Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me _to_ glory. Whom have I heaven _but thee_? and _there is_ none upon earth _that_ I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: _but_ God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish; thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. But _it is_ good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. This is a Psalm that instructs us against that great offence and stumbling-block concerning which all the prophets have complained; namely, that the wicked flourish in the world, enjoy prosperity, and increase in abundance, while the godly suffer cold and hunger, and are afflicted, and spit upon, and despised, and condemned; and that God seems to be against and to neglect the latter, and to regard, support and give success to the former. And this outside appearance of the false church has, moreover, a great influence with, and excites the admiration of, the world around. Whatever these hypocrites do or say, they boast with great confidence, is pious, holy and divine: on the other hand, they consider the lives of the godly to be ungodly, and their doctrine erroneous. This offence has existed, and has exercised and vexed the godly from the very beginning of the church. “So foolish was I,” saith Asaph, (v. 22.) that is, I was accounted ungodly, a heretic, and a despiser of God. But these temptations, saith he, remain until I cast away all my own cogitations about this offence, and go into the sanctuary: that is, until I hear or read the word, and find what God saith concerning the ungodly; and until I look into the histories and behold the judgments of God, which have been since the foundation of the world. There I find what God threatens in his First Commandment: and how he has fulfilled this judgment and executed it, even from Cain; by which all the ungodly are overthrown and overwhelmed on a sudden: for they build upon slippery places and upon the sand, but the godly build upon a rock. PSALM LXXIV. _The prophet complaineth of the desolation of the sanctuary.—He moveth God to help in consideration of his power, of his reproachful enemies, of his children, and of his covenant._ Maschil of Asaph. O God, why hast thou cast _us_ off for ever? _why_ doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, _which_ thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, _which_ thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations; _even_ all _that_ the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns _for_ signs. _A man_ was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees.