thy praise That hereby O Lord thou hast more rejoyced my heart than all the joyes under heaven could have done the joy of harvest be it never so plentiful is nothing comparable to the shining of Gods favorable countenance through Christ upon the soul and the assurance of his grace towards us in him 8 Yea I am so comforted with his favour and confident of his faithfulness in protecting me that all my troubles and dangers shall not disquiet me but I can peaceably injoy my self and take my rest through faith in God For whilest I have thee O Lord on my side and that thou doest but thus fortifie my spirit with the assurance of thy faithfulness and favour and keepest fresh in memorie thy former mercies in my manifold deliverances be my case never so desperate thou alone art securitie enough unto me Fifth PSALM David prayeth to God for audience and answer touching his preservation because of his firm confidence vehement importunitie and his enemies wickedness which God hating in his holiness will therefore punish in his justice But because David was and ever would be a servant and worshipper of God he therefore hopes and prayes that God will shew him how to escape his enemies which without his direction he can never do they are so full of deceit and crueltie For which he prayes God to punish them yea to take them in their traps But for the godly that trust in the Lord and do love and fear him he prayes they may ever prosper and have cause of continual rejoycing in outward preservation and inward manifestation of grace and favour which likewise he promiseth to such To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Nehiloth to which the Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for his care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 GOod Lord let me have thine ear to the prayer wherewith I humbly bespeak thee which is not a bare lip-labour but springs from within me out of the most intense thoughts of my mind and heart caused by the sense of my many miseries and confidence of thy gracious goodness which I pray thee consider to move thee to hear and grant my requests 2 My grief makes me importunate and earnest with thee for audience to whose free gift and Sovereign bountie I pay the Homage of all I hold and in whom I onely trust for protection knowing and believing thee to be my all-sufficient and good God Therefore thou must not fail to hear and answer me for I will never cease calling upon thee nor will I seek to any other but thee 3 My greatest confidence is in thee and therefore my first and chiefest addresses shall be to thee It is thee O Lord that I relie upon and prefer before wicked shifts and humane policie and therefore with me thou shalt have precedencie of all things both for time and place Early when others are otherways busied contriving how to bring to pass their wicked designs by evil means then will I be supplicating thy throne of grace O Lord there will I be busied and thither will I direct my prayer 4 And in this I have great odds of mine enemies for I know the righteous God loves righteousness and takes no pleasure in the wickednes of the wicked How pleasing soever their ways be to themselves they are hateful to God nor shall ever sin and iniquitie find favour from him be acceptable to him or be blessed by him 5 And as sin so the obstinate sinners shall have no favour from the Lord for thou art too righteous to love wicked workers nay in thy holiness thou hatest and abhorrest them 6 They that think to prevail by lying and dissembling thou wilt in thy righteousness turn it to their ruin thou Lord wilt not endure that the cruel minded and fals-hearted should prosper 7 Let them think to thrive in those ways for my part I am resolved of another course I 'le keep close to thee and trust firmly in thine abundant goodness and mercie to me which shall make me frequent thee with prayer and praise and in obedience to thy holy will I will make mine humble supplications and offer up thanks-givings to thee through the mediation of Christ who shall be figured by the holy Temple 8 O Lord be thou faithful to me and careful over me that I fall not into the snares of mine enemies who are so watchful to catch me shew me the way thou wouldst have me to walk and which thou wilt bless unto me for my preservation 9 For if thou doest not furnish me with wisdom and instruct me how to escape they will be too hard for me seeing they make no conscience to lie and dissemble they have no truth nor honestie in them but are wholly composed of malice mischief and deceit it s their studie and delight they care not what they say nor how false they pretend so that thereby they may devour me and them that side with me and to compass their cruel designs can speak fair and mean false 10 Thou that art a righteous God and hatest such dealing plague them for it that they may know thou knowst it and abhorrest them for it entrap them by their own dissemblings and take them in their own deceitful snares Let their sins which are so many and great stir up thy just wrath against them to confound them and free thine Israel of them for it is not me onely but thee that they set at nought and rebel against 11 And as thou shewest thy self an enemy to thine enemies so let the world see thou art a friend to thy friends Let all those that faithfully trust in thee and humbly depend upon thee prosper in so doing when thine enemies weep let them rejoyce and that with infinite joy and gladness because of thy wonderful and apparent preservation of them Yea let those who believing in thee do withal fear and love thee not onely joy in thine outward preservation of them but also inwardly in thy grace and salvation 12 For indeed thou Lord art and wilt ever be not onely a God of outward blessings to him that loves thee and trusts in thee but wilt also inwardly so manifest thy special and saving grace and favour to him as it shall make him dreadless of any outward danger by being assured through thy mercie of salvation it self Sixth PSALM God having brought upon David a fore sickness or some grievous affliction he intreats to be chastized with fatherly gentleness and that he would compassionate the great miserie he sustained both in bodie and soul and restore him to health and comfort and not prosecute him to death but let him live to give him thanks professing how many tears and prayers his sin and sickness had cost him and the rather because of the malicious insolencie of his enemies whom he concludes God will certainly defeat of
