that though he do yea must both in justice and mercie chastize them for their aberrations thereby to humble and reduce them For impunitie would argue him no father nor they no children as sure I say as he is both just and gracious to lay the rod upon them for sin so he is as merciful and faithful to take it off again when of sinners they become penitents and renew their covenant to be his he will soon be theirs and repent as well as they and then wo be to their enemies we have and shall ever find it so 15 That he hath ever approved himself the onely God of power to deliver us when the time hath come maugre all the Powers on earth that have been against us and their gods to boot which cannot preserve them that worship them against the power of the Almighty whom we onely serve of all the world besides which is heathen and their gods meer Idols at best made of gold and silver nor are they so much as their own makers but have their Beings from men they make them that made not themselves therefore must they needs be goodly Gods 16 They are meer liveless statues without sense or motion able neither to speak nor see having no better mouthes nor eyes than man can make them 17 Their ears are like their eyes the one blind the other deaf and their mouthes as breathless as speechless for such an inversion of nature as men to make Gods can produce no better effects 18 And they that make them are as void of understanding as they of life and sense that against reason can think such things fit to be worshipped for Gods which are their creatures not they theirs and so is every one that seeing what they are and knowing whence they come putteth confidence of good or evil in them both their Gods and they are alike blockish and as void of power as understanding as plainly appeareth when our God appears for us against them 19 Let therefore your faith and zeal be laid out upon no such imaginarie deities nor your fear upon any earthly powers do you that are the posteritie of Jacob from whom you have the name of Israel given of God himself walk worthie such a father and servant of the Lord by honouring and praising him and him alone all of you own him and honour him for your Lord and God specially you that are his in principal place and office by special designation you Priests the sons of Aaron let your zeal exceed as much as do your engagements 20 And you that are of an inferiour rank in the Priest-hood ye Levites remember also your ingagements to honour and praise the Lord who hath called you to so sacred an office about his Temple do your duties worthie your places but because no doubt too many are as formal people so formal Priests that serve the Lord if at all more in shew than sincerity therefore my exhortation is chiefly to you both Priests and people that are regenerate Israelites indeed Priests of the Lord as well as of the Temple endowed with the true fear of God and sanctifying graces of his spirit you are they that I hope and exhort and that God looks should honour and serve him with praise and thanks in faith and spirit worthie your selves and him your God as a chosen generation a royal Priest-hood a holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light 21 Let all Israel whether in power or profession his visible or invisible people of what rank or qualitie soever Prince Priest people resort unto the place appointed for his solemn worship mount Sion where his sanctuarie is seated and there joyn their forces and affections to bless and serve him who is especially present there of all Israel having preferred Jerusalem to be the place of his residence and of all his glorious dispensations where he will be blessed of his people and whence he will bless them again that honour and serve him Therefore fail not on your part praise him and pray to him that is and will be your God if you do so The cxxxvi PSALM This Psalm for the magnifying of mercie it is thought was sung daily in the Tabernacle and Temple 1 Chron. 16.41 Jer. 33.11 and this clause for his mercie endureth for ever so oft repeated was sung by turns of the Levites and oft used for the burden of the song at solemn celebrations of remarkable mercies 2 Chron. 7.3 and 6. and 20.21 The drift of the Psalmist is to advance covenant-mercie that Church priviledge in the eyes of the faithful as the great and allmost onely thank-worthie benefit by which God himself and all that is Gods is his Churches the fountain of all good general special of creation and providence to the world to the Church which therefore we should behold in every thing and thank God for in all things 1 GOds greatness is better known and more taken notice of than his goodness but this ought principally to be his peoples studie to see all he does as well the acts of his grace and that a stable covenant-grace as of his power Therefore ye that are so be sure to do so be thankful to him and faithful in him for his goodness sake that is so transcendent even to the sins of all mankind in general who live move and have their beings in and from him notwithstanding them and to his Church in particular as appears by his many gracious promises and great performances temporal and spiritual in goodness made and in mercie made good sin cannot finally hinder the current of his grace which is as himself everlasting as in being so in acting an ever overflowing fountain whose mercies therefore are renewed every morning 2 3 Exalt him in his greatness yea in the full dimensions of it superlatively prefer him to all things in heaven and earth principalities powers or imaginarie deities Praise him as such but withal be thankful to him that is such so great and yet of such condiscention in continual dispensation of mercies for the consideration of his goodness setteth forth his greatness with greater beautie and sweetness which by reason thereof becomes a useful propertie and encouragement to his Church and people to draw nigh to him and trust in him for ever 4 And as for his mercie sake he is to be honoured in what he is essentially being thereby that to us and for us which he is in himself so also in what he does for his mercie and free grace it is the cause of the manifestation of so great power in all those glorious works of wonder wrought so apparently by the immediate hand and finger of God who onely is Almighty for and in his peoples behalfs in all their dangers notwithstanding all their sins as we can witness in an everlasting
