By an Apostrophe he speaks thus to himself Return unto thy rest O my soul Ver. 7 Hitherto thou hast been tost up and down among the waves and various winds of sorrowes doubts and despair and for a long time thou couldst find no Port or Haven wherein to be secure Now because those Tempests are over and Faith hath opened to thee a Harbour where thou mayest be safe be merry and joyful turn in or rather return to that Haven where thou hast heretofore found rest Return to thy rest O my soul 1. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Ver. 8 he hath retributed to thee good for evil and as thou find'st by experience out of his immense goodness been present with thee and deliver'd thee from the sorrowes of death and hell 2. And then he turns his speech to God attributing to him the whole work 1. Thou hast delivered my soul from death The face of death and damnation was before me but thou hast removed and presented me with life 2. Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears turned my heaviness into joy and wiped all tears from my eyes 3. Thou hast delivered my feet from falling When my infirmity is great and the Devil thrusts sore at me that I might fall Thou hast setled my feet that I may stand fast fight resist and not fall And this God doth for those who call on him and trust to him he frees them from the sorrowes of death and raiseth them to life he delivers from all sorrow and grief and will at last wipe all tears from their eyes Revel 21. And will give them not only a happy life but also secure that they never shall fall David expresseth upon the favour or be deprived of it they shall be possessed of joy rest eternal peace and quietness 2. David having expressed his sorrowes The second part and Gods goodness unto him in delivering him from them now professeth how ready he would be to do his Duty ever after 1. By his obedience 2. By a faithful confession of his mistake and future confidence 1. Careful he would be ever after to please God 1 His obedience I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living This life is both the Region of death and a land of the living there be those that are dead Ver. 9 who are yet alive viz. which live after the flesh they in this truly live which live after the Spirit David professeth that he would be one of these live the life of grace and serve his God in righteousness and holiness all the dayes of his life walk with God coram Domino as in the presence and eye of God as did Henoch and Noah 2. 2 His faith and confidence He professeth his faith whereon he did rely when he was humbled whereon he will rely if humbled again 1. Ver. 10 I believed and therefore have I spoken the Lord is gracious c. ver 5. Such a confidence came from the Spirit of faith not from any humane demonstration 2 Cor. 4.13 2. I was greatly afflicted that is I therefore believed because I relied not upon mine own thoughts but shewed my self very humble and docile to the Spirit of God that reveals such things to Babes Mat. 11. Or else David again comes over the struglings and doubtings he found in his soul 3 Luctam when he was in his agony betwixt faith and despair those sorrowes were not easily and suddenly quieted I was greatly afflicted even then when I spoke and protested that I did apprehend the promises Ver. 11 and call'd upon God retaining but some sparks of faith For I said in my haste all men are lyars which clause is diversly expressed 1. Moller For some make it an amplification of his former grief I was so amazed and overwhelmed with sorrow that when I found no help I was ready to despair and if any man went about to comfort me with Gods promises I said in my haste all men are lyars as if he should have said Let them say what they will I will not believe them God hath no care of me I am cast out of the sight of his eyes 2. Bellarmine Others refer these words to that clause before the land of the living of which many speak great matters They talk of happiness and felicity in this life but whatsoever they speak of it there is no truth in their words every man is but a lyar that placeth felicity in these decaying and mortal things for true happiness is not to be found but in the land of the living after this life in excessu mentis in an extasie or a heavenly rapture I said this 3. Musculus Some refer the words to Absolon that deceived David by his Vow at Hebron or to Achitophel that revolted from him or to Ziba that brought him a lye of Mephibosheth of whom he might say truly that they were lyars 4. Tremellius Junius Some conceive that in these words he taxeth even Samuel himself that he spoke not by Gods Spirit but came of his own head and was sway'd by humane passion when he anointed him King over Israel of which being persecuted by Saul he saw so little hopes and that for his pains he was but a lyar But the first sense is most coherent with the words Now for the truth of the Axiom All men are lyars It is not so to be understood as if no man could ever speak truth for even a lyar may sometimes speak that which is true But that all men are obnoxious to lying and may possibly erte if they speak of themselves and mov'd by humane affections whereas God cannot lye nor any that are moved to speak by his Spirit 3. The third part Henceforth to the end of the Psalm is set down Davids gratitude or his thankfulness What shall I render to the Lord Ver. 12 for all his benefits toward me As if he had said I acknowledge the benefits that God hath bestowed upon me are many and great Gratitudo Davidis he hath deliver'd my soul from the sorrowes of death and hell 1 De modo agendi deliberat Fig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath redeem'd me from my iniquity he hath quieted my heart and hath made good his promises to me neither is there a desire to shew my self thankful wanting in me but how now shall I do it what shall I return unto him And when he had cast about and found that he had nothing that was fit to give he professeth only that he would give thanks this only he could and these he would return which he knew to God was the best payment 1. I will take the Cup of salvation Here Interpreters vary Ver. 13 what is to be understood by the Cup of salvation He would bring 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Definit statuit quid acturus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. The most refer it to the
casts in out way to hinder us that we be not scandalized at these we have the help of Angels And which is yet more under their custody we shall tread under foot Satan And they shall tread under foot all their enemies and all his Complices him a roaring Lyon an old Serpent a fierce Dragon and all his Associates Tyrants Persecutors all Hereticks and Hypocrites for such is the promise Thou shalt tread upon the Lyon and Adder the young Lyon and Dragon shalt thou trample under feet Ver. 13 3. In the mouth of two or thrte witnesses shall every word stand saith God and here we find the Law strictly observed To be proved it was that all who truly trust in God were to be protected by God of which one witness The third witness that the good man shall be protected God himself who is here brought in to attest all this on three conditions was the just man ver 2. Another the testimony of the Spirit by the Prophet from ver 3. to this verse To which a third we have here even God himself for in these three last verses the Prophet brings in God himself testifying this great and comfortable Truth with his own mouth and adding much to what was formerly said But yet upon these three conditions presupposed in the protected 1. His love 2. His acknowledgment of Gods Name 3. He shall call upon me with vehemency with an earnest desire 1. Because he hath set his love upon me Chasak pleased me loved me Ver. 14 adhered close to me hoped in me trusted to me with a filial love and adherence 1 The good mans love to God 2. Because he hath known my Name acknowledged my Power Wisdom Goodness 2 His acknowledging of God these are the causes and the conditions presupposed in the protected 3. He shall call upon me Invocation necessary also 3 His Invocation Therefore I will deliver him I will answer him I will be with him in trouble Therefore saith God I will honour him which Bellarmine supposeth to belong to this life I will glorifie him or set him on high and the second I will deliver him 1 I will deliver him with long life I will satisfie him and shew him my salvation 1. I will deliver him by the shield by my Angels by other wayes mediatly 2 I will glorifie him or immediatly yet so that it be remembred that I do it Ver. 14 for these shall not deliver without me 3 I will answer his prayers 2. I will answer him answer his desires answer his prayers so they be cries 3. I will be with him in trouble joyn my self close to him 4 I will be with him in trouble go into prison with him as it were suffer with him and think my self pursued when he is persecuted give him comfort even then Martyres non eripuit sed nec deseruit They sung in prison 4. I will hâ—â—our him For the names of those who suffered for his sake 5 I will honour him are honourable right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of all his Saints These Promises may belong to this life to the other those which follow Ver. 15 1. I will deliver him For the just by death and by death only The promises for the other life repeated are freed from the present and all future miseries Blessed are the dead for they rest from their labours 2. I will glorifie him As if it were not enough to deliver him 1 Rest such a thing in this life may fall out as it happened to Joseph Job David 2 Glory Daniel But the true glory no question must be When the righteous shall shine like the Sun be set upon their Thrones and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel 3. With long life will I satisfie him i. e. with eternal felicity Ver. 16 with a continuance in bliss which shall be eternal for without eternity 3 Eternity even the length of dayes cannot satisfie as appears by old men who yet have complained of a short life 4. And that the Prophet speaks of this eternal felicity 4 The beatifical Vision is more than probable because he adds I will shew him my salvation Salutare meum My Christ his Jesus or salutem meam my salvation that is I will bring to pass that when through his whole life I have given him sufficient evidences of my fatherly affection I will at last translate him to a place where he shall no longer live by faith but shall see and experimentally feel what he hath believed I will make all manifest and shew it unto him Happy he shall be in the enjoyment of the Beatifical Vision which nor ignorance nor trouble nor labour nor sorrow nor death it self nor fear of it shall interrupt The Prayer O Gracious God who hast made so comfortable promises of security aid and help to all those that with faith love and hope adhere and trust to thée Teach us in all our temptations pressures and sorrows to dwell in thy secret place to rely upon thy visible assistance and to abide under the shadow of the Almighty Ver. 1 Make us know That thou art our Refuge That thou art our Fortress Ver. 2 That thou art our God That in thee alone must be our trust and confidence Assaulted we are secretly and openly the Fowler the Divel sets his snares for us Ver. 3 and hopes to take us in his Net as a silly Bird in danger we are to be devoured by the Sword and the noysome pestilence In the night we are surprized with terrours Ver. 5 too often affrighted with conspiracies and treasons of treacherous enemies and the secret whispers of false friends In the day of our prosperity Ver. 6 the kéen arrows of bloody enemies and persecutors are let flie at us the pestilence and pestilent plots of those which watch for our ruine walk about in the darkness and the malice of Tyrants by a perpetual destruction labours to waste us at noon-day even in the sight of the Sun Cover us Ver. 4 O gracious God as the Hen doth her tender Birds with thy feathers and give us confidence under thy wings assure our hearts by a lively faith of the Truth of thy promises and let thy faithfulness in the performance be unto us a Shield and a Buckler by which we may receive and quench all the fiery darts of the Divel O Lord we have made thée who hast no Superiour our Refuge our Sanctuary to flie to we have made thée our habitation to rest Ver. 9 to dwell in who art the most High above all and séest what is done below and sits in the highest Throne and over-rulest the whole World When then a thousand shall fall by our side Ver. 7 or ten thousand at our right hand let not thy heavy indignation come near to us let no evil befall us that repose our confidence in thée Ver. 10 nor any
are the dayes of thy servant How long shall this affliction endure when shall the dayes of this tentation and misery be at an end this persecution be over 2. When wilt thou execute judgement he means temporal punishments on them that persecute me O let me not dye comfortless but let me see that thou art a God of judgement and men behold that there is a reward for the righteous 3. And in the next verse he describes them from their qualities Vers. 5 1. They were proud Men that would endure no yoke of God Who are 1. Proud of man 2. Subtile They digg'd pits For their advantage 2 Subtile submit to any base office crouch and bow Psa 104.10 Absolon abased himself 3. Impious men for the courses they took against him 3 Impious were not according to Gods Word They digg'd pits for me which were not after thy Law 'T is some comfort yet that we have those men our enemies that are enemies to God and whose actions are displeasing to him 4. For they are contrary to thy Law For all thy Commandments are true nay truth it self and they a false generation 5. And yet these are the men that persecute me He prayes for seasonable help but they do it wrongfully 6. Therefore O Lord help me Help me against their treachery 7. And it is but time For their malicious cruelty is unsatiable they have not only troubled me but had almost consumed me upon earth 8. The comfort yet is that it is not done because I forsook not thy precepts 3. He shuts up all with a Petition that he makes often in this Psalm 3 He petitions for strength 1. Quicken me And it may seem strange that so often he should acknowledge himself as it were a dead man and desire God to put life into him But to a child of God every desertion and decay of strength seems a death so desirous they are to live to God that when they fail in it and are dismabled they account themselves as it were dead and pray the Lord for life Quicken me And promiseth obedience 2. Quicken me after thy loving-kindness he opposeth Gods kindness to his enemies malice and it is comfortable I am troubled with their malice for thy sake and therefore I crave to be refreshed by thy kindness In that there is comfort enough Psa 52.1 3. So shall I keep the Testimonies of thy mouth So that is quickned by thee for otherwise there was in him no strength to obey no more than a dead man doth the actions of a natural life The Prayer O Merciful God while that help and salvation Vers. 1 which we alone expect from thée is delayed and with-held from us our very souls have fainted within us To thée we look day and night and our eyes are bent toward heaven in expectation of thy promises O Lord when wilt thou comfort us Our body languisheth our skin is furrowed into wrinkles no bottle in the smoke is more dryed up than is our flesh while we look and long for help from thy hand Proud men the sons of Belial that have shaked off the yoke have digg'd pits for our life They wrongfully persecute us They have almost consumed us upon the earth O Lord how many are the dayes of thy servants How long shall this affliction endure when shall the dayes of this tentation and misery be at an end when wilt thou execute jugement on them that persecute us Help us O Lord for we hope in thy Word arise and deliver us for we have not forgotten nor yet will forsake thy Statutes This we have resolved on Vers. 3.7 this we have decréed but to perform this resolution of our selves we are not able no more than a dead man is to execute the actions of the living Quicken us then with thy Grace according to thy loving-kindness and infiniteness of thy mercy and so will we kéep thy Testimonies which thou hast made known unto us by thine own finger and left unto us by the mouth of thy own Son Iesus Christ our Lord. 12. LAMECH THIS Octonary is an Encomium of the Word of God The Contents and of the perfection thereof which he commends from the immutability and constancy thereof 2. Then from the comfort he received from it in his trouble 1. Gods Word immutable both In the three first verses the Prophet shewes That Gods Word is immutable by an instance in the creatures 1. Ver. 1 In the Heavens For ever O Lord thy Word is setled in Heaven For the Heavens were made by his Word In heaven and earth and continue in the same frame they were made by his Word to this day 2. In the Earth Whose foundations are yet immoveable Thy faithfulness is unto all Generations Ver. 2 Thou hast established the earth and it abideth 3. Ver. 3 They Heaven and Earth both continue this day according to thy Ordinance 4. The Reason is For all things serve thee Thy creatures they are and thou their Lord Creator they then must be at thy Beck and Command 2. 2 It brought him comfort in his trouble Next he shewes the excellent perfection of Gods Word by a rare effect it had upon himself it gave him comfort and kept him from despair in his trouble he collected it from the former instances thus if the Word of God sustained the Heaven and the Earth he saw no reason but it might also sustain him and so leaning upon it he was delighted in it and that delight held him up he knew it would be an Anchor of hope that would not fail him Vnless thy Law had been my delight Ver. 4 I should have perished in my trouble This he knew he could not do because God had promised him the contrary no such comfort in trouble as Gods Word and Promise this will abide when other fails 3. Upon this comfort he vowes Upon which joy and comfort first he makes a promise of thankfulness he had found life in Gods Word and he resolves never to forget it 1. Ver. 5 I will never forget thy precepts that men forget them is because they find no heart in them 2. 1 Never to let it slip out of his memory His Reason is For with them thou hast quickned me He saith not the Word quickned him but God by his Word For the Word quickens not till Gods Spirit come to it Vitam gratiae augendo vitam gloria promittendo 2. 2 To be Gods servant Then next he devotes himself to be Gods servant for the present and for ever 1. Ver. 6 I am thine And I do and will serve no other Lord no base pleasure no profit nor the World nor the flesh nor the Devil and therefore I can with a good conscience ask 2. O save me It is for a Lord to protect and save his servant 3. And that I am thine is evident in this that I am ready to do thy Will For
