EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—The righteous are preserved in Christ with a special preservation and in a peculiar safety. In the thirty-seventh Psalm this point is excellently and at large handled, both by direct proof, and by answer to all the usual objections against their safety. That they shall be preserved is affirmed, verses 3, 17, 23, 25, 32. The objections answered are many.

Objection 1.—Wicked men flourish.

Solution.—A righteous man should never grieve at that, for “they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” Verse 2.

Object. 2.—Righteous men are in distress.

Sol.—Verse 6.—The night of their adversity will be turned into the light of prosperity; and as surely as they can believe when it is night that it shall be day, so surely may they be persuaded when crosses are upon them, that comfort and deliverance shall come.

Object. 3.—But there are great plots laid against the righteous, and they are pursued with great malice, and their intended ruin is come almost to the very issue.

Sol.—Verses 12-15.—The Lord sees all the plots of wicked men, and laughs at their spiteful and foolish malice; while they are busy to destroy the righteous, and hope to have a day against them, “The Lord seeth that their own day is coming upon them, even a day of destruction, a day of great judgment and eternal misery;” their bow shall be broken, and the sword that they have drawn shall enter into their own heart.

Object. 4.—But the just have but small means.

Sol.—Verses 16, 17.—“A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.”

Object. 5.—Heavy times are like to befall them.

Sol.—Verse 19.—“They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall have enough.”

Object. 6.—But the wicked wax fatter and fatter, and they prevail in vexing the righteous.

Sol.—Verse 20.—Indeed the wicked are fat, but it is but “the fat of lambs,” their prosperity shall soon melt; and as they be like smoke in vexing the godly, so shall they be like smoke in vanishing away.

Object. 7.—But the righteous do fall.

Sol.—Verse 24.—Though he do fall, yet he falls not finally, nor totally, for he “is not utterly cast down;” and besides, there is an upholding providence of God in all the falls of the righteous.

Object. 8.—We see some wicked men that do not so fall into adversity, but rather are in prosperity to their dying days.

Sol.—Verse 28.—Though they do, yet “their seed shall be cut off.”

Object. 9.—But some wicked men are strong yet, and in their seed spread also.

Sol.—Verses 35, 36.—Note also that these “spreading bay-trees” many times “soon pass away;” and they and their houses are sometimes “utterly cut off.”

Object. 10.—But upright men are under many and long crosses.

Sol.—Verse 37.—Yet, “his end is peace.”

Object. 11.—But nobody stands for the godly when they come into question.

Sol.—Verses 39, 40.—“Their salvation is of the Lord;” he is their strength, he will help them and deliver them, etc.

But if we would be thus delivered, observe: 1. That we must not unthankfully fret at God’s providence (verse 1). 2. We must “trust in the Lord and do good” (verse 3). 3. We must “delight ourselves in the Lord,” and not place our contentment on earthly things (verse 4). 4. We must “commit our ways to God” (verse 5). 5. We must get patience and humble affections (verses 7-11). 6. We must be of upright conversation (verse 14). 7. We must be merciful (verses 25, 26). 8. We must “speak righteous things,” and get “the law into our hearts” (verses 30, 31). 9. We must “keep our way,” and “wait on God,” and not use ill means.—Nicholas Byfield.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm may well be styled, The good man’s cordial in bad times: a sovereign plaister for the plague of discontent: or, a choice antidote against the poison of impatience—Nathanael Hardy, in a Funeral Sermon, 1649.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm very much reminds one in its construction of the sententious and pithy conciseness of the Book of Proverbs. It does not contain any prayer, nor any direct allusion to David’s own circumstances of persecution or distress. It is rather the utterance of sound practical wisdom and godliness from the lips of experience and age, such as we might suppose an elder of the church, or a father of a family, to let fall as he sat with his household gathered around him, and listening to his earnest and affectionate admonition.—Barton Bouchier.

Whole Psalm.—The present Psalm is one of the alphabetical Psalms, it is called “Providentiæ speculum,” by Tertullian; “Potio contra murmur,” by Isidore; “Vestis piorum,” by Luther.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 1.—“Fret,” or, inflame not, burn not thyself with anger or grief.—John Diodati.

Verse 1.—“Neither be thou envious,” etc. Queen Elizabeth envied the milk-maid when she was in prison; but if she had known what a glorious reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years, she would not have envied her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in misery, to envy a wicked man in the ruff of all his prosperity and jollity, considering what he hath in hand, much more what he hath in hope.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—Would it not be accounted folly in a man that is heir to many thousands per annum that he should envy a stage-player, clothed in the habit of a king, and yet not heir to one foot of land? who, though he have the form, respect, and apparel of a king or nobleman, yet he is, at the same time, a very beggar, and worth nothing? Thus, wicked men, though they are arrayed gorgeously, and fare deliciously, wanting nothing, and having more than heart can wish, yet they are but only possessors: the godly Christian is the heir. What good doth all their prosperity do them? It does but hasten their ruin, not their reward. The ox that is the labouring ox is the longer lived than the ox that is put into the pasture; the very putting of him there doth but hasten his slaughter; and when God puts the wicked men into fat pastures, into places of honour and power, it is but to hasten their ruin. Let no man, therefore, fret himself because of evil doers, nor be envious at the prosperity of the wicked; for the candle of the wicked shall be put into everlasting darkness; they shall soon be cut off, and wither as a green herb.—Ludovic de Carbone, quoted by John Spencer.

