At the very outset, the Psalmist says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, abideth under the shadow of the Almighty;” and such an one shall say unto the Lord, “Thou art my confidence, my protection, my fortress and my God,” that is, he that believeth and trusteth in God, and rests in his protection,—he shall find, though shaken on every side, by the devil, by sin, by the world, and by various and endless temptations, that the godly are proof and invincible against all these evils; that God is most high over all; that he is Omnipotent; and, in a word, that “greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.” Towards the conclusion, this Psalm contains, accumulated together, eight or nine promises of grace, which the Psalmist drew out of the first commandment, as out of a fountain. This Psalm, therefore, ought to be set before afflicted souls. 1. The Psalmist says “Because he hath hoped in me, therefore will I deliver him.” 2. “I will set him on high.” 3. “Because he hath called upon me, I will hear him.” 4. “I will be with him in trouble.” 5. “I will deliver him.” 6. “I will set him on high, or glorify him.” 7. “With long life will I satisfy him.” 8. “I will show him my salvation:” that is, that I am “mighty to save!” And this also is the second Psalm wherein angels are proclaimed as our watchful guardians and protectors: which is a truth very greatly consoling to the really godly, who know with what fury Satan unceasingly assaults the church, and all the saints. This Psalm enumerates four kinds of evils and afflictions, which are to be endured by the saints and those that fear God: 1. “Mighty fear,”—“terror by night.” The scripture frequently represents temptations and afflictions under the figures of darkness and night; and consolations under the figurative descriptions of light and day. The Psalmist, therefore, here sets forth all those horrible instances of hatred, that Cain-like purpose to destroy, (which is ever secretly bound up in the hearts of pharisaic religionists) all those malicious threats, those hostile traps and snares, those created perils, those injuries, and all those other terrible oppositions which Satan ever raises up against the word of God, by nightly fear, or “terror by night.” 2. “The arrow that flieth by day.” By which are meant to be described all those open clamours, reproaches, execrations, and blasphemies, by which tyrants and hypocrites openly attack and condemn the word of God, and the doctrine of Christ. Of this kind are the pope’s bulls, (and truly they are bulls!) and also, the edicts of kings and princes, the virulent and blasphemous books of erroneous disputers, and the writings of erroneous and visionary men, such as the anabaptists, and the like.