will bless the Lord not only for those temporal blessings formerly mentioned but rather for these spiritual following Ver. 7 1. 1 For illumination For the illumination of my mind that I may understand the thing that is right I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel 2. 2 For Sanctification For my sanctification My reins instruct me in the night seasons when I am most retir'd methinks I hear a still voyce within me This is the way walk in it 3. 3 For his perseverance For my confidence and perseverance I say the eye of my faith full upon him without irregular affections and passions 1. I have set the Lord alwayes before me I do not forget him 2. Because he is at my right hand to help me that I fall not 3. I shall not be moved Satan may stand at my right hand to resist and trouble me Zach. 3.1 But God is on my right hand to assist and deliver me Ver. 9 or comfort me therefore I shall not be greatly moved 4. 4 His joy in it For that joy I find in me I am in a good plight as much as heart can wish or need require therefore my heart is glad wicked men rejoyce in appearance And for his assurance 1. Of the Resurrection by Christ their joy is but skin-deep but Davids is deeper his heart glory flesh rejoyceth spirit soul body overjoyed the cause is The Resurrection of the Body Resurgam 1. My flesh shall rest in hope or dwell In this world as in diversorio in the grave as repositorio in heaven as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Mansion 2. Ver. 10 Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell My body say some in the grave but there is more in it 3. Neither wilt thou suffer Chasid Thy Holy One to see Corruption the Messiah that is to come out of my loiâ—s Christs Resurrection is the cause Ve. 9. 11. the pledge the security of ours Job 19.25 5. And eternal life which he illustrates The promise of a future life which is here illustrated 1. From the quantity Fulness of joy 2. From the quality Pleasures 3. From the constancy and honour done us At thy right hand and his hand is strong and none can take us out of it 4. From the perpetuity duration continuance for evermore 5. From the cause the presence sight beatifical vision Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is the fulness of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore The Prayer out of the sixteenth Psalm O God thou hast béen a merciful God unto me through my whole life and bestowed upon me many spiritual and temporal blessings which thou hast denied to many of thy better servants Ver. 6 that inheritance which thou my heavenly Father hast alotted to me Ver. 5 is fallen to me in a rich and pleasant place and it is sufficient for me because thou hast bestowed it who art all-sufficient O Lord though I am altogether unworthy of this favour yet be thou still the portion of my cup replenish it and uphold and maintain me in it for I shall quickly lose and forgo it if it be in mine own kéeping But upon these outward things I set not my heart Ver. 2 for my goods are nothing to thee for can a man be profitable to his God as a man that is wise is profitable to himself The sole way that I can honour thée with these outward blessings is by doing good to the Houshold of faith make me therefore carry a charitable mind Ver. 3 and a liberal hand to these make me set my delight upon the Saints that are in the earth and upon such as excel in vertue for these thy Son hath suffered for their salvation he shed his blood in these thou delightest and let it be my delight then to do them good Increase to that end Ver. 7 and continue unto me thy Graces illuminate my mind with thy Counsels Ver. 6 let my reins also instruct me in the night season that I may yield to thy holy inspirations let thy Spirit that continual spring of comfort and counsel dictate and suggest unto me what I ought to do and to choose that good part that shall never be taken from me I know O Lord that they who depend upon lying vanities Ver. 4 and run after another god do but multiply sorrows to themselves never let me then joyn with them in their bloody offerings nor let their names be mentioned by me or come within my lips with approbation and honour These are enemies unto thée O Lord preserve me from them and I know thou wilt preserve me Ver. 1 because I put my trust in thee Thou art my Lord I have set thee alwayes before me Ver. 8 be at my right hand and I shall never be moved So shall I have cause to bless thée and rejoyce in thée Ver. 7 My heart also shall be glad while I remain in the Land of the living And when this Tabernacle in which I sojourn shall be taken down and I gather'd to my Fathers Ver. 9 My flesh shall rest quietly in the grave in hope of a joyful Resurrection for I am assur'd Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell because thou hast not suffer'd thy Holy One to see corruption I am a Member of that Body whereof he is the Head he the Redéemer I one of those that he hath redéemed and therefore I hope to sée God in my flesh and to see him not with other but with these same eyes Confirm me in this hope strengthen me in this faith shew me in the valley of death the path of life while I live here conduct me in the way of grace that leads to glory where in thy presence I shall have fulness of joy I shall sée thée face to face and enjoy that happiness in a full measure which nor eye hath séen nor ear hath heard neither can enter into the heart of man to understand neither shall this joy admit of any end or satiety for at thy right hand there is pleasures for evermore This happiness O Lord is only in thy power to bestow vouchsafe therefore to give it unto us we beséech thée for the merits of thy only Son our Saviour Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. XVII Davids Appeal to God in justification of himself and his Petition for defence against his Enemies THERE be three parts of the Psalm 1. A Petition 1. For Audience ver 1. ver 6. 2. For perseverance in good ver 5. 3. For special favour ver 7 8. 4. For deliverance at this time especially v. 13 14. 2. A Narration in which we meet with 1. His Appeal to God and his own justification ver 2 3 4. 2. The Reasons of it his Enemies and their Character ver 9 10 11 12 13 14. 3. A Conclusion which hath two parts one belonging to this life and the other to the future ver 15. 1. He
us from the darkness of sin and ignorance Good God so affect my heart with the love of thy Law that I may desire it more than gold Ver. 10 yea than much fine gold let it be sweeter to my mouth than the honey-comb Grant good Lord that I who desire to be thy servant may be taught by it Ver. 11 and from the kéeping of it let me expect my reward and have my reward in this present life security and peace of conscience and be refreshed by the comforts of thy holy Spirit and in the life to come live with thée in those Mansions which thou hast prepared for those who kéep thy Law for ever But thou O Lord knowest the frailty of my flesh how weak my endeavours are how imperfect my obedience If none but the observers of thy Law shall be rewarded I must néeds despair of a blessing either in this or another life in that the Errors of my life which I know are very many and those which I know not are numberless How often do I commit that wickedness which I ought to leave undone and omit those Duties which I ought to have done How often doth vice steal upon me in the cloaths of vertue and Error and Falshood in the shape of Truth Who can tell how oft he offendeth Ver. 12 Therefore O my good God I beséech thée of thy infinite mercy cleanse me and wash oft these secret spots of my soul with the rest of which in particular I have no knowledge yet my conscience in general tells me that of such I am guilty And however so long as I carry about me this body of flesh Ver. 13 I must also carry about with me this body of sin yet I beséech thée keep me from presumptuous sins never suffer my will to be so over-born that I sin against thée with a high hand though it dwell yet let it not reign though it remain yet let it not dominéer and tyrannize in my mortal body Thy servant Lord I desire to be and no vassal drudge and slave to sin never then suffer it to have the dominion over me This is that great offence which is inconsistent with grace that turneth thée to be our enemy that excludes from the Kingdom of Heaven never never O Lord suffer me to be guilty of it Thou that hearest prayers to thée shall all flesh come Ver. 14 now with a prostrate soul and a penitent heart I appear before thy Throne and humbly beg audience Let these words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be alwayes pleasing and acceptable to thee O Lord thou art my Rock my Strength hold me up that through weakness I fall not from thée Thou O sweet Jesus art my Redeemer and hast bought my soul with a dear price that of thy precious blood frée me from the power of sin the sorrows of death the power of Satan and pains of Hell and bring me by thy Merits and Passion to everlasting life that I may reign with thée for ever PSAL. XX. Is a Form of Prayer delivered by David to the People to be used by them for the King when he went out to Battle against his Enemies THERE be three parts of it 1. A Vote or Benediction of the People for their King from ver 1. to 5. 2. A Congratulation or Triumph of the People after the victory supposed to be obtained from ver 5. to 9. 3. A Petition ver 9. 1. The Vote and Congratulation is directed to Davids person The first part by form of Acclamation the particulars are that he may have Ver. 1 1. Audience in his necessity The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble The vote of the people for the King 2. Protection The Name of the God of Jacob defend thee 3. Help and Strength in the Battle Send thee help strengthen thee which is amplified by the place Out of the Sanctuary out of Zion either from the Sanctuary where prayers were made for him so that they desire their prayers may be heard for him or E Coelo 4. Acceptance of his person testified by the acceptance of his offerings and sacrifices as that of Abel Oderetur omnia munera tua holocaustum tuum in cinerem redigat 5. Answer concession and grant of his Petitions Grant thee according to thy own heart and fulfil all thy counsel which is plainly set down in the next verse The Lord fulfil all thy Petitions Which granted they vow thanks The Vote being ended they perswade that it may be granted because it will redound to Gods glory for then they would shew themselves thankful and honour him for the victory 1. We will rejoyce in thy salvation or as some read it Do this O Lord ut exultemus That we may rejoyce In tua salute referring it to God as the Authour or to the King as saved 2. And in the Name of our God will we set up our Banners Joyfully will we enter into the City with displayed Ensigns and erect them triumphantly as Trophies of the victory to the honour of our God 2. Now follows the Congratulation and Triumph of their faith The second part for they give thanks as for a victory already obtain'd for to their faith it was certain Before they pray'd for Audience and Protection Ver. 6 here they testifie they were certain and secure of both They comfort themselves by faith that God will grant what they ask of him Now know I. 1. Of Protection Now know I that the Lord will save his Anointed 2. Of Audience He will hear him from his holy Heaven 3. Of Help Helping him with the saving strength of his right hand And the certainty of their victory proceeded solely from their confidence in God to him they impute it wholly in the former verse such was their gratitude which that it might be the clearer they illustrate it by an Argument drawn à dissimili they were not as the common sort of Souldiers that trust more to their Arms than to their Prayers 1. Amd the rather because they trust not in their Ammunition As most men do Hi in curru in equis Some put their trust in Chariots and some in Horses as the Ammonites 2 Sam. 10.6 2. But we do not so We will remember the Name of the Lord our God The use of Arms is common and lawful to good and bad men but the difference lies in the confidence Here is an elegant Antithesis 2. And therefore the success was according their confidence in their Armour and Ammunition destroyed our trust in God hath saved us They are brought down and fallen The third part A short ejaculation but we are risen and stand upright The whole sum of the Psalm is repeated in this Epiphonema 1. Save Lord. 2. Let the King that is Christ bear us when we call The Prayer collected from the twentieth Psalm O Lord which art King of Kings Lord of Lords and yet hast commanded us
troubles from which thou hast delivered thy servant therefore I will praise thy name at all times and thy honour shall be continually in my mouth It shall be the boast of my soul and the joy of my heart that when I sought thée thou hast heard me and deliver'd me from those fears with which I was surprised For behold I a poor afflicted wretch forsaken by all contemn'd by all in the midst of my miseries have implored thy help and thou didst hear me out of thy Holy Heaven and camest down and savedst me from my troubles O let this thy mercy shew'd to me raise the hearts of thy afflicted people let all those who are of a méek and patient spirit under the cross heat thereof and be glad Let them magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together being fully perswaded that that God who sent his Angel and deliver'd me will also send his Angel to encamp round about them and will deliver them When their eyes are dejected even then let them look up to thée when their faces are clouded with sorrow then enlighten them with thy favourable countenance Refresh them with thy aspect as with a pleasing light and never suffer them to be ashamed that they have relied and put their trust in thée Though those bruitish men who prey and tear like Lions may want and suffer hunger yet let not those who séek thy name want any manner of thing that is good supply them with necessaries for this life and in their penury teach them to be content because thou hast made them to abound with the spiritual and true riches O teach them to taste and confess that the Lord is good and that the man is blessed that trusts in him O Lord let thy eyes be upon the righteous and thy ears open to their cry They are of broken hearts be nigh unto them they are of contrite spirits O save them they in their afflictions cry to thee O hear them and deliver them out of all their troubles Thou hast said it O make thy word good That many are the troubles of the righteous but do thou deliver him out of all And that we may be alwayes in thy favour and under thy care good God instruct-us ever in thy fear Keep O Lord our tongue from evil and our lips from speaking guile Teach us to depart from evil and to do good And because it is a hard matter to have peace with all men make us to live without offence and to seek peace so much as in us lies and to pursue it So shall we have our desires and obtain what we love long life sée many dayes and much good O Lord let thy face be against those that do evil and cut off the remembrance of them from off the earth Let their own malice if they persist in it slay the wicked and their death be miserable And let them which hate the righteous because his life is not like theirs but of another fashion be desolate adding sin unto sin to their destruction being destitute of thy grace destitute of thy favour for which they are subject to thy anger in this world and obnorious to eternal punishment But as for those who serve thée with a single heart though they are exposed to many troubles and over-weakly yield to many temptations yet O Lord redéem their souls from death deliver them from the craft and violence of Satan frée them from the dominion of sin and suffer them not to commit that great offence for which thou in thy just displeasure shouldst cast them off Pass by their weaknesses pardon their infirmities and negligences renew them daily by the power of thy Spirit increase their hope confirm their saith and because they put their trust only in thy mercy forsake them not leave them not but let the riches of thy mercy guide and conduct them through the many afflictions and troubles of this sinful world to that place of everlasting habitations that they may live with thée and rest with thée in glory and perpetual felicity for ever and ever And O Lord grant that I with thy Saints may have this for my portion through the merits of my only Redéemer Iesus Christ my Lord. Amen PSAL. XXXV Is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE parts of it are 1. A prayer for defence against his enemies In which he prayes first for protection vers 1 2 3 17 19 22 23 24 25. Then imprecates evil to fall on them vers 4 5 6 8 26. 2. A bitter complaint against the malice of his enemies which he pours out into the ears of God as motives to plead his cause vers 7 11 12 13 14 15 16 19 20 21. 3. A proposal of his trust and confidence in God for help and deliverance his joy in it vers 9 10. His thanks for it vers 18 28. and a motive to others to do the like vers 27. 1. The first part He prayes God to be his Advocate In the Courts of men and Princes innocents are often oppressed by false accusations and calumnies persecuted and over-borne by power He then First Prayes to God to be his Advocate his Patron and Protector 1. Litiga Plead my cause O Lord with them that serive with me Vers. 1 2. Fight against them that fight against me Take hold of the shield and buckler and stand up for my help Dram out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me 3. Say unto my soul Assure me I am thy salvation 2 He imprecates against his enemies Secondly He falls to an Imprecation against his enemies 1. Let them be confounded and put to shame c. vers 4. 2. Let them be as chaff before the wind c. vers 5. Vers. 4 3. Let their way be dark and slippery c. vers 6. 4. Let destruction come upon him at unawares vers 8. And here he interserts some reasons of his Petition and Imprecation 1. From the justice of his cause and their unjustice 3 The reasons of both Without cause they have hid a net c. vers 7. Vers. 7 2. Vers. 9 From his gratitude that being deliver'd he would be thankful And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord c. vers 9 10. 3. From his enemies dealing with him from vers 11. to 17. And so enters upon his Complaint The second part His complaint of his enemies which is the second part of the Psalm and upon this he stayes long And he layes to their charge 1. Perfidiousness and extream malice and perjury False witnesses did rise up Vers. 11 they laid to my charge things that I know not 2. Vers. 12 Ingratitude They rewarded me evil for good Good he did to them he when they were fasted and pray'd for them But they were cruel to him 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In my adversity they rejoiced c. 4. Mocking jesting jeering The abjects gather'd themselves against me they
men are mortal and it is not the wealth of the one can make them happy nor the mean estate of the other can make them unhappy there being another life by which the condition of both is to be judg'd Three parts of the Psalm 1. An Exordium or Preface from vers 1. to 5. 2. The matter proposed debated and argued from vers 5. to 16. 3. An Advice or Admonition given from vers 16 to 20. 1. The Exordium artificial In the Exordium he 1. Calls together his Auditory viz. All people All Nations of the world men of all conditions high low rich poor The first part because what he is to speak of concerns All. Vers. 1 2. Then he calls to them to be Attentive Hear give ear 3. He labours to make them docile and Benevolous by commendation of the matter of which he is to treat Speak he would not of light or vain things but of a weighty wise matter of that which he had seriously thought 1. My mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding that which I understand and is fit for others to understand 2. Then that to which I will be obedient I shall teach you no lesson but that I teach my self I will encline my ear 3. 'T is a Parable 't is a dark speech I am to deliver and such wise men are delighted to hear 4. Lastly That it may be brought to your ear with more delight I have set it to the Harp I will open my dark saying upon the Hart. 2. And thus having assembled his Auditory and made them Attentive The second part A debate who is the happy man Fig. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Docile and Benevolous he propounds his Parable and dark saying and it is done with much Art and Rhetorique For he first seems to prevent an Objection which might be thus read David we see you are troubled much at the prosperity of the wicked To which he returns his answer by a quick Eâ—otesis Wherefore should I fear in the dayes of evil when the wicked prosper and I am under the cross and when the wickedness of my heels shall compass me about when they who insidiantur calcaneo compass me about to destroy me Or else Why should I unjustly seek after wealth honour c. which would make me fear in the day of vengeance and when the wickedness that is the punishment which follows all iniquity at the heels would overtake me There is no reason of this fear to me to the wealthy ambitious there is They that trust in riches not happy And this he demonstrates two wayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he takes away Happiness from the one from vers 6. to 15. and places Happiness in the other vers 15. 1. They that trust in their wealth Vers. 6 and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches are not happy vers 6. For wealth will not deliver in the evil day 1. 'T will save no mans life None of them these rich men The reasons can redeem his brother nor give to God a ransome for him God will not be brib'd to save any mans life 2. 'T will save no mans soul For it cost more to redeem asoul 't is a precious thing money is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it ' sis a work he must let alone 3. Yea be it that he be wise and a long-lived man Though he live long and see not the grave yet dye he must For he seeth that wise men dye likewise the fool and the bruitish person perish 4. And which sufficiently shews the vanity of their riches 1. They leave them 2. They leave these great riches 3. They leave them to others they suppose to their heirs children but it often falls out that strangers others they thought not of enter into their labours They leave their riches aliis alienis such as they thought should never enter upon their labours 5. Farther yet Their thoughts are vain The vain thoughts of rich men For 1. Their inward thoughts are that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling-places to all generations 2. To this end they call heir lands after their own names They study not only to be rich but are vainglorious also But this their study is Vers. 12 First Vanity Secondly Folly 1. Vanity it is Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not for Summis stare din parcarum lege negatur A change there will be and the most glorious man will be like the beasts that perish an eternal Oblivion will be brought upon his name The man no more remembred than a beast 2. This is Folly This their way is but foolishness a great foolery to place their chief good in riches and honours and yet Their posterity are guilty of it as great fools as their fore-fathers For their posterity praise approve and applaud their sayings follow their way magnifie their thoughts tread in their steps and gape after Riches and Honour That then Considerations fit for rich men if it be possible I may take down these high vain and ambitious thoughts and remove them from those inordinate studies and immoderate desires of Wealth and Honour I shall propose unto them these considerations touching their future condition 1. Like sheep they are laid in the grave That 's their common condition for as sheep they are but fatted for the slaughter 2. Death shall feed on them The second death for with Dives they shall be buried in Hell and the fire that cannot be extinguished shall feed upon their soul and body 3. In the morning of the Resurrection the upright shall have dominion over them The righteous shall shine like the Sun when it ariseth in the morning when they shall be made Christs foot-stool They shall see the godly placed on the right-hand and seated on Thrones to judge them when they shall be set on the left to be judg'd and condemn'd And this to their great grief read the fifth Chapter of Wisdome 4. And their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling their riches their power their glory which accrued from these veterascet shall waste wax old as doth a garment For the figure of this world passeth away Happy then the Rich of this world 2 Who the happy man and the possessors of great Glory and Honour are not But now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He set down the Happy man 'T is true that he walking in his integrity is subject to many crosses and oppressed with many miseries but look upon his end and you must needs judge him happy For whereas the wicked shall live in torment he shall be freed from eternal death and gifted with eternal life But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he will receive me 1. He shall redeem my and all good mens souls 2. Not from the grave
