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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM XI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this psalm we have David's struggle with and triumph over a strong
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temptation to distrust God and betake himself to indirect means for his
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own safety in a time of danger. It is supposed to have been penned when
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he began to feel the resentments of Saul's envy, and had had the
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javelin thrown at him once and again. He was then advised to run his
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country. "No," says he, "I trust in God, and therefore will keep my
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ground." Observe,
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I. How he represents the temptation, and perhaps parleys with it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. How he answers it, and puts it to silence with the consideration of
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God's dominion and providence
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:4">ver. 4</A>),
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his favour to the righteous, and the wrath which the wicked are
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reserved for,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:5-7">ver. 5-7</A>.
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In times of public fear, when the insults of the church's enemies are
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daring and threatening, it will be profitable to meditate on this
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psalm.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps11_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps11_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps11_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Confidence in God.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>To the chief musician. A psalm of David.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 In the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
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put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee <I>as</I> a bird to your
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mountain?
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2 For, lo, the wicked bend <I>their</I> bow, they make ready their
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arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright
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in heart.
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3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. David's fixed resolution to make God his confidence: <I>In the Lord
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put I my trust,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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Those that truly fear God and serve him are welcome to put their trust
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in him, and shall not be made ashamed of their doing so. And it is the
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character of the saints, who have taken God for their God, that they
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make him their hope. Even when they have other things to stay
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themselves upon, yet they do not, they dare not, stay upon them, but on
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God only. Gold is not their hope, nor are horses and chariots their
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confidence, but God only; and therefore, when second causes frown, yet
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their hopes do not fail them, because the first cause is still the
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same, is ever so. The psalmist, before he gives an account of the
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temptation he was in to distrust God, records his resolution to trust
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in him, as that which he was resolved to live and die by.</P>
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<P>
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II. His resentment of a temptation to the contrary: "<I>How say you to
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my soul,</I> which has thus returned to God as its rest and reposes in
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him, <I>Flee as a bird to your mountain,</I> to be safe there out of
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the reach of the fowler?" This may be taken either,</P>
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<P>
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1. As the serious advice of his timorous friends; so many understand
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it, and with great probability. Some that were hearty well-wishers to
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David, when they saw how much Saul was exasperated against him and how
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maliciously he sought his life, pressed him by all means to flee for
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the same to some place of shelter, and not to depend too much upon the
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anointing he had received, which, they thought, was more likely to
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occasion the loss of his head than to save it. That which grieved him
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in this motion was not that to flee now would savour of cowardice, and
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ill become a soldier, but that it would savour of unbelief and would
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ill become a saint who had so often said, <I>In the Lord put I my
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trust.</I> Taking it thus, the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:2,3">two following verses</A>
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contain the reason with which these faint-hearted friends of David
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backed this advice. They would have him flee,
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(1.) Because he could not be safe where he was,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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"Observe," say they, "how <I>the wicked bend their bow;</I> Saul and
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his instruments aim at thy life, and the uprightness of thy heart will
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not be thy security." See what an enmity there is in the wicked against
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the upright, in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman;
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what pains they take, what preparations they make, to do them a
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mischief: <I>They privily shoot</I> at them, or, <I>in darkness,</I>
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that they may not see the evil designed, to avoid it, nor others, to
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prevent it, no, nor God himself, to punish it.
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(2.) Because he could be no longer useful where he was. "For," say
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they, "<I>if the foundations be destroyed</I>" (as they were by Saul's
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mal-administration), "if the civil state and government be unhinged and
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all out of course"
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+75:3,82:5">Ps. lxxv. 3, lxxxii. 5</A>),
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"what canst thou do with thy righteousness to redress the grievances?
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Alas! it is to no purpose to attempt the saving of a kingdom so
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wretchedly shattered; whatever the righteous can do signifies nothing."
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<I>Abi in cellam, et dic, Miserere mei, Domine--Away to thy cell, and
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there cry, Pity me, O Lord!</I> Many are hindered from doing the
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service they might do to the public, in difficult times, by a despair
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of success.</P>
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<P>
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2. It may be taken as a taunt wherewith his enemies bantered him,
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upbraiding him with the professions he used to make of confidence in
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God, and scornfully bidding him try what stead that would stand him in
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now. "You say, God is your mountain; flee to him now, and see what the
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better you will be." Thus they endeavoured to shame the counsel of the
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poor, saying, There is <I>no help for them in God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+14:6,Ps+3:2">Ps. xiv. 6; iii. 2</A>.
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The confidence and comfort which the saints have in God, when all the
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hopes and joys in the creature fail them, are a riddle to a carnal
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world and are ridiculed accordingly. Taking it thus, the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:2,3">two following verses</A>
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are David's answer to this sarcasm, in which,
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(1.) He complains of the malice of those who did thus abuse him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>They bend their bow and make ready their arrows;</I> and we are told
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+64:3">Ps. lxiv. 3</A>)
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what their arrows are, even bitter words, such words as these, by which
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they endeavour to discourage hope in God, which David felt as a sword
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in his bones.
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(2.) He resists the temptation with a gracious abhorrence,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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He looks upon this suggestion as striking at the foundations which
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every Israelite builds upon: "If you destroy the foundations, if you
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take good people off from their hope in God, if you can persuade them
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that their religion is a cheat and a jest and can banter them out of
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that, you ruin them, and break their hearts indeed, and make them of
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all men the most miserable." The principles of religion are the
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foundations on which the faith and hope of the righteous are built.
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These we are concerned, in interest as well as duty, to hold fast
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against all temptations to infidelity; for, if these be destroyed, if
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we let these go, <I>What can the righteous do?</I> Good people would be
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undone if they had not a God to go to, a God to trust to, and a future
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bliss to hope for.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps11_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps11_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps11_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps11_7"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>4 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> <I>is</I> in his holy temple, the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>'s throne <I>is</I> in
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heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
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5 The L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that
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loveth violence his soul hateth.
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6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and
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a horrible tempest: <I>this shall be</I> the portion of their cup.
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7 For the righteous L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> loveth righteousness; his countenance
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doth behold the upright.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The shaking of a tree (they say) makes it take the deeper and faster
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root. The attempt of David's enemies to discourage his confidence in
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God engages him to cleave so much the more closely to his first
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principles, and to review them, which he here does, abundantly to his
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own satisfaction and the silencing of all temptations to infidelity.
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That which was shocking to his faith, and has been so to the faith of
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many, was the prosperity of wicked people in their wicked ways, and the
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straits and distresses which the best men are sometimes reduced to:
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hence such an evil thought as this was apt to arise, <I>Surely it is
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vain to serve God,</I> and we may call the proud happy. But, in order
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to stifle and shame all such thoughts, we are here called to
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consider,</P>
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<P>
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I. That there is a God in heaven: <I>The Lord is in his holy temple</I>
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above, where, though he is out of our sight, we are not out of his. Let
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not the enemies of the saints insult over them, as if they were at a
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loss and at their wits' end: no, they have a God, and they know where
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to find him and how to direct their prayer unto him, as their Father in
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heaven. Or, He is in his holy temple, that is, in his church; he is a
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God in covenant and communion with his people, through a Mediator, of
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whom the temple was a type. We need not say, "Who shall go up to
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heaven, to fetch us thence a God to trust to?" No, the word is nigh us,
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and God in the word; his Spirit is in his saints, those living temples,
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and the Lord is that Spirit.</P>
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<P>
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II. That this God governs the world. The Lord has not only his
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residence, but his throne, in heaven, and he has <I>set the dominion
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thereof in the earth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+38:33">Job xxxviii. 33</A>);
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for, having <I>prepared his throne in the heavens, his kingdom ruleth
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over all,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+103:19">Ps. ciii. 19</A>.
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Hence the heavens are said <I>to rule,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+4:26">Dan. iv. 26</A>.
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Let us by faith see God on this throne, on his throne of glory,
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infinitely transcending the splendour and majesty of earthly
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princes--on his throne of government, giving law, giving motion, and
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giving aim, to all the creatures--on his throne of judgment, rendering
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to every man according to his works--and on his throne of grace, to
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which his people may come boldly for mercy and grace; we shall then see
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no reason to be discouraged by the pride and power of oppressors, or
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any of the afflictions that attend the righteous.</P>
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<P>
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III. That this God perfectly knows every man's true character: <I>His
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eyes behold, his eye-lids try, the children of men;</I> he not only
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sees them, but he sees through them, not only knows all they say and
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do, but knows what they think, what they design, and how they really
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stand affected, whatever they pretend. We may know what men seem to be,
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but he knows what they are, as the refiner knows what the value of the
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gold is when he has tried it. God is said to try <I>with his eyes,</I>
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and <I>his eye-lids,</I> because he knows men, not as earthly princes
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know men, by report and representation, but by his own strict
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inspection, which cannot err nor be imposed upon. This may comfort us
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when we are deceived in men, even in men that we think we have tried,
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that God's judgment of men, we are sure, is according to truth.</P>
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<P>
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IV. That, if he afflict good people, it is for their trial and
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therefore for their good,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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The Lord tries all the children of men that he may <I>do them good in
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their latter end,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+8:16">Deut. viii. 16</A>.
