and that he may come upon you when you little expect him according to that of Matt. xxiv. 48, 50, "But and if that wicked servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming. The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of." And so also speaks Proverbs i. When your calamity shall come suddenly,' &c. And so also, 1 Thess. v. 2, 3," For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." Terrible, therefore, is this threatening; because, if the wrath of God thus suddenly overtake a man, there can be none to deliver.

Finally: The Psalmist concludes his Psalm with a most beautiful remark. This, saith he, is the blessing of all blessings " Blessed are all they that trust in him.” For he therefore suffered, he therefore rose again, he was therefore appointed King, he therefore received the inheritance of all things, that he might save all that trust in him. And this trust alone it is that justifies without the work of the law: as the apostle teaches in his Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians. But it is a very hard matter to hold fast this trust, in the midst. of so many resisting adversities, and so many alluring prosperities. Blessed are they, therefore, whosoever shall not be offended in him,' Matt. xi. 6. Which is a work of divine grace, and not of human power.

Thus the Holy and Gracious Spirit does not threaten to all eternity, but to all eternity comforts those who are terrified and alarmed. If, saith he, ye fear his anger, do not despair, but trust; and "Blessed are all they that trust in him," for he therefore terrifies them that he might bring them to trust in him. Amen.

PSALM III.

A PSALM OF DAVID WHEN HE FLED FROM THE
FACE OF HIS SON ABSALOM.

INTRODUCTION.

Why this Psalm is put before others, which, in the order of history, were written long before it, is a matter of no consequence with me: for I have never yet found any exact order for the Psalms at all. Thus the history of the 51st Psalm concerning the wife of Uriah, was without doubt before the history of this Psalm: and the histories of many others of the Psalms were before it also.

And, with respect to the design and meaning of this Psalm, it is not my intention to bring forward the opinions and interpretations of all; and yet, out of such a variety I cannot come to a fixed determination in my mind which to choose. I am no friend at all to allegories; especially when I am searching after that legitimate, proper, and genuine sense, which may put an end to contention and strengthen the instruction of faith.

But however, that the meaning of this Psalm is not historical, is manifest from many particulars, which militate against its being so understood. And first of all, there is this which the blessed Augustine has remarked; that the words "I laid me down to sleep and took my rest," seem to be the words of Christ rising from the dead. And then, that there is at the end the blessing of God pronounced upon the people; which manifestly belongs to the whole church. Hence, the blessed Augustine interprets the Psalm in a threefold way: first, concerning Christ the head: secondly, concerning the whole of Christ, that is, Christ and his church, the head and the body; and thirdly, figuratively concerning any private Christian.

Let each have his own interpretation. I, in the

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mean time, will interpret it concerning Christ: being moved so to do by the same argument that moved Augustine that the fifth verse does not seem appropriately to apply to any other but Christ. First, because lying down' and 'sleeping' signify in this place altogether a natural death, not a natural sleep. Which may be collected from this: - because, it then follows, and "rose again." Whereas if David had spoken concerning the sleep of the body, he would have said ' and awoke:' though this does not make so forcibly for the interpretation of which we are speaking, if the Hebrew word be closely examined. But again, what new thing would he advance by declaring that he laid him down and slept? Why did he not say also that he walked, ate, drank, laboured, or was in necessity, or mention particularly some other work of the body? And moreover, it seems an absurdity under so great a tribulation, to boast of nothing else but the sleep of the body; for that tribulation would rather force him to a privation from sleep, and to be in peril and distress; especially since those two expressions, "I laid me down," and "I slept," signify the quiet repose of one lying down in his place, which is not the state of one who falls asleep from exhausture through sorrow.

But this consideration makes the more forcibly for us,-that he therefore glories in his rising up again, because it was the Lord that sustained him, who raised him up while sleeping and did not leave him in sleep. How can such a glorying agree, and what new kind of religion can make it agree, with any particular sleep of the body? (for in that case, would it not apply to the daily sleep also?) and especially, when this sustaining of God, indicates at the same time an utterly forsaken state in the person sleeping. Which is not the case in corporal sleep for there the person sleeping may be protected even by men being his guards: but this sustaining being altogether of God, implies, not a sleep, but a heavy conflict.

And lastly, the word HEKIZOTHI itself favours such an interpretation: which, being here put abso

lutely and transitively, signifies, I caused to arise or awake.' As if he had said, "I caused myself to awake, I roused myself.' Which certainly more aptly agrees with the resurrection of Christ than with the sleep of the body: both because those who are asleep are accustomed to be roused and awaked, and because it is no wonderful matter, nor a matter worthy of so important a declaration, for any one to awake of himself, seeing that it is what takes place every day. But this matter, being introduced by the Spirit as a something new and singular, is certainly different from all that which attends common sleeping and waking.

If then these things be so, it follows of necessity, that where the title of the Psalm indicates something historical, we are not always necessarily to conclude, that the subject of it is to be understood historically; but, that the history was the occasion or event wherein and whereby the prophets were to be instructed in things that were come, by the intuition of the Spirit.

Let the meaning, therefore, of the title of this Psalm be,' A Psalm (that is, a song) of David (revealed unto him, or discovered unto him by the Holy Spirit). when he fled from the face of his son Absalom ;' that is, upon the occasion of that history and circumstance. For it is not likely that the Psalm was composed by him at the very time of that history and his flight from his son, because he was at that time in a state of the greatest inquietude from anxiety and gloomy apprehension. Whereas, the Holy Spirit requires a lucid and quiet instrument: and it is not under the temptation, but after the temptation, that the man at length perceives and knows the things which have been done unto him. It is most probable, therefore, that this Psalm was composed long after the historical event, when, in quiet meditation, he understood the mysteries contained in that event.

It is moreover to be observed, that in all these titles, the word David is in the dative case, which, in these instances, is equal to an accusative with the preposition ad: and according to the same mode of expression it is

said in the other prophets, The Word of the Lord came unto this person or unto that; or, was in the hand of this person or that. And it is peculiar to this prophet to call the Word of God a Psalm, or a Song, or instruction, and to adorn it with various other titles, as we shall see hereafter and then, by putting his own name, David, in the dative case, to signify thereby that the revelation of that same Word was made unto him.Thus does the Holy Spirit commend unto us this peculiar prophet, and the peculiar prophecies of this book.

BUT IT will be necessary also to be well acquainted with the history contained in 2 Samuel xiv. and to understand its sacred mysteries.

In the first place, Absalom represents figuratively the people of the Jews both in his actions and in his name. In his name, because Absalom is, by interpretation, 'the father of peace;' which is a name that seems to promise something blessed, if all the other attending circumstances did not compel us to understand it as representing, in a bad sense, that peace which the world gives: that is, a hatred of the cross of Christ. For that people hated in an especial manner the cross and the evils of this world, because the good things of this world and the peace of this life had been promised to them in the law. Hence was their cry of "Peace, peace:" whereas, it was no peace, because they neither kept the law nor were able to do it: and therefore, the apostle calls them "enemies of the cross of Christ," Phil. iii. 18. In the next place, Absalom represents that people in his actions; because he is said 2 Sam. xiv. to have been the most beautiful man in all Israel, and that there was no blemish in him from the sole of his foot even unto his head; that his hair was of such an unheard-of thickness, that it was cut every year and sold, and weighed two hundred shekels after the king's weight; and it is also said that it was sold to the women, who used it to ornament their heads.

Thus is represented that synagogue which shone conspicuous above all other peoples of the earth; which