service of their love and gifts of their bounty, and those that are great and famous in their reputation shall seek communion with thee.

13. "The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold."]-Solomon's bride the daughter of Pharaoh, and Christ's Spouse the daughter of the King of Heaven, are both inwardly glorious; the one with rich embroideries, the other with excellent and heavenly graces; the one is clothed with gold, the other with the righteousness of her Saviour and with all divine virtues.

14. "She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee."]-Neither hath she this glory put upon her only to please and amaze the eyes of the beholders, but the main use of this goodly bravery is, that she shall appear glorious in the eyes of the King of Glory, her celestial Husband, to whom she shall be presented in this goodly habit of grace; not without the attendance of all those believing souls that appertain to that blessed train of hers.

15. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought; they shall enter into the king's palace."]-With unspeakable joy and triumph shall they be presented unto the throne of glory: even into that palace not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, the seat and mansion of the everliving God, shall they be brought, by the ministry and with the acclamation of the blessed angels of God.

16. "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth."]-This happy marriage of thine shall be blessed with multitudes of children, who shall succeed their fathers in a comfortable and during government; the issue and condition whereof shall be so large and happy, that they shall be so many kings upon earth; and all thrones shall be furnished with princes from thy loins, forasmuch as all thy spiritual children are a royal generation unto God.

17. "I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever."] O my God and Saviour, I, who by thy gracious inspiration have made this bridal-song unto thee, will celebrate and praise thy blessed Name to all generations, and will stir up thy people to bless and praise thee for ever and ever.

XLVI. 4.

"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make

BP. HALL, VOL. III.

glad the city of God."]-Let the sea of this world roar and be never so unquiet, the holy city Jerusalem, the type of God's Church, hath a little river, even Gihon or Kidron, whose calm and gentle streams shall abundantly refresh it: and the mystical Jerusalem hath both the waters of life, the word of the everliving God, to comfort and satisfy it here; and those living waters of life eternal in the Paradise of God, to make it everlastingly happy.

9. "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in pieces; he burneth the chariot in the fire."]-He can, when he pleaseth, put an end to those broils and tyrannous oppositions and persecutions wherewith his Church is wont to be infested, and can cause the enemies thereof to be still.

XLVII. 4. "He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved."]-He hath graciously made choice of us for his peculiar people, and of the land of Canaan for an inheritance for us; and hath purchased and prepared a more glorious inheritance for us above, even the inheritance of his saints in light; and in the mean time hath graced us with all those noble privileges which are appropriated to the seed of Jacob whom he loved.

5. "God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet."]-As the ark of God is gone with much triumph and joy to be placed in the temple of the Lord, so the Son of God is with much rejoicing of angels and men both received into his evangelical Church on earth, and afterwards taken up into the glory of heaven.

9. "For the shields of the earth belong unto God."]-Unto God only belongeth the safe and gracious protection of his Church and children; and he accordingly raiseth up and defendeth those princes and governors, under whose rule his Church is preserved in peace.

XLVIII. 4. "For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together."]—The heathen kings, especially Sennacherib and his mighty hosts and assistants, came up against Jerusalem with menaces of utter destruction; but they stayed not long before those walls ere they were sent away with shame and slaughter.

7. "Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.”]— As a navy by sea is dispersed by a furious east wind, so didst thou, O Lord, scatter and discomfit those mighty enemies that came up against Jerusalem.

8. "As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts."]-According to the relation of thy former deliverances of thy people, reported to us by our forefathers, so have our eyes been witnesses of thy present rescue of our city and nation.

12, 13. "Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces."]-Look well, O ye beholders, upon the many and goodly towers of Jerusalem, upon her strong fortifications, upon her fair palaces; and, as thereby you shall be excited to praise God for the deliverance of so noble and beautiful a pile, so take occasion thereby to think of the splendour and glory of that heavenly Jerusalem which is above.

XLIX. 5. "Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?"]-Why should I fear upon any occasion whatsoever? whether it be upon the conscience of the iniquity of my own footsteps; or whether upon the prosecution of those enemies which follow me at the heels, and are ready to environ me?

