6. "Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him."]—Surely, in the greatest extremity of troubles and persecution, there shall no evil have power to seize upon him whom thou hast taken to thy protection.

9. "Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding."]-Be not either stupid or refractory under the hand of God, like to brute beasts which have no understanding.

XXXIII. 7. "He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap he layeth up the depth in storehouses."]-The element of waters, though it be fluid, and naturally apt to spread and diffuse itself, yet hath he, in his providence and power, gathered it up and compacted it close together, as into one heap; and part thereof, instead of overflowing the face of the earth, he hath confined into the secret receptacles thereof.

15." He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works."]-In vain shall the crafty ones of the world think to bring about their plots against God: he formed and fashioned their hearts, as well as the simplest and silliest of all his creatures; and therefore he well knows and considers all that they go about.

XXXIV. 20. "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken."]-He taketh charge of all that belongs to his children; so as no violence shall be prejudicial unto them: not only their bones, but the very hairs of their head are numbered: in vain shall their enemies hope to fasten any evil upon them, which the wise providence of God hath not foreappointed for their good.

XXXV. 5. "Let them be as chaff before the wind: and the angel of the LORD scattering them."]—Though thou hast ways enow by natural and ordinary means to plague thine enemies, yet, besides do thou give them over into the hands of thine angels, whether good or evil, to vex them according to their deserts.

10. "All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee?"]— All the powers and parts of my soul and body shall praise thee; and confess thee to be my only good and gracious God.

14. "I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother."]-I hanged down my head in a serious humiliation, as one that had lost his dearest friend, even the mother that bore him.

16. "With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth."]-Those pretended false friends of mine, at their feasts made me their tabletalk; and there signified their malicious conceits against me.

17. "My darling from the lions."]-Deliver my dear and precious life from these cruel and brutish enemies.

19. "Neither let them wink with their eyes that hate me without a cause."]-Those that do secretly scorn me, by their privy gestures of contempt, winking with their eyes, and wrying their faces at me, in a disdainful manner, do thou meet with them, and let them not have cause to insult over me.

XXXVI. 1. "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes."]-So lewdly doth the wicked man demean himself, that my heart easily and ustly tells me, that there is no fear of God within him.

6. "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains."]—Thy righteousness is like some huge and high mountain, which we may see afar off; but can never comprehend with our eye all the extent and largeness of it, &c.

8. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures."]-They shall be abundantly satisfied with all thy blessings, both temporal and spiritual; and shall not only be fed up to a sufficiency, but shall be furnished with thy merciful provisions, even to delight and pleasure.

9. "For with thee is the fountain of life: and in thy light shall we see light."]-In, and from thee, is the ground of all true comfort all life and happiness is derived only from thee; and of that infinite store of joy and contentment that is in thee, we shall partake in our measure, enjoying thy blessings and gracious illuminations.

11.

"Let not the foot of pride come against me."]-Let not the proud man prevail against me: O do thou deliver me from his insolent insultations!

XXXVII. 13. "The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming."]-The Lord who takes notice of all his secret plots, shall laugh him to scorn; for, howsoever the foolish wicked man flatters himself in the conceit of his safety and stability of condition, yet the allwise God sees that his destruction is at hand.

20. They shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away."]-They shall vanish away into smoke; as the fat of lambs which is laid upon the altar in sacrifice, so shall they be suddenly consumed.

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21. The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the

righteous showeth mercy, and giveth."]-The wicked man shall be punished with such want, that when he shall be driven to borrow, he shall not have wherewith to repay, but the righteous shall have enough, both for his own use and for the charitable supply of others.

25. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”]—In all my lifetime, I have diligently observed the good hand that God hath held over his righteous servants; whose provision for them I have noted to be wonderfully careful and gracious, so as the affliction of want hath not continued upon them, and been derived from them to their children: if they have been straitened with penury for the time, yet it hath ere long been supplied either to themselves or theirs.

37. "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace."]-However it please God so to order the events of this life, that they fall out indifferently to the godly and wicked men, and perhaps the worst may speed better here than the holiest; yet, look to the end of both, and ye shall well observe a clear difference of God's respects; for in the end, the godly man shall find a gracious retribution from the Lord his God, when the wicked man shall be everlastingly confounded.

