in vain.' Who, in such circumstances, would not pray for speedy' deliverance?

3. For thou art my rock and my fortress: therefore, for thy name's sake, lead me and guide me.

God will be the 'rock' and 'fortress' of those who esteem him as such; and, after having been so, through all the dangers and difficulties of life, he will lead' and 'guide' them to the realms of peace and rest, for the sake of that'name' which implieth salvation.

4. Pull me out of that net which they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

As David prayed for an escape from the secret conspiracies that were entered into against him, so did Christ pray for deliverance from the snares of death; and so doth the Christian pray to be extricated from the toils both of sin and death.

5. Into thine hand I commend my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth.

David, in his distresses, might, by these words, express his resignation of himself and his affairs into the hands of God; but it is certain, that Christ actually did expire upon the cross, with the former part of this verse in his mouth: Luke xxiii. 46. Nor is there any impropriety in the application of the latter part to him; since, as man, the surety and representative of our nature, he was 'redeemed from the power of the enemy, by the God of truth' accomplishing his promises.

6. I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord.

They may hope for redemption, who so trust in

God,' as to trust in nothing beside him; for all else is' vanity,' and will deceive.

7. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy; for thou hast considered my trouble, and hast known my soul in adversities: 8. And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a large room.

The considerations that make the soul'cheerful' in the hour of affliction, are, that God is merciful; that as he is not ignorant, so neither is he unmindful of our troubles; that he is a friend, who 'knows' us in adversity, no less than in prosperity; that he hath not subjected us to the necessity of being overcome by our spiritual enemies; but hath, 'with the temptation, made a way for us to escape.'

9. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul, or, animal frame, and my belly.

Upon the strength of the foregoing considerations, supplication is here made for deliverance from troubles, which wasted the eyes with weeping, and exhausted the strength and vigour of the frame. Such were the troubles of David, and, more emphatically, those of Christ; and sickness and sorrow will one day teach us all to use the same expressions.

10. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

Do we not, in these words, hear the voice of the 'man of sorrows,' suffering not indeed for his own 'iniquity,' but for ours, of which he frequently, in the Psalms, speaks as if it were his own? If sin was punished in the innocent Lamb of God, let us

not expect that it should be unpunished in us, unless we repent: and let our punishment never fail to remind us of our guilt.

11. I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without, fled from me.

These particulars were never more applicable to David, than they were to the Son of David, when his acquaintance, at beholding him reviled by his enemies, were terrified from attending him, and when all the disciples forsook him and fled.' The same things are often too true of the faith and the church. They are true likewise of every man, when he suffers the dishonours of the last enemy, death; when he is a fear' to his dearest friends, and they are obliged to forsake him.

12. I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind; I am like a broken vessel.

This was literally the case of Christ, when laid in the sepulchre, and esteemed no longer the object of hope by his friends, or of fear by his enemies. That he should be so forgotten,' while dead, is less wonderful, than that this should have happened since his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven.

13. For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side, while they took counsel together against me they devised to take away my life.

The slander of Shimei, and the counsel of Ahithophel against king David, direct us to the slanders of the Jews, and the counsels of Judas and the sanhedrim against the beloved Son of God,

who, in his church, will be persecuted in like manner, by the ungodly, to the world's end.

14. But I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God. 15. My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.

In all our afflictions, after the example of the typical, and of the true David, we are to have recourse to the prayer of faith; we are to consider, that Jehovah is our God and Saviour: that the times and the seasons of prosperity and adversity, of life and death, are in his hand; and therefore on him we are to wait, till the day of mercy shall dawn, and the shadows fly away.

17. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon thee; let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18. Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Ahithophel, for his treason against David, and Judas for treachery against Christ, felt the force of this prophetical imprecation, or prediction, which will also, one day, take its full effect, in the confusion of all impenitent calumniators and traitors.

19. O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men!

Peace of conscience, the comforts of the Spirit, and the hope of future glory, will teach the soul, even in the darkest night of affliction, to break

forth into this exulting strain of gratitude and praise, for the blessings experienced by those who confess their Saviour before men.

20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride, Heb. conspiracies, of man ; thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

In times of contention and persecution, there is a refuge for the faithful in the tabernacle of David, which is the mystical body of Christ, inhabited by the presence of God. In this sacred 'pavilion,' they enjoy the pleasures of contemplation and devotion, regardless of the distant tumult and confusion of the world.

21. Blessed be the Lord; for he hath showed me marvellous kindness in a strong city.

The man Christ, and the church with him, like David of old, here rejoice in the protection and saving power of God, in the same manner as in Isa. xxvi. 1. 'We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.'

22. For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplications, when I cried unto thee.

Whoever shall consider the troubles of the beloved Son of God, bereaved for a season of the light of heaven, only that it might afterwards arise upon him with the greater lustre, will be taught never to faint under the chastisement of the Lord; since the darkness of the night argues the approaching dawn of the day.

23. O love the Lord, all ye his saints; for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the