AND EXPOSITION ON PSALM XLVI.

HIS is a triumphant hymn,

THIS

the author of which is not certainly known; but several interpreters think it was made by David, and, as Dr. Hammond fupposes, after thofe great victories which he obtained over several nations, mentioned 2 Sam. viii.

10.

The flyle is very lofty, and feems every way worthy of that royal author: with great force of expreffion, he compares the powerful fury and terror of his enemies, to that of an earthquake, or to the threatening horrors of a tempeftuous fea.

Ver. i. God is our hope and frength, a very prefent help in

trouble.

2. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the hills be carried into the midft of the fea.

3. Though our enemies threaten deftruction, like the waters thereof, of that boisterous element, the fea, when they rage and fwell; and though the most fecure, and best fortified cities, which for strength may be compared to the mountains, hake and tremble at the tempeft of the fame.

4. For the rivers of the flood thereof (s) which Sweep all other

fenced

(s) Ver. 4. The rivers of the flood thereof. This is otherwife. rendered in the laft tranflation: There is a river, the ftreams whereof fhall make glad the city of our God. And, agreeably to this, bifhop Patrick's paraphrafe is: "Our hearts fhall be quiet and ftill, like the river which runs through our city."-And Pifcator, Hammond, and others, fpeak much to the fame purpose, who mention the brook Geon, which waters Jerufalem, and the waters of Siloa, which go foftly.

But this conftruction feems quite to fpoil the beauty of the paffage, which to me, if it be taken in the fense above given, feems confiderable. The Pfalmift appears to have been warmed with a grateful fenfe of their late deliverance; fo that his imagination rifes from one< thing to another. His truft in God was fo fteady, that he exhorts his fubjects not to fear-though all other nations fhould be in confufion-though their enemies, like the fea, fhould rage and fwell, and threaten them never fo muchnay, though they should deftroy all other fortified places at plea fure-for, though the rivers of 6 C & that

fenced cities before them, fhall be fo far from hurting us, that they fhall make glad the city of our God; they fhall be the occafion of great joy to us upon our victory over our enemies, as they are this day in the holy place of the tabernacle of the most higheft.

5. God, by his glorious prefence manifefted in the tabernacle, is in the midst of her [Zion]; therefore fhall fhe not be removed; yea God fhall help her, and that right early, or speedily.

6. Have we not had a glorious inftance of God's extraordinary Providence over us? The heathen, indeed, make much ado, and the kingdoms about us are moved; but God hath fhewed his voice,

that flood [of ungodly men fhould fet all their forces against Jerufalem, they fhould be fo far from fucceeding, that he affures them, the effect of that attempt fhould only be, to furnish matter of joy and triumph for them.

In this fenfe, I prefume, the LXX. took it, who tranflate it, The forces, or the vehemence of the river; and the Ethiopic verfion, The river which runs rapidly.

I cannot help obferving further, that the Pfalmift very finely reprefents Almighty God, as fpeaking, ver. 10. with a majefty becoming him. Immediately after which he congratulates his fubjects upon their having this great God for their deliverer. His imagination was fo warmed, that it would not fuffer him to connect his expreffions; but he bleffes himself, as it were, and breaks forth with: The Lord of hofts is with us! the God of Jacob is our refuge! leaving them to infer, and make the proper ufe of this reflection.

hath thundered, as he did upon the Philistines, 1 Sam. vii. io. and the earth itself cannot fland before him, when he exerteth his power, but fhall melt away.

7. For the Lord of Hofts is with us! The God of Jacob is our refuge!

8. O come hither, and behold the works of the Lord, and what deftruction he hath brought upon the earth!

9. It is he who maketh wars to cease in all the world: he breaketh the bow, and knappeth the fpear in funder, and burneth the chariots of war in the fire.

10. Wherefore he faith: Be ftill then, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, and I will be exalted in all the earth.

11. How happy, therefore, is it for us, that we can fay: The Lord of Hofts is with us! the God of Jacob is our refuge!

THIS Pfalm is thought by fome. fays bifhop Patrick, to have been compofed by David, when he tranflated the ark, either from Kirjath-Jearim, or from the house of Obed-Edom to mount Zion. Others think it was compofed by fome of the fons of Korah, when the ark was brought from mount Zion to Solomon's temple. And there may be a third conjecture, that it was made after fome great victory which God had given the Jews over their enemies, and fung as they followed the ark back to its dwelling place, from whence it had been carried before them to, battle. And the ark, being a figure of Chrift, as that mount

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was

was of the heavens, the tranflation or carrying back of the ark thither, may be looked upon as a figure of Chrift's afcenfion into the high and holy place, where he is now at God's right hand. And, with relation to this alone, the ancient fathers expounded this Pfalın, which may be easily applied, in a myftical fenfe, unto that bulinefs. And, for this reafon, it is appointed to be used upon Afcenfion-day.

Ver. 1. O clap your hands together, all ye people! O fing unto God with the voice of melody!

2. For the Lord is high, and to be feared; he is, the great king upon, or over, all the earth.

3. He thall fubdue the people under us, and the heathen nations under our feet.

4. He fhall choose out an heritage for us; even the worship of Jacob, whom he [God] loved. 5. God is with a merry gone up noife, and the Lord with the found

of the trumpet.

6. O fing praises! fing praifes unto our God! O fing praifes! fing praises unto our King!

7. For God is the King of all the earth, fing ye praifes, therefore, with understanding!

8. God reigneth over the heathen, who know him not; God fitteth upon his holy feat over the ark.

9. The princes of the people of Ifrael, are joined unto the common. people of the God of Abraham, unanimously to adore and praife. him: for God, who is very high exalted, doth defend the earth, the land of Judea, as it were with a fhield (t).

TH

PSALM XLVIII.