temptation of corrupt fleshly reasoning occasioned by the wickeds prospiritie and his own infelicitie that had almost cost him a fall and made him cast off all care of religion and fear of God had not God taken up the business that was in controversie in his mind he abruptly thereupon silenceth all doubts and disputes and in the very beginning and first entrance into the Psalm breaks through all difficulties and dissidences wherewith he had been sore pestred affirming and declaring for the instruction and strengthning of the godly that maâ—ger all objections to the contrarie God is every jot as good as his word for so he had found by experience and befools himself for his mis-judging of God and the Godly as he had done and too highly prizing the wicked mans happie condition in this life acknowledgeth Gods infinite mercie in this his seasonable illumination and supportation of his faith so much staggered but now resolved and thereby enabled to declare God to be righteous in all his works and that to the faithfull he will ever approve himself such A Psalm made by Asaph 1 I Have had my share of trials and my share of temptations thereupon and also my share of experimented providences and mercies from God so that when all things are rightly weighed after a long debate and conflict betwixt flesh and spirit concerning the one and the other whether God be or be not to his people as he hath promised I must needs conclude he is God and as good as his word to Israel but to what Israel for there was my mistake not to all that go under that name because they are the seed of Jacob so called for all are not Israel that are of Israel but to the Israel in spirit not in the letter to them belongs the promise and performance of grace and goodness to such as are purified by faith not onely in the outward part by legal purifyings which are but umbrages but in the hidden man of the heart by effectual operation of faith and the spirit of grace to such the Lord is gracious and ever will be I know it by experience and so shall they let them never doubt it nor question the truth of Gods word and promise because of seeming contraridictoriness in his work of providence thereunto but take it upon the word of a Prophet as well as a promise it is a truth whatsoever is suggested to the contrarie by carnal and corrupt reason God is so will be so and cannnot be otherwise 2 I confess it is no easie matter to be thus perswaded considering the strange order that is in Gods providences and dispensations I my self for all I can now speak it boldly yet the time was when I was as misbelieving as other men extreamly staggered I was in my faith and judgement touching the truth of the promise and the goodness of God according thereunto I was almost fallen from faith and consequently from hope reverence and every thing of that nature ready to to turn Atheist as touching the points of Gods truth and goodness truly I was even going if God had not staied me to deviate and shift for my self by carnal policie and creature-confidence as I saw others do 3 For like a fool as I was I fastened mine eyes upon the outward face of things I saw them that are best suffer most those that are worst prosper best which put me into a passionate envy of them that clouded my judgement so that I could not but raise foolish conclusions upon foolish premises and think with my selfe that surely it is not God but Fortune that orders matters thus or if it be God that then he cannot bring both ends together punish his people prosper the wicked and yet be good to the one and just to the other 4 Whom contrarie to their demerits he lets live in such felicitie all their daies for for all their sins they have the world at will their minds and consciencies free from trouble their constitutions strong and bodies healthfull they feel no punishments nor pains in either neither living nor dying for after a prosperous life I thought I should see God meet with them at their deaths whereas they died as they lived without either pangs of bodie or horrour of conscience to mine admiration and stumbling 5 A man would almost think that judges with worldly judgement as I did that sin and wickedness were the high-way to happiness and that the promises were rather made to the bad than the good for whilest the godly undergo concussions and agitations within and without they live in a serene clime under a perpetual calm and feel not the twentieth part of what the righteous suffer 6 And therefore they brave it over them and pride themselves as the onely men on earth whom God favours far above the Godly whom they look contemptibly upon maligne and oppress them even for their pietie and povertie sake judging them therefore hated of God and so justly persecuted of men and themselves his onely friends and he theirs 7 They pamper their carcasses live deliciously fair well and thrive well upon it they have no want of Worldly wealth and outward felicitie God pours honey into their hive they prosper wondrously even beyond their own desires and expectations 8 Their plentie and voluptuousness makes them quite forget God to be above