not lie unto David. 36. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. 37. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. The promise, covenant, and oath of God, which He declareth shall never fail, are here repeated. They relate to Christ, that "Seed," or "Son of David," who "endureth for ever." His throne is resplendent as "the sun," and shall continue, after that luminary is extinguished: his Church is permanent as the "moon," though, like her, subject to vicissitudes, and liable, for a time, to be obscured by eclipses, during her present state upon earth. And while the rainbow shall be seen in the clouds, man has "a faithful witness in heaven" of the immutable truth of God's word, and the infallible accomplishment of what He promises. "Look upon the rainbow," saith the wise son of Sirach, "and praise him who made it: very beautiful it is in the brightness thereof: it compasseth the heaven about with a glorious circle, and the hands of the most High have bended it:" Ecclus. xliii. 11. But let us not forget likewise, when we look upon the rainbow, to praise Him who made it to be a sign and sacred symbol of mercy; in which capacity we behold it, to our great and endless comfort, compassing the throne of Christ with a gracious, as well as glorious, circle. "There was a RAINBOW round about the throne." Rev. iv. 3. Ezek. i. 28. 38. But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. 39. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown, by casting it to the ground. In the former part of our Psalm, we have seen what the Divine promises were, which had been made to the house of David. By the latter part, upon which we are entering, it appears, that the Psalm was written at a time when the Church of Israel was in such a manner oppressed and reduced by her enemies, that her members began almost to despair of those promises receiving their accomplishment. God seemed to have "cast off” and "abhorred" his "anointed" and "servant," that is, David, or rather the prince of his family, who was upon the throne when this captivity and desolation happened; the "covenant" seemed to be overturned and "made void," when the "crown" of Israel was defiled in the dust. 40. Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strongholds to ruin. 41. All that pass by the way spoil him: he is a reproach to his neighbours. 42. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice. 43. Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle. 44. Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. 45. The days of his youth hast thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. The manifold calamities of Zion are in these verses enumerated: The demolition of fences and fortifications; the cruel ravages consequent thereupon; the shame of defeats; the reproaches and insults of victorious adversaries; the dishonours of violent and untimely death. In days like these here described, when the Church and the king are permitted to fall into the hands of those who hate them, and to drink thus deeply of the cup of affliction, distrust and despondency are apt to seize upon the minds of men. Nay, when the faithful few beheld the true "Son of David," and "Anointed" of Jehovah, in the day of his sufferings; when they saw Him, without help or de fence, "spoiled and reproached by his neighbours:" when they viewed "the right hand of his adversaries set up," and all his "enemies rejoicing" over Him; his "glory made to cease," and his "crown profaned in the dust; the days of his youth shortened," and Himself delivered over to a "shameful" as well as painful death; they then began to think "the covenant made void," and the promises at an end. "We trusted," said they, "that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel!" Luke xxiv. 21. And although Christ be long since risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven, yet the prevalence of iniquity, and the oppressions of the Church, have been, and in the last days will be such, as to put the faith and hope of his servants to a sore trial, while they wait for his second, as the ancient Jews did for his first advent. 46. How long, LORD? Wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? 47. Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain? Or, as Ainsworth translates the verse, Remember how transitory I am, unto what vanity thou hast created all the sons of Adam. 48. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul, or, animal frame, from the hand of the grave? 49. LORD, where are thy former loving-kindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth? This is the humble and dutiful expostulation of the Church with God in all her distresses upon the earth. By asking, "How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever?" she tacitly pleadeth his promise not to be so: she urgeth the shortness of man's life here below, the universality of the fatal sentence, the impossibility of avoiding death, and, if nothing farther was to happen, the frustra tion of the Divine counsels concerning man. From thence she entreateth God to remember the "loving-kindnesses" once promised by Him with an oath to David, as related in the former part of the Psalm. These "loving-kindnesses" are called, in Isaiah, lv. 3, "the sure mercies of David;" which "sure mercies of David" are affirmed by St. Paul, Acts xiii. 34, to have been then confirmed on Israel, when, in the person of Jesus, God raised our nature from the grave. To a resurrection, therefore, believers have ever aspired; thither have they directed their wishes, and on that event have they fixed their hopes, as the end of temporal sorrows, and the beginning of eternal joys. 50. Remember, LORD, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; 51. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. The last argument urged by the Church, in her expostulation with God for a speedy redemption, is, the continual reproach to which she was subject, on account of the promise being delayed. The mighty people," or heathen nations, who held her in captivity, and were witnesses of her wretched and forlorn estate, ridiculed her pretensions to perpetuity of empire in the house of David; they blasphemed the God, who was said to have made such promises; and "reproached the footsteps," or mocked at the tardy advent of his Messiah', who was to establish in Israel his ever 1 "Exprobraverunt vestigio Christi tui:" tarditatem vestigiorum Christi tui. Chald. Irridebant nos quòd non adveniret expectatus ille Liberator, sive Cyrus, sive potius Christus de semine Davidis, regno ejus instaurando, et in æternum firmando. -BOSSUET. lasting throne. All these cruel taunts and insults she was obliged to "bear in her bosom," and there to suppress them in silence, having nothing to answer in the day of her calamity and seeming destitution. St. Peter gives us a like account of the state of the Christian Church in the latter days he exhorts us to be "mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour, because there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" 2 Pet. iii. 4. 52. Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen and Amen. But whatever be at any time our distress, either as a community or as individuals, still are we to believe, still to hope, still to bless and praise Jehovah, whose word is true, whose works are faithful, whose chastisements are mercies, and all whose promises are, in Christ Jesus, yea, and amen, for evermore. EIGHTEENTH DAY.-MORNING PRAYER. PSALM XC. ARGUMENT. This Psalm is called, in its title, "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." By him it is imagined to have been composed when God shortened the days of the murmuring Israelites in the wilderness. See Numb. xiv. It is, however, a Psalm of general use, and is made, by the Church, a part of her funeral service. It containeth, 1, 2, an address to the eternal and unchangeable God, the Saviour and Preserver of his people; 3-10, a most affecting description of man's mortal and transitory state on earth since the fall; 11, a complaint, that few meditate in such a manner upon death, as to prepare them |