for dye we must but from the hand the power the dominion of death Death shall not reign over them 3. And the reason is Because he shall receive me with favour adopt me and make me capable of all the promises made over to me by Covenant 3. The third part The advice to good men Upon these considerations viz. The different conditions of good and bad men he gives forth his prohibition and admonisheth the good that they be not troubled at the prosperity of the wicked Ne trineas Be not afraid Let not your heart betroubled 1. That they be not troubled at the prosperity of the wicked Not at the great wealth of the rich Be not thou afraid when one is made rich 2. Not at the glory and honour of the mighty Nor when the glory of his house is increased And he repeats the former reason For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away His glory shall not descend after him Their happiness was then but Momentary This he amplifies by a bitter Epitrope Esto Be it they flatter themselves and are flatter'd by others 1. Though while he liv'd he blessed his soul Soul thou hast many goods for many years 2. Though men will praise thee and sound in thy ears Euge bene Vers. 18 rectè so long as thou doest well to thy self i. e. providest for me heapest up Riches and gapest after Honour Think to be Semi-deum 1. A mortal thou art short-liv'd as all that went before thee were Vers. 19 Thy life no longer dated than theirs He shall go to the generation of his fathers And 2. If wicked be cast into utter darkness They shall never see light 3. Surely any man how rich soever how great soever who understands not thus much beasts himself Vers. 20 For with this Epiphonema he concludes the Psalm which is doubled that it may be remembred Man being in honour and understands not is like the beasts that perish Even while he lives he is but like a beast The Prayer collected out of the forty ninth Psalm O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy who hast created man through wisdom according to thy likeness giving him a capacity to know and a will to chuse the true way to Happiness Give me Wisdom that sits by thy Throne and reject me not from among thy children Vers. 20 never let me so farre forfeit my understanding being depressed by want or enticed by abundance or affected with the glory of the world that I become like a beast that perisheth But grant that in what condition soever I am whether high or low rich or poor I may give ear and hearken to the instruction of thy Holy Spirit O let my mouth alwayes speak of wisdom and let the meditation of my heart be of such things which may make me judge prudently and govern my self wisely in this present life Bore my ear and make it incline to what thou shalt teach and teach me with an eloquent tongue to declare to others the Mysteries the Parables the dark and abstruse Mysteries of thy Law Then Lord lo I will not refrain my lips and that thou knowest Taught us thou hast in thy Divine Oracles that we should not place our confidence in the vain and fading things of this life But with shame and confusion of face confess we must that we have made the World our God and the wedge of gold our stay that we are in the number of those who have trusted in their wealth and boasted in the multitude of their riches Our inward thought hath been to add house to house and land to land perswading our selves that our houses shall continue for ever and our dwelling places to all generations We labour to be immortal here on earth and to that purpose we call the land after our own names We bless our selves in our abundance and say to our souls Eat drink and be merry Soul thou hast goods laid up for many years This is our vanity this is our way our folly and yet our posterity approve and applaud these our sayings and doings for when we do thus well unto our selves they stand by flatter and praise us O good God keep under and subdue these immoderate affections and teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdom let it never slip out of our memories that we are mortal and all the things of the world momentary vain fading Dayly experience we have before our eyes that wise men dye and the fool and bruitish person perish Every man is but short-lived and must follow the generation of his fathers and when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away with him and his glory shall not continue and descend after him All like sheep fatted for the slaughter are laid in the grave Our wealth in that evil day will not profit us our glory will no way avail us What wealth what strength what splendour what dignity soever any man may have will not ransome or redeem any mans life nor at a mans own hand nor at a mans brothers will God receive a recompence that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Make us wise O Lord to consider these things and alwayes to remember our latter end To the house of death we must be brought but that is not our latter end Of an immortal soul we do consist as well as of a mortal body And will wealth or power be able to deliver that either from the wrath of God or the torments of hell Vers. 8 O no! It cost more to redeem a soul so that he must that alone for ever The redemption was a precious price bought we were not with gold or silver but with the precious blood of the Son or God While worldlings are bussed then in increasing of riches and thirsting after honours let us be studious to save this so that that precious blood be not spilt nor that ransome paid in vain The wicked shall be turn'd into Hell and all the people that forget God but thou O Lord wilt redeem my soul from the power of the grave for I verily believe to set God in the land of the living Why then should I fear in the dayes of evil why when the wickedness of my heels compasseth round about Surely there is a reward for the righteous doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth Men that are in honour and understand not are like the beasts that perish Vers. 20 but the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God he shall receive them and no torment shall touch them They the wicked shall never see light whereas the righteous shall shine like the Sun Death eternal death and the fire that never shall be quench'd shall feed on them whereas the righteous shall enjoy everlasting life At the general resurrection those goats shall be set on the left-hand and the other sheep honoured with the right While they liv'd they trampled upon and oppressed
is among the rest whose unkindness breaks my heart Had it been a professed enemy that had spoke evil of me and reproached me I could more patiently have borne it or had it béen one that openly hated me or proudly threatned my ruine that had done me this harm I would have withdrawn my self declined his company and avoided his attempts But that which makes the mischief unsufferable and my danger inevitable It is thou that hast spoken ill of me Thou that hast betray'd me who wast my intimate and bosome friend Thou who wast my familiar Thou to whom I intrusted my secrets Thou who wentest with me to the House of God one who séem'd to be of the same mind with me in all prophans and divine things His words were smoother than butter and softer than oyle when Vers. 21 as it appears since he had war in his heart and a sword to be drawn to destroy me For this is the man that hath now put forth his hand against me and not me alone but all such with whom he had made peace nor Oaths nor Covenant nor Articles of agréement can hold him he hath broken them all And his followers and favourites are no better than himself bloody and deceitful men they are They have seen no changes therefore they fear not God O Lord hear my prayer and afflict them Bring them down to the pit of destruction let them perish by some violent and immature death and never live out half their dayes But as for me I will in the midst of these troubles call upon my God I will hope and trust in thee and the Lord shall save my life Earnestly will I cry uncessantly at morning evening and at noon-day will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice Experience I have of his merciful hand he hath redeem'd my life miraculously in the battail that was set against me even then he hath secured me as in a time of peace Then he hath sent and set an Army of Angels for my guard so that there were many with me O Lord thou art immutable thou abidest of old thou art the same and changest not I will therefore cast my burden of cares and sorrows upon thee so for I am assured that thou wilt sustain me that I shall not sink under it Thou wilt not suffer thy righteous servant to be tost and tumbled by the persecution of wicked men for ever Amen PSAL. LVI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 DAVID in banishment among the Philistines and being there in great danger of his life prayes complains of his professeth his confidence in God The Contents of it are 1. Davids Prayer vers 1 7 8. 2. The cause the fear of his enemies whom he describes vers 1 2 5 6. 3. His Confidence in Gods Word vers 3 4 9 10 11. 4. His Thankfulness vers 4 10 12 13. 1. He begins with a prayer for mercy little he was like to find from man The first part His prayer The second part from his God he expected it and therefore he prayes Be merciful to me O God 2. And then presently be subjoins the cause The cause his danger from his enemies the danger he was in by his bloody and cruel enemies whom he begins to describe 1. From their unsatiable raven like a gulf they would swallow me up Vers. 1 which he repeats in the next verse Man would swallow me my enemies at home and abroad would swallow me up Whom he describes 2. From the time Dayly they would do it without intermission 3. From their number Many there be that fight against me Of these he gives us a farther Description at the fifth and sixth verses 1. From their uncessantmalice Every day they wrest my words Vers. 5 All their thoughts are against me for evil 2. From their secret treachery craft vigilance Vers. 6 They gather themselves together they hide themselves their counsels lying as it were in ambush for me They mark my steps Go whither I will they are at my heels 3. From their implacable hatred nothing could satisfie them but his blood They lay wait for my soul In the very midst of this Complaint he inserts his courage and confidence The third part His courage 1. In Gods promise 1. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee 2. I will not fear He ariseth higher Even when he fears he will not fear His word his promise is pass'd to me for protection and I will trust to it In God I will praise his Word In God have I put my trust I will not fear what flesh for the proudest the mightiest enemy I have is but flesh and all flesh is grass I will not then fear what flesh can do unto me 3. Vers. 10 This reason he repeats again vers 10 11. 1. In God I will praise his Word In the Lord I will praise his Word 2. In God have I put my trust I will not fear what man can do to me And this his Confidence he quickens and animates 2 In Gods justice 1. First from his assurance that God would punish and bring down his enemies Vers. 7 Shall they escape for their iniquity No no. In thine anger thou wilt cast them down 2. 2 In Gods mercy in protecting him From his assurance of Gods Tutelage and paternal eye over him in all his dangers griefs complaints petitions banishment Men think Vers. 8 Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Jovi he knew otherwise 1. Thou tellest and hast upon accompt my wanderings My flights Vers. 9 exile 2. Thou putt'st my tears into thy bottle Preserv'st them as rich Wine 3. Thou keep'st a Record of them Are they not in thy book 4. Thou putt'st my enemies to flight When I cry unto thee then I know my enemies shall be turned back for God is with me 4. The fourth part And therefore at last he concludes with thanks to which he holds himself bound by Vow 1. His thankfulness for his deliverance Thy vows are upon me Damnatus sum voti I owe thee thanks by vow and I will pay it I will render praises unto thee 2. Vers. 12 The reason is For thou hast delivered my soul from death 2. Vers. 13 Thou wilt deliver me Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling 3. And the end is That I may walk before God in the light of the living That I may live awhile and walk as before thy eye as in thy sight uprightly sincerely The Prayer collected out of the fifty sixth Psalm O Lord Vers. 1 to whom all hearts are open no secrets are hid thou knowest and seest the secret counsels and open attempts of wicked men against thy people Their endeavours are to swallow us up day by day they fight to oppress us Many they are for number and mighty they are for power that fight against us O thou most High And their malice is no less than their might nor their watchfulness inferiour to
invitation to praise God The first part He invites all men to praise God and to do it affectionately and heartily 1. Ver. 1 Make a joyful song unto God all ye Lands 2. Ver. 2 Sing forth the honour of his Name 3. Make his praise glorious 4. Say unto God where he prescribes a Form to be used in Thanksgiving How terrible art thou in thy works viz. in redeeming and delivering thy people with a strong and powerful hand 2 To consider his works The effect Of which consideration he shews a double effect one upon Gods enemies 2. The other upon his people 1. 1 On enemies a feigned obedience Upon his enemies a feigned obedience a service done indeed perforce as the conquered do the Conquerors done with lying lips and an unwilling mind Through the greatness of thy power shall thy enemies submit themselves 2 On his people willing service or yield feigned obedience unto thee 2. Upon his people who willingly should magnifie him for his terrible works All the earth shall worship thee and shall sing unto thee they shall sing to thy Name Selah 2. He calls again to consider them especially in At the fifth verse begins the other part of his Invitation in which he exhorts men to consider Gods wayes as if the cause of their ingratitude were as it is indeed their inconsideration this idle carelesness he would have shaken off Come and see the Works of God not ite but venite Come and consider with me Ver. 5 2. delivering his people Then not his works at large but his terrible Works his Wonders his strange doings in the deliverance of his people of which he gives two instances 1. 1 At the red Sea The division of the red Sea when Pharoah pursued the Israelites he turned the Sea into dry land 2. The other the division of Jordan Josh 3. that Israel might pass through They went through the flood on foot 2 At Jordan Which he closeth with this Acclamation There did we rejoyce in him those miracles done for our Fathers concerned us their children we even we are the better for them and therefore in their loyns we did and we will ever rejoyce for it But being not satisfied with these instances as being particular 3 The 〈◊〉 instance of his providence more general In which appears and concerning one people only he calls us to come and see and consider Gods Power Providence Justice over the world His Power in ruling his Providence in beholding the Nations his Justice in punishing the rebellious 1. He rules by his power for ever The Kingdom is his and for ever his and he will administer it to the comfort of his people Vers. 7 to the confusion of his enemies 1 His power 2. His eyes behold the Nations 'T is true 2 His inspection that by a peculiar care he beholds the Jews but yet so that he neglects not other Nations for by his providence their Cities stand their policies are upheld they are provided of necessary food and rayment 3. Let not the Rebellious exalt themselves 3 His justice They shall not prosper as they desire Nor their endeavours succeed to their minds His justice will overtake them 2. And now again he renews his Invitation to praise God O bless our God ye people and make the voice of his praise to be heard vers 8. The second part He again invites to praise God He exact no obscure secret or vulgar praise but publick manifest such as when the Noble deeds of some excellent man is set forth in Verse And that he move them to this the more willingly he makes mention of a peculiar mercy then well known to them though now hid to us Of which Vers. 8 that he might make them the more sensible And that for some special Mercy Till which came their condition lamentable he recounts in what condition they then were and the reason of it That it was for their trial and probation yet very sharp 1. To deaths door they were brought but unexpectedly saved and gifted with life Thou uphold'st our soul in life 2. At the dangers we were like to fall away Vers. 9 But thou sufferedst not our feet to slip We murmur'd not but were patient under thy â—and But God in thiâ— 3. For we knew that our afflictions came from thee Thou didst it 4. And we knew also for what end we suffer'd it was for our probation 1 Upheld them 2. Was the Author not destruction For thou O God hast proved us thou hast tryed us Vers. 10 5. Although that the trial was very sharp 3 The end to try and prove them which he illustrates by five Similitudes 1. From silver Tryed us as silver is tryed which is purged and refined in the fire 4 Which tryal was sharp 2. From a Net Inclosed we were imprisoned Vers. 11 without any hope of escape 3. From a burden In prison we were loaden with fetters Trouble upon our loines 4. From bondage and slavery Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads That is men did contumeliously and cruelly insult over us and set their feet upon our necks 5. From fire and water Merciless elements all kind of calamities we have undergone The fiery trial 5 But the issue was good and the waters have come to our soul But thou O God with the temptation hast given the issue Thou hast brought us out into a wealthy place 1. Thou hast proved and thou hast brought 2. Thou laidst the trouble and thou tookest it off yea and hast made us an ample recompence for thou hast brought us to a moyst pleasant a mene fertile rich place a happy condition a flourishing condition of things so that thou hast made us to forget all our trouble And for this Mercy it is especially that David exhorts the people to praise God Which if they should be so wretched as not to do yet he would not and so he descends to his own particular and sets them a fair example to follow 3. Where he proposeth an evidence of a grateful heart acknowledging the favour he had receiv'd for which before-hand he had vow'd thanks The third part For this he gives thanks and here he payes it 1. Vers. 13 I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings Empty he would not appear before his God but with his gift in his hand as was commanded in the Law 2. I will pay thee my vows His offerings were not so much a gift as a debt due upon vow Vow'd with his lips and spoken by his mouth when he was in trouble 3. This his vow should be paid of the best and the fattest liberally and freely I will offer unto thee burnt Sacrifices of marrow or fatlings with the incense of Rammes I will offer Bullocks with Goats 4. The fourth part And also because God had been good to him And that he do it there
