The assurance that the following production of the immortal and
beloved reformer, Luther, would be acceptable and beneficial to every
lover of divine and experimental truth, was the motive that led the
Translator to present it, in an English version, to the British church
of Christ.
No commendatory remarks are needed: the work itself will at once speak
its own worth. The translator would only observe, that in the
following MANUAL COMMENTARY on the Book of Psalms, Luther has most
divinely, experimentally, and beautifully opened up—the vanity and
delusion of all forms (even a gospel “form”) of godliness, without the
known and possessed “power” thereof;—the opposition and malicious
persecution which the real disciples of Christ ever meet with from the
wicked, and, above all, from hypocrites in religion;—the true and only
grounds of a Christian man’s hope, peace, and salvation; which are, a
trust and rest alone in the grace, righteousness, and atonement of our
Lord Jesus Christ;—the blessedness of a nation where the pure word and
worship of God guide, and are upheld by, its throne and government;
and the sure destruction of a kingdom when its magistrates act against
that word and worship;—and finally, the glory of all the creatures of
God, the abounding goodness of God in them, and the infinite
blessedness of their lawful use.
Luther takes occasion also, from numberless passages in the Psalms, to
describe, point out, and distinguish the true church of God in the
midst of the earth, and the signs by which she may be known from all
other churches;—that she is that company of poor and afflicted people,
who are burdened with sins, filled with fears, covered with
infirmities, and despised by the world, and considered both by the
wicked, and by formal professors of religion, to be the last people
likely to be the church of God. He repeatedly shews, however, that
such, notwithstanding their rejection by all, are the true people and
church of God; and that it is unto such, and such only, that all the
promises of grace and mercy in Christ, and of help, provision, and
defence in this world, are made; ‘For (saith Luther) if you will look
through the whole Bible, you will find, that God is not the God of the
rich, the proud, the secure, &c. but of the poor, the fearful, the
afflicted, and the helpless; who cannot do without his daily mercy and
help, either in the things of this world, or of that which is to
come.’
That the great and heavenly things thus opened by the admired Luther
may be understood and enjoyed by every reader of the following manual,
is the desire and prayer of,