tian church the whole earth was the land of promife, and the Gospel was preached to all nations. " I will

give thee," faith Jehovah to Chrift, "the heathen " for thine inheritance, and the uttermoft parts of "the earth for thy poffeffion." Pf. ii. 8.

12. Why haft thou then broken down her hedges, fo that all they which pass by the way, do pluck her?

The Pfalmift, having defcribed the exaltation of Ifrael, under the figure of a vine, proceeds, under the fame figure, to lament her depreffion. She is now represented as deprived of the protection of God, the counfels of the wife, and the arms of the valiant; of all her bulwarks and fortifications, and whatever else could contribute to her defence and fecurity; fo that, like a vineyard without a fence, fhe lay open, on every fide, to the incurfions and ravages of her neighbouring adverfaries; who foon stripped her of all that was valuable, and trod her under foot.

13. The boar out of the wood doth wafte it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

Fierce, and unrelenting, her heathen perfecutor iffued, at different times, from his abode, like a "wild boar" out of the foreft, refolved not only to fpoil and plunder, but to eradicate and extirpate her for ever. Nor let the church Chriftian imagine, that these things relate only to her elder fifter. Greater mercies, and more excellent gifts, fhould excite in her greater thankfulnefs, and call forth more excellent virtues; otherwife, they will ferve only to enhance her account, and multiply her forrows. If the fin, and fall after the fame example of unbelief, she muft not think to be diftinguished in her punishment,

unless by the severity of it. She may expect to fee the favour of heaven withdrawn, and the fecular arm, inftead of fupporting, employed to crush her; her difcipline may be annihilated, her unity broken, her doctrines perverted, her worship deformed, her practice corrupted, her poffeffions alienated, and her revenues feized; till at length the word be given from above, and fome antichriftian power be unchained, to execute upon her the full vengeance due to her crimes. Unclean defires, and furious paffions, are the enemies of the foul, which deface her beauty, and devour all the productions of grace, in that leffer vineyard of God.

14. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hofts; look down from heaven, and behold, and viht this vine; 15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madeft fo ftrong for thine own felf.

The church, thus diftreffed and defolated, offereth a prayer for the return of the divine favour, and for a gracious vifitation from on high; fhe befeecheth God to look down, with an eye of pity, from heaven, on the vineyard, which his own hands had "planted," and on that royal branch, the family of David, in particular, which he had raifed and eftablished for himself, to accomplish his eternal purpose of faving mankind by Meffiah, who was, one day, to fpring from the root of Jeffe. The Chaldee Paraphraft expounds" the branch," of Meffiah himfelf, amwp Nobo by "On King Mef"fiah, whom thou haft established," &c. So do the Rabbies, Aben Ezra, and Obadiah, cited by Dr.

מלכא

Hammond.

επι ύιον

Hammond. And the LXX, inftead of fuppofing the word "a fon," to refer to "vine," and fo fignify a "branch,” which, in the Hebrew style, is "a fon " of the vine," have rendered the paffage, ανθρωπου, σε on the fon of man ;" an expreffion, actually used by the Pfalmift, two verfes below. To the advent of this fon of man, Ifrael was ever accustomed to look forward, in time of affliction; on his fecond and glorious advent the Chriftian church muft fix her eye, in the day of her calamities.

16. It is burnt with fire: it is cut down, or, dug up: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

The fad estate of the vineyard is yet again fet forth, to excite the compaffion of heaven. As to the latter claufe of this verfe, if it be rendered, as our tranflators have rendered it, in the present time, it seems to relate to the Ifraelites, and the destruction made amongst them by the wrath of God. If it have a future rendering, "they fhall perish at the "rebuke of thy countenance," it may be supposed to predict the fate of the adverfaries, when God should deliver his people out of their hands.

17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the fon of man, whom thou madeft Arong for thyself.

These phrases, "the man of thy right hand," and "the son of man," if at all applicable, in a lower and fubordinate fenfe, to a temporal king of Ifrael, confidered as a reprefentative of Meffiah, are most certainly, in their full and prophetical acceptation,

intended

intended to denote King Meffiah himself *. Affured of his coming, the church prayeth, that the "hand,” the protection, and the power of Jehovah might be upon" him, over him, and with him in his great undertaking, finally to deliver her out of all her troubles, and to "lead her captivity captive."

18. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

66

The end of our redemption is, that we fhould ferve him who hath redeemed us, and " go back" no more to our old fins. That foul which hath been quickened" and made alive by Christ, should live to his honour and glory; that mouth which hath been opened by him, can do no lefs than fhew forth his praife, and "call upon his" faving "name."

19. Turn us again, O LORD God of hofts: caufe thy face to fhine, and we shall be faved. See verse 3.

*

Virum dexteræ tuæ:" Davidem a te defignatum et confir、 matum Regem, et in ejus figurâ Chriftum. BossUET.

PSALM LXXXI.

ARGUMENT.

This Pfalm, whenfoever, or by whomsoever compofed, was, probably, intended to be. fung at the feaft of trumpets, as alfo at any other feaft time. It contains 1-3. an exhortation duly to obferve the festivals of the church, 4, 5. as God had appointed, who

is

is introduced expoftulating with his people, on account 6-10. of his mercies, and 11, 12. their ingratitude, and 13-16. under the form of a moft affectionate with, renewing his promifes, on condition of their obedience.

1. Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noife unto the God of Jacob. 2. Take a Pfalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the pfaltery.

If Ifraelites were thus exhorted to keep their feaft days, with joy and gladness of heart; to exalt their voices, and join together all their sweetest instruments of mufic, in honour of him who had rescued them from the Egyptian bondage, and given them a law from Sinai; in what exulting ftrains ought we to celebrate the festivals of the Christian church? With what triumph of foul, and harmony of affections, are we bound to " fing aloud to God our ftrength," who hath redeemed us from death, and published the Gospel from Sion? Since, as the Apostle faith, "holy days, new moons, and fabbath days," of old, "were" only "a fhadow of things to come; but "the body is of Chrift." Col. ii. 16.

3. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed on our folemn feast day.

In the Jewish church, notice was given of feasts, jubilees, &c. by found of trumpet. All the new moons, or beginnings of months, were obferved in this manner; fee Numb. x. 1. but on the September new moon, or first day of the feventh month, was

kept