they had béen strucken with fear by thy hand they fled and the depths of the Ocean being troubled forgetting to flow on the right and left hand stood up in heaps as if they had béen congealed to Mountains of ice but after thy people were passed through at thy command they relented and with an hasty and hideons reflux overwhelmed Pharoah and his Chariots by their violence Then the clouds poured out water from above there came a fearful noise which astonished his warlike Horses thy hail in manner of arrows were shot from Heaven Thou roaredst from the sky in the voyce of Thunder and thy lightning flashed in their faces from which their fear was so great that they thought the immovable Orb of the earth did shake and tremble under their féet Thy way was then in the Sea and thy path in the waters and after the parted streams came together again thy footsteps are not known no evidence there was thou hadst béen there Moses thy Prince and Aaron thy Priest were then thy Ministers who led thy people as a Shepherd his flock through the depths of the red Sea This thy miraculous redemption is written for our instruction I do remember O Lord what thou hast done fréed a distressed people delivered a broken hearted Nation saved from death those who did despair of life Lord I am distressed send from Heaven and relieve me I am broken-hearted O Lord come and heal me I am even at the point to dye save and quicken me As thou hast set me up for a mark of thy justice so make me also a monument of thy compassion let me obtain mercy that in me first Christ Iesus might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to everlasting life Despair I will not for I serve a good Lord hope for pardon I will for I trust in a merciful God This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That Jesus Christ came into the World to save sinners of these I am the chief the chiefest object then O Lord for thy mercy thy goodness can be no where so conspicuous as in saving me Lord then have mercy upon me Christ have mercy upon me Lord have mercy upon me hear my voyce give ear to my cry in the day of my trouble I have sought to thee let me find thée so shall my heart rejoyce my flesh rest in hope and my tongue be encouraged to sing Now unto the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen PSAL. LXXVIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE Prophet considering that it is Gods Command that his works be not forgotten but that the Fathers deliver his former doings to posterity that they might be to them for comfort and instruction deter them from obstinacy in sin and perswade them to the fear of God he doth in this Psalm give in a prolix Catalogue of Gods dealing with his people even from their coming out of Aegypt to the dayes of David The parts of the Psalm are these 1. A Preface in which he exhorts to learn and declare the way of God from ver 1. to 9. 2. A continued Narrative of Gods administration among his people and their stubbornness disobedience and contumacy together with the revenge that God took upon them from ver 9. to 67. 3. His mercy yet that he did not wholly cast them off but after the rejection of Ephraim made choice of Judah Zion David from ver 67. to 72. 1. In the Exordium he labours to gain attention Give ear O my people The Exordium in which he labours for attention to my Law encline your ears to the words of my mouth and in this and the following verses useth many arguments to gain attention as 1. It is Gods Law which he is to deliver his Doctrine The first part the words of his mouth taught delivered from Heaven Ver. 1 and deposited only with the Prophet To Gods Law from the 1. Excellency of it 2. It is worth hearing for it is a Parable a dark but wise saying and it of old I will open my mouth in a Parable I will utter dark sayings of old it hath dignity wisdom antiquity to commend it Ver. 2 3. Yea and certainty of Tradition also Which we have heard and known and such as our Fathers have told us And now he acquaints them with the end 2 The end to be shewn not hid which is another Argument for attention 1. It was not to hide them or conceal them from their children Ver. 4 2. But to shew them to the Generations to come of vvhich That God might be 1. Praised and the ultimatus finis vvas 1. That God be praised for his benefits 1 Praised and shewing the praises of the Lord. 2. That his povver be celebrated in his miracles And his strength 2 His power magnified and wonderful works that he hath done But the intermedius finis was the good of his people for it was 3 His people edified that they might 1. Know God 2. Hope in God 3. And obey God not being rebellious For he that is God established a Testimony in Jacob and appointed a Law in Israel It was not a Law which our Fathers invented but taught from above Now the Duty of the Fathers was to communicate this Law to their posterity Which he commanded our Fathers that they should make known to their children And the Duties of the children follow which are the three ends before 1. That they know God and his Law and Works 1 In knowledge That the Generation to come might know them and the children that were yet unborn and their Duty is again To declare them to their children 2 Faith 2. That they might trust and set their hope in God and not forget the works of God 3. 3 Obedience and That they might be an obedient people and keep his Commandments which they could not be if they were like their fore-fathers for they were a stubborn and rebellious Generation a Generation that set not their heart aright Not rebellious as their fathers of which he gives divers instances The second part and whose spirit cleaved not stedfastly to God 2. And now the Prophet begins his Narration and proves by examples that they were a stubborn and rebellious Generation of which his 1. First example is of the Tribe of Ephraim who being armed and carrying Bowes turned back in the day of Battel which Moller refers to the children of Ephraim invading the land of Canaan before Moses time 1 In Ephraim and were overthrown 1 Chron. 17.21 and were slain because they did it without command Ephraim by a Synecdoche is put for all Israel who were disobedient and cowardly as Souldiers in War that turn their back on the enemy Bellarmine 2. These Ephraimites kept not the Covenant of God and refused to walk in his Law Jeroboam being
were This blow wrought not upon them 1. For all this for all this punishment they sinned yet more added sin to sin 2. 2 Incredulity And remained incredulous They believed not for his wonderous works Therefore the wrath of God pursued them still though with a slower pace to give that time of repentance 1. Therefore their dayes did he consâ—â—â—e in vanity Hope they had at their coming from Egypt Gods wrath for these to enter into Canaan but their hope proved vain God causing their carkasses to fall in the Wilderness 2. And their years in trouble For in their forty years continuance in the desert infected they were with many wants dangers stung with fiery Serpents set on by the Amalekites Now when they saw Which wrought in them Attrition that Gods wrath thus pursued them true it is that it wrought for the present some remorse in them they acknowledg'd and sought to God for a little while Attrite they were 1. When he slew them then they sought him 2. They return'd 3. And enquired early after God 2. And they remembred that God was their Rock 2. And the high God was their Redeemer Attrite But not true Contrition For they in this remorse were guilty I say they were but not contrite For all this their seeking returning enquiring was but a formality And therefore the Prophet as before he laid Obstinacy and Contumacy to their charge so in the following verses he impeacheth them of Hypocrisie and Inconstancy which is the Note of a dissembler 1. 1 Of Hypocrisie Of Hypocrisie Nevertheless they did but flatter him with their mouth and they lyed unto him with their tongue viz. when they call'd him their Rock as it is before The high God their Redeemer 2. For they had no sincerity in them Their heart was not right with him 2. 2 Of Inconstancy Of Inconstancy Neither were they stedfast in his Covenant They quickly forgot that as God was obliged by Covenant to them so again they were obliged to him And here the Prophet And yet God was merciful to them before he goes farther on with the Narration of their impiety inserts two verses to extoll the goodness of God even toward such Rebells 1. The fountain of which was his mercy Vers. 38 But he being full of compassion 2. The act of this his mercy He forgave their iniquity and destroy'd them not 3. The moderation of his anger and continuance of his mercy Though he were provoked often yet many a time turn'd he his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath 4. That which was outwardly the motive to it The consideration of their frail condition 1. For be remembred that they were but flesh Gen. 6. full of vanity weakness 2. A wind that passeth away and cometh not again A mortal creature that dyes and revives not He continues the story of their Rebellions And after the intimation of Gods goodness he returns back again to his story of their disobedience and as if he were astonish'd at it he begins his Complaint with an Exclamation in which there is a Climax 1. How often Ten times at least Numb 14.22 2. How often have they provoked him by murmuring by repining at his doings 3. And that in the desert where I shew'd my protection of them More particularly They 1. Returned i. e. Rursus ad ingenium redeunt Or else they return'd back again in their hearts to Egypt 2. Tempted God vide Exod. 16. Cap. 32. Numb 11. Cap. 14. 16. 17. Cap. 3. And limited the Holy One of Israel That if he would not do as they would have him he should be an impotent and weak God sup vers 19 20. 4. And they lastly forgot all he had done for them in Egypt Forgetfulness is the fountain of impiety 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nihil citius feuescit quam gratia 6. Now upon this their deliverance from Egypt because it was the greatest of Gods works he upbraids them for their forgetfulness Insists on their forgetfulness that he might the more upbraid their ingratitude and impiety On this he dwells long and first he delivers it in general terms 2. And after insists upon the particulars 1. They remembred not his hand nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy i. e. Pharaoh 2. How he wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan This was forgot too The particulars of which signs and wonders now follow Of the plagues of Egypt 1. The first plague He turn'd their rivers into blood and the â—â—oods that they could not drink 2. the fourth plague he sent divers sorts of flies among them 3. the second plague and frogs that destroyed them 4. The eighth plague He gave also their increase to the Caterpillar and their labour to the locust 5. The seventh plague He destroyed their vines with hail and their Sycamore trees with frost He gave up also their Cattle to the hail and their flocks to hot thunder-boles In them God shew'd his Severity In all these plagues and those that follow God shewed his severity to the Egyptians He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger wrath indignation and trouble 2. He sent evil Angels among them 3. He made a way to his anger he spared not their soul from death 6. The first plague But gave their life over to the Pestilence 7. The last plague And smote all the first-born in Egypt The chief of their strength in the Tabernacles of Ham i. e. Egypt For Mizraim that peopled it was the son of Cham. Hitherto the Prophet hath recited the signs and wonders God did in Egypt for his people how he destroy'd their enemies with a mighty hand that being warn'd by their examples they took heed that they provoked him not to wrath which they did because they remembred them not 7. But Mercy to his people Now he enters a new way and recites the Mercies of God to them of which he began to speak at the eleventh and fourteenth verses above Of which the particulars are 1. How he brought his people through the red Sea And made his own people go forth as sheep 2. Vers. 52 That to bring them out being not enough as a Shepherd he led and fed them He guided them as a flock 3. And his intent was to secure them from fear For he led them on safely so that they feared not i. e. that need not fear since the Sea had overwhelm'd their enemies 4. And he left them not so alwayes to wander in the Wilderness but He brought them into the Land of Canaan 2. To the borders of his Sanctuary 3. Even to Mount Zion 4. The Mountain which he purchased with his right-hand They indeed fought for it but he gave them victory 5. He cast out the heathen before them And made the Tribes of Israel to dwell in their Tents 6. And divided them an inheritance by lot
Zion and make choice of it for thy peculiar habitation more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Thou séest Lord with what winds with what storms this thy holy City is assaulted there be who are ready and bent to raze it oven to the foundations Have mercy therefore upon the inhabitants of this City O Lord and thou who hast promised to protect these Walls give the glory to thine own name And suffer not those thy enemies who have not known thée or do envy thy glory Vers. 5 continualiy to reproach thy name and triumph over thy people though they cry Down with it down with it to the ground yet do thou who art the most High establish and confirm it and never suffer the gates of Hell to prevail against it Many Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God The Gates are of pearls the stréets of gold the light in it beyond that of the Sun so that the glory of it was far to excéed the old Temple The glory of any City is in the multitude of the inhabitants bring in hither all Nations and let them walk in the light of this City that they may be saved let the Kings of the Nations bring their glory and honour unto it Day and night let these gates stand open and let those of Rahab and Babylon enter by them and those who were born in Philistia and Tire with Ethiopia be regenerated and born again in her of water and of the Holy Ghost When thou shalt enrole and write up the names of thy Citizens in the book of life set it down in fair Characters that this Alien this Stranger from the Common-wealth of Israel was born in thy house And declare it to the whole world at the day of judgement that his portion shall be with thy natural children In the mean time establish unity and concord betwixt all Nations and let us live in such love and peace that there be no dissonancy no jarres no tumults among us but such an Harmony as is among those who with joyful hearts who with Songs and Musical Instruments sound forth thy praises In Zion are the Springs of living water In Zion are to be found the hid treasures of all knowledge In Zion alone are the cléer fountains of all content all joy Lord evermore refresh our thirsty souls with this water enrich out souls with this treasure Affect us with some degrée of this joy while we remain in this City below and give us full draughts of it when we shall be translated into that heavenly Jerusalem which is above through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen PSAL. LXXXVIII THIS present Psalm expresseth to the life the sad case of an afflicted and a troubled soul complaining to God upon the vehemence of the disease and sense of death that he could feel no comfort Four parts of this Psalm 1. A Petition vers 1 2. 2. The cause of this Petition the misery he was in which he describes from vers 3. to 9. 3. The effect which this his miserable condition wrought upon him which was 1. A special Prayer vers 9 13. 2. An expostulation with God for deliverance vers 10 11 12. 4. A grievous Complaint from vers 14. to 18. 1. The first part His Petition grounded on four Arguments The Prophet offers his Petition but before he commenceth it he premiseth four Arguments that may perswade the admittance of it 1. His confidence and reliance on God O Lord God of my salvation Vers. 1 2. His earnestness to speed I have cryed 3. His assiduity in it Day and night 4. Yea and that sincerely Before thee And then he tenders his request for audience Let my prayer come before thee Vers. 2 encline thine ear unto my cry 2. And then next he sets forth the pitiful condition he was in The second part that thereby he might move God to take compassion which he amplifies divers wayes The sad condition he was in 1. From the weight and variety of his troubles many they were and press'd him to death For my soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave Vers. 3 2. From the danger of death in which he was which is illustrated by three degrees 1. That he was Moribundus no hope of life in him even by the estimate of all men I am counted with them that go down to the pit I am as a man that hath no strength 2. That he was planè mortuus but as a dead man Free among the dead Freed from all the business of this life as far seperate from them as a dead man 3. Yea dead and buried Like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more i.e. to care for in this life and they are cut off from thy hand i.e. thy providence thy custody as touching matters of this life 3. And yet he farther amplifies his sad condition by two Similitudes Which he amplifies by two Similitudes 1. Of a man in some deep dark Dungeon Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the deeps As was Jeremiah Cap. 37. 2. Of a man in a Wrack at Sea that is compassed with the waves to which he compares Gods anger Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves Vndaque impellitur unda The recourse of his troubles was perpetual one no sooner gone but another succeeded 2. And to add to this his sorrow his friends And over and above his friends afforded him no comfort Which he amplifies by an Auxesis whose visits in extremity use to alleviate the grief of a troubled soul even these proved perfidious and came not at him He had no comfort from them Which was Gods doing too the more was his grief The auxesis is here very elegant 1. Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me Thou 2. Thou hast made me an abomination to them No less an abomination 3. I am shut up I cannot come forth As a man in prison I cannot come at them and they will not come to me 3. The effect of which grievous affliction was threefold 1. The third part The effects this wrought on him An internal grief and wasting of the body 2. An ardent affection in prayer And 3. An expostulation with his God 1. My eye mourns by reason of affliction An evidence it is that I am troubled and grieved to the heart 1 A wasting of the body that my eye droops and fails For when the animal and vital spirits suffer a decay the eye will quickly by her dimness deadness and dulness discover it 2. It produced an ardent affection a continuance 2 A fervency in prayer and assiduity in prayer which is here made evident by the adjuncts 1. His voice I have call'd dayly upon thee It was 1. Clamor 2. Assiduns 2. By the extension of his hands I have stretch'd out my hands to thee Men use to do so when they expect
feet to dance at it he calls to them to join with him in the mirth Let the Sea roar Vers. 7 and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein Let the floods clap their hands Vers. 8 let the hills rejoice together It is a Prosopopeia frequently used in Scripture as afore Psal 96.11 12. 5. And let it be heartily and sincerely done For it is before the Lord in his eye For he cometh to judge in his sight in his presence who can judge with what affection any thing is done And for this he gives a reason Vers. 9 with which he concludes For he cometh to judge the earth which may be referred to his first or second coming 1. 1 Either in humility as at his first If to the first then the sense is Let all creatures rejoice because he comes to judge that is to govern and order with just and excellent Laws the whole Orb of the world not only by the invisible Majesty of his Divinity but being made into the similitude of man and in form now found a true man 2. If to the last his second coming then let all creatures rejoice 2 Or in Glory as at his second coming because he shall root out sinners from the earth and make new heavens and a new earth The whole creature shall be delivered from corruption under which it greans and travails in pain together until now and shall be restored into the glorious liberty of the children of God Rom. 8.21 22. 3. Now both these shall be done with that rectitude of judgement that there be nothing crooked nothing oblique nothing savouring of iniquity in it With righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with his Truth A Thanksgiving and Meditation upon the Redemption of Man-kind taken out of the ninty eighth Psalm I Will sing unto thee O gracious God and merciful Lord a new Song Vers. 1 as it becomes me for a new savour an ordinary hymn might be in my mouth for ordinary blessings but this was extraordinary and therefore requires thanks more than ordinary That thou didst create me after thy image was a great mercy that thou hast governed me by thy Word preserved me by thy Power provided for me by thy Fatherly goodness ever since I was born are all acts of mercy but that thou hast set thy love upon me from all eternity and in the fulness of time didst send thy beloved Son to be born to live to dye for me and redéem my poor soul from thy just wrath and the consequents of it is a favour more than I could expect more than I could deserve and therefore I sing with the blessed Virgin My soul doth magnifie the Lord and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people This is a favour so beyond all favours and so neerly concerns all the world that I wish all men had hearts and all creatures tongues to sound it forth O come and make a joyful noyse unto the Lord all the earth make a loud noyse and rejoice and sing praise Your voices are not swéet enough take then the Harp and join to the Harp the voice of a Psalm Your voices are not loud enough call then for Trumpets to sound it out and blow it abroad with the wind of a Cornet Let the praise vs illustrious and the noyse joyful for it is before the Lord the King And O that the inanimate creatures who shall be by this one day freed from the bondage of corruption had tongues also to join with you However in their kind let them do what they can let the Sea roare forth the praises of God and the fulness thereof resound the fulness of his mercy and let the world and they that dwell therein as in a clap of thunder say Amen Amen to it Let the floods join with the Sea and clap their hands let the hills be joyful together and eccho forth the praise of the Lord our Redeemer For he hath done marvellous things Things which we may admire Vers. 1 but shall never be able to comprehend shall and must search into but shall never fully fathom For without controversie great is the Mystery of Godliness God was manifested in the flesh justified in the Spirit séen of Angels preach'd unto the Gentiles believ'd on in the world receiv'd up into glory Marvellous O swéet Saviour was thy conception marvellous thy incarnation marvellous thy life marvellous thy death We cannot choose but wonder that the Lord of life should dye that the Lord of heaven and earth should be buried in the earth And that which increaseth the wonder is that he should rise from thence to justifie us that he should ascend in our nature to heaven to prepare a place for us that he should sit on the right-hand of God to be our Advocate to plead for us to be our Intercessor to step between and make our peace when our God is offended with us And that we yet marvel the more all this was done for us when we were without strength and could not help our selves without grace and could not deserve his when we were ungodly and thought not of him sinners that did provoke him enemies that did cebell against him In this then God commended his love that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us O sweet Jesus thy love to us was wonderful passing the love of women This was a work that passed the power of men and Angels Angels were too weak and man too sinful to undertake in it Yet so great was thy love to lost man that rather than he should perish for ever thou who wert without sin Vers. 1 wouldst be made sin for him thou who wert the arm and power of God wouldst appear clothed with our infirmities Yet so powerful thou wert in this weakness so mighty in our infirm flesh that by thy right-hand and thy holy arm thou hast gotten to thy self the victory conquer and triumph thou didst over Sin Death and Hell and over all the power of the Prince of darkness It was thine own right-hand without any other power that did it thine own arm without any assistant that led Captivity Captive and received gifts for men yea even for thine enemies that the Lord God might dwell among them We the heathens Vers. 2 were the greatest part of these enemies yet to us thou sentest thy Apostles to preach these glad-tidings and ever since by thy Ministers hast made known thy salvation Thy righteousness which is now our righteousness blessed be thy name for it by which our pardon is sealed and we are justified is not as a Candle hid under a bushel but is openly shew'd in the sight of the heathen It is not in Judaea only that God is known but all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God all Nations now sée and know that thou wert a merciful