under his hand and come to nought even in a moment if he took that course he should destitute himself for ever of a Church and people upon earth and quite overthrow the design of his grace for of them Christ was to come which must not be frustrated 40 There is evident testimony of Gods long-suffering for how oft did they provoke him murmuring and quarrelling time after time in the wilderness where God did miracle after miracle for their sakes and still they were the same men persisting to sin against God and by their ungratefull unbelief and stubbornness to grieve his patience and irritate his anger even there where they were so at his mercy having nothing supplied to them by art and nature but were at his immediate finding who notwithstanding all their provocations there did either provide them food and raiment for which they neither digged nor span 41 Yea they appostatiz'd many and many a time breaking all ingagements and committing old sins upon new occasions never wanting any thing but presently fall a murmuring yea they threatened God to go back into Egypt again if they might not have their wills in the wilderness and thus provoked and tempted him to destroy them that would fain have saved them every foot questioning and mis-believing his power faithfulness and good-will towards them notwithstanding his gracious promises and wonderfull performances if they had not all things they had a mind to 42 And the cause of this was because they were a sinfull ungratefull people never heeding mercies longer than God wrought them nor valuing them for any other end than self-pleasing and preservation never regarding them as to God or the bettering of their faith and obedience unto him but so soon as they had suck'd the honey they despised the flower all mercies though miracles were transient things perished in the deed done even that great one when with such an out-streched arm he brought them out of Egypt and set them free from Pharaoh the very day and hour whereof they ought never to have forgotten 43 Yea every jot of that wonderfull deliverance ought to have been treasured up in everlasting rememberance which yet was quite forgotten what clusters of miracles there grew upon the stem of that one onely deliverance what clear tokens of his omnipotent power and goodness he made to appear then and there in his peoples behalf by those ten plagues brought successively for their sakes upon the King and kingdom of Egypt in Court and countrey The story is well known but not so well remembered 44 How miraculously he turned all the waters of Egypt into bloud by the stroke of Moses his rod the famous over-flowing river of that countrey with all their lesser streams yea their ponds and cisterns also all the land over was turned into bloud so that the fish died the river stunck and the Egyptians could not drink of the water no not of Nilus whose streams could not purge it 45 Also when that would not do to get Israels release he multiplied more plagues upon them sent grievous swarms of several sorts of promiscuous venemous flies and noisom worms into the house of Pharaoh and of his servants and into all the land of Egypt so that the land was corrupted with them and many of the Egyptians destroyed by them Aaron also brought frogs out of the waters of Egypt so abundantly that they covered the whole land went up into Pharaohs house his bed-chamber and bed and into the house of his servants and people their ovens and kneading-troughs yea crept upon the person and persons of the King and people and destroyed many 46 He also utterly destroyed the fruits of the earth to the loss both of their husbandry harvest by sending upon Moses his streching out his rod over the land of Egypt an East-wind over all the land which brought into and scattered all over Egypt such infinite of caterpillars and locusts exceeding grievous never was there any such nor shall be covering the face of the whole earth darkening the land devouring every green thing both upon the ground and growing on trees hearbs and fruits 47 48. He furthermore sent so terrible a hail and great quantities of hard frozen ice as brake the trees vines and sycomores destroyed the hearbs yea the very men and beasts that were in the field for it came tempestuously accompanied with thunder and fire that ran along upon the ground so that there was hail and fire mingled with the hail very grievous terribly tormenting and destroying all it light on 49 God did infinite of waies magnifie and manifest the power and terrour of his wrath indignation and anger and the ardencie of it also against those enemies of his people to be as an everlasting monument to his Church of his love and care over them and to their enemies of his fearfull displeasure for in the fierceness of his wrath he gave them into the power of the Prince of the air and his emissarie evil angels by whose means and operation many of those judgements which were inflicted upon Egypt were wrought and terribly executed 50 51. These plagues and more than these he sent upon the Egyptians which yet were all but fore-runners of the last which was worst and most capital of all the rest wherein his anger did most appear when as he sent a plague amongst them that at midnight destroyed the first-born in every house and caused such lamentation in Egypt as never was nor shall be the like for each father and mother there lost the first-begotten their dearest child the staff of their age the flower of Egypt throughout all the families of that cursed people who were the posteritie of Mizraim second son to Ham cruel oppressours and mortal enemies to the Church and Israel of God 52 The posteritie of Sem whom God chose to be a people to him peculiarly related his own both by choise and covenant and these in despight of their enmitie to them and empire over them he conducted by the guidance of Moses and Aaron himself especially being present out of Egypt from under their burthens and from amongst their cruel task-masters even every man woman and child of them as loth as Pharaoh was to part with them into the wilderness through the red sea where he had most tender care of them to protect them and provide for them as a sheepheard over his sheep 53 And for all that Pharaoh with his power and malice could do God preserved them as he could not keep them in Egypt so nor overtake them when they went thence though in eager pursuit after them to do them any hurt for God made them a passage through the sea it self where they went safely and without fear of drowning but Pharaoh and his whole host were over-whelmed in those waters 54 After that he had led them from station to station provided for them time