them they live sensually and sinfully as if they were controlable by none and with open face do injustice and wrong bragging of their power to oppress and threatning thunderbolts to the poor and despised people of God 9 Who if they make their appeal to heaven pray for and plead Gods power to protect them against theirs they contemn them and blaspheme God yea bid defiance both to God and man not caring for God above them and thinking all the world else to be below them for their proud and presumptuous speeches import no less 10 Whereupon it is that the people of God are in my very case they stumble and allmost fall and are in grievous agonies not onely by outward affliction but every way which is worse by inward diffidences and debates in themselves whilest the good are thus extreamly under and the bad a top of the wheel 11 Insomuch as I did so do they begin to question through the infirmitie of the flesh and their astonishment at the strangeness of such proceedings the providence and administration of God whither at all he that is in heaven heed these things below or if he do then how they can stand with his wise and righteous dispensations and word of promise 12 For thus they say within themselves who are they that come on and prosper in the World why generally the wicked and ungodly have most and do best is it not so every where 13 And who are they that have least and are most under hatches why truly they that fear God
and full of danger for I am ready to be devoured by my Lion-like enemies but Lord thou that canst deliver do deliver me in token of the resurrection of Christ even from death it self and the rather for that heretofore I have found favour and had audience in as desperate a condition and as imminent peril of death by mighty enemies 22 I will in Psalms of praise magnifie thy power and goodnes amongst thy people who are my brethren flesh of my flesh as the regenerate are one with Christ in spirit In the midst of all Israel met together at thy sanctuary to worship thee shall thy praises be openly sung in Psalms of praise which I will dedicate to thee 23 Stirring up thereby thy faithful and obedient people to praise thee with me and for me the Type as thy Church and chosen ones will for Christ the Antitype All ye who are Jacobs posteritie and resemble Gods peculiar and elect people exalt the Lord for the great benefits he hath afforded me and to you by me Serve him with reverence and Godly fear all you that are Israel and sprung of Israel as shall do the children of the promise or the spiritual Israel of God under the Government of the Messiah 24 For he hath ever been mindful both of you and me in all our afflictions then when the world hath contemned and disdained you as it will his Church and me as it will Christ yet hath he highly set by us and done for us nor hath he ever withdrawn his grace and favour from me in my worst estate no more than he will from the Messiah in his but when at such times I cried unto him he hath most of all expressed it ever vouchsafing me a gracious answer and relief as he will to him and his in like condition 25 Therefore will I pay my homage of praise and thanks unto thee of whom I have received all my welfare and happines even before all Israel will I do it to provoke them to do the like who have like cause with me I will at those times of most solemn and publick worship sing thy praise and offer my sacrifice of thanks-giving unto thee that all may joyn with me and take example by me 26 They that meekly undergo their sufferings and do wait upon the Lord for deliverance and the fulfilling of his gracious promises shall be sure at last to have their hearts desire and shall be feasted with their own peace-offerings as Christ shall be in heaven after he hath endured the cross They shall have cause of praise that faithfully seek to him by prayer in their distresses Such men shall not need to be discouraged at no time nor in no condition but shall always have cause comfortably to enjoy themselves by faith in God 27 The time shall come when Christ is come and after his sufferings is exalted into glorie as contemptible as he seemeth to be that all the world shall take notice of their lost estate But for him whom God hath exalted to the office of a Saviour and Mediator and shall thereupon willingly and with all their hearts renounce their errours and idols to serve the onely true God in Christ and the manifold nations of the Gentiles who now are a separate bodie from the Church shall then be incorporated into it acknowledging the Lord Christ and worshipping him who when he is lifted up shall draw all men after him 28 For God hath put all power into his hands and he will shew that his Kingdom is not confined to Israel alone but that he is King over the Gentiles whom he will also bring under his dominion and allegiance 29 All sorts of people from all parts of the earth shall submit to Christs scepter and salvation They that outwardly abound in wealth and honour or inwardly with carnal confidence or self-righteousness shall yet be glad to casheer such destructive principles and deceivable and account it their greater safetie and felicitie to take their souls repast in Christ whom they shall feed upon by faith as their peace-offering for whom and by whom they shall thankfully adore and worship God all also that are abject and poor or that in self-despair apprehend themselves under the bondage and fear of death by sin shall likewise humbly and thankfully take hold of him for their Saviour and honour him as their onely Redeemer And thus it shall be made appear by the conviction of all mens consciences that were it not for him all the world were undone for no man can be saved without him by his own righteousnes nor purchase heaven either by worldly affluence or voluntarie penurie and