second part And first I will begin with the reformation of my self and my own house that I may be an example to my whole Kingdom 1. 1 In himself for he would walk wisely in his house I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way 1. Via is Vita and my life shall be perfect pro statu viatoris The way I shall choose shall be the way of perfection 2. And then I will walk wisely in it I will be wise as a Serpent and as innocent as a Dove for for want of wisdom even in a perfect way a man may be mistaken It is good to be zealous in a good matter and in a good manner We see in a good matter zeal where there wants prudence commits foul errors 2. God assisting him with his grace When wilt thou come unto me Which some read with an interrogative point and then it is an Ejaculation When O Lord wilt thou perform thy promise to me for as yet it is supposed by some that he was not King Or else When wilt thou come unto me with thy assistance of grace Others tead it without the interrogative and couple this clause to the former words thus I will behave my self wisely when thou comest unto me intimating that he was not able to do what he professed without the aid and help of Gods grace But yet signifying thus much that if God would come unto him to illuminate him to teach him to inflame him to move and inable him he then would behave himself wisely in a perfect way 3. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart 1. I will walk it should be his delight his constant course 2 And with a perfect heart as men take in their Garden-walks 2. I will walk in my house Not abroad only carrying himself modestly but within doors in his private Closet Or else he would have a care of his Family 3. I will walk in my house with a perfect heart My heart which is the fountain of life and death I will keep with all diligence That shall be sincere upright innocent though I may slip in my walk yet it shall be far against my will I will alwayes walk with a perfect heart Affirmatively he hath shewed what he would do and in the next verses Negatively Negatively he declares what he would not do he had manifested the innocency of his heart and now he shews what should be the innocency of his eyes and hands 1. I will set no wicked thing before my eyes Ver. 3 Death climbs up the windows saith Jeremy No wicked thing should be esteemed by him Eve saw the forbidden fruit pleasant to the eye A chan saw the Wedge of Gold and goodly Babylonish garment Ut vidi ut perii So innocent he would be in judging his Subjects and distributing honours that nothing of Belial 1 His eye not love it as the Hebrew hath it should come in his sight that might pervert his judgement Oportet judicem non solum manus sed oculos habere continentes 2. I hate the work of them that turn aside I hate it for so he must 2 His heart hate it that means to leave it for when there is not a hatred of evil the temptation will work too strongly 3. It shall not cleave to me No part of it God willing 3 His hands not touch it shall cleave to his fingers 2. Declared he hath what he would be in himself 2 To others if wicked he would be severe and now he sets forth what he would be toward others both bad and good And first as touching naught and evil men 1. A froward heart that is a man of a perverse froward and crooked heart shall depart from me Ver. 4 2. I will not know that is approve uphold countenance For instance such he would be love a wicked person Of which froward malicious and wicked people he gives three instances in the following verses Detractors proud and fraudulent men Such he would not endure Ver. 5 1. Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour him will I cut off 1 To slanderers from the Court from my friendship from his government from life it self if the flender deserves it 2. Him that hath a high look is proud 2 To proud men For pride is shew'd in the look and eye 3. And a proud heart Heb. Latus corde 3 To the ambitious and coveâ—ous a heart so extended with ambition and coverousness that it cannot be satisfied with riches and honours Him I will not suffer He shall not eat with me These shall not be about me nor find any countenance from me 3 But to good men a kind Prince such I will punish and not favour Others there are whom I will prefer and honour faithful and honest men For he shews now how he would carry himself to honest men 1. My eye shall be upon the faithful in the Land Ver. 6 that they may dwell with me be my Servants sit at my Table and be my Counsellors These should be his servants 2. He that walks in a perfect way that serves God shall serve me For certainly he that will not ferve God sincerely will never faithfully serve man And so having opposed by way of Antithesis to the fifth verse But he would give no countenance what kind of men should be of his Court and Counsel He proceeds in his Negative and adds whom he would not entertain before not slanderers no proud men not ambitious Ver. 7 nor covetous But now 1. 1 To dissemblers No fraudulent persons He that works deceit shall not dwell in my house Enter they might but upon discovery stay they should not dwell they should not there 2. 2 To Lyars Nor Lyars He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight He shall not find grace in my eyes And in Conclusion 3 To no evil Doers that he need not instance in more he shews his dislike to all evil doers and his zeal to purge the City of God from scandalous persons 1. With such he would make quick work I will early that is speedily and maturely do it before the evil be too fast rooted 2. Ver. 8 I will destroy all the wicked of the Land All of them shall go one and the same way These he would destroy who are worthy of death and whose life may endanger innocent persons 3. His end in this severity was That I may cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord i. e. That to the Church which is a holy and a peaceable City I may restore Holiness Piety and Peace and to the society of men that live within it tranquillity and administration of justice all disturbers of Peace and Piety being utterly unrooted which under Sauls government bore too great a sway A Prayer for a King or Chief Magistrate collected out of the one hundred and first Psalm O Thou
return daily to God for his good things he freely bestowes on us and how many good things he returns to us daily notwithstanding the evil we return him and we shall easily understand how great is the goodness of God That retributes good for evil and makes his Sun to shine on the just and unjust Luke 6. And Beneficia they are to us for we are the better for them The second part Which now he beginâ— by an 〈◊〉 to number the Benefits 1. Done to himself 2. At the third verse the Prophet begins his Declaration and by an Induction of particulars reckons up the benefits and that in this order 1. Those done to himself in which yet he excludes not others as if they might not share with him 2. Done to the whole Church But of the first he had a true sense and experience what others felt he could not say Now these benefits to himself were either spiritual or temporal 1. Ver. 3 The first spiritual Benefit was Justification or Remission of sin by which of an unjust man Spiritual as 1. Justification he made him just of an enemy a friend of a slave a son Bless God who forgiveth all thine iniquities freely forgives thy Debt or unjust Actions although many All everyone Original and Actual 2. 2 Regeneration The second Benefit is Regeneration by which the Power of Concupiscence that dwells in us is daily weakned and subdued though not wholly abolished The full cure must be expected in the life to come but such a cure is done upon us in this life That it shall not reign in our mortal bodies and we obey it in the lusts thereof And of this cure in himself David was sensible and therefore he saith Who heals all thy diseases or infirmities is daily cutting away and snubbing these roots of sin 3. Ver. 4 The third Benefit is Redemption Who redeemeth thy life from destruction 3 Redemption from the Pit from the Grave from Death and that which followeth it eternal Destruction 4. 4 Glorification all out of mercy The fourth Benefit Glorification Who Crowneth thee gives a Crown of Glory and the cause of this and the other Benefits be conceals not it is with or out of loving-kindness and tender mercies ex visceribus miserecordiae Neither is he behind with thee for temporal Benefits for however Bellarmine refers these and the following words to the felicity of the Soul 2 Temporal and immortality of the Body in the life to come which I dislike not in the Anagogical sense yet I conceive the Literal sense of the words may properly be referred to this present life in which God feeds and nourisheth our Bodies and supplies what is necessary for Food and Rayment and also conserves us in this life and gives us health and strength Ver. 5 both which the Prophet teacheth us in the following words 1. 1 Abundance Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things He gives not sparingly and with a Niggards hand but gives abundantly to enjoy 1 Tim. 6. He satisfieth and good things they are till we abuse them 2. 2 Long life and health So that thy youth is renewed like the Eagles An Eagle is a youthful and lusty Bird in her old age and of long life and this often God grants to many of his that they be long-liv'd healthful and lively active and vigorous old men as to Moses Joshua Job which if it happen it is a Gift of God 2. 2 Benefits to the whole Church As man is to pray so also is he bound to bless God for the good that befalls his Neighbour which course David here takes for he blesseth God not only for the Benefits of God bestowed upon himself but such as were common and did belong to the whole Church and in two he gives his instance The first is the defence of his people and deliverance of all that are oppressed The second is the Manifestation of his Will by his Servants the Pen-men of Scripture to them 1. 1 Deliverance Most just God is to his and good in punishing their Adversaries The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed with wrong Ver. 6 which is a new Benefit Two Alms he distributes 1. A righteous portion to his servants 2. Judgment and a just revenge to his enemies to all that are oppressed with wrong The Israelites were preserved in Aegypt but Pharaoh plagued 2. 2 Manifestation of his Will Most kind in making known his Will which had he not declared to his servants Ver. 7 we had never known it It must then be acknowledg'd for another favour That he made known his Wayes to Moses his Acts unto the children of Israel And here the Prophet interserts four Epithers or Attributes of God Both the Benefits bestowed because God is which declares unto us the true cause of all the former and following favours The Lord is Merciful and Gracious flow to anger and plenteous in mercy 1. Ver. 8 Merciful Rachum because he bears a pateâ—nal Affection to pious men 2. Gracious Channum the Giver of Grace and Benefits For he that loves with a fatherly Affection will give 3. Slow to anger Not easily drawn to strike he will bear long and much as a Father before he punish 4. Plenteous in mercies When he does us good being moved by no merit of our's Of all which Attributes the Prophet shewes the effects and applies them singula singulis in the following verses 1. He is merciful bears a paternal Affection to his Children 1 Merciful He will not alwayes chide neither keep his anger for ever Ver. 9 Angry he will be with his Children when they are untoward yea and chastise them too For every father chastises the son that he loves But his anger shall not last long for in his heart there remains the love of a Father from whence the stripes proceed 2. He is gracious Ver. 10 and therefore out of meer Grace he will give us a Pardon For if he should deal with us according to our deserts 2 Gracious who could abide it Psal 130. For what doth a sinner deserve but death Rom. 6. Whereas he forgives us and gives us Life Grace Glory and therefore we may truly say with David here He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Ver. 11 This Grace and Favour the Prophet amplifies by two Comparisons 1. The first is the distance of the Heaven from Earth which from the Center to the highest Orb is of an immense Altitude Yet look As high as the Heaven is above the Earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him 2. The second is the distance of the East from the West which is of an immense Longitude and yet look Ver. 12 As far as the East is from the West so far hath he set our sins from us Let the sin be of what extent it will it is
satisfied from thy open hand without which the Husbandmans industry and the fatness of the ground is to little purpose Farther Life and Death is in thy Power 1. 1 Death Death and the Fore-runner of it Trouble 1. Thou hidest thy Face seemest to be displeased and withdrawes thy help and assistance and they are troubled 2. Thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their Dust 2. 2 And life Life also 1. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit a vital Spirit by restoring new Individuals to every species for so they are created that is formed 2. And by this Thou renewedst the face of the Earth which if it were not done The third part He votes all praise to God the whole World would fail in one Age. Now after this long Catalogue of the Creatures and Gods Power Wisdom and Goodness made most manifest in the Creation Governance and Sustentation of them he descends to what he began with and votes all praise to God for so most read ver 32. 1. Let the Glory of the Lord his Glory for his Wisdom Goodness Power endure for ever And moves man to an honest use of the Creature hallowed be his Name 2. The Lord shall rejoyce in his Works Let man be so careful to use them well that by the abuse he put not God to grief and cause him to repent that he made them 3. Which if it happen it would be remembred that he is a God and power able to punish the ungrateful person how great soever For if he looketh on the Earth with a threatning brow it trembleth that Earth whose foundation he said should not be removed ver 5. He toucheth the Hills and they do smoke it was so as Sinai Exod. 19. 2. This praise he would give Then he makes an open profession of his own practice 1. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will praise my God while I have any being 2. And this he would do with delight which is indeed the fat of the Sacrifice My Meditation of him shall be sweet unto me I will be glad in the Lord. 3. The fourth part He imprecates against sinners And he concludes with an Imprecation against unthankful and negligent persons who regard not the Works of God and will not see his Glory Power Wisdom Goodness in his Creating Governing and Sustaining this Fabrique of this Universe and therefore very little praise him against these he prayes Ver. 35 That they may be confounded or converted Let the sinners be consumed out of the Earth and let the wicked be no more i. e. Let them so fail from the Earth that either they be converted and cease to be sinners or else if they will continue obstinate and perverse let them perish out of the Earth But O my Soul be not thou like to them Bless the Lord Hallelujah The Prayer and Meditation out of the one hundred and fourth Psalm O Most Omnipotent Wise Glorious and most merciful God Ver. 1 how should I that am but dust and ashes dare to appear in thy presence Ver. 2 Thou art cloathed with Honour and Majesty and I am a vile worm Thou art vested with light as with a Robe and I am darkness Thou hast stretched out the Heavens over thee like a Curtain the Clouds are thy Chariot the swift winds at thy Command and thy Angels thy Ministers ready to take revenge in a flame of fire upon disobedient sinners if thou give the word How can I that am conscious to my self of so repeated and continuâ—â—â— sobedience presume to be a Petitioner unto thée or offer up any reque◠〈◊〉 There is not a Creature that I cast my eye on but upbraids me for negligence and inconsideration since thy Power thy Glory thy Wisdom thy Goodness is illustrious in all these and yet I have passed these by as if they were not worthy of my saddest thoughts Their Natures I have inquired into but have not looked up to thée the Lord of Nature O my Soul then rouze up this deadness and dulness of spirit ascend from the Contemplation of the Creature to the Meditation of the Creator and remember what the whole Vniverse preacheth unto thée That he must be a God of Power that hath so made a God of Wisdom that hath so disposed a God of Mercy and Goodness that to this day governs and sustains every Creature to thy use and service Canst thou tread upon the Earth and not admire Ver. 5 It would sink under thée had he not laid the foundations of it so strangely and strongly that it should not be removed Canst thou look down upon the Vallies through which there glide many silver streams and less than wonder that they should descend from Rocks of stone and Hills of flint Ever since That at the rebuke of God the waters fled and hasted away and left the Earth uncover'd Had it not béen for this great Providence of the Almighty Thou and thy Cattle had dyed for thirst and perished for want of water But his goodness stayed not here for for a necessary supply he hath placed his Bottles in the Clouds and thence descends in silver showers and watereth the highest Hills and barren'st Mountains That the whole Earth might be satisfied with the fruit of his Works O ungrateful man ascribe not too much to thy wit industry and labour know that he is the Father of the rain and did not he from above water what thou plantest and give an increase to what thou sowest thy early rising would be but lost labour and all thy foresight bread only of carefulness Thoâ— waterest and manurest thy Fields and Meadows but it is the Lord above that causeth the grass to grow for thy Cattle Thou delvest diggest wéedest thy Gardens but it is the Lord of Heaven that gives life to thy Plants and Herbs which he commands to shoot for thy service whether for meat or medicine Man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God he brings food out of the Earth an Herb a Plant a Root a Fruit it may be by that power and virtue which thou hast established by the perpetual Law of Nature but food it will not be without thy blessing Continue to us then Ver. 15 merciful God these outward things but yet so that thou give thy blessing with them It is thy Wine that must make glad the heaâ—t of man Ver. 16 and thy Oyle that makes his face to shine and thy Bread that strengthens mans heart the sap in our Fruit-trées is from thée and the strength of the Cedars from thy Plantation Ver. 27 upon thée then will we wait upon thy Providence will we depend Give us O Lord our meat and all other necessaries Ver. 28 in due season and when thou shalt give it us we will gather it for we are assured when thou openest thy hand we shall be filled with good No Creature will be good
