mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 15.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xvi" n="xvi" next="Ps.xvii" prev="Ps.xv" progress="26.12%" title="Chapter XV">
<h2 id="Ps.xvi-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xvi-p0.2">PSALM XV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xvi-p1">The scope of this short but excellent psalm is to
show us the way to heaven, and to convince us that, if we would be
happy, we must be holy and honest. Christ, who is himself the way,
and in whom we must walk as our way, has also shown us the same way
that is here prescribed, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.19.17" parsed="|Matt|19|17|0|0" passage="Mt 19:17">Matt. xix.
17</scripRef>. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments." In this psalm, I. By the question (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.1" parsed="|Ps|15|1|0|0" passage="Ps 15:1">ver. 1</scripRef>) we are directed and excited to
enquire for the way. II. By the answer to that question, in the
rest of the psalm, we are directed to walk in that way, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.2-Ps.15.5" parsed="|Ps|15|2|15|5" passage="Ps 15:2-5">ver. 2-5</scripRef>. III. By the assurance
given in the close of the psalm of the safety and happiness of
those who answer these characters we are encouraged to walk in that
way, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.5" parsed="|Ps|15|5|0|0" passage="Ps 15:5">ver. 5</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xvi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15" parsed="|Ps|15|0|0|0" passage="Ps 15" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xvi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.15.1-Ps.15.5" parsed="|Ps|15|1|15|5" passage="Ps 15:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.15.1-Ps.15.5">
<h4 id="Ps.xvi-p1.7">The Citizen of Zion.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.xvi-p1.8">
<p id="Ps.xvi-p2">A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xvi-p3">1 <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xvi-p3.1">Lord</span>, who shall
abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?   2
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh
the truth in his heart.   3 <i>He that</i> backbiteth not with
his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a
reproach against his neighbour.   4 In whose eyes a vile
person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xvi-p3.2">Lord</span>. <i>He that</i> sweareth to <i>his
own</i> hurt, and changeth not.   5 <i>He that</i> putteth not
out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He
that doeth these <i>things</i> shall never be moved.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p4">Here is, I. A very serious and weighty
question concerning the characters of a citizen of Zion (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.1" parsed="|Ps|14|1|0|0" passage="Ps 14:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>Lord, who shall
abide in thy tabernacle?</i> Let me know who shall go to heaven."
Not, who by name (in this way the <i>Lord</i> only knows those that
are his), but who by description: "What kind of people are those
whom thou wilt own and crown with distinguishing and everlasting
favours?" This supposes that it is a great privilege to be a
citizen of Zion, an unspeakable honour and advantage,—that all are
not thus privileged, but a remnant only,—and that men are not
entitled to this privilege by their birth and blood: all shall not
<i>abide in God's tabernacle</i> that have Abraham to their father,
but, according as men's hearts and lives are, so will their lot be.
It concerns us all to put this question to ourselves, <i>Lord, what
shall I be, and do, that I may abide in thy tabernacle?</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.18 Bible:Acts.16.30" parsed="|Luke|18|18|0|0;|Acts|16|30|0|0" passage="Lu 18:18,Ac 16:30">Luke xviii. 18; Acts xvi.
30</scripRef>. 1. Observe to whom this enquiry is addressed—to God
himself. Note, Those that would find the way to heaven must look up
to God, must take direction from his word and beg direction from
his Spirit. It is fit he himself should give laws to his servants,
and appoint the conditions of his favours, and tell who are his and
who not. 2. How it is expressed in Old-Testament language. (1.) By
the <i>tabernacle</i> we may understand the church militant,
typified by Moses's tabernacle, fitted to a wilderness-state, mean
and movable. There God manifests himself, and there he meets his
people, as of old in the tabernacle of the testimony, the
tabernacle of meeting. Who shall dwell in this tabernacle? Who
shall be accounted a true living member of God's church, admitted
among the spiritual priests to lodge in the courts of this
tabernacle? We are concerned to enquire this, because many pretend
to a place in this tabernacle who really have no part nor lot in
the matter. (2.) By the <i>holy hill</i> we may understand the
church triumphant, alluding to Mount Zion, on which the temple was
to be built by Solomon. It is the happiness of glorified saints
that they dwell in that holy hill; they are at home there: they
shall be for ever there. It concerns us to know who shall dwell
there, that we may make it sure to ourselves that we shall have a
place among them, and may then take the comfort of it, and rejoice
in prospect of that holy hill.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p5">II. A very plain and particular answer to
this question. Those that desire to know their duty, with a
resolution to do it, will find the scripture a very faithful
director and conscience a faithful monitor. Let us see then the
particular characters of a citizen of Zion.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p6">1. He is one that is sincere and entire in
his religion: He <i>walketh uprightly,</i> according to the
condition of the covenant (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.1" parsed="|Gen|17|1|0|0" passage="Ge 17:1">Gen. xvii.