pennance of soul or bodie but onely by being Christs and having Christ for his 30 Not that all the whole world shall either serve him or be saved by him But a holy seed like Jacobs chosen and called every where out of the world shall believe in him and yield obedience to him and they shall be counted to the Lord for children and he to them for a Father because of their faith in him and obedience to him and his reciprocal love to them and care over them 31 They by the Fathers drawing shall come to Christ and partake of his justifying righteousnes and grace when he is raised and exalted out of his abased condition of humiliation to be the King and Saviour of his Church Which in zeal to Christ himself and in Christian charitie and dutie they shall promulgate and declare also to succeeding Generations and teach it to their children and childrens children that they in like manner may partake of his grace and be begotten to God by believing in him Even those great things shall they declare which he hath done for Christ and for his Church in and through Christ like as he hath done for me and for the people of Israel by me The xxiii PSALM David from what God had done for him in bringing him to the Kingdom argues what he will do and sets his seal of faith and assurance to it so as that by reason of his past and present condition no future dangers shall dismay him But is confident he shall spend and end his life in happines and promises constant praises for perpetuated mercies A Psalm made by David 1 THe Lord hath shewn himself as careful and tender over me as a shepheard over his sheep which makes me confident of his gratious benignity to me for the time to come that of his bounteous goodnes he will so see to me that I shall lack nothing that is expedient for me 2 For present he hath made large provision for me and carved with a bountiful hand unto me of every good thing he gives me peace and plentie and hath brought me into a safe and happie condition void of danger and full of inward and outward tranquillitie 3 He hath as it were given me a resurrection
with such power doth it operate even upon unsensible creatures That not onely the trees but also the mightie and unmoveable mountains whereon they grow are shaken by it and seem to jump up out of their places and from their center by the earth-quake which is begotten by that noise Even the mountains Lebanon and Hermon as great and weightie as they are are moved and in a moment rise and fall with the force of thunder 7 The thunder sends forth fearful and fiery-flashes of lightning from out the clouds and in an instant with a violent and sudden motion disperses and darts them hither and thither 8 The thunder by its mighty and frightful noise uttered as it were by the omnipotent mouth of God himself makes even the vast and savage wilderness yea that great and terrible one which the Israelites wandred in 40 years between Egypt and Canaan together with the wild beasts and formidable creatures therein which are so frightful to others themselves to quake and tremble 9 This noise of thunder so terrifies the most wild and untamedst creatures and which are of difficult production as are the Hinds that it makes them prevent natures season and for fear untimely cast their young and of such force it is that it layes the forrest in many parts of it plain by turning up trees by the rootes making a clear prospect through woods and groves This is one way whereby God gets himself glorie shewing this his greatness to the amazement of all men and all things and exspects of all men to be honoured thereafter But another and better way whereby he is honoured is now in his tabernacle and hereafter in his temple for saving-mercies with a sanctified worship where all the faithful do and must resort to give him the glorie and praises not onely of his greatness manifested in his works but chiefly of his goodness and mercie manifested in his word 10 O that the Kings and great men of the earth would therefore be awed by his works and won by his word to honour him and subject themselves to him and his holy ordinances and cease to rebel and rise up against him by opposing his Church and peoples quiet but if not The Lord that commands the raging seas and subdues their force can and will subdue theirs also for he shall bring all his enemies be they never so great under his feet and will reign for ever in and for his Church spite of all earthly power to the contrarie 11 The Lord will give his people the better of their adversaries be they never so potent and will establish them in peace and tranquillitie by and under me as Christ shall his Church in inward spiritual peace and consolation spite of all her enemies the world flesh or devil The xxx PSALM David upon his return to Ierusalem after Absaloms expulsion of him dedicates his house anew and thereat gratulates the mercies of God with this Psalm of praise for his deliverance and his enemies overthrow exhorting the Israel of God to rejoyce with him whom God had made such a monument of mercie to his people whom though for sin he may afflict as he did him yet will he remember mercie and hear their prayers as he did his to the end they may ever have cause to praise him as for his part he had and for ever would A Psalm of praise and thanks-giving made by David at his peaceable and victorious return to Jerusalem after Absaloms rebellion and appointed to be song with voice and instruments at the solemnity of dedicating his house by purging it from those incestuous filthinesses committed in it by him with his fathers concubines Whom therefore he put apart never to have any further knowledge of them 1 AS I have great cause so O Lord I will greatly magnifie the grace and mercie towards me for thou hast again exalted me and set me in my Kingdom and given me the