Slander and calumny must always precede and accompany persecution, because malice itself cannot excite people against a good man, as such; to do this, he must first be represented as a bad man. What can be said of those who are busied in this manner, but that they are a generation of vipers, the brood of the old serpent, that grand accuser and calumniator of the brethren, having under their tongues a bag of poison, conveying instant death to the reputation on which they fasten. Thus David was hunted as a rebel, Christ was crucified as a blasphemer, and the primitive Christians were tortured as guilty of incest and murder.

4. Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent men, who have purposed to overthrow my goings. 5. The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the zay side; they have set gins for me.

David here describes the subtility and industry employed by his enemies to effect his destruction, by lying in wait for him, as a skilful fowler does for his game, so that they thought it impossible he should escape their hands. Such was the conduct of the Jews, with regard to the Son of David. And, O how refined the policy, how unwearied the application of our spiritual adversaries, to overthrow our goings in the path of life and salvation, to circumvent, and to destroy us for ever! How are the snares, the nets, and the gins, placed for us, by that cunning and experienced artist, who takes care that nothing should appear in view, but the alluring baits of honour, plea

sure, and profit, while of the toils we have no notice, till we find ourselves entangled and caught in them! Who shall preserve us thus walking in the midst of dangers? He to whom David, in the following verses, prefers his prayer, and teaches us to do likewise.

6. I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. 7. O God the LORD, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. 8. Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves.

Jehovah, the God of David, is also our God, and he is always ready to hear our supplications. He is our strength, and has often covered our head with the helmet of salvation, in the day of battle and open war with our spiritual enemies. Nor will he, for the glory of his name, grant their desires, or permit their more secret devices and machinations to work the destruction of his people; lest they exalt themselves, as having frustrated his counsels for the redemption of his

servants.

9. As for the head of those that compass me about, the mischief of their own lips shall cover them. 10. Burning coals shall fall upon them; they shall be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again. 11. An evil speaker shall not be established in the earth; evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

The prophet, in these three verses, predicted those just judgments which heaven will inflict on the slanderers and persecutors of the righteous. Their lips,

which uttered mischief against others, shall be the means of covering themselves with confusion, when out of their own mouths they shall be judged. They who, with so much eagerness and diligence, have prepared pits for the destruction of their brethren, shall, if they repent not, be cast into a deep and bottomless pit, out of which they will not rise up again any more for ever. Evil speakers and false accusers shall gain no lasting establishment, but punishment shall hunt sin through all its doubles, and seize it at last as its legal prey. Let these great truths be firmly rooted in our hearts, and they will keep us steady in the worst of times.

12. I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor. 13. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.

That unjust and oppressive men shall, in the end, suffer proportionably to their deserts, we are assured from this consideration, namely, that the Almighty is the patron of the injured and oppressed. He will plead the cause of the meek and lowly, who are used by the world as their blessed Master was used before them. A day will come, when, delivered out of all their troubles, they shall give thanks unto thy name, Q Lord, and dwell in thy presence for evermore.

PSALM CXLI.

ARGUMENT.

DAVID Seems to have composed this Psalm just béfore his flight to Achish king of Gath; when he had a second time spared Saul's life, but could trust him no longer. He prays earnestly for help, and entreats to be heard, as when able to attend the service of the tabernacle; he petitions to be preserved from the snares of idolatry, in the country whither he was going; he relates his own conduct toward Saul, and that of Saul toward him; he professes his faith in Jehovah, and redoubles his prayer to him; he predicts the destruction of his enemies, and his own deliverance. Many parts of the exposition of this Psalm, given by the late learned Mr. Peters, in his "Critical Dissertation on the Book of Job," have been adopted in the ensuing comment.

1. LORD, I will cry unto thee, make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

The earnest and repeated supplication for help, in the first of these two verses, sufficiently declares the Psalmist to have been, at the time, in a situation of the utmost distress. And the second verse as plainly shows, that he was then at a distance from the taber

nacle, where all the solemn prayers of the Israelites, together with their daily sacrifices, were offered up. And, therefore, with his face, probably, directed thither, like Daniel in Babylon, praying towards Jerusalem, he begs that God would accept of all which it was in his power to perform, namely, the devotion of his heart, and the elevation of his hands in prayer; that the one might ascend to heaven, fragrant and well pleasing, as the cloud of incense mounting from the holy altar; and the other, in conjunction with it, prevail instead of the evening oblation, for the deliverance of himself and his companions.

3. Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips: or, a guard over the door of my lips. 4. Incline not mine heart, i. e. suffer not mine heart to be inclined, to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity, or, idolatry; and let me not eat of their dainties.

David was now going to seek a retreat from the persecutions of his master Saul, amidst a race of idolaters, who would be curious to observe all his words and actions, and would attempt to draw him in to be a partaker with them in their idol worship, or to suspect him as a spy and an enemy, if he refused to comply with them. He therefore beseeches God to set a watch before his mouth, a guard over the door of his lips, that he might neither endanger his own safety by his imprudent carriage, nor violate his religion by any weak compliances. He entreats to be preserved from that greatest of all evils, the renouncing of Jehovah to follow vain and strange gods. He desires that he