XXXVIII. 2. "For thine arrows stick fast in me."]-Thine afflictions, as so many sharp arrows, gall my soul and stick fast in me.

4. "For mine iniquities are gone over mine head."]-Mine iniquities are as some deep waters, wherein, without thy mercy and grace, I should be utterly drowned; for I am sunk under them, as not able to uphold myself against the guilt of them.

5. "My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishishness."]-It is no short and transient affliction which I suffer, but lingeringly painful and loathsome; all which is most justly brought upon me by my sin, which I have foolishly committed.

13. "But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth."]-But I would take no notice of their designs; only in a patient and humble silence commending myself to thy blessed care, and them to thy just revenge.

17. "For I am ready to halt."]-If thou didst not sustain me, O Lord, I am ready to be utterly depressed with my calamity, and to yield unto the weak doubts and diffidence of my natural corruption.

XXXIX. 1. "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me."]-I have set down this constant resolution in my heart, that I will look carefully to myself; and however my affliction be very great, yet that I will not give my tongue leave to break into any impatient or unbeseeming speeches, while it pleaseth God to exercise me with the malice of wicked men.

2. "I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.”]—I refrained my tongue from speaking that which I might have justly said in my own defence, and in their reproof and conviction, though I were so much the more pained in my suppression thereof.

XL. 2. "He brought me out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock," &c.]-He delivered me out of extreme distress and misery, and out of so woful a condition, as wherein there was neither comfort nor hope; and set me upon the firm ground of good assurance and steadfast safety.

6. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offerings and sin offerings hast thou not required."]-I do not come to thee, O Lord, in the formalities of legal sacrifices, as thinking to please thee by these outward acts of devotion; but I bring a sincere heart to thee, and a perpared ear, in comparison whereof, burnt offerings and sin offerings are of no value to thee.

7, 8. "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God."]-When thou hadst thus addressed my heart and my ear, then I said cheerfully, Behold, Lord, I am ready to consecrate myself unto thee: in the volume of thine everlasting counsel, signified by thy revealed will, it is written both of me, and especially of thy blessed Son, whose type I bear, that we should do thy will cheerfully and effectually.

12. "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up."]-These evils, which mine iniquities have brought upon me, are so many and great, that I am not able to sustain them, but must needs droop under them, without thy merciful release.

XLII. 1. "As the hart panteth for the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God."]-The thirsty and panting deer, in the extremity of drought, doth not more eagerly long for the water brooks, wherein to cool and refresh himself, than I do for

my access to thy holy sanctuary, O Lord, even to thy tabernacle, from whence I am forcibly driven.

2. "My soul thirsteth for God."]-My soul doth vehemently thirst after this thy presence.

4.

"When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise."]-When I remember my former happiness, how I had the liberty and favour of leading the multitude up to thy holy tabernacle, and bethink myself with what joy and melody we went up heretofore to this house of thine, I cannot but pour out my soul into tears and lamentations, to consider my grievous restraint and exile from it.

6. "O my God, my soul is cast down within me therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar."]-My soul is cast down with this affliction in whom should I then seek for comfort, but in thee, O God? Therefore, since I cannot be present at thine house, yet I will ever remember and think upon it wherever I am in my utmost banishment; whether in that eastern land beyond Jordan, or the southern coast of the mountains of Hermonim, or in this little obscure hill wherein I now am.

7. "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts."] -One affliction, like so many waves, comes in the neck of another, and in a miserable succession as it were calls for the next, upon thy predetermination of these my adversities, which do as it were gush out from thee by those conveyances which thou hast ordained.

8. "Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me."]-The Lord will be graciously present to help and comfort me; and as in the daytime he will cheer me up with the sense of his lovingkindness, so in the night also he will put songs of praise and thanksgiving into my mouth.

XLIV. 12. “Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price."]-We are made more base, O God, than those bondslaves that are sold by their victors: there is somewhat given for them to their owners; but as for us, O Lord, thou hast sold us for nothing, and hast as it were cast us away as unworthy to be prized.

19. "Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons."] Though thou have humbled us so low as to the very bottom of the