Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies;
Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.
He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
He will not alway chide; neither will he keep his anger for ever.
He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth:
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his that do his pleasure.
Bless the LORD, all his works, in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.
This is a glorious Psalm, and full of the most ardent feelings and exercises of faith, and of a believing heart, a heart acknowledging the infinite mercies of God, both temporal and spiritual. “Bless the Lord (saith the Psalmist), O my soul,” &c. The Psalmist embraces, in the first three verses, six kinds of divine mercies and benefits, for which he exhorts all the godly to give praise unto God with their whole heart, and to celebrate his great and holy name.
The first kind of mercy enumerated is the remission of all our sins in Christ, and for Christ’s sake, our only Mediator and High-priest: who by himself sustained the just and infinite wrath of God, which burned against our sins: who offered himself a sacrifice to God for them; by which offering he reconciled unto us the Eternal Father, and now pleads for us with an unceasing and prevailing intercession.
The second kind of mercy is the healing of those manifold, and by no means light infirmities, which shall remain in the flesh of the saints, as long as they live in this world: all which remnant of sins God, for Christ’s sake, imputeth not unto them that believe: nor does he only cover those sins by not imputing them, but he moreover purges them away, by the gift of his Holy Spirit.
The third kind of mercy is a continual and daily protection and defence against all the dangers of death, into numbers of which we continually fall; and into more and greater of which we should fall by fire, by water, by sword, by pestilence, and other means of destruction, and be destroyed by them on account of the deserts of our sins, if God did not in his mercy prevent and save and preserve our lives.
The fourth kind of mercy is a manifold dispensation of the grace of God, wherewith he covers and defends us with a shield, and crowns us, giving us the Holy Spirit, and strengthening our minds with the true doctrine against all doubts, and with true consolation in all perils and evils; and bestowing on the godly many and various gifts.
The fifth kind of mercy is that boldness wherewith by the aid and urgency of the Holy Spirit, we fearlessly preach before the world these great mercies of God toward us: whereby many others also may learn to acknowledge and lay hold of the goodness of God in Christ, and, embracing it themselves in the true faith, may, with us, magnify and call upon God.
The sixth kind of mercy is the restoration of our depraved nature by Christ into the image of God; into which image we being renewed by the Holy Ghost, begin with full purpose of heart to obey God; and so continue, until, being made perfect in the life to come, we may be able to render a full obedience with our whole unimpeded powers.
The Psalmist, therefore, first renders thanks to God for his spiritual benefits; and then he from his heart thanks God for bestowing blessings of every kind,—peace, good magistrates, good laws, good wives, good children, the fruits of the earth, and all needful provision. The Psalmist sets forth God as a most kind Father towards us (who are nothing but a loathsome sore, full of sin) and as not dealing with us according to our sins, but treating and protecting us, according to his infinite grace and mercy, as dear children: yet so that he will have us to keep his covenant and his counsel: that is, to believe in him, to fear him, and to have him for our God. For if we trust in our own works or righteousnesses, we thereby immediately break his covenant, and walk not in his counsel, and follow strange gods, and thus sin against the First Commandment.
Now this fulfilling of the law, and keeping the covenant of God, is in and through Christ alone, who was then promised to the fathers, but now in these last days has been given unto us; and manifested; whose kingdom shall rule over all.
At the end of the Psalm, when the Psalmist calls upon the angels and the hosts of God, the powers and the dominions, to praise and magnify him, he means Christ and the church and the apostles who cause his word to be heard. For all our salvation is in Christ, and there is no grace out of Christ; who is preached by the angels; that is, by the apostles.
PSALM CIV.
A meditation upon the mighty power, and wonderful providence of God.—God’s glory is eternal.—The prophet voweth perpetually to praise God.
Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty:
Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;
Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds his chariot; who walketh upon the wings of the wind;
Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire;
Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.
Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
At thy rebuke they fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys, unto the place which thou hast founded for them.
Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.
He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthened man’s heart.