better of mine enemies that traiterously rebelled against me and would have deposed me to have inthronized themselves in it 2 Lord God of infinit power and goodness such thou hast approved thy self to me when I was in distress I made thee mine onely refuge to thee alone did I in prayer and supplication make my moan and of thee sought I relief and thou hast accordingly quit me of all my troubles and restored me to my Kingdom in peace and safety as from death to life 3 O Lord to thy power and goodness do I wholly and solely ascribe my subsistence and recovery so miraculous and wonderful hath been my deliverance from such dangers that by no humane power could have been prevented from destroying me hadst not thou preserved me alive beyond all humane hope or help 4 O all ye my fellow-saints and servants the adopted and called of the Lord joyn with me to bless and praise him with joyful hearts in this my solemn memorial and thankful gratulation of his grace and faithfulness 5 For this my strange and speedy deliverance and restorement whereby he hath made me a monument of his goodness and mercie to his people everlastingly in all ages to encourage them to believe in him and pray to him be their sin and his displeasure seemingly never so great for that in faithfulness he will remember mercie even in judgement to such his anger is short-lived and makes the return of his favour much more sweet and precious like life from death If his people by sin grieve him he may justly withdraw the light of his countenance grieve them but grace and mercie sought to in faith and humilitie will soon remove the eclipse it shall be but as an evening to a morning the light of grace like that of nature will certainly return and with advantage for short sorrow makes welcome joy 6 And I for my part can give a full testimonie of this his dealing in my behalf for when as I was setled peaceably in my Kingdom and had brought under mine enemies my heart began to contract securitie and carnal confidence not living by faith and prayer as at other times but thought my self unchangeably happie never dreaming of such a strange revolt and rebellion 7 Acknowledging but with a mixture of too much carnal confidence in my present condition the grace of God in bestowing it on me and establishing it unto me not considering that he could as easily take it from me for sin as bestow it on me in mercie therefore God seeing cause withdrew his favour and support from me let me first fall into sin and then into danger to let me see what had preserved me from both to wit neither my goodness nor my good condition but his grace and favour and that onely can do it For notwithstanding all the obligations on his part and vows and promises on mine yet so soon as he ceased to dispense his auxiliarie favour and grace I fell into monstrous folly
which wrought me this trouble and miserie 8 And hereupon I betook me to my never failing refuge of fervent and faithful prayer which I put up to the Lord again and again 9 Reasoning the matter thus in an humble boldness what satisfaction can my bloud make thee for my sin or how can my death glorifie thee comparably to my life and restorement what an opportunitie of praise wilt thou lose if thou takest away my life though I confess in justice I have forfeited it but consider if according to thy mercie and faithfulness thou so far beyond my merits shalt pardon and spare me what praise it will bring thee and how I and others for my sake shall be set on work to admire and magnifie the omnipotencie of thy grace and infallibilitie of thy promise 10 Therefore make not my life a prey to mine enemies but hear my prayer and in mercie pardon my sin and grant me deliverance be thou Lord my helper and saviour from my sin and danger 11 And upon my prayer the Lord hath helped me yea to thine everlasting praise be it spoken thou Lord hast been merciful to me and hast done away both my sin and thine anger quit me of mine enemies and restored me out of my sorrowful estate to a joyful condition and out of my humiliation and abasement into an established tranquillitie and happiness 12 And this thou hast done for me To the end I may by this merciful occasion have my tongue oiled from a heart enlarged to exalt thee in thy never to be forgotten praises by Psalms of thanks-giving and accordingly O Lord that art the God of all my happiness I will never forget this thy mercie but with everlasting thankfulness according to my dutie and thy desert will I celebrate the praise thereof unto thee The xxxi PSALM David by many circumstances in this Psalm does doubtless intend his sufferings and the great straits he was brought into under Absaloms rebellion against which he prayes and comforts himself by and from Gods former mercies shewn in his deliverance under Sauls persecution and in prayer urgeth hard upon God his great extremities under the burden of his sin and sufferings together with his injurious usage solitarie friendlesness and extream hazard of his life In all which afflictions he yet animates himself by his saith in God and earnestly persists in prayer to him even until he be fully heard and answered in his own preservation and his enemies overthrow And then blames his faith for sailing him upon the suddenness and greatness of his temptation but magnifies the goodness of God that yet was merciful and faithful to him And exhorts all the Godly never in no case to disbelieve the power and grace of God assuring the faithful that they shall ever find God so To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 THee O Lord do I make mine onely refuge in all mine adversities trusting in nothing but thy help and grace therefore at no time no more now then heretofore let me miscarrie nor my faith nor self be rendred a scorn to mine adversaries but do thou keep promise