128 lines
9.8 KiB
XML
128 lines
9.8 KiB
XML
<div2 id="Ps.liv" n="liv" next="Ps.lv" prev="Ps.liii" progress="40.18%" title="Chapter LIII">
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<h2 id="Ps.liv-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
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<h3 id="Ps.liv-p0.2">PSALM LIII.</h3>
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<p class="intro" id="Ps.liv-p1">God speaks once, yea, twice, and it were well if
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man would even then perceive it; God, in this psalm, speaks twice,
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for this is the same almost verbatim with the fourteenth psalm. The
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scope of it is to convince us of our sins, to set us a blushing and
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trembling because of them; and this is what we are with so much
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difficulty brought to that there is need of line upon line to this
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purport. The word, as a convincing word, is compared to a hammer,
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the strokes whereof must be frequently repeated. God, by the
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psalmist here, I. Shows us how bad we are, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.1" parsed="|Ps|53|1|0|0" passage="Ps 53:1">ver. 1</scripRef>. II. Proves it upon us by his own
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certain knowledge, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.2-Ps.53.3" parsed="|Ps|53|2|53|3" passage="Ps 53:2,3">ver. 2,
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3</scripRef>. III. He speaks terror to persecutors, the worst of
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sinners, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.4-Ps.53.5" parsed="|Ps|53|4|53|5" passage="Ps 53:4,5">ver. 4, 5</scripRef>. IV. He
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speaks encouragement to God's persecuted people, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.6" parsed="|Ps|53|6|0|0" passage="Ps 53:6">ver. 6</scripRef>. Some little variation there is between
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<scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.1-Ps.14.7 Bible:Ps.53.1-Ps.53.6" parsed="|Ps|14|1|14|7;|Ps|53|1|53|6" passage="Ps 14:1-7,53:1-6">Ps. 14 and this</scripRef>,
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but none considerable, only between <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.5-Ps.14.6 Bible:Ps.53.5" parsed="|Ps|14|5|14|6;|Ps|53|5|0|0" passage="Ps 14:5,6,53:5">ver. 5, 6</scripRef>, there, and <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.5-Ps.14.6 Bible:Ps.53.5" parsed="|Ps|14|5|14|6;|Ps|53|5|0|0" passage="Ps 14:5,6,53:5">ver. 5</scripRef> here; some expressions
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there used are here left out, concerning the shame which the wicked
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put upon God's people, and instead of that, is here foretold the
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shame which God would put upon the wicked, which alteration, with
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some others, he made by divine direction when he delivered it the
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second time to the chief musician. In singing it we ought to lament
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the corruption of the human nature, and the wretched degeneracy of
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the world we live in, yet rejoicing in hope of the great
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salvation.</p>
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<scripCom id="Ps.liv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53" parsed="|Ps|53|0|0|0" passage="Ps 53" type="Commentary"/>
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<scripCom id="Ps.liv-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.1-Ps.53.6" parsed="|Ps|53|1|53|6" passage="Ps 53:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.53.1-Ps.53.6">
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<h4 id="Ps.liv-p1.10">Human Depravity.</h4>
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<div class="Center" id="Ps.liv-p1.11">
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<p id="Ps.liv-p2">To the chief musician upon Mahalath, Maschil. <i>A psalm</i> of
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David.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="passage" id="Ps.liv-p3">1 The fool hath said in his heart, <i>There
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is</i> no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity:
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<i>there is</i> none that doeth good. 2 God looked down from
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heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were <i>any</i>
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that did understand, that did seek God. 3 Every one of them
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is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; <i>there is</i>
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none that doeth good, no, not one. 4 Have the workers of
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iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people <i>as</i> they eat
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bread: they have not called upon God. 5 There were they in
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great fear, <i>where</i> no fear was: for God hath scattered the
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bones of him that encampeth <i>against</i> thee: thou hast put
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<i>them</i> to shame, because God hath despised them. 6 Oh
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that the salvation of Israel <i>were come</i> out of Zion! When God
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bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice,
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<i>and</i> Israel shall be glad.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.liv-p4">This psalm was opened before, and therefore
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we shall here only observe, in short, some things concerning sin,
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in order to the increasing of our sorrow for it and hatred of it.
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1. The fact of sin. Is that proved? Can the charge be made out?
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Yes, God is a witness to it, an unexceptionable witness: from the
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place of his holiness he looks on the children of men, and sees how
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little good there is among them, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.2" parsed="|Ps|53|2|0|0" passage="Ps 53:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. All the sinfulness of their
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hearts and lives in naked and open before him. 2. The fault of sin.
