1. Hear this, all ye people. Whoever may have been the penman of this psalm, it discusses one of the most important principles in divine philosophy, and there is a propriety in the elevated terms designed to awaken and secure attention, with which the Psalmist announces his purpose to discourse of…

3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom The prophet was warranted in applying these commendatory terms to the doctrine which he was about to communicate. It is, no doubt, by plain appeals to observation that we find him reproving human folly; but the general principle upon which his instruction proceeds…

4. I will incline my ear to a parable The Hebrew word משל, mashal, which I have translated parable, properly denotes a similitude; but it is often applied to any deep or weighty sayings, because these are generally embellished with figures and metaphors.

5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? The Psalmist now enters upon the point on which he proposed to discourse, That the people of God must not yield to despondency even in the most distressing circumstances, when their enemies may seem to have enclosed them on every side, but must rest…

6. They trust in their wealth. We are now furnished with the reason why the suffering children of God should dismiss their apprehensions, and keep themselves from despondency, even when reduced to extremity by the violence and treachery of their enemies.

“Mots sola fatetur Quantula sint hominum corpuscula,” – “It is death which forces us to confess how worthless the bodies of men are.”

“Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,” – or that they seek their happiness entirely from this world, without cherishing a desire for the life that is to come.

“Non si quid turbida Roma Elevet, accedas, examenve improbum in illa Castiges trutina: nec te quaesiveris extra,” – “If Rome, a city full of commotions, exalt or despise any thing, beware of being satisfied with its weight or balance; that is to say, of stopping at its judgment; and do not look to…