with me and deliver me 2 Lend an hearing ear to the prayer I put up unto thee and delay not to deliver me in mine extremitie which is urgent and requires speedy relief as my faith makes thee so let it find thee an all-sufficient support and safetie to me in all adverse fortune 3 For truly thou art all in all to me I have not any thing to trust unto nor do I trust in any thing but thee for defence and preservation therefore for the honour of thy faithfulness whereupon I solely depend take me into thy tuition and trase out my way for me by thy gracious and wise providence that I be not ensnared by mine enemies 4 Prevent their craftie counsels and subtile practises against me not suffering me to be entrap'd but so directing me in all my ways as to shun their deceits or if I by thine appointment and permitting providence fall into their snares deliver me out of them for there are none too wise or too strong for thee who art of wisdom and power sufficient either to prevent or to rescue me 5 I betrust my life and safetie to nothing but thy custodie there I deposit it now and for ever and good cause have I for thou hast given good testimonie of thy tender care and love to it and me thou hast rescued my life from temporal danger and my soul from spiritual and eternal O Lord thou hast hitherto made good thy word of grace and so I trust wilt still 6 I have been tempted and perswaded in my necessities to leave off depending on thee and to take other courses like other men but I have ever expressed my dislike of such counsels and reproved such counsellours that would have drawn me to seek mine advantages against mine enemies as they do against me by sinful and unjustifiable proceedings and have always both in word and deed declared my self to relie on the Lord for deliverance in his own way and time 7 And whilest I take this course I know I shall rejoyce in the issue yea I promise and assure my self before-hand that I shall ever have cause of gladness and joy in thy goodness and mercie for thou wilt still have as thou hast ever had a tender regard of me in my troubles testifying thy mindfulness of me by my manifold extraordinarie preservations and deliverances 8 Which thou hast given me from mine arch-enemie Saul who thought me his and that I could not escape him many a time when yet I did Yea thou hast set me free out of all those troubles with advantage of honour and happines 9 And now O Lord do as thou hast done shew me mercie in delivering me out of my present distress for my trouble is very great so that my sight is become dim with continual weeping and my spirits and vitals are wasted and decayd within me by my pensivenes 10 For my very life draws nigh to death with extream grieving and my time is cut off and shortened by the exhausting of my spirits with incessant sighings and lamentations Yea my natural strenght decays and wasteth by reason of my sin and thy displeasure so that my very bones are sensibly enfeebled with it 11 Mine old inveterate enemies and Sauls friends were all glad in heart to see mine affliction insulting thereupon but especially was I most injuriously and reprochfully used by my neer allies and friends Absalom and Ancitophel being forced to flie and shift for my self in a poor condition in so much as that those that wished me well and were mine entire friends and acquaintance durst not owne me or take part with me almost all that
Lord I am one of those be thou therefore so to me in thy goodness and mercie hear me calling and crying unto thee for relief in this my distressed estate 7 And truly Lord that goodness of thine and my confidence in it prompts me what ever and whensoever I am in affliction to flie to thee by prayer and supplication not doubting of a gracious answer and issue 8 There are many gods worshipped in the world besides thee but for my part I know none but thee nor will pray or seek to any else for I am sure it is but lost labour Thine onely is the Kingdom power and glorie Thy works are worthy of thee but they as they are no Gods so there is nothing they can do neither god nor man besides thy self no creature whatsoever can do any thing worthy a mans trust for all that is done is either of thee or from thee and those things wherein thou art pleased to appear and to put forth thy power how transcendent are they 9 Yea though it be a thing almost incredible and seemingly impossible considering that ignorance and enmity that is all the world over yet shalt thou that by thine infinit Almighty power hast made all nations make to thy self a Church of every people in the whole earth aswel Gentiles as Jews and they shall yield thee not constrained but voluntarie obedience and acknowledgement under the Kingdom of Christ whereof my Kingdom no less powerfully brought about by thee shall be some resemblance for then shall the heathen nations do thee homage and dread thy power I shall convince them but Christ shall convert them whose people and servants they shall then be as we now are 10 For there is nothing impossible to God who is able to do whatsoever he will his power is infinit and omnipotent as his wondrous works declare and the strange transcendent things he hath done for his Church in all ages and will do still even make the whole world his Church and himself to be worshipped and acknowledged of the very heathen they that now are Idolaters and serve many Gods yea every thing for God but God shall serve him and none besides him as we do 11 O Lord in the hour of temptation and time of trouble which is now upon me thou knowest how apt we are to step aside partly by ignorance partly by frailty my suit therefore is that thou wouldest instruct me how to demean my self so that I sin not against thee and to that end mind me of my dutie in every emergencie Let me hear a voice behind me saying