the Temple it self with his Church on earth as well as in heaven Praise ye therefore the Lord ye that worship him without as well as within the holy sanctuarie of our God both Priests and people 3 Be not so much awed by fear to praise the Lord as induced by love for those lovely excellencies of grace and goodness that are in him and shine forth from him to his people let the faith and experience the Church hath had thereof in all ages tune your voice and instruments to the exaltation of his name in praise-worthy commemoration of all the good he hath either promised or performed which to do is delightfull to God and every good heart 4 Surely we far above all the world are debtors to God ow more in way of praise than ever we can pay him for this unestimable mercie and priviledge of adoption to be his peculiar to name his name upon and marked out of all the great fold of the world for his people and the sheep of his pasture even we a poor hand-full that came out of the loins of one man our Father Jacob that he should choose him and his out of all mankind to set his love upon and thus to honour as to esteem none else worth reckoning of but us and us as his treasure and Jewels of value whom he onely sets by as he shall by his Church and people in all the world and onely by them 5 Under what notion soever we apprehend God he is worthie our uttermost praises whether as good to us or as great in himself who indeed is of that immensitie as that his positive admits of no comparative degree he is abstractly great even greatness it self in power majesty beyond humane apprehension and capacity in the faith whereof yet we ought to praise him for so his people best know him and that not onely as absolutely and essentially so but also relatively and derivatively so to us this great God being greatly our God his greatness as it is superlative to all greatnesses whether humane powers or imaginarie deities so his grace shall extend it accordingly unto our protection and preservation against them and to the confusion of men and Idols that are set against him or us his Church and people 6 I mean the great and mightie God the sole Sovereign and Monarch of all the world both heaven and earth who of his meer will and by his onely word made all things to be that they are from the highest to the lowest whether in the heavens above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth and the invisible depths of both down to the very center and as he commanded them to be so he rules and commands them now they are to be and do what he would have them and not otherwayes to his praise and his peoples security 7 He createth ruin by appointing and impowering the sun from all parts of the world sea and land to exhale the vapours which we see ascend on high into the middle region of the air where they engender clouds those clouds rain which by his providence is dispersed and dispensed all the world over what the earth sends up in exhalations from all parts it receives down again every where for its use in showers and dews Yea what a piece of Artifice do our eyes behold when by the force of thunder he sends lightning and rain fire and water out of one and the same cloud so that when we see the one break forth we conclude the other not far behind as if naturally fire produced water which are so contrarie but yet are made to cohabit till and be subservient when he pleaseth to dispose of them in storms and tempests The wind also blows when where and how he lists and not otherwayes how unruly and boisterous so ever it seem it breaks not prison of it self but is let out of its restraint by him without whose will and pleasure it cannot so much as breath who is the God of nature ordeining and ordering her in all causes and all their effects how rare soever beyond our knowledge and above our reach transacted in the heavens whereof these are few instances 8 Yea and on earth too where not a few things praise-worthie have been wrought by the same Almighty power for his people Israel whereof we will enumerate some a few of many as the high mightie slaughter he made of the first-born both of man and beast in Egypt with a strong hand bringing his people thence spite of Pharaohs power and oppugnation 9 He wrought miracles and made strange demonstration of his heavy displeasure by manifold judgements destructive signs and prodigies in the midst of thee O Egypt for their sakes when his people the Israelites had no harm there forcing thereby hard-hearted Pharaoh thy King and his courtiers to acknowledge his power and at last submit to his will 10 Nor in Egypt onely did he do wonders and execute judgements upon his Churches enemies but when by a mightie hand the destruction of the Egyptians he had brought them thence by the same out-stretched arm did he lead them through the wilderness destroying all that made opposition to them both Princes and people though far greater and every way better provided then they way-faring men were 11 As for instance Sihon the King of the Amorites and Og that mightie man the King of Bashan who opposed their passage these Kings and their people they destroyed on the other side Jordan and on this side even all the Kings and Kingdoms of Canaan thirty one in number those under Moses these under Josua were subdued by the Lord who fought for Israel against all their enemies 12 And he that is Lord of all the earth as before he had promised to Abraham so now he fulfilled his word by an effectual possession and implantation of his people Israel in the lands and possessions of all the foresaid Kings and Kingdoms gave them to them and their heirs for ever which he hath ever since preserved to and for them and their posteritie with as Almighty a hand as at first he gained and gave them 13 The glorious manifestations thou hast alwayes made of thy powerful goodness and gracious faithfulness in the behalf of thy people against their enemies ought to be renowned for ever hereafter in all ages which also shall produce experiments answerable to those thy properties which are ever the same in thy Churches behalf who shall transmit the grateful memorie of thy former mercies and miracles down from age to age and from one generation successively to another to thine everlasting glorie and their corroboration and comfort in the faith of thy faithfulness to thy covenant and promises the grand charter of the Catholick Church theirs as well as ours made to them as to us 14 For the Lord is his peoples according to covenant so