66 66 put this beyond all doubt, the Psalmist proceeds to contrast the divine mercy with the transitory and wretched life of man, when that mercy does not interpose. "Yea," says he, "like as a father pitieth his own children, even so is the Lord "merciful unto them that fear him. For he knoweth whereof we are made; he remembereth that we are but dust. The days "of man are but as grass; he flourisheth as a flower of the "field; for as soon as the wind goeth over it, it is gone, and "the place thereof shall know it no more. But the merciful goodness of the Lord endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear "him, and his righteousness upon their children's children; even "upon such as keep his covenant, and think upon his com"mandments to do them." But it has been said, the expression of righteousness upon children's children shows the Psalmist had in his view nothing more than the continued protection of the posterity of the good in this world, according to the promise of the second commandment.* The very next verse refutes the degrading suggestion, and shows the views of the Psalmist were raised to a higher world. "The Lord," says he, “hath prepared his seat in heaven; and his kingdom ruleth over all. "O praise the Lord, ye angels of his, ye that excel in strength, "ye that fulfil his commandments, and hearken unto the voice "of his word. O praise the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye servants "of his that do his pleasure O speak good of the Lord, all 66 ye works of his, in all places of his dominion: praise thou "the Lord, O my soul." Can we doubt whether the soul which breathed forth such praises as these, did not look forward to the society of those angels, whom it calls even now to join with one voice and one consent, to celebrate the universal goodness of their common God. These angels are combined with the servants of God, "that do his pleasure ;" an expression exactly parallel to that of the Apostle, when he says, "Ye are 'come to an heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly of the first-born of "the church, which are written in heaven, and to God, the "judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect."+ * Vide Warburton, Vol. v. p. 156. This is the only expression of the Psalm which Warburton considers; thus entirely overlooking the tenour and context of the composition. Any system may be supported by such a mode of criticism. Heb. xii. 22, 23. Assuredly the mind of the holy Psalmist was exalted by the same ideas, and animated by the same hopes. 66 Lord's; but the earth hath he The dead praise not the Lord, silence. But we will bless the In Psalm cxv. after declaring the privilege of God's people over the idolatrous world, "That their God was in heaven, and "did whatsoever he pleased," but that the idols of the heathen were silver and gold, the work of men's hands," dead, senseless and impotent; and that "they who make them shall be "like unto them, and all they that put their trust in them;" (that is, they shall become dead and senseless as their idols, without any hopes of a renovation or restitution to a state of happiness :) he proceeds to contrast this with the hopes and the blessings that awaited the people of God: which he plainly intimates, will not be confined to the enjoyments of this transitory life, but extend to a future and eternal state. "You are the "blessed of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The hea66 ven, even the heavens are the given to the children of men. "neither any that go down into "Lord from this time forth for evermore." On which a judicious and learned critic observes;* "What can be the meaning "of the opposition here put between God's people and the "dead; and the one's not praising Jehovah, the other praising "him for ever? Could the Psalmist possibly mean their living "to praise him upon earth? The earth, he had told us just "before, was given to all the sons of Adam; and the Gentiles "lived upon it as long as the Jews, for any thing that appears to "the contrary. Could he mean that they should never undergo "the state of death? But this too could not be, for they died as naturally and as soon perhaps as the heathens, and their "posterity must do the same, though it extended itself to a "thousand generations. What then is that discriminating blessing here intended, that should distinguish the worshippers of "Jehovah, all those who feared the Lord, both small and great, from the idol worshippers and contemners of Jehovah. "I freely own I can make no sense of this passage, otherwise "than by understanding the word dead of the heathen nations, "who having no part in God's covenant of redemption, but "being estranged from him by their idolatries and wickedness, 66 were to be left for ever in a state of death, so as never more 66 Peters on Job, p. 223 to 226. "to rise to happiness at least; while God's people, on the "other hand, hoped for a joyful resurrection, and a future "state of blessedness, wherein they should praise God for ever, "in the most extensive sense of that expression. There is nothing forced," continues the learned critic, "that I can per"ceive, in this explication, taking with us the notion (so well "established by a very learned prelate*) that God's covenant "made, or rather renewed, with Abraham and the Patriarchs, implied in it a conquest over death, and a removal of that 66 curse denounced on Adam at the fall: and this notion stands "confirmed by our Saviour's reasoning in the Gospel, where "he exempts Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from amongst the dead, by virtue of God's covenant with them to be their God; "and from thence, as from an unanswerable argument, proves a "future resurrection." I close this series of proofs-that a future state was almost perpetually in the contemplation of the holy Psalmist-with Psalm cxxxix. in which with such a divine penetration as nothing but an heaven-taught wisdom could inspire, he celebrates the all-seeing omniscience of his God, whom he describes as "about his path and about his bed, and spying out all his ways; acquainted with every word in his tongue long before." When he describes that Omnipresent Spirit, which fills the expanse of heaven, and penetrates to the recesses of hell, from whom no