fair portion within the little circle of time, but eternity entered not into
their calculations. They were penny wise, but pound foolish; they
remembered the present, and forgot the future; they fought for the shell,
and lost the kernel. How fine a description have we here of many a
successful merchant, or popular statesman; and it is, at first sight, very
showy and tempting, but in contrast with the glories of the world to come,
what are these paltry molehill joys. Self, self, self, all these joys begin
and end in basest selfishness; but oh, our God, how rich are those who begin
and end in thee! From all the contamination and injury which association
with worldly men is sure to bring us, deliver thou us, O God!
Verse 15. "As for me." "I neither envy nor covet these men's happiness,
but partly have and partly hope for a far better." To behold God's face and
to be changed by that vision into his image, so as to partake in his
righteousness, this is my noble ambition; and in the prospect of this I
cheerfully waive all my present enjoyments. My satisfaction is to come; I
do not look for it as yet. I shall sleep awhile, but I shall wake at the
sound of the trumpet; wake to everlasting joy, because I arise in thy
likeness, O my God and King! Glimpses of glory good men have here below to
stay their sacred hunger, but the full feast awaits them in the upper skies.
Compared with this deep, ineffable, eternal fulness of delight, the joys of
the worldlings are as a glowworm to the sun, or the drop of a bucket to the
ocean.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Title. "A prayer of David." Since many of the Psalms consist of
prayers, the question may be asked why such an inscription more especially
belongs to this. But though the others contain divers prayers mixed with
other matters, this is a supplication through its whole course.— The Venerable Bede, 672-735.
Verse 1. "Hear . . . attend . . . give ear." This petition repeated
thrice, indicates a great power of feeling and many tears; because the craft
of the ungodly, in truth, grieves and afflicts the spiritual man more than
their power and violence, for we can get a knowledge of open force and
violence, and, when we see the danger, can in some way guard against it.— Martin Luther.
Verse 1. "That goeth not out of feigned lips." There are such things
as "feigned lips;" a contraction between the heart and the tongue, a
clamour in the voice and scoffing in the soul, a crying to God, "Thou art my
father, the guide of my youth;" and yet speaking and doing evil to the
utmost of our power (Jeremiah 3:4, 5), as if God could be imposed upon by
fawning pretences, and, like old Isaac, take Jacob for Esau, and be cozened
by the smell of his garments; as if he could not discern the negro heart
under an angel's garb. . . This is an unworthy conceit of God, to fancy that
we can satisfy for inward sins, and avert approaching judgments by external
offerings, by a loud voice, with a false heart, as if God (like children),
would be pleased with the glittering of an empty shell, or the rattling of
stones, the chinking of money, a mere voice, and crying without inward
frames and intentions of service.— Stephen Charnock.
Verse 1. "Not out of feigned lips." It is observable that the eagle
soareth on high, little intending to fly to heaven, but to gain her prey;
and so it is that many do carry a great deal of seeming devotion in lifting
up their eyes towards heaven; but they do it only to accomplish with more
ease, safety, and applause their wicked and damnable designs here on earth;
such as without are Catos, within Neros; hear them, no man better; search
and try them, no man worse; they have Jacob's voice, but Esau's hands; they
profess like saints, but practise like Satans; they have their long prayers,
but short prayings; they are like apothecaries' gallipots—having without
the title of some excellent preservative, but within are full of deadly
poison; counterfeit holiness is their cloak for all manner of villanies, and
the midwife to bring forth all their devilish designs.
Peter Bales, in Spencer's "Things New and Old."
Verse 1. "Not out of feigned lips." Not only a righteous cause, but a
righteous prayer are urged as motives why God should hear. Calvin remarks
on the importance of joining prayer to the testimony of a good conscience,
lest we defraud God of his honour by not committing all judgments to him.
J. J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse 1. Though thy prayers be never so well framed in regard of words,
and reverently performed as to thy external gestures; yet all is nothing,
if thy heart be not in the duty. For prayer is not a work of the head, or
hand, or eyes only, but chiefly a work of the heart, and therefore called in
Scripture, the "pouring out of the soul" (1 Samuel 1:15); and the "pouring
out of the heart." Psalm 62:8. And, indeed, the very soul of prayer lieth
in the pouring out of the soul before the Lord. Whensoever, therefore, thou
drawest near unto God in prayer, let it be with thine heart and soul,
otherwise thou canst have no assurance of audience, and acceptance; for as
Cyprian speaketh, Quomodo te audiri a Deo postulas, etc. How canst thou
expect the Lord should hear thee, when thou hearest not thyself? or that he
should regard thy prayers, when thou regardest not what thou prayest?
Certainly that prayer reacheth not the heart of God, which reacheth not our
own.— Thomas Gouge, 1605-1681.