The trees of the LORD are full of sap: the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir-trees are her house.
The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies.
He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.
The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.
Man goeth forth unto his work, and to his labour, until the evening.
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches;
So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.
There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
These wait all upon thee, that them mayest give them their meat in due season.
That thou givest them, they gather; thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest the face of the earth.
The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.
He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the LORD.
Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.
This is a most spiritual song and a Psalm of glory to God. It is drawn out of the First Commandment: and with a grand enumeration of all the creatures of God, it sets forth and exalts the whole work of creation. By this recounting of the works of creation the Psalmist’s design is to show, that all the creatures, whether those in the heavens, those in the earth, or those in the sea, are monuments of the goodness of God. And what orator or what poet ever has existed, or ever will exist, with an eloquence adequate to describe the infinite use and benefits of even one creature of God. If any one of those creatures were gifted with speech, so as to declare its own nature and value, it would praise God with a thousand tongues. Not only, therefore, the whole of God’s works together, as one glorious universe, but each one creature, if you would explain its nature and use, exceeds all the eloquence of men and angels.
What philosopher or sage could even open or utter the extent of the use and blessings of common light, in which we live? What one of them could ever explain what that is which we call light, in which we all breathe, all are nourished, and all live; by which the night and darkness are dispelled in one short moment; by which the whole creation is rendered visible, and as it were, recreated; and by which all creatures, from out of one same obscure darkness, receive each their proper hues and colours?
Who, again, can recount the benefit and blessings of that one creature the sun? and then those of the moon? Who can enumerate the blessings of fire, of water, of fountains and springs? If one creature were deprived for one short hour of the blessings of fire or of water, you would in a moment see the wide and infinite benefit of one of those creatures of God.
But alas! who can even touch one of these creatures with anything like a due comment or reflection! And yet, when heathen men have contemplated the whole universe of creatures so diligently, (as we see it done in Cicero’s second book ‘De Natura Deorum;’) and have thence gathered and concluded that there exists some eternal Deity who created and who governs all these things; it would be a shame in one professing the fear and worship of that God, to be cold and not affected with these same things, and not to meditate and reflect upon them.
This Psalm, therefore, is a Psalm of thanksgiving for all the creatures which God has created, whether in the heavens, in the earth, or in the sea; and a rendering of thanks unto God also, that he hath made a covenant with the day and the night, and hath given laws to the heaven and the earth; laws so certain that they cannot be moved, but continue in their appointed order. The moon, saith the Psalmist, distinguished the seasons; the sun knoweth his going down; the day cometh, and also the night; the summer returns at its appointed time, and the winter also in its season. Thou fillest, saith he, that immense space of the heaven with light: thou stretchest out the heaven itself like a curtain, which resteth not on any beams or columns: and thou suspendest the mighty range of clouds, at thy word, like a glorious canopy. The winds rise, and blow over and blow through all things, having neither wings nor feathers. And the angels whom thou sendest forth, saith he, fulfil their commands like the winds, and like a “flame of fire.”