Psalm with an Epiphonema in which he perswades all good men to consider the former Premises and lay it to heart To observe the whole course of Gods Providence that they impute not the Changes of the World to Chance and Fortune nor be overmuch dejected at them but rather bless God for all as Job did 1. The righteous shall see it Consider and seriously meditate upon it 2. And rejoyce when they are assured that God is their Guardian and that therefore the Crosses which he layes upon them are trials for their good not for their ruine 3. And all iniquity shall stop her mouth By observation of the event at last evil doers shall not have occasion to laugh and blaspheme and find fault with Gods wayes but confess That all was by God justly done and wisely disposed But this is a Consideration not for every brain 't is for wise men that look afar off and think on it 1. Who is so wise will observe these things That is vicissitudes and changes of this World 2. And they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord It shall appear unto them at last how ineffable his mercy is toward them which truly fear him and call upon his Name but our life is hid with Christ in God The Prayer collected out of the One hundred and seventh Psalm O Omnipotent God when we look upon the strange vicissitudes and alterations of the things of this World our faith would waver and our hearts would faint were we not assured that all things are guided by thy hand and over-ruled by thy Providence and secret Will and Counsel Ver. 1 Who art good and whose mercy endures for ever Be it then that we are brought to wander in the Wilderness in a solitary way that we be pilgrims and strangers and have no City to dwell in that we are oppress'd with hunger and dryed up with thirst so that our soul is ready to faint within us yet will we not despair In our trouble to thée will we cry to thée will we make our moan nothing doubting but that if it shall be for thy glory and our good Thou wilt deal by us as thou hast done formerly with thy servants them thou hast deliver'd from their distresses those thou hast led forth by the right way and brought to dwell in their own Cities and Habitations Thou hast satisfied their longing souls and filled their hungry souls with good things which since thou art good and thy mercy endureth for ever we are in good hope Thou wilt do for us Redéem O Lord thy banished and bring them home So shall we praise thee for thy goodness and declare thy wonderful works which thou dost for the Children of men Long it is O merciful God That we have sate in darkness Ver. 10 and in the shadow of death our back is bowed down with many iron hands that we cannot lift up our head our heart is brought low through affliction and we find none to help and all this is justly come upon us because we have rebelled against the words of our God and contemned the Counsel of the most High We have not done thy Will nor kept thy Commandments but have set up abominations and have multiplied offences But now O Lord in our trouble we cry unto thée we how the knées of our hearts beséeching thée of grace forgive forgive O Lord and destroy us not with our iniquities Save us Lord from our distresses bring us out of this darkness and shadow of death and break our Bands asunder break these gates of Brass and cut asunder these Bands of Iron so shall we thy redeemed praise thee O Lord for thy goodness all the dayes of our lives and declare the wonderful works which thou dost for the children of men O Lord I confess against mine own soul that I have béen seduced and pielded to many foolish lusts of the flesh Ver. 17 and because of this my iniquity and transgression I am justly afflicted and séel no whole part in my body that thou shouldst lengthen out my dayes any farther I sée no hope my disease is so grievous That my soul abhorreth all manner of meat and my vital spirits so far spent That I am drawing to the gates of death To whom O Lord should I flie but to thée To whom should I cry in this my trouble but to thée O God be merciful to thy servant and press me not beyond my strength save me out of my distress send out thy Word and heal me and deliver me from destructions O let not thy fierce anger go beyond a fatherly correction and in judgment remember thy mercy that endures for ever So shall I whom Thou hast redeemed from the jawes of death praise thee my God for thy goodness and for thy wonderful works to the children of men I will sacrifice the Sacrifices of Thanksgiving and declare thy works with rejoycing O Lord our Vocation calls upon us to go down to the Sea in Ships and to negotiate Ver. 23 and do our business in great waters where we see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep At thy Command the stormy wind ariseth and the waves of the Sea are lifted up Tossed we are and mount up to Heaven and by and by we go down to the bottom of the Sea so that there we dwell in the shadow of death and our soul is melted and faints because of the present trouble we reel too and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at our wits end for our wisdom and our skill then fails us our sole refuge is in our prayers In this instant of our trouble as thou hast commanded We cry unto thee look down upon thy servants who in the abyss of the Seas and the abyss of our trouble invocate the abyss of thy mercies bring us out of these distresses Thou which didst command the winds and rebuke the Seas and they obeyed thée Make the storm a calm Rebuke the furious winds and waves and still them by thy power make us glad by rescuing us from the present danger and quietly bring us to the desired Haven So will we praise thee O Lord for thy goodness and for thy wonderful works to the children of men And when we come to land We will exalt thy Name in the Congregation of thy people and praise thee in the Assembly of the Elders O Lord we set our minds too much upon earthly things and attribute too much to Nature and second Causes whereas all the power that is in the Creature is from thée and that restraint that is upon the Creature procéeds from thée Remove from our hearts this heavy and gross ignorance and impiety and make us know and acknowledge that it is thy hand That turns Rivers into a Wilderness and a land water'd with pleasant Springs into a dry ground by which a fruitful land becomes barren But in this change thy Iustice O Lord is exalted by this thou shewest
as is the water he drinks and pierce his marrow and bones as the oyle with which he anoints him let him carry it perpetually along with him as he doth his garment and his girdle For this is it which the Prophet intends by the following similitudes who would have the curse be not only piercing and efficacious but lasting and perpetual 1. Ver. 18 As he cloathed himself with cursing like as with a garment lov'd to have it alwayes about him 1 Efficaciously as a man doth the cloaths he most delights in 2. 2 Perpetually So let it come as waters into his bowels that the stomack concocts and turns into the very flesh of the Animal so let this curse be converted into his nature and manners 3. But water pierceth not the bones oyle will do that and therefore let it come as oyle into his bones The intent of the Prophet is That it be wholly outwardly and inwardly accursed deprived of all good and fill'd with mischief and all evil And as he would have the curse to be of great efficacy so he would have him carry it alwayes about him 1. Let it be unto him as the garment that alwayes covers him That is let it alwayes stick close to him as his garment which he puts not off least his nakedness appear 2. And for a girdle with which he is girded continually i. e. compass him and go round about him being fastned either with buckles or knots 1. Moller for a garment reads Pallium which is a Cloak that a man puts off at home and calls for when he goes abroad By which he conceives the Prophet desires that God would set some external mark upon him as a note upon him that he may be known to be a Cast-away 'T is noted of the Jewes that they carry an illsent about them and their ears are grown into a Proverb some say their Visage betrayes them 2. If Doeg were the Type of Judas as most agree in this Psalm then by the girdle also might be understood Cingulum militare which they cast not off while they were of that profession And he Doeg being a misitary man he would have the curse cleave as long to him and encompass him as did his girdle And now the Prophet concludes this part of the Psalm with an Exclamation and Vote He concludes the Imprecation with a vote by which he shewes that he was perswaded that his execrations were not in vain Let this be the reward of my Adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul The third part He prayes for protection For himself and his Church that say I am a Deceiver a Seducer and deny me to be the Son of God 3. The Prophet now turns from cursing into prayer and in the person of Christ directs his prayer to God for protection and deliverance both of himself and for the whole Church and as before he pray'd against Judas and the Synagogue and indeed foresaw the evils that were to fall upon them so doth in this pray for himself and in that for the Church foreseeing the many good things that should be conferred on that Body of which the Messiah was to be the Head 1. He begins his prayer in this Form But do thou to me O God the Lord Ver. 21 for thy Names sake because thy mercy is good Help he asks against his Persecutors on three grounds 1. Because his Lord was Jehovah the Fountain of all Being of all Power and therefore could if he would Upon Gods mercy repress his Persecutors 2. Because it would be for his honour Do it for thy Names sake thy Name i. e. thy Clemency thy Goodness thy Faithfulness in defence of thy Church and Justice in executing Vengeance on her enemies will be thereby celebrated and declared for the Name of God imports all this 3. Do it because thy mercy is good Deliverance is easily inclined to succour such as are in misery which animates me also to ask being assured that out of mercy thou wilt do it 2. Deliver thou me methinks this part of the Petition seems to have an eye to that houre in which Christ prayed Father save me from this houre John 12.27 O my Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Mat. 26.39 For the reasons to perswade it are the same 1. Deliver me for I am poor and needy destitute of humane help And that because the Disciples slept fled 2. Deliver me for my heart is wounded within me my soul it exceeding sorrowful even unto death Mat. 26.38 And to these he adds many other Reasons the first of which illustrated by the two similitudes of the Evening shadow and the Locust Bellarmine very acutely refers to his apprehension in the Garden 1 His life short and he patient and silent and his being posted off from the High Priests to Pilate from Pilate to Herod and so back again 1. I am gone like the shadow when it declines which passeth away in a moment silently without the least noise So was Christ pull'd from his Disciples and led away as a Prisoner without any murmur 2 Unworthily used without any resistance without any defence He was led as a Lamb to the Slaughter Isa 53. 2. I am tossed up and down as the Locust Tossed from one Tribunal to another as the Locusts base Creatures that the wind carries from place to place Exod. 10.12 19. 3 Pains with trouble And so also it fell out to the Apostles and Martyrs who dyed patiently and were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tossed up and down the World 2. A second Reason from his debility or weak condition his body was now in 1. My knees are weak through fasting The little sustenance Christ took in the night before the Passion his watching in prayer that night makes this good 2. And my flesh faileth of fatness through the loss of much blood 4 Opprobriously used so faint he was that they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry his Cross 3. A third Reason yet to move God to pity and deliver is taken from his opprobrious usage the Sarcasms and Scorns and Jeers they put upon him than which there is no injury more grievous to a Noble and ingenious spirit I am become also a reproach unto them when they looked upon me they shaked their head He prayes for the Resurrection which needs no illustration the four Gospels being an ample Comment upon this verse and so he concludes the Passion This is the first part of his prayer A second part there is of it which follows for a speedy Resurrection as he prayed before in the 22. Psalm which was also a Psalm of the Passion which is there set out to ver 18. And then he prayes as here that he might not lie long in the Grave ver 19.20 21. Help me O Lord my God save me from the pains of death Acts 2.24 according to thy mercy
both great and small whether thou hast raised them to a high degrée of honour or made them vessels of dishonour Thou Lord art that great Lord that hath made both heaven and earth she power in heaven Thou hast reserved to thy self the earth Thou hast given to the children or men that they may inhabit it and be sustained by it By thine own mouth all those who serve thée in fear and reverence are pronounced to be the Blessed of the Lord give then good God to these the dew of heaven and the famess of the earth multiply and increase them more and more both the fathers and their children Of this nothing can deprive us but our abuse and unthankfulness that may make heaven brass and the earth iron under us So touch our hearts then with thy grace that we never receive a blessing but we be as ready to return a blessing that we use not the gift without blessing thée the Doner t is the end we live 't is the end we breath The dead praise thee not for the gifts of the earth because they have no use of them they that go down into the stlent places of the grave are altogether silent for thy swéet dewes and showres wherewith the earth is impregned and fatned because they stand not in néed of any of her supplies We are the men who yet live and draw our breath which must be nourished and sustained by the dugs of this good mother which we will never praw without thankfulness We will bless the Lord while we live upon the earth even from this time to the end of our life and if we could live for ever for evermore Since therefore O merciful Lord Thou hast given the earth for a possession to the sons of men and to that end that there may be upon the earth some to celebrate thy Name we beséech thée to defend thy little flock from the hands of violent men and suffer them not by their rage and fury to be taken from their possessions by a violent and immature death But much more O Lord preserve them from eternal death and damnation in which no man can praise thée and grant unto them that while they live on earth they may live by the life of thy Spirit that both now and for ever as it is their bounden duty they may praise and magnisle thy Name and set forth thy mercies in Iesus Christ our only Lord and Saviour Amen PSAL. CXVI Didascalicus THIS Psalm is gratulatory for it shewes some great straits to which David was brought from which God delivering him he vowes to be thankful The points of this Psalm are three 1. David makes profession of his love and shews the Reasons of it viz. Gods goodness to him in hearing him when he was in a sad condition and helping him from ver 1. to 9. 2. He professeth his duty and faith ver 9 10 11. 3. He vowes to be thankful and in what manner from ver 12. to 19. 1. Deum David diligit He begins with the expression of his content and love I have enough I love the Lord The first part and presently sets down his Reasons 1. Ver. 1 Because he hath heard my voyce and my supplications good reason then to love him Ratio prima That God heard him 2. Because he hath inclined his ear to me a certain evidence that he was heard Upon which certainty and experience of Audience Ver. 2 he infers this protestation Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Secunda Ratio Amoris auditum in suâ angustiâ 2. Another Reason that moved him to love God and acquiesce in him was That he heard him in his greatest need and extremities which he describes in the next verse Neither can there be any greater for he suffered in body and soul by the sense of Gods wrath which how great they are those only can tell you that have had experience of them 1. The sorrowes of death compassed me even death it self is the King of fear Describet angustias 2. The pains of Hell gat hold upon me He feared the anger of God for his sin and the consequent of that anger 3. Both these brought him into a heavy case many compass'd about with the sorrowes of death living in prosperity they observe it not they consider it not and therefore they nor fear nor grieve But David was sensible of his condition he found where he was and therefore in grief and fear he-professeth I found trouble and sorrow but at last faith seems to conquer them he despairs not For he betakes himself to his old and safe remedy a remedy that never had failed him 1. Then in these sorrowes these pangs these troubles 2. Invocatio refugium I called upon the Name of the Lord Invocation was his sole Refuge 3. And he sets down the very words of his prayer for our use in the like case O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul i.e. from the sorrowes of death and dangers of hell And then Ostendit quibus fundament is nixus ad Deum fugit oravit viz. that he might shew that he prayed to God in faith and hope he acquaints us upon what ground he did it viz. those Attributes of God of which every one that happens to be in his case hath especial use or else he is not like to find comfort for then no talking of merits of predestination of Enthusiasms in such a case these are no Cordials to a soul under the sense of Gods wrath That which will then comfort any man is to remember and believe what David doth here 1. That God is gracious he inspires prayer and repentance into a man and freely remits sin Dei Attribut is and receives to favour all such as by a lively faith flie to him 2. And righteous and just that will perform what he hath promised and grant an induigence upon those terms that he hath promised 3. Yea our God is merciful he mingles mercy with his justice and though he scourgeth every son that he receives yet 't is with a fathers hand which is more prone to forgive than to punish 4. The Lord preserves the simple i. e. Men sine plicis such simple men as Job was these being without counsel or help he keeps he saves Of which David gives an instance in himself I was brought low and he helped me And the like favour others may find that call upon him on those grounds that I did relying on him because he is gracious righteous and merciful and preserves the simple 3. Another Reason he had to love God was the great rest quiet Tertia Ratio Amoris acquiescentia animi orta ex reconciliatione peace and tranquility he found in his soul after this storm was over and therefore after he had described the Tempest and the means he used for his deliverance out of it viz. Faith and Invocation and found them effectual
is The Lord is on my side therefore I will not fear what man can do unto me He saith God is for me therefore I shall not suffer for he knew that he was to suffer many things But God is my helper therefore I will not fear for the evils that man can bring upon me because I know That all things shall work together for good to those that fear God Matth. 10.28 2 Cor. 4.17 2. The Lord takes my part with them that help me And his second Inference is Therefore I shall see my desire upon them that hate me I shall see my self in safety my enemies cast down and peace restored to the Church which last is my chief desire Out of which he deduceth yet a third Inference viz. that men trust in God for 1. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man Ver. 8 for be it he be willing to help yet oftentimes man is not able 2. And again It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes for say they be able to help yet they are false politick and will not David found it true in Achish King of Gath But the Lord both can and will and therefore it is far better to trust in him 3. Of which being confident he sings an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Davids Triumph for his assured victories acquaints us in what dangers he was and yet how God ever deliver'd him and therefore proposeth himself for an example how good it is to trust in God 1. All Nations Moabites Ammonites Edomites Philistines Syrians compassed me about But to no purpose for in the Name of the Lord will I destroy them 2. They compassed me about yea they compassed me about but in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them 3. They compassed me about like Bees swarms there were of them and they were angry creatures arm'd with stings but they were quench'd as fire of thorns that makes a great blaze and a great noise but suddenly goes out for in the Name of the Lord will I destroy them A multitude of enemies here were angry and stinging enemies and all compassing and about him David a King for Kings are most opposed and subject to be stung but in the Name of the Lord I will destroy them The arms that I confide in and especially prepare against them is Nomen Domini I fight indeed and war against them but my special weapons in all my War in which I trust is the Name the Protection the Tutelage of the Lord setting upon them in his power with his help I will destroy them Now he that fights in the Name of the Lord must be sure to have 1. A Vocation to fight 2. A good Cause And 3dly He must manage the War with affections conformable to piety he must not seek himself nor his own ends but Gods glory execution of justice c. 4. He told us of a multitude of enemies and for the overthrow of these he sang his Triumph now he singles out some one in particular whether Saul Ishbosheth or his son Absolon it is uncertain But to such a one by an Apostrophe he turns his speech 1. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall Ver. 13 I came into some great danger there was little hope of life or of escape 2. But the Lord helped me I impute it not to my own indeavour wit good fortune that I escaped nor yet to any second causes it was the Lord that did it for me Which in the next verse he more fully acknowledgeth The Lord is my strength and song and is become my salvation 1. My strength that I am able to resist my enemies 2. My salvation that I be delivered from my enemies 3. My song The third part The Triumph sung by the Church him whom I joyfully praise and sing of after I am delivered 3. And that this his song might be the fuller here David calls for the whole Quire to sing with him His delivery concern'd the whole Church and therefore he desires the praise be sung in full voyce by the whole Church and so it fell out for they kept a Jubilee a day of Thanksgiving for it 1. Ver. 15 The voyce of rejoycing and salvation is in the Tabernacles of the righteous They congratulate their own safety in my delivery and sing thus to God 2. Ver. 16 The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly The right hand of the Lord is exalted The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly This was the Anthem that the whole Quire of Saints and Believers sang and they repeat it and come over it again and again to express their joy Now this Anthem sung by the Church By David again was no sooner ended but David takes his Harp again and sings this Versicle by himself and insulting over his enemies he chants 1. I will not dye as they desired and indeavoured by a violent death I will not be broken-hearted by these griefs and pressures but I will take heart and rise as it were out of the Grave not to live an idle life and spend my dayes in pleasure but to declare the works of the Lord. 2. And among his works this is one upon which I will especially insist that 1. The Lord hath chastned me sore Within I have strugled with sin with the Devil with the sorrowes of death without I have been assaulted by bitter enemies 2. But in both these I must acknowledge his fatherly affection for these stroaks were not deadly he hath not given me over unto death 4. The fourth part It is conceived that this Psalm was composed by David that it might be sung The Anthymn sung betwixt David and the Priests when Priests and people were assembled together to give thanks to the Lord for that their good King was now fully delivered from his enemies and quietly setled in his Throne that then which followes may be best understood if with Junius we form it into a Dialogue 1. Ver. 19 David in these words speaks to the Priests and Levites who had the care of the Tabernacle Open to me the gates of righteousness that is the gates of Gods house in which righteousness ought to dwell For I will go in to them and I will there publickly and in the whole Assembly of good men praise the Lord and give him thanks for his mercy to me 2. Ver. 20 To this the Priests return answer This is the gate of the Lord the sole gate of justice that leads to him and the just only shall enter into it procul este profani 3. David replies shewing his Reason in brief why he entred into Gods house Ver. 21 his end was to praise God which he doth in few words for God loveth not long prayers I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation And to the 28th verse how God had setled him in his Kingdom made him
