are to believe, that these things are written as a doctrine applicable in general unto all of us: as Paul saith, Rom. xv. 4, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

And here we see what are and ought to be the mind and feelings of all those who would faithfully, and in the fear of God, bear and overcome calumny. For this kind of persecution David has here set forth to us in this SEVENTH place or Psalm. He has in the preceding Psalms instructed us in those evils and temptations whereby we are purified from sin and now, he would more perfectly instruct us in the perfect fear of God;— that we may there fear that we have sinned where we really have not sinned; and that we may be perfected in such a hatred of sin, and such a love of God, that we may be brought to fear as sins those sins of which we are ignorant, and which are indeed no sins at all.

And to attain unto this perfection, we have need, not of a persecuting Absalom whom we know for certain persecutes us openly, but of a calumniating Shemei whose curses we may fear as true, though we know ourselves innocent all the while. For we are not to be satisfied with this our innocence and rest in contented security, but are to say with Job, chap. xxvii. 5, 6, "God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will hot remove mine integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live." Thus, (as we have touched also upon these points, Psalm v.) we are before God, indeed, to confess our ignorance, who alone knows the hearts of men; but before men, we are to hold fast our innocence, if our heart does not condemn us. For, as before God sins are not to be denied, before whom no man living is justified: so, before men, the truth is to be asserted and maintained, before whom, we can and ought to live without sin. David, therefore, having gotten this instruction by his own experience, imparts it unto us also. He saith, therefore,

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Ver. 1.-O Lord my God, in thee have I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me.

The first feeling and state of mind here set forth, is not that of a heated revenge and zeal against the calum