Verse 2. David appeals unto God to judge the righteousness of his heart
towards Saul— "Let my sentence come forth from thy presence." From
Saul and his courtiers there comes a hard sentence; they call me traitor,
they call me rebel; but, Lord, leave me not unto their sentence, "Let my
sentence come from thy presence;" that I know will be another sentence than
what cometh from them, for thou hast proved me, and tried me, and findest
nothing in me.— Jeremiah Burroughs.
Verse 3. "Thou hast proved mine heart:" —
What! take it at adventure, and not try
What metal it is made of? No, not I.
Should I now lightly let it pass,
Take sullen lead for silver, sounding brass,
Instead of solid gold, alas!
What would become of it in the great day
Of making jewels, 'twould be cast away.
The heart thou giv'st me must be such a one,
As is the same throughout. I will have none
But that which will abide the fire.
'Tis not a glitt'ring outside I desire,
Whose seeming shows do soon expire;
But real worth within, which neither dross,
Nor base alloys, make subject unto loss.
If, in the composition of thine heart,
A stubborn, steely willfulness have part,
That will not bow and bend to me,
Save only in a mere formality
Of tinsel-trimm'd hypocrisy,
I care not for it, though it show as fair
As the first blush of the sun-gilded air.
The heart that in my furnace will not melt,
When it the glowing heat thereof hath felt,
Turn liquid, and dissolve in tears
Of true repentance for its faults, that hears
My threat'ning voice, and never fears,
Is not an heart worth having. If it be
An heart of stone, 'tis not an heart for me.
The heart, that, cast into my furnace, spits,
And sparkles in my face, fall into fits
Of discontented grudging, whines
When it is broken of its will, repines
At the least suffering, declines
My fatherly correction, is an heart
On which I care not to bestow mine art.
* * * * * * * * *
The heart that vapours out itself in smoke,
And with these cloudy shadows thinks to cloak
Its empty nakedness, how much
Soever thou esteemest, it is such
As never will endure my touch.
I'll bring it to my furnace, and there see
What it will prove, what it is like to be.
If it be gold, it will be sure
The hottest fire that can be to endure,
And I shall draw it out more pure.
Affliction may refine, but cannot waste
That heart wherein my love is fixed fast.
— Francis Quarles.
Verse 3. "Thou hast visited me in the night," etc. In the night the
soul is free from business with the world, and therefore freest for business
with God; and then did God prove and visit David, that is, examine and sift
him, by calling to his mind all his ways and works in former passages; and
the issue of this trial was, he found nothing; not that his soul was empty
of good things, or that there was nothing evil in him; but God, upon
examination, found nothing of that evil in him which some men suspected him
of; namely either any ill will or evil design against Saul, in reference to
whom he called his cause a righteous cause, or "the right" (verse 1);
"Hear the right, O Lord."— Joseph Caryl.
Verse 3 ( third clause, New Translation. ) "Thou hast smelted me, and
found in me no dross." A metaphor taken from the smelting of metals to
purify them from extraneous matter.— Geddes.
Verse 3. "Proved . . . visited in the night . . . tried." Tribulation
whereby, when examined, I was found righteous, is called not only night, in
that it is wont to disturb with fear, but fire in that it actually burns.— Augustine.
Verse 3. "I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." Wherefore,
if thou be upon a mountain, look not backward again unto Sodom as Lot's wife
did; if thou be within the ark, fly not out again into the world as Noah's
crow did; if thou be well washed, return not again to the mire as the hog
doth; if thou be clean, run not again to thy filth, as the dog doth; if thou
be going towards the land of Canaan, think not on the flesh-pots of Egypt;
if thou be marching against the host of Midian, drink not of the waters of
Harod; if thou be upon the housetop, come not down; if thou have set thy
hand to the plough, look not behind thee; remember not those vices which are
behind thee.— Thomas Playfere.
Verses 3, 4, 5. Where there is true grace, there is hatred of all sin,
for hatred is (Greek). Can a man be resolved to commit what he hates? No,
for his inward aversion would secure him more against it than all outward
obstacles. As this inward purpose of a good man is against all sin, so more
particularly against that which doth so easily beset him. David seems in
several places to be naturally inclined to lying, but he takes up a
particular resolution against it: (verse 3), "I am purposed that my mouth
shall not transgress;" (Heb.)—I have contrived to waylay and intercept
the sin of lying when it hath an occasion to approach me. A good man hath
not only purposes, but he endeavours to fasten and strengthen those purposes
by prayer; so David (verse 5), "Hold up my goings in the paths, that my
footsteps slip not." He strengthens himself by stirring up a liveliness in
duty, and by avoiding occasions of sin; (verse 4), "I have kept me from the
paths of the destroyer;" whereas, a wicked man neither steps out of the way
of temptation, nor steps up to God for strength against it.— Stephen Charnock.
Verse 4. "Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips have I
kept me from the paths of the destroyer:" as if he had said, Would you know
how is comes to pass that I escape those ungodly works and practices which
men ordinarily take liberty to do? I must ascribe it to the good word of
God; it is this I consult with, and by it I am kept from those foul ways