He judgeth rightly of his afflictions 1. Before I was afflicted I went wrong Prosperity is the mother of Errour 2. But now I have kept thy Word Schola Crucis Schola Lucis The Rod on his back made him wiser God then had graciously dealt with him to afflict him bad men are the worse for afflictions the good better and this sanctifies afflictions to them 3. Upon which he acknowledgeth again what he said in the first verse Thou hast dealt graciously in this thou art good and gracious Ver. 4 and repeats in effect his Petition Teach me thy statutes which is all one Which proceeded from wicked men These with teach me knowledge 4. Now a great part of his affliction proceeded from wicked men that were his enemies and oppugned him in his wayes and service of God in which yet he was constant these he describes in the two next verses 1. That they were proud men the proud It is not without cause Ver. 5 that they are called proud 1 Proud for pride is the mother of all Rebellion against God and man Grace ever works Humility Pride Contempt Treason c. 2. How they warr'd against David it was with a lye 2 Lyars Satans two Arms by which he wrestles against the godly are violence and lies where he cannot or dare not use violence there he will be sure not to fail to fight with lyes 3. How they trimmed up their lyes Concinnarunt mendacia Tremell 3 Hypocrites Their lyes were trimmed up with the coverings of Truth to make them more plausible their unrighteous dealings were covered over with appearances of righteousness 4. But I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart Davids armour against them He would not fight against the wicked with their own Weapon rendring a lye for a lye or rebuke for rebuke but he takes himself to the Truth of Gods Word and obedience to him Ver. 6 5. Their he art is as fat as grease Either 1. Because they abounded in worldly wealth 4 Obdurate in prosperity which is well signified by grease 2. Because they were sensless of their condition For the fat of all Creatures is the least sensitive Needles thrust into it will not be felt 3. But I delight in thy Law 5. But the condition of godly men is other the godly are not proud Good men are tender-hearted they are humble afflictions make the ungodly rage storm and blaspheme good men kiss the Rod and are ready to say with David for their heart is not sensless as fat as grease but they are tender-hearted they melt at every blow God gives them and say 1. It is good for me that I have been afflicted Before I was proud Make a right use of afflictions now humble before stubborn and disobedient but now soft-hearted and obedient 2. That I might learn thy statutes Learn them not by Rote but by experience learn to keep them better lest I be whip'd again learn to be more wise godly religious when the trouble is gone and this is a sanctified Cross 3. And by this also I might learn to put an higher price and value upon Gods Commands than hitherto I have done to which no earthly treasure is comparable The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver For by keeping of thy Law I shall obtain eternal life His estimate of Gods Law which gold and silver cannot purchase The Prayer O Most gracious God though thou hast brought upon us many troubles and afflicted us with heavy judgments Ver. 1 yet in this thou hast dealt graciously with thy servants and even according to thy Word that we have béen better'd by thy judgments and found comfort in the midst of our sorrowes O Lord Thou art good in thy self and dost good to thy servants in all that thou bringest upon them and we must néeds confess that even those things we suffer have béen good unto us by thy mercy for before we were afflicted we went astray But now being put in mind of our sins the causes of our afflictions we have béen more attent and diligent to kéep thy Law It is good for us then that we have been afflicted that we might learn thy statutes Go on then gracious God not to afflict but still to teach us and by thy chastisèments to make us wiser teach us good judgment and knowledge let us judge aright of thy judgments and our own deserts and let this thy Discipline make us know our duty and perform our duty better ever hereafter both to thée and our Neighbour make us by these to love thée to fear thée and to believe thy Word That thou art a jealous God that will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth Generation of them that hate thee and shew mercy unto thousands in them that love thee and keep thy Commandments And yet in these we cannot but complain unto thée of those injuries we suffer from the hands of proud and rebellious men Ver. 5 Thou Lord art just in letting them in upon us but they most unjust and malicious in the execution of thy wrath Pride hath béen the cause of their rebellion and a continued pack of lies the means they have used to bring their Treason to pass these they forged against us and spun with so fine a thread and dressed up in so handsom a way that they have béen taken for Truth and by that colour deceived the simple to our ruine under a pretence of Piety Iustice Liberty and Reformation they have brought upon us this horrid confusion And in this they still go on in this they procéed for their heart is swollen with pride and fatned with success and riches they are not sensible of thy judgments nor fear thy wrath Their heart is as fat as grease and there is nothing but some heavy judgment from thy hand that can melt it O Lord abate their pride asswage their malice and confound them in their lies And confirm thy people in the Truth that being no way withdrawn by their delusions nor affrighted with their malice they may be constant and live in thy fear Ver. 8 and delight in thy Law and keep thy Commandments with their whole heart O let the Law of thy mouth be more dear and better unto them than thousands of gold and silver These cannot redéem a soul from hell or from the grave but the observation of thy Law will deliver from eternal death and bring a man to that life which is everlasting through the merits of Iesus Christ our Lord. 10. JOD IN this Section The Contents 1. He prayes for understanding And perswades it because his creature David prayes for understanding comfort mercy 2. And useth many Arguments to perswade God unto it 1. In the first verse he petitions for understanding and labours to perswade God unto it because he was his Creature made and fashioned by him 1.
I have sought thy precepts I am thine because I sought nothing but that which is thine and how I might please thee O how few can say this and upon this account cry to God O save me 4. Which to do David had very great reason at this time This he had reason to do having many enemies and those for he had bitter enemies from whom he could not be safe except God saved him two things he notes in them 1. Diligence Te wicked have waited for me waited for an opportunity 2. Cruelty Waited to destroy me Their malice was so great Ver. 7 that no less would satisfie them 1 Diligent in mischief 3. And here now in such an extremity 2 Cruel Amidst which Gods promise sustained him the comfort of Gods Word is very seasonable the consideration of that is able to stay a fainting soul Psal 124. with which David comforts himself here But I will consider thy Testimonies that thou hast testified that thou art able and wilt deliver those that trust to thy Word Dan. 6.16 22. 5. He hath shewed the perfection of Gods Word in establishing and upholding the frame of the World 2. And then the excellency thereof in bringing joy comfort help to an afflicted soul but in the close of this Section he compares it with all other things which we esteem as excellent and perfect be they Riches Honours Scepters Crowns Kingdoms c. among which the Word of God hath still the preheminence they fail but Gods Word endures 1. I have seen an end of all perfection Ver. 8 Jonah 's Gourd is smitten with a worm the golden head had feet of clay c. 3 The preheminence of Gods Word the fairest day is enter'd at night 2. But thy Commandment is exceeding broad Exceeding broad indeed for in it are contain'd all other National and Municipal Lawes they being nothing else if just but extracts of it or exceeding broad because all Lawes of a good life and the rewards of those that keep the Law and on the contrary the prohibitions of all vices and the punishments of Transgressors are contained in it Or exceeding broad because it is the Commandment of love which extends to God Angels men enemies Or exceeding broad which is nearer Davids purpose because it extends to and refresheth all that are in distress and affliction it abides by them in tentations while they live and forsakes them not in their death but conveyes them into their grave in peace and the comfort of it abides with them for ever when they are dissolved The Prayer O Omnipotent God Thou hast given us assurance of thy Faithfulness and Truth in the performance of thy Word and Promise made unto thy servants even by that constant order and continuance which we behold in thy creatures For why is it that those orbs above have béen so long-liv'd why are they not corrupted why do they continue in that excellent beauty Ver. 1 and perpetual motion but that thy Word is setled in Heaven Why is it that the foundations of earth do not decay and shake Ver. 2 but that thy faithfulness is to all generations they continue this day according to thy Ordinance for they are thy creatures Thou their Lord Ver. 3 and they must serve and do their homage to thée We alone are thy disobedient creatures and for this thou bringest us justly into trouble and under these we should have fainted and utterly perished had it not béen from the comforts that we receive from thy Word Ver. 4 it delights our souls and confirms our hearts even in the extremities of our sorrowes when we find in it thy Word many gracious promises made unto thy servants I will never therefore forget thy precepts for with them thou hast quickned me Ver. 5 I was ready even to expire and dye till I meditated on and called to mind thy Law which by the power of thy Spirit hath encreased grace in me and by the promise of glory brought me again to life Ver. 6 For which promise I am thine and I vow my self to be thine I will no more be a servant to the Devil the World and the flesh I renounce them all I forsake them and betake my self wholly to thy service And since I have given my self wholly unto thée let me be thy care Ver. 7 O save me save me O my God for I am invironed with malicious and cruel enemies whom nothing can satisfie but my blood they are diligent and wait for an opportunity to destroy me and take away my life but thou O Lord hast testified that thou wilt deliver those that trust in thée and therefore I will consider in my troubles these thy testimonies I sée an end of all perfection Riches Honours Crowns Kings Friends fade and fail Ver. 8 and are but miserable comforters but thy Commandment is exceeding broad it extends to and refresheth all that are in affliction it abides by them in tentations while they live and forsakes them not in their death in life and death therefore I will adhere to this Take not then the comfort of thy Word out of my mouth while I live and never let it leave me till it hath brought me to eternal happiness through Iesus Christ my Lord and Saviour Amen 13. MEM. DAVID in this Section shewes his great affection to the Law of God The Contents Davids affection to Gods Word 2. And the many benefits and fruits he reaped from it 1. His affection is declared in the first verse which he pathetically expresseth 1. Ver. 1 O how I love thy Law wherein he calls God himself to be Judge of his love witnessing thereby that it was no counterfeit love but compleat and sincere 2. And he proves that which he sayes The nature of true love is to converse with and think on the thing beloved and it useth all means to obtain it So David here proves his love to God by the love he bears to his Law and his love to his Word by the thoughts he had on it All the day long is my meditation in it I think speak or do little else all the day 2. 2 The Encomium of it first And now he enters upon his Encomium or praise of Gods Word from the admirable effects that it might have in them who will meditate in it of which he makes himself the instance This he amplifies by comparing himself with three kinds of men his Enemies his Teachers the Ancients than all which he grew wiser by this meditation 1. Ver. 2 Thou through thy Commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies The Law of God being well thought on 1 It made him wiser than his enemies teacheth a man what how where and when to speak or to be silent to act or desist which wisdom Davids enemies wanted he was then wiser than they A great controversie there is who is the wise man the godly man or the Machivilian Gods Word will easily
godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3. of this David had experience 1. Ver. 3 I am afflicted very much outwardly inwardly and yet he was constant and resolved to keep his Oath and Vow 2. So that God did enable him He desires that God accept of his vow And of these two the inward affliction was the greatest and therefore he prayes Quicken me restore my decay'd strength as thou hast promised This now was a free-will-offering to swear and vow thus much proceeded freely from him and he expects not to merit by it but desires of God to accept of it Two things he asks in this verse 1. Ver. 4 Accept O Lord I beseech thee th◠free-will-offerings of my mouth Let my endeavours vowes to keep thy Law my invocation giving of thanks confession of my sin profession of thy Truth patience under the Cross be accepted by thee 2. And teach me thy judgments Without thy help I am not able to perform my vow give me therefore strength that I may perform what I have vowed 4. That I am resolved to keep my vow and thy Law appears in this that though for it I am daily in danger of life yet I forget it not I erred not from thy precepts 1. My life is in thy hand That is I am exposed to a present danger of life Ver. 5 a phrase it is borrowed from War where the Souldiers life is in his hand And then no dangers shall affright him from his duty and lies upon the valiant use of his Weapon for if he be a Coward and resist not stoutly his enemy he is like to lose it so Jeptha is said Judg. 12.3 Job 13.14 1 Sam. 28.21 Ver. 6 2. But yet though death be alwayes before my eyes yet do I not forget thy Law 3. And he shewes his danger by another similitude They have laid snares for me What they cannot do by force and violence they seek to do by craft they seek to take away my life by a snare as they do that hunt after wild Beasts both which were verified in Saul that fought against him and hunted after his life both by violence and subtilty he would have slain him 4. Yet I erred not from thy precepts But he would not lay violent hands on the Lords Anointed and therefore erred not 1 Sam. 23. 26. 5. He kept his resolution and vowes still Yet constant he was and now he goes on to shew his diligence and constancy in the study of piety and shewes the Reason 1. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever Ver. 7 Such is the estimation of the godly Gods Law was his 1. Heritage when they compare the Word of God with other things they account them of no price The honey and the honey-comb hath no sweetness gold and silver are of no worth in comparison of it No not all Canaan it self Israels heritage all is but dung to it they therefore David chose for his inheritance He had but one Patrimony or Legacy left him which he esteems and loves beyond all 2. Yea and delighted in above all For they are the rejoycing of my heart 2 His delight Riches and wealth bring care and fear the Word of God joy to a pious soul for it is the Charter of salvation sealed and confirmed by God sealed by the Sacraments confirmed by the Oath of God secured and delivered to us by his Spirit and subscribed by the blood of Christ all which must upon necessity bring joy of heart 3. And upon it he concludes And he therefore adheres to it That he would be a faithful keeper of this great Treasure so long as he had a day to live he would co-operate with Gods Spirit 1. I have applied my heart or inclined my heart that is when on one part the Law of sin drew me and on the other part thy Law I inclined my heart to thy Law and not to the Law of sin The counsel of the soul is like a balance and the mind which hath the commanding power over the affections inclines the balance to that which is best 2. To fulfil and perform In purpose of heart and resolution he ever willed and desired it in performance he might fail To the end but never in his intention 3. Even unto the end His motions were not taken by starts he was no Temporizer whose goodness is like the morning dew the seed of Gods Word was rooted in his heart and therefore as he begun well so he would end well The Prayer O Gracious God in the night of this present life I am encompassed with darkness the Mists of ignorance do darken my understanding and a thick cloud arising from my affections Ver. 1 doth bewitch my will so that I neither know my way nor can choose that which is good O let then thy Word be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path that I may not wander stumble and fall as it happens to those who adventure into dark places without a light without a lanthorn And great tentations I have to fall Ver. 3 for behold I am afflicted very much my soul is alway in my hand every day my life is in danger because I kéep thy righteous judgments Ver. 4 The wicked for this are become mine enemies and what they cannot do by violence that they labor to do by craft for they lay snares for me And yet O Lord Thou knowest the sincerity of my heart nor their force nor subtilty have béen able to overcome my constancy yet I do not forget thy Law yet I do not erre from thy Precepts And that to them my resolution may be the more fixed Ver. 4 and my constancy the more firm I have bound my self by oath and promise I have sworn and by the help of thy Spirit I will perform it Ver. 2 tyed my self I have by vow That I keep thy righteous judgments Accept O Lord I beseech thee the free-will-offerings of my mouth Ver. 4 those promises of obedience which I have made with a voluntary frée heart and teach me to moderate all my actions by thy rule of equity these I prefer before gold and silver these are swéeter unto me than the honey and the honey comb of these I estéem as my patrimony and my heritage they are indéed the joy and rejoycing of my heart be pleased then O Lord to quicken me in them according to thy Word and Promise and incline my heart to fulfil thy Statutes so long as I have a day to live Let me be nor Hypocrite nor Temporizer whose goodness is like the morning dew but grant that the seed of thy Word may take such déep root in my heart that it may bring forth fruit to everlasting life through Iesus Christ my Lord. 15. SAMECH IN this Section The Contents David 1. Declares his hatred to wickedness his detestation of wicked men 2. Expresses his love to Gods Law 3.
