thou break a leaf driven too and fro Ver. 11 How long wilt thou pursue the dry stubble While thou Writest these bitter things against us our dayes are like a shadow and decliues and we are withered as grass whose beauty and glory fades in a moment But why art thou thus vexed O my soul Ver. 12 and why art thus disquieted within me O put thy trust in God Call to mind that he endures for ever and the remembrance of his Covenant to all generations 'T is thy promise O Lord we look to 't is thy Covenant only we hope in according to thy word arise and have mercy upon Zion pity thy poor afflicted people for the time to favour her is now very seasonable Ver. 13 yea the time is come For thy servants think upon and take pleasure in her stones not so much those stones with which those goodly structures Ver. 14 in which we were wont to meet and praise thee were built and beautified as those living stones built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Ver. 17 Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone and it pitieth them to see her in the dust In the dust Lord we favour them and for these we pray that they may be restored to their places in thy Sacred Temple Ver. 16 O regard the prayer of the poor destitute and despise not our desire for this will tend to thy honour and enlargement of thy Kingdom being alsured Ver. 15 that when the Lord shall build up Zion and when he shall appear in glory that the heathen shall fear the Name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glory Look down then O Lord from the height of thy Sanctuary and from heaven behold the earth Ver. 19 Hear the groaning of the Prisoners and loose those that are appointed to death Ver. 20 that they may declare the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise at Jerusalem Ver. 21 May we but obtain so great a mercy it shall be written for the generations to come and the people our children that shall be born Ver. 18 shall praise the Lord They shall praise thee and sing of thy mercy in the great Congregation even when the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the Lord. That thou wilt make an Inquisition for innocent blood I am assured that those who have profaned thy dwelling place shall be as a rolling thing before the wind Ver. 23 I do believe that they who have swallowed down riches shall vomit them up again I know for God shall cast them out of their belly But thou hast so weakned my strength in the way and so shortned my dayes that it is not likely I shall lide to sée it Lord might my eyes sée thy salvation I would willingly sing with old Simeon Ver. 24 Now let thy servant depart in peace Yet will I pray O my God take me not away in the midst of my age I am thy Creature O Lord created after thy own image yet not to live for ever on earth as thou shalt live in heaven for thy years are throughout all generations Even the earth whose foundation thou hast laid and the heavens which are the work of thy Power and Wisdom wax old as a garment and as a vesture shall be wrapt up they shall perish and be annihilated spare me a little then because I am a creature of a short continuance and can bear no proportion to thy esernity for thou art the same and thy years have no end But I yield my self to thy Will I submit my self to thy dispose if I cannot arrive to what I desire to sée Jerusalem in prosperity yet grant that I may see my Lord in the Land of the living for I am assured that the children of thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee and live in thy presence for evermore Amen PSAL. CIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Psalm to David THE Title shews the Psalm to be inspired into David by the Holy Ghost and the end is to comfort a soul heavy and laden but especially with the burden of sin To him every word in it drops like an Honey-comb so that had not the comfort been revealed and sent from heaven it could never have been believed that Almighty God should be so merciful to sinful man Three parts there are of this Psalm 1. The Exordium in which David by an Apostrophe turns to his own soul and stirs it up to bless God ver 1 2. 2. The Narration or an ample Declaration of the Benefits from the first to the last conferred by God upon him and others and the causes of them from ver 3. to 20. 3. A Conclusion in which he makes a motion to Angels and all other Creatures to joyn with him in the praise of God from ver 20. David stirs up his soul to praise God The first part to the last 1. David being fully perswaded that he was one of the number of the Elect stirs up himself in the person of the Elect to praise and speak well of God in the two first verses 1. Bless God think on the Benefit and bless the Benefactor Ver. 1 Extoll him with praises 2. O my Soul bless him because the Soul alone can know and inform the whole man what God deserves for his blessings 2. Again he would not have it a lip-labour but come from a heart affected with it Heartily done for quod cor non facit non fit 3. Not the Soul alone but that all that is within him Totum hominis And the whole man whatsoever is within his skin every part every