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Is there any harm in it? Yes, it is iniquity (<scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.1 Bible:Ps.53.4" parsed="|Ps|53|1|0|0;|Ps|53|4|0|0" passage="Ps 53:1,4"><i>v.</i> 1, 4</scripRef>); it is an unrighteous thing;
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it is that which there is no good in (<scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.1 Bible:Ps.53.3" parsed="|Ps|53|1|0|0;|Ps|53|3|0|0" passage="Ps 53:1,3"><i>v.</i> 1, 3</scripRef>); it is an evil thing; it is
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the worst of evils; it is that which makes this world such an evil
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world as it is; it is going back from God, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.3" parsed="|Ps|53|3|0|0" passage="Ps 53:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. 3. The fountain of sin. How comes
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it that men are so bad? Surely it is because <i>there is no fear of
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God before their eyes:</i> they <i>say in their hearts, "There is
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no God</i> at all to call us to an account, none that we need to
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stand in awe of." Men's bad practices flow from their bad
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principles; if they profess to know God, yet in works, because in
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thoughts, they deny him. 4. The folly of sin. He is a fool (in the
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account of God, whose judgment we are sure is right) that harbours
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such corrupt thoughts. Atheists, whether in opinion or practice,
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are the greatest fools in the world. Those that do not seek God do
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not understand; they are like brute-beasts that have no
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understanding; for man is distinguished from the brutes, not so
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much by the powers of reason as by a capacity for religion. <i>The
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workers of iniquity,</i> whatever they pretend to, <i>have no
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knowledge;</i> those may truly be said to know nothing that do not
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know God, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.4" parsed="|Ps|53|4|0|0" passage="Ps 53:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. 5.
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The filthiness of sin. Sinners are corrupt (<scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.1" parsed="|Ps|53|1|0|0" passage="Ps 53:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); their nature is vitiated and
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spoiled, and the more noble the nature is the more vile it is when
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it is depraved, as that of the angels. <i>Corruptio optimi est
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pessima—The best things, when corrupted, become the worst.</i>
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Their iniquity is abominable; it is odious to the holy God, and it
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renders them so; whereas otherwise he <i>hates nothing that he has
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made.</i> It makes men filthy, altogether filthy. Wilful sinners
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are offensive in the nostrils of the God of heaven and of the holy
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angels. What decency soever proud sinners pretend to, it is certain
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that wickedness is the greatest defilement in the world. 6. The
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fruit of sin. See to what a degree of barbarity it brings men at
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last; when men's hearts are hardened through the deceitfulness of
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sin see their cruelty to their brethren, that are bone of their
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bone—because they will not <i>run with them to the same excess of
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riot,</i> they <i>eat them up as they eat bread;</i> as if they had
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not only become beasts, but beasts of prey. And see their contempt
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of God at the same time. <i>They have not called upon</i> him, but
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scorn to be beholden to him. 7. The fear and shame that attend sin
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(<scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.5" parsed="|Ps|53|5|0|0" passage="Ps 53:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>There were
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those in great fear</i> who had made God their enemy; their own
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guilty consciences frightened them, and filled them with horror,
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though otherwise there was no apparent cause of fear. <i>The wicked
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flees when none pursues.</i> See the ground of this fear; it is
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because God has formerly <i>scattered the bones of those that
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encamped against</i> his people, not only broken their power and
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dispersed their forces, but slain them, and reduced their bodies to
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dry bones, like those <i>scattered at the grave's mouth,</i>
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<scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.141.7" parsed="|Ps|141|7|0|0" passage="Ps 141:7">Ps. cxli. 7</scripRef>. Such will be
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the fate of those that lay siege to the <i>camp of the saints and
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the beloved city,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.9" osisRef="Bible:Rev.20.9" parsed="|Rev|20|9|0|0" passage="Re 20:9">Rev. xx.
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9</scripRef>. The apprehensions of this cannot but put those into
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frights that eat up God's people. This enables the virgin, the
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daughter of Zion, to put them to shame, and expose them, <i>because
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God has despised them,</i> to laugh at them, because he that sits
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in heaven laughs at them. We need not look upon those enemies with
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fear whom God looks upon with contempt. If he despises them, we
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may. 8. The faith of the saints, and their hope and power touching
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the cure of this great evil, <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.53.6" parsed="|Ps|53|6|0|0" passage="Ps 53:6"><i>v.</i>
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6</scripRef>. There will come a Saviour, a great salvation, a
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salvation from sin. Oh that it might be hastened! for it will bring
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in glorious and joyful times. There were those in the Old-Testament
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times that looked and hoped, that prayed and waited, for this
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redemption. (1.) God will, in due time, save his church from the
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sinful malice of its enemies, which will bring joy to Jacob and
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Israel, that have long been in a mournful melancholy state. Such
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salvations were often wrought, and all typical of the everlasting
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triumphs of the glorious church. (2.) He will save all believers
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from their own iniquities, that they may not be led captive by
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them, which will be everlasting matter of joy to them. From this
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work the Redeemer had his name—<i>Jesus,</i> for <i>he shall save
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his people from their sins,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.liv-p4.11" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.21" parsed="|Matt|1|21|0|0" passage="Mt 1:21">Matt.
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i. 21</scripRef>.</p>
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</div></div2> |