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Let not that therefore shake our foundations nor discourage our hope
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and trust in God.</P>
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<P>
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V. That, however persecutors and oppressors may prosper and prevail
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awhile, they now lie under, and will for ever perish under, the wrath
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of God.
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1. He is a holy God, and therefore hates them, and cannot endure to
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look upon them: <I>The wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul
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hateth;</I> for nothing is more contrary to the rectitude and goodness
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of his nature. Their prosperity is so far from being an evidence of
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God's love that their abuse of it does certainly make them the objects
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of his hatred. He that hates nothing that he has made, yet hates those
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who have thus ill-made themselves. Dr. Hammond offers another reading
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of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:5">this verse</A>:
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<I>The Lord trieth the righteous and the wicked</I> (distinguishes
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infallibly between them, which is more than we can do), and <I>he that
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loveth violence hateth his own soul,</I> that is, persecutors bring
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certain ruin upon themselves
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+8:36">Prov. viii. 36</A>),
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as follows here.
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2. He is a righteous Judge, and therefore he will punish them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Their punishment will be,
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(1.) Inevitable: <I>Upon the wicked he shall rain snares.</I> Here is a
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double metaphor, to denote the unavoidableness of the punishment of
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wicked men. It shall be rained upon them from heaven
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:23">Job xx. 23</A>),
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against which there is no fence and from which there is no escape; see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+10:11,1Sa+2:10">Josh. x. 11; 1 Sam. ii. 10</A>.
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It shall surprise them as a sudden shower sometimes surprises the
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traveller in a summer's day. It shall be as snares upon them, to hold
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them fast, and keep them prisoners, till the day of reckoning comes.
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(2.) Very terrible. It is <I>fire, and brimstone, and a horrible
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tempest,</I> which plainly alludes to the destruction of Sodom and
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Gomorrah, and very fitly, for that destruction was intended for a
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figure of <I>the vengeance of eternal fire,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:7">
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Jude 7</A>.
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The fire of God's wrath, fastening upon the brimstone of their own
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guilt, will burn certainly and furiously, will burn to the lowest hell
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and the utmost line of eternity. What a horrible tempest are the wicked
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hurried away in at death! What a lake of fire and brimstone must they
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make their bed in for ever, in the congregation of the dead and damned!
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It is this that is here meant; it is this that shall be the portion of
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their cup, the heritage appointed them by the Almighty and allotted to
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them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+20:29">Job xx. 29</A>.
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This is the cup of trembling which shall be put into their hands, which
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they must <I>drink the dregs</I> of,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+75:8">Ps. lxxv. 8</A>.
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Every man has the portion of his cup assigned him. Those who choose the
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Lord for the portion of their cup shall have what they choose, and be
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for ever happy in their choice
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:5">Ps. xvi. 5</A>);
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but those who reject his grace
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shall be made to drink the cup of his fury,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+25:15,Isa+51:17,Hab+2:16">Jer. xxv. 15;
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Isa. li. 17; Hab. ii. 16</A>.</P>
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<P>
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VI. That, though honest good people may be run down and trampled upon,
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yet God does and will own them, and favour them, and smile upon them,
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and that is the reason why God will severely reckon with persecutors
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and oppressors, because those whom they oppress and persecute are dear
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to him; so that <I>whosoever toucheth them toucheth the apple of his
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eye,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
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1. He loves them and the work of his own grace in them. He is himself
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a righteous God, and therefore loves righteousness wherever he finds it
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and pleads the cause of the righteous that are injured and oppressed;
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he delights to execute judgment for them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+103:6">Ps. ciii. 6</A>.
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We must herein be followers of God, must love righteousness as he does,
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that we may keep ourselves always in his love. He looks graciously upon
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them: <I>His countenance doth behold the upright;</I> he is not only at
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peace with them, and puts gladness into their hearts, by letting them
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know that he is so. He, like a tender father, looks upon them with
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pleasure, and they, like dutiful children, are pleased and abundantly
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satisfied with his smiles. They walk in the light of the Lord.</P>
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<P>
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In singing this psalm we must encourage and engage ourselves to trust
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in God at all times, must depend upon him to protect our innocence and
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make us happy, must dread his frowns as worse than death and desire his
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favour as better than life.</P>
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