faculty about him Will Understanding Memory Affections Heart Tongue Hand Eyes c. All joyn 4. And bless Jehovah for he gave them their Being and their Properties and Operations 2. Praise his holy Name his Essential Properties his Wisdom Power Goodness Justice for to oclebrate God in all these is To praise his holy Name 5. Bless the Lord O my Soul for he comes over it again Ver. 2 that he might press the Duty more emphatically and shew his vehement desire to have it done it shewes we freeze and are cold in the Duty and need a Goad to quicken us 6. And forget not all his benefits He repeats it and adds That we forget not His Benefits 1. Forget not He would not be guilty of the common Errour forgetfulness of a good turn for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which if it happen 't is impossible to be thankful and therefore Omnium ingratissimus qui beneficii accepti non reminiscitur Forget not then 2. All his benefits Not all no nor indeed any of them for not one but deserves a blessing 3. His benefits Some read Munera the Vulgar Retributiones If Munera they are freely given if Retributiones they are more than we can deserve yet it pleases him to accompt them so Let but a man well consider how many evils we
Wicked men these are corrupters of all Truth and Religion Blood-thirsty men these are that thirst after the blood of thy Saints and use all their force power and conspiracies to root them out of the Earth they lie in wait for our souls they are gathered together for our ruine O send us help from thy holy Heaven and save us from the rage of them who would eat us up Many many grievous offences we have committed against thée our God but it is not for these crimes they at this time invade us but they are haters of true Religion and implacable enemies to true Piety which because we maintain therefore they craftily take counsel and wisely they work to our destruction O Lord Thou knowest that without any fault or offence of ours they run and prepare themselves to Battel Therefore O just God who art a witness of our innocency and their cruelty be not like one that sléeps arise to help us that séek thée behold our miseries and stand up for us that stand for thée and since thou art the Lord of Hosts who hast all Armies at thy Command and the God of Israel whom thy people serve suffer not thy chosen to be thus oppressed by wicked men whose pride excéeds that of the Heathen Visit them in anger O Lord and be not merciful to them that offend of malicious wickedness they are an object of vengeance not of mercy execute then thy severe wrath upon them Are not their works altogether the symptoms of an obstinate and hard heart Earnest they are to execute their plots they run too and fro In the Evening when good men are at rest then they arise for mischief mad as Dogs to bring their purposes to pass They grinne they threaten they walk round the City observing where they may take their Prey Boldly they speak with their mouth what their heart intends and the words that procéed from thence are very Swords breathing to us nothing but death and utter extirpation Thy Majesty they regard not and as for man their pride and power is so great they care not who hears them for they know that few are able and fewer willing to help us But thou O Lord sittest in Heaven upon thy Throne and hearest and séest all things both our oppressions and their insultations frustrate their attempts evacuate their endeavours have their persons in derision and laugh all their projects to scorn Let them not be visited with the visitation of all men Slay them not lest the people forget it but scatter them among the people make them for their flagitious lyes and perjuries become Wanderers and Beggars Let them run here and there for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied Consume them O Lord consume in thy wrath bring them down from their Throne out them from their power and dignity let their unjust gotten goods perish and their great wealth come to nought that they may know that it is God that rules in Jacob and unto the end of the World The sin of their mouth is impudent the words of their lips blasphemy Ver. 12 their very preaching is cursing and lyes therefore spare them not but let them be taken by the pride of their words and fall into that snare of destruction in which they were wont to boast that they would catch other innocent men Make us so happy O our Eod that we may sée our desires upon thy enemies so shall we sing of thy power and praise thy mercy aloud in the Morning and all shall know that thou art a strong Tower of defence and a sure refuge to all that in sincerity of heart in the day of trouble call upon thée Unto thee O Lord will I sing for thou O God art my Refuge and the God of my Mercy Thou alone hast mercy on me and to thée alone will I call for mercy through Iesus Christ my Lord. Amen PSAL. LX. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel Triumphale BEfore Davids time 1 Chron. 