Psalms 94:19 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

In the multitude of my thoughts— When my solicitudes are multiplied within me. The word שׂרעפי sarappai, solicitudes, means the discursus, or branchings of the mind; a word which strongly expresses the action of the soul when it sends itself forth on all sides. "The old version renders it, In the multitude of the sorrows; which must be in some sort peculiar to the men of thought and reflection. That there are such sorrows, we learn from one who was a man of thought; Ecclesiastes 1:18. If we follow the train of thought which he has marked out, and view the life of man under all the various circumstances incident to it, every step we take will yield a proof of his proposition; every discovery will bring its torment, when we find that all the days of man are sorrows, and his travails grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. But there is no end of such enquiries; and indeed not much reason for it. We may sit still, and our own experience will bring this knowledge home to us, without giving us the trouble of looking abroad into the world to find it. Cares and anxieties will make their way to us, though our doors are guarded within and without. The distemper then is plain; but who is he who can cure it? One remedy there is, capable of administering pleasure and delight to our minds, amidst all the uncertainties and vexations which surround us. What this is, you may learn from the present passage; the plain meaning of which is, that religion, or a just sense of our relation to God, is our only real and solid support against the many evils of life. This is our sheet-anchor: with this, no state of life is insupportable; without it, no condition is tolerable. As we value, therefore, even the pleasures of this life, and our share in the good things of the world, which the providence of God has placed before us; let us keep ourselves in a capacity of enjoying them by holding fast the comforts of religion. These only can give us a true relish of our pleasures; these only can enable us to bear like men our share of evil and affliction: our heart will often be disquieted within us, and we shall in the multitude of our thoughts find a multitude of sorrows; let us therefore keep God our friend, whose comforts will refresh our souls." Thus far Bishop Sherlock in his excellent Discourse upon this verse; vol. 2: p. 271. Nor can I wish my reader a finer or more improving entertainment than the perusal of the whole.