7, 8. "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever."]—It is not in the power of the wealthy and great men of the world to ransom another man from death by all their riches and treasures; for the life of man is of greater price and value than can be countervailed by any earthly thing; and therefore this redemption is a thing not to be effected or hoped for at all.

14. "And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling."]-But, however they flourish and sway here, yet, after the long night of the grave is past, in the morning of the resurrection, the just and righteous servants of God, whom they have here trampled upon, shall so have dominion over them, that they shall sit as their judges: in the mean time all their glory and bravery shall be consumed and rot away in the dust of their grave.

20. "Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish."]-That man who lives in outward honour and yet wants true wisdom and understanding, to know God and himself, lives as a beast, and dies as a beast, brutishly.

L. I. "The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same."]-Hear, O ye inhabitants of the earth; the great and mighty God of heaven, having taken just notice of the extreme

depravedness of the ways of men, calls you to account of this your universal wickedness, even all the world over, from one side of the earth to the other.

2. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined."] -Behold, God hath shown himself in his holy hill of Zion, where his temple, the glory of the whole earth, standeth: there he exhibits his majesty, and thence shall he control the wickedness of

men.

3. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him."]-In great terror and majesty shall God declare his displeasure against the presumptuous sins of men; for he shall come attended with fire and tempest: a devouring fire shall go before him, and a fearful tempest shall be round about him.

4. "He shall call to the heaven above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people."]—He shall appeal both to the heavens and earth as the witnesses of his just proceedings with men, and their too just deservings of judgments, and as the summoners of this great appearance.

5. "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."]-Let that heaven and that earth, saith he, summon together before me that chosen people of mine who have made an external profession of my name, and have, by the continual use of their sacrifices, outwardly renewed their covenant with me.

6. "And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself."]-Yea, those heavens shall not only summon his people and witness their wickedness, but shall also proclaim and declare to the world his apparent justice, both in giving his law and in exacting it of them; neither shall their hypocrisy any longer deceive the eyes of men, for now, God himself, who cannot be deluded, will unmask their wickedness before all the world.

8,9. "I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, &c. I will take no bullock," &c.]-Do not think to choke me with the formalities of thine outward sacrifices: these are not the things I stand upon.

LI. 4. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."]-It is only thy prohibition, O God, that can make a sin: I have sinned against men, but it is thy law that I have violated in that my offence; and if I have so carried my sin that the world takes not notice of it, yet I

know it cannot be hid from thee; thou only, as thou canst charge me with it, so canst remit it unto me: I do therefore freely acknowledge these horrible sins of mine, that I may clearly acquit thee in thy proceedings against me: the reproof of thy prophet, the menaces of thy judgment, are too well deserved on my part : do what thou wilt with me, I must needs justify thy severe courses against me.

6. "And in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom."]-Notwithstanding this darkness that I have brought upon my soul by my sin, thou shalt in thy great mercy so enlighten me, that in the secret corners of my heart I shall understand that wonderful mystery of my redemption and salvation in the blood of my Saviour.

7. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."]-O, do thou then, by that precious blood, sprinkled upon my soul by a true faith, which was and is figured in the legal aspersions, cleanse me from mine iniquities; so shall I be pure and innocent in thy sight: wash me in that allsufficient laver of the blood of my Saviour; so shall I be whiter than snow before thee.

8. "Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice."]-Do thou speak peace and reconciliation to thy servant: renew the joy of my heart in the comfortable assurance of thy forgiveness; that so my soul, which is now dejected and justly grieved for my sin, may find cause of rejoicing in thee.

II.

"Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me."]-Howsoever I have deserved that thou shouldest cast me off, and strip me of all the graces and gifts of thy Spirit, which thou hast blessed me with; yet, O Lord, do not thou deal thus with me, but continue me in thy presence, and continue thy graces in me.

12. "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit."]-How can I, O Lord, be other than pensive and miserable, whilst I stand in these terms with thee? What comfort can I find till my heart be assured of thy favour? O, do thou restore to me that joy of thy Holy Ghost which I have wont to feel in the clear and evident apprehension of my salvation; and though I have made myself a slave to my sin, yet do thou free me by thy good Spirit; and thereby do thou maintain me in this happy liberty of thy service.