18. and in the beginning of his reign Israel was in a distressed condition He composed and quieted all And made War and conquered the Moabites c. Edom only was not vanquished In this Psalm then he gives thanks for his victories And prayes for assistance for the conquest of Edom. The parts of it in general are 1. A commemoration of the former lamentable distracted condition of the Israelites vers 1 2 3. 2. The condition of it under his reign much better from vers 4. to 9. 3. His thankfulness in ascribing all his victories to God from vers 9. to 12. 1. The first part The former condition of Israel which he laments In the first he shews that God was angry with Israel 1. Of which he laments the effects of his anger 2. And then prayes for the aversion 1. O Lord thou hast or hadst cast us off 2. Thou hast scattered us abroad thou hast been displeased 3. Vers. 1 Thou hast made the earth to tremble 4. Thou hast broken it 5. Thou hast shew'd thy people heavy things 6. Thou hast given us a drink the wine of astonishment Every syllable of which Congeries will appear to be most true to him that shall examine the story of the Israelites before Sauls reign under his government upon his death and the first entrance of David to the Kingdom The stirs he had and wars with the house of Saul until Ishbosheth was taken out of the way 2. Imputes to Gods anger All which wars civil and external with the calamities that flowed from them Vers. 1 he imputes to Gods anger vers 1. Thou hast been displeased 3. And prayes to God to turn to them And upon it prayes 1. O turn thee to us again Let us enjoy thy countenance which was averted Vers. 1 2. Vers. 2 Heal the breaches of the Land Close the wounds made by these contentions and it seems they were not yet all perfectly closed For he adds It shaketh 2. The second part But now the condition of it was much better All being brought under one King The present condition of Israel 2. And he victorious over his forreign enemies 1. Thou now hast given a Banner to them that fear thee All Israel all those that are thy servants are brought to acknowledge and fight under one standard Vers. 4 in effect have receiv'd me for their sole King the factions and parties being quieted David being King 2. That it may be display'd Set up that Israel may know under whom to fight and whose part to take 3. According to Gods promise Because of thy Truth Who by this hast made it appear that it was no fiction nor no ambition of mine to set up this standard But a Truth that I was by Samuel by thy special appointment Anointed to be King And I am now invested with the Crown for the performance of thy Truth and Promise 4. Vers. 5 And the end is especially that I should bring deliverance to thy
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
expect none but muddy troubled water that then the Prophet saith He shall drink of the Torrent intimates That the drink offer'd him should be much and troubled And at his Passion he descended into the very depth of the Torrent and drank very deep of it 3. In the way That was while he was Viator in his Journey all the time of his life that preceded his Resurrection and Ascension 2. His Ascension and Honour But Claritas Humilitatis praemium because he thus humbled himself and willingly underwent his Death and Passion for the Glory of his Father and the Salvation of Mankind therefore shall God lift up his Head he shall ascend into Heaven sit at his right hand and be constituted the Judge of quick and dead he shall rise from the dead and have all power committed to him in Heaven and Earth The Prayer out of the One hundred and tenth Psalm O Almighty God most gracious and merciful Lord sinned all Mankind hath and by it incurr'd thy displeasure and by the disobedience of our first Parents had we not since added to that disobedience béen utterly lost it was not in the power of any creature to save us it was not within the compass of any humane or angelical ability to make our peace to get our pardon and to reconcile us again unto thée The sentence of death was passed upon us and nothing could respite the execution but thy own Ordinance A Mediator was wanting to interpose and hear all differences a Priest to step in and make an Atonement an Advocate to plead for thy people and allay the anger that was gone forth And such an one O merciful Lord Thou out of thy méer love hast in mercy provided for us Thou saidst to thy own Son Thou art a Priest for ever and thy own Son said Lo I come to do thy Will Ver. 4 and so by thy wonderful Decrée and his willing Obedience we are redéemed Who ever heard so strange a thing who could or would ever believe this report hadst not thou O God revealed it The zeal of the Lord hath done this for us the zeal of the Son of God hath done this brought to pass that which flesh and blood would never believe were it not That thou hast commanded it to be believed O mystery beyond comprehension which when we séem to comprehend yet we understand not the secret so far passeth what our weak capacity can reach unto And in this thou O merciful Father hast condescended to our infirmity for that thy Decrée and thy Sons love be never more doubted Thou hast secured us by an Oath an Oath of which thou wilt never repent That he is a Priest for ever A Priest must have something