this is the way and my purpose is not to deviat from it but my power must be from thee to make good this purpose therefore Lord give me such grace and courage and such seasonable supplement thereof that I may be resolved to believe firmly in thee and to walk exactly with thee at all essayes not staggering either in faith or a good conscience 12 As I have found thee mindful of me in trouble so shalt thou find me no less mindful of thee and my dutie to thee out of it I will not forget nor fail to give thee praises and that unfeigned ones uttered from my heart in the faith of thy power and grace O Lord my good God yea it shall be my constant practise to praise thee and to magnifie thee in and for them whilest I have any being 13 For greatly have they been manifested in thy mercie towards me and in so wonderfully preserving me from death and destruction that so unavoidably assailed me and had certainly devoured me hadst not thou mightily preserved me 14 And indeed I had need of no less power than thine to preserve me considering my humane help how weak it is and mine enemies insolencie and rage how great they are for multitudes of such as care neither for God nor man that disdain to walk by any rules but their own dictates without regard either to mine innocencie or thy severitie and justice resolve to persecute me to death 15 But thou O Lord art as gracious and merciful as they are cruel as pitiful as they are pitiless pardoning the sins and sensible of the sufferings of thy servant bearing with my frailties and passing by my infirmities in these my trials and failest me not as I have need of thee but hast abundantly approved thy goodness to be as large as thy truth and promise and thy self to be every jot as good as thy word 16 And so let me still find thee thy favour and grace O Lord vouchsafe me and in a time of need have mercie upon me to deliver me as I am thy servant so Lord inable me to persevere give inward strength of faith and courage to uphold me in and under these outward calamities and power to wade through them so as that I perish not in them have a gracious regard to me who thou knowest am a child not onely of thy visible but of thine invisible Church an heir of the promise born and bred under thy roof of thine own family neerly related to thee and therefore pray and hope for protection from thee 17 As I stand in need of more than ordinarie supportation so also of extraordinarie consolation and mine enemies of extraordinarie conviction by reason of their arrogance and malignitie Therefore Lord vouchsafe some notable act of providence in the behalf of my preservation and of power in their confusion that they which so extreamly hate me may know thou lovest me and hatest them for hating me and be ashamed at their hating and persecuting one whom they see thou lovest and preservest and for whose sake thou discomfits them to be a help and comfort unto me The lxxxvii PSALM For as much as 〈◊〉 the captivity upon their return the Iewâ— wâ—re or might bâ— dâ—jâ—cted with the paâ—citie of their people and povertie of their condition the holy Ghost by the Psalmist animates them and diverts the thoughts and apprehensions of the godly by setting forth the glorious priviledges of Sion prophâ—sted of old but not yet fulfilled saving in their shâ—dows which shortly would be accomplished in substance when all nations should be ambitious to be Sionists for the Church it selfe should bear that name which shall abound both in a numerous issue and heavenly qualifications A Psalm made to be both sung and played by the Korathites 1 THe holy Lord God from out all the world hath chosen Canaan a hilly countrey Jerusalem a mountainous place and in Jerusalem mount Sion and Moriah to scituate his Temple and to rest his Ark and establish his worship in There had his Church the pillar and ground of truth the first setling and truth it self the first firm footing upon which foundation laid among these hils was to be built and reared that great famous structure of the Gentil-Church Christ himself the principal corner-stone digged out of those mountains
being himself the master builder 2 The Lord hath made a special choice of and expressed therein a particular respect before all the rest of the land of Judah and Israel to the hill of Sion scituate in Jerusalem and to Jerusalem in the whole circumference therof for Sions sake where his Tabernacle Ark and Temple is for there true religion must abide till the coming of the Messiah and hence it must be spread over all the world 3 However outwardly Jerusalem is by the heavy mis-fortunes that have befallen her much lessened in beauty and glory to what she was yet glorious prophesies of spiritual excellencies whereof the former splendour was but adumbrations are recorded concerning her which are not yet fulfilled O thou citie of Gods peculiar love and election be yet comforted and confident they shall be doubt it not 4 Such glory shall shine from the tops of thy holy mountains and from thy holy citie as much changed as it is as shall be resplendent all the world over insomuch as I dare promise thee a mighty access of free-denizons members of the Church a glorious recruit of many that God shall call from all the parts teach to know and reverence him and thee for his sake even out of remote countries and from amongst thy bitter enemies as Egypt Babylon the Philistines Tyre and Ethiopia they shall flock to thee when the Messiah is known to be in thee and being partakers of the new birth shall be ambitious to be called after thy name children of the new Jerusalem 5 And as they shall be ambitious to be citizens of Jerusalem so also to be sons and daughters of Sion in a word they shall think themselves happy and blessed that they are begotten to God made partakers of the spiritual and new birth