Hence the prophet, as you see, has all these things depicted in his mind, and his faith is kindled by a meditation on this wonderful and ineffable work of creation. But, alas! how few, how very few, are there who thus look into, meditate on, and admire these created things? Here, therefore, with a view to reprove both the indolence and the wickedness of certain characters, I cannot help transcribing the words of Cicero, a heathen, who cites another heathen, Aristotle: ‘Aristotle,’ says Cicero, ‘has most greatly and beautifully spoken thus. “If there could be men, who had lived under the earth in grand and noble habitations; habitations adorned with paintings and works of art, and with all those embellishments which ornament the houses of those who are now accounted wealthy and happy; and if it could so be that such subterranean inhabitants had never been above ground, but had heard by fame and report that there was a certain Deity, and a certain Almighty power of that Deity; and then if it could so be, that, at a certain time, the doors of the earth’s surface should be thrown open, and they should come forth from their subterranean abysses into these above-ground regions which we inhabit:—when such men beheld, on a sudden, the earth, the sea, and the heavens; when they saw the expanded grandeur of the clouds, and felt the mighty power of the winds; when they looked up to the sun and beheld his glorious magnitude and his beauty, and knew something of his influence and efficacy in all creation,—that it is he, who, by diffusing his light through the whole heaven, makes the day; and when such mortals, newly admitted on earth, should see by the departure of the sun the whole creation veiled in the darkness of night, while the whole heaven was studded and bespangled with stars; and when they saw and understood the various degrees of the light of the moon, and the increasings and decreasings of that heavenly body; and the various risings and settings of all the celestial luminaries; and, finally, when such astonished and contemplating strangers on the earth’s surface should know the appointed and never-erring and never-varying courses and revolutions of all these glorious creatures,—they would, with one voice, confess that there was a God, and that all these creatures were the works of that God! But our minds, by daily use, become insensible to these things; and as we daily see all these creatures we inquire not their nature, nor wonder at their glory: as if the novelty of such things, and not their greatness and glory, is that which should lead us to meditate on their natures, and the ends of their creation.”’ Thus far Cicero, the heathen! I shall perhaps be deemed by some a silly man for bringing forth these things out of the books of a heathen! Let those that would fear God, then, remember what is required of them!
PSALM CV.
An exhortation to praise God, and to seek out his works.—The story of God’s providence over Abraham,—over Joseph,—over Jacob, in Egypt,—over Moses delivering the Israelites,—over the Israelites brought out of Egypt, fed in the wilderness, and planted in Canaan.
O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.
Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.
Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.
He is the LORD our God: his judgments are in all the earth.
He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:
When there were but a few men in number: yea, very few, and strangers in it.
When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their sakes;
Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Moreover, he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant:
Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
The king sent and loosed him: even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:
To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.
Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.
He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal subtilly with his servants.
He sent Moses his servant; and Aaron whom he had chosen.
They shewed his signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.
He sent darkness, and made it dark; and they rebelled not against his word.
He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish.
Their land brought forth frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings.
He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies, and lice in all their coasts.
He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land.
He smote their vines also and their fig-trees; and brake the trees of their coasts.
He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillers, and that without number,
And did eat up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.
He smote also all the first-born in their land, the chief of all their strength.
He brought them forth also with silver and gold: and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
Egypt was glad when they departed: for the fear of them fell upon them.
He spread a cloud for a covering; and fire to give light in the night.
The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.
For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.
And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
And gave them the lands of the heathen; and they inherited the labour of the people;
That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD.
This is a Psalm of particular thanksgiving; and a song especially adapted to the people of the Jews; that in the use of this Psalm they might render thanks unto God for all those, his wonderful works, which he wrought from Abraham down to the time when they were led into the promised land of Canaan. And the Psalmist, having recounted all these glorious works in their order, concludes with that word of Moses, (Deut. ix.) “That God did not do all these mighty works on account of any righteousness or merit of theirs, but because of the covenant and the promise which he had made with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:” for how righteous they were and what they deserved at the hand of God, is sung in the Psalm following.
PSALM CVI.
The Psalmist exhorteth to praise God.—He prayeth for pardon of sin, as God did with the fathers.—The story of the people’s rebellion, and God’s mercy.—He concludeth with prayer and praise.
Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?
Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.
Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;
That I may see the good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance.
We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known.
He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.
Then believed they his words; they sang his praise.
They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel:
But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert.
And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.
They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the LORD.
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram.
And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.
They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.
They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt;
Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea.
Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
Yea, they despised the pleasant land; they believed not his word;
But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD:
Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
To overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.
They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions; and the plague brake in upon them.
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
And that was counted unto him for righteousness, unto all generations for evermore.
They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:
Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
And they served their idols; which were a snare unto them.
Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons, and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.
Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
Many times did he deliver them: but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
Nevertheless, he regarded their affliction, when he heard their cry:
And he remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies.
He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.
Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.