to offer and he offer'd himself a Priest must offer blood and he offer'd his own a Priest must step in and appease thy anger when it was at the highest a Priest must reconcile when the terms of difference were the greatest And such an High Priest thou hast sworn thy Son shall be given him for us and to us not only to them that lived then and before but to all thine that are now and shall be hereafter for thou hast ordained to be a Priest for ever O holy and good Father how much hast thou loved us who hast not spared thine one only Son but hast deliver'd him to be our Priest and our Sacrifice and therefore our Priest because our Sacrifice to Sacrifice himself upon the Altar of the Cross that he might cancel and nail there the Hand-writing that was against us and by death destroy him that had the power of death the Devil This could not be done till he had drank of the Brook in the way till all thy storms and waves had gone over him for so it behoved Christ to suffer Ver. 7 and to enter into his Glory But now all those indignities that agony those unknown sufferings are at an end and thou hast lifted up his head He that sacrificed himself on Earth is an High Priest an Advocate a Mediator an Intercessor for his Body in Heaven and there applies his purchase and continues this his Office for his Servants and Saints O Lord I am the meanest the most sinful of this Society so often as I provoke thée to anger by infirmity or surreptitious by enormous or presumptuous iniquities turn thy face from me a wretched Caitiff and behold those wounds in his hands féet and side and accept of that precious Sacrifice which he made upon the Cross for me hear the cry of those wounds that intercede for me at thy Throne of Grace I rely upon no other Advocate I will sue to no other Mediator if he be not able to save me then let me perish for ever speak peace to my soul in his Name be reconciled unto me in his blood and make his intercession so powerful unto me That I may be purged from my sins and turned from mine iniquities And this Supplication I do not only offer unto thée for my self but for all thy people Ver. 1 for whose sakes thou hast lift up his head and said unto my Lord Sir thou at my right hand All power is now given unto him both in Heaven and in Earth for he is not only a Priest but a King also a Scepter he hath and a Rod in his right hand this is the Rod of his strength and it came first out of Zion Ver. 2 I mean his Gospel that Law which came first out of Zion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem O set thy King upon thy holy hill of Zion give him the Heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession break them with a Rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a Potters Vessel Oppose all those that oppose the growth and enlargement of his Kingdom Let him rule in the midst of thine enemies and sit at thy right hand until thou hast made all his enemies his Foot-stool O Lord let him preside and have the Dominion over all till there be no Adversary left that shall dare to oppose him in his Offices Behold we humbly beséech thée how in these our dayes there are risen up blasphemous and wicked men cruel and bloody Antichrists who go about to break his Bands asunder and dare boldly and impudently say of him We will not have this man to reign over us Be present then O Lord our Saviour at the right hand of thy people and strike through Kings Princes and Potentates in the day of thy wrath Exercise judgment against these blasphemous and heathenish Rebels let not thy Eye pity them nor thy Sword spare them but fill the places with their dead bodies and in what Countrey soever they remain what Aire soever they breath let their factious bodies and their Machivillian and Tyrannical heads and leaders receive their deaths wound from thy hand and fury O Lord pronounce a favourable sentence for thy Church and let
thy Gospel which came out of Zion and was planted by thy Apostles and diffused by the impulse and power of thy good Spirit Ver. 3 once more flourish amongst us so visibly and extraordinarily work for us That all men even thine enemies may acknowledge That this is the day of thy power Thy power it must be that can collect us whom Heresie Schism and Tyranny hath dispersed thy power to cause us to méet in our solemn Assemblies speak but the word O Lord and appoint the day and thy people will be a willing people they will méet out of love and joy of heart and offer thee free-will offerings in the beauties of holiness O holy Father we must with shame confess against our own souls that we have profaned thy Sanctuary by entring into it with our shooes on our féet and when we have béen in it we have too often offer'd the Sacrifice of Fools holiness is that virtue which becomes thy house for ever and this holiness is from the womb of the morning it comes not from the will of man it procéeds not from the will of the flesh it is a swéet and Virgin dew that distills from thy holy Spirit and as by the silver drops that descend from above the roots of the Herbs are moistned refreshed and cherished so by these secret dews of grace our dry