darkness can conceal, because the darkness is no darkness with him, but the night is as clear as the day: when he acknowledges that creative love by which he was fearfully and wonderfully made: when he exclaims, "How dear are thy counsels "unto me, O God? yea, how great is the sum of them? If I "tell them they are more in number than the sand: when I "awake up, I am present with thee;" what is the practical inference which the holy Psalmist deduces? It is nothing less than the destruction of the wicked, and the eternal happiness of the good, in which he expresses a firm confidence that he himself will share: "Wilt thou not slay the wicked, O God? "Depart from me, ye blood-thirsty men." And thus he concludes: "Try me, O God, and search the ground of my heart; prove me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be 66 * Sherlock on Prophecy, Disc. V. particularly p. 112. any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way ever"lasting."* 66 In the moral works of SOLOMON we find sufficient proofs that he was certain of a future state of retribution, and felt its importance as the strongest sanction of virtue. The book of Proverbs, consisting chiefly of rules of prudence for the direction of human conduct, so as to obtain prosperity in the present life, does not so frequently afford occasion for directly enforcing the doctrine of a future state; but in many places it is plainly intimated, and in some directly asserted. When in chapter iv. the preacher exhorts "Enter not into the paths of the wicked, and go not into the way of evil men;" he enforces this admonition by declaring, "the path of the just "is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the "perfect day; but the way of the wicked is as darkness, they "know not at what they stumble."+ Words beautifully expressing the reward of virtue increasing from day to day, until it terminates in endless glory; and the terrors of conscience, which incessantly disturb the guilty. In chap. viii. after celebrating the praises of Wisdom, which the Lord possessed in the beginning of his way, before his works of old, even from everlasting, she is introduced solemnly calling on all the sons of men : "Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children; for blessed are they that keep my ways. For "whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the 66 * All the versions agree in translating the last words of this Psalm, "the way ever"lasting." Indeed the original will scarcely bear any other meaning; and it is opposed to the way of “pain or grief," (as we have it in the margin of our Bibles) which would make the sense still more expressly to indicate the eternal rewards of a future life, as opposed to its punishments. Yet I know not why, except from not observing this antithesis, and being led away by the translation of the first clause, as a way of iniquity; many of the best commentators have interpreted the second as the way of piety and righteousness, which alone is durable and eternal. But the word ayy originally meaning grief and pain," seems to be by a metaphor, only applied to idols and idolaters, as bringing misery on their worshippers; while by "eternity," is very seldom used in such a metaphorical sense. I cannot see why the more literal meaning of both should not be here preserved, and the sense would be, Look well if there be any way deserving of pain or punishment in me, and lead me in the way of eternity. † Prov. iv. 18, 19. This passage is not noticed by Warburton. There is no difference of interpretation as to the words quoted, and many of the most reputable commentators give them the same sense as I do here: as Mercerus, Glassius, Baynus, Patrick, Dodd. Vide Poli Synopsis, &c. 66 "Lord. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own "soul: all they that hate me love death." These words can scarcely signify any thing less than the destruction brought upon the soul by death eternal. But this is still more clearly asserted to be the punishment of yielding to the seductions of the adulteress and the harlot; whose house the royal Preacher describes as "the way to hell, going down to the chambers "of death." And again, when she saith to the dupe of her vice, "Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant;" the Preacher adds, "But he knoweth not that the "dead are there, and that her guests are in the depth of hell." While in chap. xii. 28, we are told, "In the way of righteous"ness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death." Thus again, in chap. xiv. we are assured, that "The fear of the "Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.” And still more expressly we are assured, that "The wicked is "driven away in his wickedness; but the righteous hath hope "in his death."* And the contrary fate of the wicked is expressed with equal clearness, in ch. xxi. 16: "The man that "wandereth out of the way of understanding, shall remain in "the congregation of the dead," that is, (as Patrick explains it) "shall be sent down to hell, confined to the company of the "old giants, who, giving themselves up to violence and de"bauchery, were swept away by the Deluge." And by a similar sanction doth the royal Preacher enforce his beautiful exhortation to active benevolence, chap. xxiv. 11. "If thou forbear "to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and ready to be "slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not: doth not he "that pondereth the heart, consider it? and he that keepeth thy "soul. doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every "man according to his works?" And immediately after, "When "thou hast found wisdom, there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off."+ 66 Prov. xiv. 32. "Hath hope in his death," i. e. says Warburton, "the righteous "hath hope that he shall be delivered from the most imminent dangers. So the 'Psalmist, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and "to keep them alive in famine." But to me no ideas seem more different than having hope in death, and hope to escape from death; except in and from are taken as synonymous and convertible prepositions, which they certainly are not in Hebrew more than in English. + Warburton interprets Prov. xi. 7, "When a wicked man dieth, his expectation |