morning and cried 2. Mine eyes prevent the night morning and evening he prayed 2. For audience deliverance increase of grace That which he pray'd for was 1. Audience Hear me O Lord And again Hear my voyce ver 5. 2. Ver. 1 Deliverance Save me ver 2. 3. Increase of grace Quicken me ver 5. 3. Ver. 2 The end that he desires salvation and grace 1. That he might keep Gods statutes First is That he might keep Gods Statutes Hear me I will keep thy Statutes 2. Ver. 1 Save me that I may keep thy Testimonies ver 2. 3. Ver. 2 I prayed and watched that I might meditate in thy Word ver 4. 4. Ver. 4 Quicken me according to thy Word for the self-same end ver 5. 4. His arguments to perswade it The Arguments he especially useth besides the former to move God to hear and grant his Petitions are 1. His faith and hope I cried because I waited and hoped in thy Word and promises 1 His faith 2. Gods mercy Hear my voyce according to thy loving-kindness The common Argument to be used by all Gods children 2 Gods goodness for were they never so righteous and just yet in mercy they must desire to be heard and not for their merits 3. The danger that he was now in by persecuting enemies 1. Ver. 6 They draw nigh they are at hand the danger is near 2. 3 The danger he was now in His comfort that God was near him Yea and great too for they are mischievously bent they follow after mischief hunted after all occasions to do evil 3. Most impious men they are far from thy Law they hate it shun it labour to make it odious in every eye 5. But the comfort is that they are not so near but thou art as near they to do mischief but thou to defend me let then their number power malice be what it will thy power and mercy is beyond it 1. Thou art near O Lord let then these my enemies be far from thy Law they cannot be far from thee Ver. 7 Thou art near and wilt reach them by thy justice And would not desert him and this is my comfort 2. For all thy Commandments are Truth Albeit the evil of wicked men follow me because I follow thee yet I know thy Commandments are true and it is not possible that thou shouldst desert thy servants who stand to the maintenance of thy Word their wickedness shall never escape thy hand of punishment they may punish my body but they cannot deprive me of my Crown of glory 6. He concludes with an Epiphonema Of which he is confident being assured upon his own experience of the stability and immutability of Gods Word I know thy Commandments are Truth for Ver. 8 1. Concerning thy Testimonies thy Will that thou hast testified in thy Word 2. I have known of old even ever since I began to look into them study them and practise them 3. That thou hast founded them for ever They are of eternal Truth immutable and indispensable and this is the Anchor of our souls that we be not carried away with the winds and waves of tentations The Prayer OVL of a vehement desire I have cried to the Lord for help and that not only with my tongue and voyce but with my whole heart Ver. 1 hear me good God which if thou wilt vouchsafe to grant I will more studiously and fréely séek to know and kéep thy statutes Ver. 2 I have called and eried to no other God but thée therefore save me from these pressures and dangers Ver. 3 and being by thée saved and delivered I will more diligently kéep thy Testimonies Neither have I only called upon thée by bay but I have prevented the bawning of the morning with a great cry I have sought thy face and implored thy help because I repose my sole hope in thy promisses I have prevented also the night watches my eyes day and night have béen intent upon thée that I might be occupied in the meditation of thy words both in those in which thou hast promised thy mercy and in those in which thou hast signified thy Will and exacted my obedience Hear therefore my voyce according to thy loving-kindness and according to that equity by which thou usest to procéed with all those that love thée and call upon thy Name quicken me with the sense of thy savour and deliver me from this imminent death and danger And the impiety of my enemies makes me be the more instant to obtain this mercy for they that persecute my soul are set upon mischief they hunt after my life nay they hate not me only but thy Law it is odious in their eyes they look strangely upon it and desire it should be as odious in others From this imminent dagger it is not possible for me to be safe but by thy hand and guidance As then they approach near to hurt so do thou approach near to help and make it appear by my deliverance that all thy promises are truth This I have known long since and now Lord let me have erperience of it again so shall I have just cause to praise thy judgments and sing of thy mercies and make it known That thou hast founded them forever nor the rage of man nor the malice of Devils shall be ever able to shake thy-Truth or evacuate thy promises which thou hast maâ—â— to thy Church in Iesus Christ our Lord. 20. RESH IN this Section David petitions to God for help in his affliction The Contents 2. Complains of the multitude of his persecutors 3. Laments their condition 4. And shewes his constancy and love to Gods Word 1. David in his affliction prayes to God David begins with a petition In afflictions it is some comfort to us to have our case known consider'd and examined especially by those that love us therefore David desires 1. Ver. 1 That God would consider his case Consider my afflictions so much at least 1 To help him 2. Then that he would help him Deliver me from my tempting enemies 3. His Reason to perswade both For I do not forget thy Law though I perfectly keep it not yet I have not cast it behind my back I do not forget it I desire to keep it This he could plead with a good conscience if not what he had done yet what he would have done therefore he could boldly make this request Deliver me 4. 2 To be his Advocate But yet he goes further and desires God to be his Advocate to him he appeals 1. Plead my cause and deliver me At the bar of men a just cause oftentimes miscarries for want of a good Advocate Ver. 2 and is born down by an unjust Judge wherefore I beseech thee who art the just Judge of the World take my cause in hand plead it to their faces and deliver me Arise up for me in the judgment that thou hast commanded 2.
from this my meditation was admirable For Ver. 6 1. I stretch forth my hands unto thee I began earnestly to pray 1 Prayer and to put forth my hand unto thee as a child doth to his father from whom he hopes to receive what he asks and what he wants some help some Boon 2. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty Land 2 A thirst after grace A thirsty soul I have that hungers and thirsts after righteousness and as the earth in a drought chops and gapes till the rain falls and closes it so doth my soul open for want of thy dewes of grace and nothing can close it till this comfortable water descend Farther as the earth without rain hath no consistence but is pulverized neither is it clad with flowers nor mantled with grass nor loaden with fruits but presents it self to the eye with a burnt wither'd bare face So the soul not moistned with the grace of God becomes loose and falls asunder on this and that side to vice and wickedness tost it is by tentations as dust by the wind it wants the Robe of Justice to cloath it and the garment of wisdom to adorn it it is unprofitable and barren and brings forth no fruit of good works all which a penitent by experience finds true in himself and therefore he thirsts the more for grace the more sensible he is of the want of it 4. The sad case in which David was upon the sense of Gods indignation The fourth part makes him seek out speedily for a remedy as the sick in haste seeks to the Physitian and he that is thirsty seeks for drink Quiet he could not be 3 An earnest desire of reconciliation nor his thirst be satisfied before he had some assurance that God was reconciled to him which is an evident Argument of a true contrite soul never to be at rest till he have an assurance that his peace is made being impatient of all delayes of reconciliation And to this purpose he puts up a Petition which consists of many parts and many reasons 1. His first petition is for speedy audience Ver. 7 as being impatient to be deferred Hear me speedily O Lord and his reason for this 1 For this he petitions and gives his reason is the sad condition in which he was and was like to be till he was assured that God was pacified for his sin He said it before but now repeats it My spirit fails I am in extremity I scarse can draw my breath 2. This petition he enforceth in other words Hide not thy face from me 2 He inforceth it on another reason thy presence thy favour thy help But not averse inexorable but look up once more in mercy on me His reason for this is That if God hide his face still from him He be like unto a dead man or which is worse like to them that go down into the pit of hell For those whom God pardons not not gives the life of grace they must perish for ever 2. His next Petition is near the same with the former 3 He sues yet again and gives his reasons but inforced upon another reason 1. Cause me to hear thy loving kindnesse Thy pardoning mercy which must proceed out of meer clemency and pity Cause me to hear it out of thy Word or else I may hear thy Word and never hear my pardon It is thy Spirit that must work with it 2. In the morning Betime speedily quickly Or in the morning when the light of grace shines I have been long enough in the darknesse and night of sin let the day of grace at last rise upon me 3. His reason For in thee do I trust I let not my hold go in all this my extremity In the spiritual combate then we must not look to the beginnings of it as to the end In the beginning is nothing but matter of discomfort horror despair But the end hath comfort in it hope and confidence He that can say in thee is my trust despairs not 3. 4 He fears a relapse and prayes against it His third Petition 1. Cause thou me to know the way in which I should walk David being a true penitent and being now assured of pardon is fearful of a relapse and therefore prayes to God to work in his heart so powerfully that he might know his way and hereafter walk in it as it becomes a friend and a son 2. His reason His reason For I lift up my soul unto thee My course the intent of my heart is to that purpose I have now bid adiew to all secular desires and therefore I desire the Lamp and light of thy Word to direct me in my walk 4. 5 He prayes for deliverance from his enemies His fourth Petition 1. Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies From the Devil and all his instruments from ill concupiscences and the effects which fight against the soul 2. His reason His reason For I flie unto thee to hide me i. e. from them I lie Ver. 9 as it were under the umbrage and shadow of thy wings 5. Ver. 10 His fifth Petition is near the same with the third 1. 6 He petitions for instruction in Gods Law Teach me to do thy Will both by an active and passive obedience Instruct me to know thy good perfect and acceptable Will and in adversity to submit to it and bear my Cross with patience and in prosperity to do it and not to be proud arrogant secure obstinate and presumptuous 2. His reason His reason For thou art my God who hast promised me help and whom I have promised and bound my self to serve Thou art the beginning and end of all my good from whom I have received my being my soul my body and from whom I expect beatitude and glory to do thy Will is the way to attain it teach me then to do it as thou art my God 6. 7 He petitions to be guided by Gods Spirit His sixth Petition Thy Spirit is good Not mine not the evil spirit it is thy Spirit which is the Authour of goodness love obedience c. Let this Spirit then lead me in the right plain way that I may walk wisely knowingly uprightly constantly 7. Ver. 11 His seventh Petition 1. 8 A summary petition for all before Quicken me O Lord comfort restore me to life remit my sin justifie me free me from this fear 2. For thy Names sake Not for my merits but for thy mercy and the glory that will thereby accrue to thy Name in acquitting a penitent and restoring him to thy favour and as it were to life Muscular well observes That they only can pray this prayer 1. Who are brought into a sad condition and oppressed with the sense of death 2. Who belong to God and whose life and quickning brings honour to his Name 3. Who seek the honour of Gods Name and not their own honour
never suffer them to place their felicity in these temporal blessings Sanctifie these unto them and let these be used as arguments to draw them nearer unto thée For I know that they only are truly happy whose God is the Lord those whom he hath chosen and adopted to be hâ—â— people and they who have chosen him to be their God they who relie upon him to de their Protector and they who acknowledge and worship him that they may be protected For God alone is the chiefest good he alone can give good things not only those which are external but those which are internal and eternal even eternal life to those who are his Servants through Iesus Christ our Lord. PSAL. CXLV Hallelujah or an Hymn THis Hymn containeth excellent matter and is penned after an excellent manner The matter of it is Gods holy praise which is the Alpha and Omega of all our actions The manner of it that of the Hebrew Alphabet which is done to help our memory in recording those things which concerns our Makers praise Of which there be These three parts 1. A Proem or a protestation to praise God ver 1 2. 2. And a celebration of divine praises through the whole Psalm and to that end he produceth many arguments which are reduced to these heads 1. From the greatnesse of God ver 3. 2. From his works of wonder ver 4. which works he distinguishes into three kinds 1. Glorious and beautiful of Majesty and therefore wonderful ver 5. 2. Marvellous and full of terror ver 6. 3. Amiable and full of goodnesse ver 7 8 9. But all wonderful 3. From his Kingdom and government of it and in it from ver 10. to 21. 3. A conclusion ver 21. In which be performs his protestation praising God 1. Davids protestation to praise God The first part In the two first verses David proposeth what he will do through the whole Psalm acquaints us fully with his intention 1. I will extoll I will bless I will praise 2. Thee my God my King A King above me Ver. 1 in comparison of whom I am a servant a subject I will bless I will praise thy Name all vertues by which thou art known 3. Every day will I praise thee No day shall passe without a Hymn 4. For ever and ever will I do it It shall now begin and continue by a succession of men who shall sing this and the like Hymns made to thy honour to the consummation of all things 2. And so he sets upon the praise it self The second part He praiseth God for his greatness And the first thing he praiseth God for is for his Essense set forth under this word Great 1. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised This followes on the other for if great greatly to be praised 2. And his greatness is unsearchable Ver. 3 past our weak capacity it is to comprehend it search we may but we shall never find it Higher it is than the Heavens as being higher than the Highest deeper than Hell as passing the depth of our understandings Job 11.8 9. Broador than the Sea as measuring the waters thereof in his fist Isaiah 40.12 And longer than the earth as having no end there it no end of his greatness Or if Great here to be refer'd to him as a King Then a great King he is in respect of extension for all creatures from the highest Angel to the poorest worm are under him great for length for his Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom Great for depth for he rules even in the hearts of Kings of all men over-rules their thoughts affections nothing is hid from him And great again for height being a great King over other gods ruling by his own absolute Power and Authority whereas all other have their Sword from him and Rule by a delegated and Vicarious power 2. From the Essence of God David passeth to his works and effects Ver. 4 which set forth his praise which because no one man is able to do 2 For his works in generall therefore David saith One Generation shall praise thy works unto another and shall declare thy mighty Acts. Every several Age is an eye-witness of several acts of wonder and therefore as one succeedeth another in dayes so shall they succeed in duty The father shall declare them to the son and the son again to his son c. So that no Generation that considers thy mighty Acts but shall have just occasion to admire them and praise thee And so from the works in general all which are mighty he descends to the particulars which he ranks into three sorts In particular 1. His works of glory 1. The first are those which are marvellous and full of glory splendour and beauty such as are his works in Heaven For the Heavens declare his glory The Sun Moon Stars their variety multitude splendour Ver. 5 constant and perpetual motions their influences and effects are all wondrous works and they speak of the glorious honour of his Majesty Why else did the Heathen take and worship these for gods and these works David means in ver 5. 2. A second kind of works there are of God 2 His works of justice and terrour which are full of Terrour and Justice these are terrible Acts and they speak out his Might and Greatness such were the universal Deluge in Noahs dayes the fire of Sodom Pharaphs overthrow in the red Sea Ver. 6 the opening of the earth to swallow Corah Dathan Abiram c. And these he points at in ver 6. 3. Other works are marvellous as being full of his abundant kindness 3 His works of love and mercy love mercy And because he would have us take more special notice of these as those which bring to us more comfort and concern us more to know therefore he in more words insists upon these spending three whole verses in the explication of them of which pag. sequents 1. Ver. 7 They i. e. Thy great works shall abundantly utter Eructabun Vulgar The memory of thy great goodness All Generations fill'd with the abundance of thy bounty they shall be eloquent and without any intermission collect them in their memory and commit them to posterity to be remembred 2. And sing of thy righteousness in exhibiting thy promised blessings Of this kind are all temporal benefits night and day the seasons of the year fertility abundance of Fish Fowle Cattle Rivers Seas Orchards Gardens Groves c. But these are light if compared to the gifts of Grace The incarnation Death Passion Resurrection Ascention of Christ mission of the holy Ghost calling of the Gentiles Justification Sanctification eternal life All which being brought to memory by a pious meditation Eructubunt scaturient eloquentur canent men must abundantly utter Gods goodnesse And sing here with David in the next verse 2. Ver. 8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy of which