hearts are quickned and recover life vouchsafe we beséech thée therefore to descend upon us with these dewes that being regenerate and born again we may grow and increase in holiness in obedience in alacrity in thy Service refresh us when we are weary make us shoot when we are at a stand ever let us retain the dew of our youth that being lively in all the exercises of Christianity we may at last be exalted and set at thy right hand as thou art seated at the right hand of thy Father and enjoy those heavenly Mansions which our Lord is gone to prepare for us Grant us this O heavenly Father for thy Son Jesus Christs sake to whom with thee and the Holy Sprit three Persons and one God be ascribed all Honour Glory and Praise for ever and ever Amen PSAL. CXI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 T IS conceived that this Hymn was set by David to be sung at the Passeover and that it might be the easilier learned and remembred the Colons of it are in number as many and digested by order of the Hebrew Alphabet The Sum of it is an Exhortation to praise God for his wonderful favours and benefits bestowed upon the World at large and in special toward his people Israel and the Church Three parts there are of this Psalm 1. A Protestation of David to praise God and the manner how and the company with whom he would do it ver 1. 2. An Expression of the Reasons that moved him to it viz. his admirable benefits bestowed both general and special which he enumerates from ver 2. to 10. 3. A Conclusion or Inference upon the premises by way of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he commends the fear of God ver 10. 1. The Title of the Psalm is Allelujah Praise ye the Lord Allelujah The first part He praiseth God himself And that this his Exhortation might pierce the deeper and that his Subjects might the more readily follow his example presently he vowes and protests 1. I will praise the Lord And expresseth the manner how he would do it and as indeed it ought to be done Ver. 1 2. Not hypocritically with the lips and mouth only 1 In sincerity but with the heart 2 In unity and with the Church 3. Not with a heart and a heart but with the whole heart 4. Not separately or Schismatically but in the Assembly of the upright and in the Congregation 1. Both in that Assembly where good and upright men are met 2. And also in the company of many even with the mix't multitude secretly among good men and openly in the Congregation he would praise God 2. And having made a pious confession of his readiness to practise the Duty The second part next sets down the ground and matter of his praise which contains the Reasons that moved him to it as if he had said Which he doing and perswading sets down his Reasons for it There be great and urgent causes that may move me and all others to praise God 1. The first of which is His works of power be it the Creation of the World and its Conservation or be they the favours shewed to his Church these are his works And these works of the Lord are great Ver. 2 1. Great not only for variety and beauty 1 Because his works great 1. Of Creation but that also in the least and most base creature his Wisdom admirable his Power wonderful there is nothing that came from his hand which is not very great and greatly to be admired 2. Great 2 Of Election for it was a great work of his to take to himself a people out of another people to make a Covenant with them to them to reveal his promises to give them a Law to settle among them a policy for Church and State c. This was also a great and admirable work 3. Fools and impious men indeed little consider these works Which fools little think of but wise men consider they think not of the Authour and therefore esteem them not much But in the eyes of all wise men they are exquisite works and they are sought out searched into by all them that take pleasure therein That are pleased both with the Authour the work and the use and end of them 2. Ver. 3 The second of these is His work of Wisdom in the governing of those creatures which he hath created 2 His work of wisdom in governing the World his Church which is 1. Honourable and his Church which he hath collected and this his work is 1. Honourable worthy of honour worthy of praise and therefore much more the Authour 2. And glorious Many Princes have done very glorious works but not to be compared to any work of God the Glory Magnificence and Majesty far exceeds them all 2 Glorious 3. 3 Is his work of Justice The third work is that of his Justice He is a righteous God and his righteousness endureth for ever Men may complain that they see wicked men exalted and his servants under the Cross oppressed and afflicted But the judgments and wayes of God may be secret and hid from us unjust they can never be for he never departs from the exact Rule of Justice though we cannot discern it nor search it out 4. 4 His work of mercy His fourth work is a work of mercy of which he would have a Record kept 1. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred as in the Jewish Feasts Ver. 4 2. And these proceeded from his meer mercy For the Lord is gracious