3. “The pestilence that creepeth (or walketh) in darkness.” These are the deceits, the crafts, and the artifices of the papists; and the leagues, the covert conspiracies, the secret counsels, by which those enemies consult and plan among themselves in their private conclaves: which clandestine machinations they think they can keep hidden, even from the eyes of God himself; and by all which diabolical means, they plot to destroy and root out the godly and all doctrine that is truly good and saving. 4. “The disease (or contagion, or destruction) that wasteth at noon day.” This is the work of open persecution; whereby these holy Cains, in their unheard-of cruelty and tyranny, shed the blood of the Abels, drive into exile the godly, plunder their substance, and slaughter them by every cruelty of torture; thereby attempting to lay the true church utterly waste, and to leave not a vestige of the true word remaining. This is my view of the Psalm. I know that St. Bernard gives other interpretations. Let others, therefore, if they can, put forth a better explication than I have done: that my view is simple, and agreeable to the mind and spirit of the prophets, is self-manifest, and proved by experience: for we see and experience daily, that the saints of God are attacked and exercised by these four afflictions for the word’s sake, by means of the devil and by the world. The Holy Spirit, therefore, by this Psalm, revives and strengthens our faith; and by the cluster of promises at the end of the Psalm, the same Holy Spirit quickens and refreshes our hearts with consolation: this Psalm therefore ought to be most acceptable to all the saints. PSALM XCII. _The prophet exhorteth to praise God, for his great works, for his judgments on the wicked, and for his goodness to the godly._ A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day. It _is a_ good _thing_ to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High: To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltry; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O LORD, how great are thy works! _and_ thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; _it is_ that they shall be destroyed for ever: But thou, LORD, _art most_ high for evermore. For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered; But my horn shalt thou exalt like _the horn of_ an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil. Mine eye also shall see _my desire_ on mine enemies; _and_ mine ears shall hear _my desire_ of the wicked that rise up against me.