As well the singers as the players on instruments _shall be there_: all my springs _are_ in thee. This is a prophecy concerning the kingdom of Christ and the church, in times to come. The Psalmist, after the manner of the prophets, sets before us the future Jerusalem and the future Zion, as if represented in a painting before our eyes: the boundaries of which should be those of the world itself, reaching from east to west, and from north to south; and in which church there should be born men of every nation, kingdom, tribe, and tongue,—Ethiopians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Tyrians, Philistines, &c. and that these should be born in this church, not by a natural birth, but by the word of the gospel. “Great, excellent, and glorious things shall be spoken and preached in thee, O city of God!” For the gospel is a great and glorious doctrine, the highest of all doctrines, even the word of salvation; hence, as Paul saith, (Phil. i. 10.) the gospel contains, in comparison with the law, “the things that are excellent.” For by the gospel is given to us the knowledge of the counsel and will of God; in what manner God is pacified; how we are delivered from sin, from the power of the devil, and from eternal death; which things neither the law, nor any human philosophy, could teach. In the last verse also, the Psalm most beautifully sets forth what the highest worship, under the New Testament, should be. “There shall be in thee, (saith the Psalmist,) as the harmonious concert of those playing on instruments;” that is, it is not Moses, or the law, that shall be taught in that city; but the sweet and joyful message of the gospel shall be preached by the ministry of the word, even grace and the remission of sins by Jesus Christ. PSALM LXXXVIII. _A prayer containing a grievous complaint._ A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day _and_ night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man _that hath_ no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted _me_ with all thy waves. Selah. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: _I am_ shut up, and I cannot come forth. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee; I have stretched out my hands unto thee. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise _and_ praise thee? Selah. Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? _or_ thy faithfulness in destruction?