1</scripRef>), "<i>Walk before me, and be thou perfect</i>" (it is
the same word that is here used) "and then thou shalt find me a God
all-sufficient." He is really what he professes to be, is sound at
heart, and can approve himself to God, in his integrity, in all he
does; his conversation is uniform, and he is of a peace with
himself, and endeavours to stand complete in all the will of God.
His eye perhaps is weak, but it is single; he has his spots indeed,
but he does not paint; he is an <i>Israelite indeed in whom is no
guile,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:John.1.47 Bible:2Cor.1.12" parsed="|John|1|47|0|0;|2Cor|1|12|0|0" passage="Joh 1:47,2Co 1:12">John i. 47; 2 Cor.
i. 12</scripRef>. I know no religion but sincerity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p7">2. He is one that is conscientiously honest
and just in all his dealings, faithful and fair to all with whom he
has to do: He <i>worketh righteousness;</i> he walks in all the
ordinances and commandments of the Lord, and takes care to give all
their due, is just both to God and man; and, in speaking to both,
he speaks that which is <i>the truth in his heart;</i> his prayers,
professions, and promises, to God, come not out of feigned lips,
nor dares he tell a lie, or so much as equivocate, in his converse
or commerce with men. He walks by the rules of righteousness and
truth, and scorns and abhors the gains of injustice and fraud. He
reckons that that cannot be a good bargain, nor a saving one, which
is made with a lie, and that he who wrongs his neighbour, though
ever so plausibly, will prove, in the end, to have done the
greatest injury to himself.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p8">3. He is one that contrives to do all the
good he can to his neighbours, but is very careful to do hurt to no
man, and is, in a particular manner, tender of his neighbour's
reputation, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.3" parsed="|Ps|14|3|0|0" passage="Ps 14:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He
<i>does no evil</i> at all <i>to his neighbour</i> willingly or
designedly, nothing to offend or grieve his spirit, nothing to
prejudice the health or ease of his body, nothing to injure him in
his estate or secular interests, in his family or relations; but
walks by that golden rule of equity, To do as he would be done by.
He is especially careful not to injure his neighbour in his good
name, though many, who would not otherwise wrong their neighbours,
make nothing of that. If any man, in this matter, bridles not his
tongue, his religion is vain. He knows the worth of a good name,
and therefore <i>he backbites not,</i> defames no man, speaks evil
of no man, makes not others' faults the subject of his common talk,
much less of his sport and ridicule, nor speaks of them with
pleasure, nor at all but for edification. He makes the best of
every body, and the worst of nobody. He does not <i>take up a
reproach,</i> that is, he neither raises it nor receives it; he
gives no credit nor countenance to a calumny, but frowns upon a
backbiting tongue, and so silences it, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.25.23" parsed="|Prov|25|23|0|0" passage="Pr 25:23">Prov. xxv. 23</scripRef>. If an ill-natured character of
his neighbour be given him, or an ill-natured story be told him, he
will disprove it if he can; if not, it shall die with him and go no
further. His <i>charity will cover a multitude of sins.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p9">4. He is one that values men by their
virtue and piety, and not by the figure they make in the world,
<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.5" parsed="|Ps|14|5|0|0" passage="Ps 14:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. (1.) He thinks
the better of no man's wickedness for his pomp and grandeur: <i>In
his eyes a vile person is contemned.</i> Wicked people are vile
people, worthless and good for nothing (so the word signifies), as
dross, as chaff, and as salt that has lost its savour. They are
vile in their choices (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.13" parsed="|Jer|2|13|0|0" passage="Jer 2:13">Jer. ii.
13</scripRef>), in their practices, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.32.6" parsed="|Isa|32|6|0|0" passage="Isa 32:6">Isa. xxxii. 6</scripRef>. For this wise and good men
contemn them, not denying them civil honour and respect as men, as
men in authority and power perhaps (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.2.17 Bible:Rom.13.7" parsed="|1Pet|2|17|0|0;|Rom|13|7|0|0" passage="1Pe 2:17,Ro 13:7">1 Pet. ii. 17, Rom. xiii. 7</scripRef>), but, in
their judgment of them, agreeing with the word of God. They are so
far from envying them that they pity them, despising their gains (
<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.15" parsed="|Isa|33|15|0|0" passage="Isa 33:15">Isa. xxxiii. 15</scripRef>), as
turning to no account, their dainties (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.4" parsed="|Ps|141|4|0|0" passage="Ps 141:4">Ps. cxli. 4</scripRef>), their pleasures (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.24-Heb.11.25" parsed="|Heb|11|24|11|25" passage="Heb 11:24,25">Heb. xi. 24, 25</scripRef>) as sapless and
insipid. They despise their society (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.115 Bible:2Kgs.3.14" parsed="|Ps|119|115|0|0;|2Kgs|3|14|0|0" passage="Ps 119:115,2Ki 3:14">Ps. cxix. 115; 2 Kings iii. 14</scripRef>);
they despise their taunts and threats, and are not moved by them,
nor disturbed at them; they despise the feeble efforts of their
impotent malice (<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1 Bible:Ps.2.4" parsed="|Ps|2|1|0|0;|Ps|2|4|0|0" passage="Ps 2:1,4">Ps. ii. 1,
4</scripRef>), and will shortly triumph in their fall, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p9.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.52.6" parsed="|Ps|52|6|0|0" passage="Ps 52:6">Ps. lii. 6</scripRef>, 7. God despises them, and
they are of his mind. (2.) He thinks the worse of no man's piety
for his poverty and meanness, <i>but he knows those that fear the
Lord.</i> He reckons that serious piety, wherever it is found, puts
an honour upon a man, and makes his face to shine, more than
wealth, or wit, or a great name among men, does or can. He honours
such, esteems them very highly in love, desires their friendship
and conversation and an interest in their prayers, is glad of an
opportunity to show them respect or do them a good office, pleads
their cause and speaks of them with veneration, rejoices when they
prosper, grieves when they are removed, and their memory, when they
are gone, is precious with him. By this we may judge of ourselves
in some measure. What rules do we go by in judging of others?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p10">5. He is one that always prefers a good
conscience before any secular interest or advantage whatsoever;
for, if he has promised upon oath to do any thing, though
afterwards it appear much to his damage and prejudice in his
worldly estate, yet he adheres to it and <i>changes not,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.4" parsed="|Ps|14|4|0|0" passage="Ps 14:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. See how
weak-sighted and short-sighted even wise and good men may be; they
may <i>swear to their own hurt,</i> which they were not aware of
when they took the oath. But see how strong the obligation of an
oath is, that a man must rather suffer loss to himself and his
family than wrong his neighbour by breaking his oath. An oath is a
sacred thing, which we must not think to play fast and loose
with.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p11">6. He is one that will not increase his
estate by any unjust practices, <scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.5" parsed="|Ps|14|5|0|0" passage="Ps 14:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. (1.) Not by extortion: <i>He
putteth not out his money to usury,</i> that he may live at ease
upon the labours of others, while he is in a capacity for improving
it by his own industry. Not that it is any breach of the law of
justice or charity for the lender to share in the profit which the
borrower makes of his money, any more than for the owner of the
land to demand rent from the occupant, money being, by art and
labour, as improvable as land. But a citizen of Zion will freely
lend to the poor, according to his ability, and not be rigorous and
severe in recovering his right from those that are reduced by
Providence. (2.) Not by bribery: He will not <i>take a reward
against the innocent;</i> if he be any way employed in the
administration of public justice, he will not, for any gain, or
hope of it, to himself, do any thing to the prejudice of a
righteous cause.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p12">III. The psalm concludes with a
ratification of this character of the citizen of Zion. He is like
Zion-hill itself, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever,
<scripRef id="Ps.xvi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.125.1" parsed="|Ps|125|1|0|0" passage="Ps 125:1">Ps. cxxv. 1</scripRef>. Every true
living member of the church, like the church itself, is built upon
a rock, which the gates of hell cannot prevail against: <i>He that
doeth these things shall never be moved;</i> shall not be moved
<i>for ever,</i> so the word is. The grace of God shall always be
sufficient for him, to preserve him safe and blameless to the
heavenly kingdom. Temptations shall not overcome him, troubles
shall not overwhelm him, nothing shall rob him of his present peace
nor his future bliss.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xvi-p13">In singing this psalm we must teach and
admonish ourselves, and one another, to answer the characters here
given of the citizen of Zion, that we may never be moved from God's
tabernacle on earth, and may arrive, at last, at that holy hill
where we shall be for ever out of the reach of temptation and
danger.</p>
</div></div2>