_This_ also shall please the LORD better than an ox _or_ bullock that hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see _this, and_ be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God. For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners. Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein: For God will save Sion, and will build the cities of Judah; that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein. This Psalm is a prayer full of those most deep and spiritual feelings that were experienced in the person of Christ our Lord. In the beginning of the Psalm, in the first three verses, with what a fervency and weight of words does the Psalmist describe those great terrors of death and hell which Christ undertook and endured, for our sins. “Save me now, O Lord,” saith he, “for the waters overflow me, I sink into the depth of the mire: I have now no where to stand, nothing whereon to set my foot, I sink into the abyss of the sea, and the floods overflow me.” By all which figures and expressions he shadows forth, with all his powers, that unspeakable agony of Christ, which he endured for our sins, when groaning under the infinite weight of the wrath of God. In the 7th verse Christ confesses himself as bearing our sins, and complains of the Jews, who crucify him. “They gave me,” saith he, “gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink:” so expressively and circumstantially does the prophet foretel the sufferings of Christ! And then he speaks, with the same clearness, concerning the Jews who should be blinded, and their kingdom and priesthood which should be destroyed, as also it was fulfilled; so that now we see the accomplishment of these things, and experience has set them plainly before our eyes. In the end of the Psalm the prophet shows that the law should be abolished, and that a new worship should be instituted without the law and circumcision: “I will praise the name of the Lord,” saith he, “with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that hath horns and hoofs.” By these words he shews that the law should be abrogated with the whole of that splendidly ceremonious worship, the boasted pride of circumcision, the sabbaths, and the sacrifices; and that the worship of the New Testament should be established in its stead; namely, the sacrifice of praise and the preaching of the gospel; for it is by faith in Christ, and obedience to the gospel that we attain unto the true knowledge of God, and it is by truly keeping the first commandment that God is truly worshipped; which, as it is written, (Mark xii. 33.) is “more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” PSALM LXX. _David soliciteth God to the speedy destruction of the wicked, and preservation of the godly._