This is a Psalm of acknowledgment, of confession, and of thanksgiving. The Psalmist confesses all those sins of murmuring and unbelief, and those other numerous transgressions against the first commandment, by which the people of Israel provoked God, and rendered themselves utterly unworthy of all his mercies.
At the conclusion of the Psalm, therefore, the Psalmist proclaims the exceeding greatness of the divine mercy of God; whereby he continued mindful of his counsel and his covenant, and did not pour forth all his wrath, but was merciful to them for his own name’s sake. As Moses saith also, (Deut. ix.) “Know ye, that not for your righteousness doth the Lord God give unto you this good land: for ye are a stiff-necked people.” Therefore as the Israelites, the whole of that people of God, could glory in nothing, but that they were saved by the mercy and grace of God; so also we cannot glory in any work or merit of our own, but in the mercy of God only!
PSALM CVII.
The psalmist exhorteth the redeemed, in praising God, to observe his manifold providence, over travellers, over captives, over sick men, over seamen, and in divers varieties of life.
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High:
Therefore he brought down their heart with labour: they fell down, and there was none to help.
Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted:
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble; and he saveth them out of their distresses.
He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.
Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground;
A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs.
And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;
And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
Again, they are minished, and brought low, through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.
He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way.
Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.
The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the LORD.
This is a Psalm of thanksgiving, in general; rendering praise for that infinite and incomparable mercy and goodness of God, wherewith he daily helps and succours all men, both the righteous and the wicked, under the various calamities of life, and defends them against the Devil: preserving also the public peace, giving healthfulness of air and climate, and blessing the earth to the springing of its productions; as Paul saith, 2 Tim. ii. “Who is the Saviour of all men, especially of them that believe.”
In the fourth verse, where the Psalmist says, “They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way,” he refers to all kinds of calamities; and especially to the afflictions of those who are oppressed with poverty, who are exiles, and deserted, and wandering without any certain dwelling-place.
In the ninth verse by those “sitting in darkness,” &c. he means those throughout the whole world, who on account of their own crimes, or for other causes, are held in bonds and in prisons, and who are sometimes delivered by the interposition and help of God himself.
Then again, verse 6, he refers to those who live wickedly and fear not God; on whom God sends diseases and distresses to punish them; of whom some, although they call not upon God, are delivered by his pure mercy alone.
In verse 22, he speaks of those who are in perils on the seas, and there enduring storms and shipwrecks; under which calamities God often delivers wicked sailors, and preserves them from shipwreck and death, and from the power of the Devil, by his mere goodness and mercy.
Verse 32 has reference to those fields and vineyards that are visited with barrenness or any other calamity; unto whom God gives rain and fruitfulness, not according to their merits, but of his abounding mercy, whereby he sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust.
Verse 38 applies to those who are oppressed by the Turk or any other tyrants, or by wars and seditions, and whose all in this world is in peril; unto whom God often, on a sudden, gives peace and quietness, as he calmeth the waves of the sea.
This Psalm, therefore, shows that all salvation is to be sought and expected from God alone; who will never forsake his people, or his church, or those that trust in him; and that he often bestows these benefits on the Turks, and on the openly impious and profane; even when they are seeking all these great blessings from their idols of wood and stone. And we who profess the name of Christ also, not at all unlike the Turks, leave God our true and only Saviour and implore the help of saints. Hence St. Leonard is worshipped as the liberator of the imprisoned; St. Sebastian is invoked by those who are in dread of pestilence; St. George is the protecting saint of military troops of horse and foot; St. Erasmus is said to bless with riches those that call upon him; St. Christopher is openly worshipped as the god of land and sea; and his image is affixed to all doors of temples, and to all prows of ships, and adored by all sailors. And thus we have divided the glory of God and of his saving mercies, which is due to him alone, unto saints set up by idolatrous men; just in the same way as the heathens gave to their gods the attributes and functions which belong to God only. This Psalm, however, rightly ascribes all the glory to God alone.