Verse 2.—“Cut down like the grass,” with a scythe, and even at one blow.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 2.—“Wither.” O bitter word, which will make the ears of them that hear it to tingle! O sentence intolerable, which depriveth sinners of all good things, and bringeth them to all woe! The Lord sometime accursed the fig tree, and immediately, not only the leaves, but also the body and root were wholly withered: even so, that fearful curse of the last day shall be no less effectual; for on whomsoever it falleth it shall so scorch them, and shall so make them destitute of God’s grace, that they shall never more be able to do, to speak, think, or to hope for any good thing.—Thomas Tymme.

Verse 2.—“Green herb.” We cannot gather riper fruit of patience from any tree than is found upon the low shrubs of man’s short life; for if that fretting canker of envy at the prosperity of the wicked have overrun thy mind, a malady from which the saints have no shelter to be freed, out of this apothecary’s shop take antidote; either thy time is short to behold it, or theirs shorter to enjoy it: “they are set in slippery places, and are suddenly destroyed,” Psalm lxxiii. 18; “They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave,” Job xxi. 13; “They shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.”—Edmund Layfield’s Sermon, entitled “The Mappe of Man’s Mortality and Vanity,” 1630.

Verse 2.—Sometimes the wicked, like the green herb, wither in their spring, they fall in their rise, they perish in the beginnings of their mischievous designs; but if they do come to a full growth, they grow but to harvest, the fit season of their cutting off.—Robert Mossom.

Verse 3.—Note well the double precept “trust” and “do.” This is the true order, the two must go together, the one produces, the other proves; the promise is to both.—C. H. S.

Verse 3.—“So shalt thou dwell in the land,” etc. Thou shalt have a settlement, a quiet settlement, and a maintenance, a comfortable maintenance: “Verily thou shalt be fed;” some read it, Thou shalt be fed by faith, as the just are said to live by faith, and it is good living, good feeding upon the promises. “Verily thou shalt be fed,” as Elijah in the famine, with what is needful for thee. God himself is a shepherd, a feeder to all those that trust in him, Psalm xxiii. 1.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 3.—“So shalt thou dwell in the land,” etc. The land of Canaan was considered as the sum of earthly, and the type of heavenly felicity: to be provided for in the Lord’s land, and there to dwell under his protection, near his ordinances, and among his people, was all that the genuine Israelite could desire.—Thomas Scott (1747-1821) in loc.

Verse 3.—“Thou shalt be fed.” A manner of speech taken from cattle feeding securely, under the conduct and keeping of a good shepherd.—Henry Ainsworth.

Verse 3.—“Thou shalt be fed.” Fed in plenty.—Thomas Secker (Archbishop), 1768.

Verse 3.—Fed in security.—John Parkhurst.

Verse 4.—Note thy part and God’s part. Do thou “delight,” and he will “give.” C. H. S.

Verse 4.—How much grace and love breathes in these words, “Delight thyself also in the Lord!” Trust in him was recommended before, and now, this being added also, how plain is it that your ease and rest is the thing designed! Is it fit to receive so much kindness with neglect? Again, he delights in you: I speak to such of whom this may be supposed. And it is indefinitely said, “His delights were with the sons of men,” Prov. viii. 31. Think what he is, and what you are; and at once, both wonder and yield. And what else have you to delight in? what thing will you name that shall supply the place of GOD, or be to you in the stead of him? Moreover, who should delight in him but you—his friends, his sons, those of his own house? Think what life and vigour it will infuse into you, and that “the joy of the Lord will be your strength,” Nehem. viii. 10. How pleasantly will you hold on your course, and discharge all other duties of this your present state! You must serve him. Dare you think of throwing off his yoke? How desirable is it then to take delight in him whom I must serve; which only makes that service acceptable to him, and easy to myself! Further, this is a pleasure none can rob you of; a joy that cannot be taken from you. Other objects of your delight are vanishing daily. Neither men nor devils can ever hinder you delighting in God, if your hearts be so inclined. And were you never brought to take pleasure in any person or thing to which you had a former aversion? One that had wronged you might yet possibly win you by after kindness. Give a reason why you should be more difficult towards the blessed God that never wronged you, and whose way towards you hath constantly imported so much good will!

And consider that your condition on earth is such as exposes you to many sufferings and hardships, which, by your not delighting in him, you can never be sure to avoid (for they are things common to men), but which, by your delighting in him, you may be easily able to endure. Besides all this, seriously consider that you must die. You can make no shift to avoid that. How easily tolerable and pleasant will it be to think, then, of going to him with whom you have lived in a delightful communion before! And how dreadful to appear before him to whom your own heart shall accuse you to have been (against all his importunities and allurements) a disaffected stranger!—John Howe’s “Treatise of Delight in God.”

Verse 4.—We have in the former part extended the meaning of the words “Delight thyself in the Lord,” beyond what they seem at first sight literally to signify; so as not to understand them merely as requiring that very single act of delight to be immediately and directly terminated on God himself; but to take them as comprehending all the sum of all holy and religious converse with God, i.e., as it is delightful or as it is seasoned (intermingled, and as it were besprinkled) with delight; and upon the same account, of all our other converse, so far as it is influenced by religion. And I doubt not, to such as shall attentively have considered what hath been said, it will be thought very reasonable to take them in that latitude; whereof the very letter of the text (as may be alleged for further justification hereof) is most fitly capable. For the particle which we read in the Lord, hath not that signification alone, but signifies also with or by, or besides, or before, or in presence of, as if it had been said, “Come and sit down with God, retire thyself to him, and solace thyself in the delights which are to be found in his presence and converse, in walking with him, and transacting thy course as before him, and in his sight.” As a man may be said to delight himself with a friend that puts himself under his roof, and, besides personal converse with himself, freely enjoys the pleasure of all the entertainments, accomodations, and provisions which he is freely willing to communicate with him, and hath the satisfaction which a sober person would take in observing the rules and order of a well-governed house.—John Howe.