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III.

THE JUST MAN'S LAMENTATION, AND THE WICKED MAN'S TRIUMPH.

PSALM XI. 3.

"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

"IN the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain?" Verse 1st. The psalmist was brought off from all reliance on his own arm, from all trust in his own heart, and from all expectations of either hope or help from the law of God, and from all confidence in his obedience thereto. He knew that the Lord had made with him an everlasting covenant, well ordered in all things, and sure; this was all his salvation, and this was all his desire. And he knew that this covenant was made with the promised Messiah as the covenant head, and with David in him; and that it was to be a covenant ratified and confirmed by a human sacrifice in union with the word that was God, and that the human nature, which was to be assumed by the word, was to be of the fruit of David's body, on which account Christ calls himself the root and offspring of David.

To build upon this rock David was led, upon this foundation his heart was fixed, and in this Almighty Saviour David put his trust for protec

tion and defence, for all supplies in a way of providence, for grace, and for glory. He knew that all things were put under his feet, that he was heir of all things, that he was anointed with the oil of gladness above all that ever had or will have fellowship with him; that all grace was poured into his lips, and that he was King of Zion, yea King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts mighty in battle; and therefore he asks his carnal advisers why they bid him fly from his enemies like a bird to the mountain, when his trust was in the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Saviour. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there; if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of sea, there art thou in all these places." So that there is no cause to flee, when I have a present help, a God at hand.

"For lo the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string," &c. By the wicked man's bow, I understand his tongue; they bend their tongues like bows. The arrows are doctrinal lies, lies of slander, or bitter words: the one is intended to injure the judgment and distress the soul; the other to wound the reputation. The string of the bow appears to me to be the cord of sin, or the bond of iniquity, which keeps Satan in his possession of the heart, and the sinner fast bound to Satan's service; and it is the

devil's work to keep this string tight, and to aid this archer with his assistance; hence the Saviour says, "This is your hour and the powers of darkness;" "Ye are of your father the devil, and his works ye will do."

These bowmen are said to shoot privily, or in darkness. They hate the light: hence it is that they generally circulate their heresies, first in a secret, or private way, till they get a majority, or a number on their side, and then the whore's forehead appears abroad; and if they intend to slander the righteous, it is never done to the face but in secret, therefore such are justly called backbiters.

The upright in heart are the targets at which such archers shoot, in order to remove them from the foundation, or the foundations from them; but, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" One foundation is the secret purpose and good will of God towards us, which is his prescience or foreknowledge of us; and is a knowledge of approbation, of love, of choice, and of a gracious acceptance of us in his beloved Son. In this his decree he has given us a sure and firm standing in his sovereign love to us in Christ Jesus: as it is written, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his."

Christ Jesus is the foundation which God in his decree appointed, and in the death of him he laid this foundation in Zion; and he is the foun

dation that is laid by all the wise masterbuilders that ever God employed in his building, whether prophets, apostles, evangelists, or teachers. He has borne the weight of all our sins, and of all the wrath and all the curses due to us on account of sin; and has approved himself a tried stone. To this foundation the Father draws us; here we cast our burdens and cares too; here the weary soul rests; here hope anchors, and faith fixes: into sweet captivity every thought goes, and love sweetly unites us to him whose strength is put forth in our weakness, and from whom life is communicated to every living stone that rests upon him: here we are sensibly borne up above despondency, above a spirit of heaviness, above the meditations of terror, and above the dark regions of the shadow of death. Upon this foundation the sure mercies of David, in the salvation of sinners, are built up for ever; and in our glorification truth will be settled in heaven.

In laying this foundation, or in the founding of Zion, judgment was laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, Isaiah xxviii. 16, 17. The undertakings of the Saviour, and the judgment that was executed upon him, answered all the demands of precept upon precept, line upon line; and the everlasting righteousness that he wrought out and brought in was divine, perfect, complete, and in every sense adequate to the plummet, and answered to the uttermost all the rigorous exactions of vindictive justice. So that

this building of mercy upon this foundation, goes up with the seven eyes of the Lord upon it, Zech. iii. 9. iv. 10, and is a building complete; there is no breach, shake, or settlement in it, occasioned by any dishonour to the law, nor any part that overhangs to the injury of justice; for both line and plummet have been stretched and laid to this great work, and to every living stone in it, who have all died and suffered in their surety, and have been justified in him at his resurrection. The divine founder and fabricator has inspected very minutely every part of this building; he chose the corner stone himself, and engraved it with grace, grace unto it; and he likewise gavė the building its name, the temple of the living God; and the city in which it stands is, Jehovah Shamma: which names continue to this day, and ever will. And sure I am that this foundation will never sink, and that this building will never be laid in a ruinous heap.

Foundation signifies also the beginning of the work of grace and truth in the sinner's soul, which is the doctrinal and experimental basis in the believing heart; such as, repentance from dead works, and faith towards God, &c.; which are the beginnings of Christ's work and word in us; because there is no salvation without repentance, faith, &c. which is a clearing away, in some sort, the rubbish that lies between us and the foundation; and because faith, repentance, &c. under the Spirit's operation, square, fit and polish,

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