HIS is a triumphant hymn; the author of which is not known; nor the particular time when it was compofed. It appears from the contents of it, that it was made upon fome providential deliverance, which God had given to the city of Jerufalem, when it was violently attacked, or threatened, at least, by fome powerful and confederate enemies.

Bifhop Patrick's conjecture, that it was made upon Jehofaphat's deliverance from the Moabites, Ammonites, &c. mentioned 2 Chron. xx. is probable enough, upon other accounts; but is liable to this objection, that the pfalm feems to have been compofed before Solomon's temple was built, and whilft the ark was on mount Zion. Mount Zion, we fee, is the main fubject of the. and that was not poem, much regarded after the ark had

whole nation, upon their public feafts, to worfhip in the place where God fhould choose to manifeft his prefence. And, therefore, it is probable this Pfalm was firft ufed at fome fuch time. At thefe times the extreme parts of the country were left naked and defencelefs, and exposed to the incurfions of the neighbouring nations; the Ifraelites depending upon that promife, Exod. xxxiv. 24. Neither fhall any man defire thy land, when thou shalt go to appear before the Lord, thy God. Upon this account it is here faid: the princes, or rulers, are joined to the people of Abraham; i. e. The whole Jewith nation, princes and people too, are affembled together, to worship God, at the place which he hath chofen,

been,

been for fome time removed from thence, as it had in Jehofaphat's time: whereas, at the time this pfalm was made, it is plain it was in its higheft reputation, and, therefore, I would conclude it to be as old as David's fimé.

Ver. 1. Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, in the city of our God; even upon his holy hill of Zion.

2. The hill of Zion is a fair, pleafant, place, and the joy of the whole earth, the whole land of Judea: upon the North-fide lieth the city of the great king (u); God is well known in her palaces as a fure refuge.

3. For lo! the kings of the earth, who were combined against us, are gathered and gone by together.

4. They marvelled to fee fuch things, fuch pleasant and beautiful places, but they only just faw them,

(u) Ver. 2. Upon the North-fide lieth the city of the great king.] It may be afked, why this circumftance is mentioned in an encomium upon the hill of Zion, that Jerufalem lay on the Northfide of it? The answer is, that it is mentioned as a proof of its greater fecurity; for the hill of Zion was almoft inacceffible on any other fide, but towards the North, and here it was defended by Jerufalem, an exceedingly ftrong place, But, though the Pfalmift mentions this as a moft material circumftance, in the defcription of the place, he fhews, that it was not in the ftrength of it that he confided a; but her chief fecurity moreover confifted in this, as it immediately follows, that God was well known in her palaces as a fure refuge.

for they were aftonifhed and fuddenly caft down.

5. Fear came there upon them, and forrow, as upon a woman in her travail, very fuddenly, and very violently.

6. Or, juft as it comes upon mariners, when thou breakeft, or fhalt break the fhips of the fea (x) or of Tarfhifh, through, or by the deftructive Eaft wind.

7. Like as we have heard, in times paft, fo have we now feen

(x) Ver. 6. Thou shalt break the hips of the fea.] This is in the original, and all the most ancient verfions, the fhips of Tarfhifh; but the LXX. in feveral other places render the word as our tranflators do here. The learned are of feveral opinions about this word; and there are various conjectures, as to the particular place which was meant by it. However, it is not very material to determine that precifely; for all agree, it was foie port famous in ancient times, for the extensiveness of its trade, and the richness of its merchandife and this it is which gives force to the Pfalmift's expreffion, when he compares the confterna tion of his enemies to that of the affrighted mariners, who trade in fhips to or from Tarfhifh, when wrecked in a storm with an Eafterly wind, which in the Mediterranean fea is particularly deftructive. For as it is the hopes of wealth which make men undergo the hazard and fatigue of the fea, how great muft be the horror of a worldly man, who, after having made a fuccefsful voyage, and with a moft valuable cargo, perhaps almost in fight of his port, in an inftant is difappointed of his hopes, and lofes his riches, if not his life!

the

the Divine affiftance, in the city of the Lord of hofts, in the city of our God; God upholdeth the fame for ever, or continually.

8. We wait, or we waited for thy loving-kindnefs, O God! in the midst of thy temple, or tabernacle.

9. O God! according to thy name, fo is thy praife unto the world's end; for thy right hand is full of righteoufnels, or mercy.

10. Therefore, let the mount Zion rejoice, and Jerufalem, the daughter of Judah, be glad, becaufe of thy judgments.

11, Walk about Zion, and go all round about her; and tell the towers thereof, fee if there be fo much as one of them wanting.

12. Mark well her bulwarks, view her fortifications, fet up, or rather confider, her houfes, her palaces, that ye may tell them who come after, and deliver it down to pofterity, how entire they remain.

13. For this God is our God, for ever and ever; yea he fhall be our guide unto death.

it you, that you may keep it when I am dead; and my counsel, that you may remember it when I am no more. I would not, with will, prefent you forrows, dear Befs: let them go into the grave with me, and be buried in the duft; and, feeing that it is not the will of God that I fhall fee you any more, bear my deftruction patiently, and with a heart like yourself.

First, I fend you all the thanks which my heart can conceive, or my words exprefs, for your many travails and cares for me; which, though they have not taken effect,

death; the time of which was fo determined, that he wrote this pathetic letter as what he intended for his laft words, the night before he expected to be put to death. He was, however, reprieved, and committed to the Tower of Lon-> don. This was in 1615-16. In the March of that year he was releafed; and in 1617, he received the king's commiffion, empowering him to fet out on that unhappy expedition to America, which was the occafion of his condemnation and death in October following. The night before his death, he wrote the following verses, which were found in his bible:

Even fuch is time! who takes in truft

Our youth, our joys, and all we

have,