regenerated by the holy ghost and so incorporated in the seed and posteritie of faithful Abraham heirs of the Covenant and grace of salvation with us and so naturalized into the priviledge and participation of God and his worship practized in the Church typified by Sion which new Jerusalem and her denizons Sion and her children shall be founded upon the power of God who shall uphold and maintain her to perpetuitie so that the gates of hell shall not prevail against her Kingdoms and Empires shall have their period but the Church Christs Kingdom who is above all blessed for ever shall be everlasting 6 Yea the Lord himself shall name thy name upon his called and elect ones he shall muster them in the role of thy souldiers and number them in the catalogue of thy Citizens all that are his shall also be thine sons and daughters begotten of God but born in Sion as God shall be their Father so Sion shall be their mother by which name the Church it self shall be called A glorious priviledge 7 And as Sion shall be glorious in a numerous spiritual of-spring so in equivalent solemnities to what she was wont to have nay beyond it for whereas all Israel had but one Temple then every Israelite every member of this new Jerusalem shall be a Temple and every one of those Temples furnished with the substances of all those shadowish significant ceremonies the Church shall have no want of voices and musical instruments to praise the Lord withall they shall be in abundance men of large graces and enlarged hearts My heart is ravished with the apprehension of the happiness of those times what graces what comforts all that a faithful soul can desire or a hungrie soul stands in need of shall be plentifully supplied to the Church and the members thereof in this new Jerusalem and spiritual Sion wherewith I desire to be happie and hereof to share as being indeed the onely comfortable soul-refreshing musick The lxxxviii PSALM Heman a man extraordinarie wise exercised with extraordinarie trouble yea even all his life long applies himself to God by a faithful insinuation pathetical narration of the superlative nature of his afflictions and humble interrogation or expostulation touching the long continuance of them in such extremitie upon him is in hope because God hath stirred him up to pray that he himself will be moved to hear and that though he live miserable yet he shall not die so concludes as he began with expostulation and narration A Psalm made to be both sung played by the Korathites and committed to him that is most skilful upon the instrument Mahalath Leannoth to which it is chiefly set for his ordering it being a Psalm of instruction an exemplarie pattern how every sincere servant of the Lord is to demean himself towards God by ardent prayer and humble expostulation when his hand is heavie upon him in the pressure of a troubled spirit or other grievous adversitie penned by Heman one of the sons of Zerah of the posteritie of Judah famous for his wisdom 1 Kings 4.31 1 O Lord God who for all thy heavy hand upon me art my souls Saviour and I am sure must be my sole deliverer out of this anxietie and I hope wilt be so as my grief is extream so are my complaints pathetical and my prayers unto thee exceeding ardent and that without ceasing as is my misery 2 Let a poor mournfull man have admittance and his prayer audience with thee the great God estrange not thy self alwaies but vouchsafe a gracious condescention to me a poor crying creature in great extremity 3 For the anguishments of my soul are an inseparable burthen which are heaped brim-full upon it in so great a measure as the weight of them almost presseth my life and soul out of my body and I am reduced to the very point of death by them 4 By the troubles of my mind my body is quite wasted I am a very skelliton nothing but skin and bones as weak as water no strength left in me so that by all symptoms I am by all that see me given for a dead man irrecoverable 5 Though I live yet my soul is as if it were departed for it administers no comfortable communion to my body which is as a corps laid out for burying and I no more to be reckoned amongst the living but a free-denizon of another society of that moietie of mankind which are dead nor do I die as others by a natural death in the ordinarie way and by ordinarie means of sickness or old-age but I languish under a wounded spirit God as an enraged enemie thrusts mine heart through as it were with a sharp sword and sends me by a violent death down into the grave where is ended all that care and providence thou hast over us whilest we are living there I shall be as it were laid out of thy sight and forgotten thy hand of providence which was wont to provide and care for me then shall be quite quite of me and I both untimely and violently ravished from it as they that lose their lives by some ireful
dispensation men die and fall as thick as hail round about thee by the pestilence which of it self knows no difference nor makes none betwixt one man and another whose natures are alike mortall and their constitutions alike apt to infection yet shall God whose judgement it is and whose will it performs so order and dispose the dispensation of it that thou shalt be as it were shot-free when thousands and ten thousands drop dead at thy feet 8 Thou in thine own person shalt feel no harm thou shalt onely be a spectatour of other mens destruction and Gods judgement executed upon sinners by suddain and untimely death overtaking many thousands that misimploied their life-time living in sin and impenitency and would have continued so 9 Because thou hast done as I do thou shalt speed as I have sped for God his promise and performance shall be one and the same to all believers and therefore as I made him my refuge and so he was so thou doing the like he shall be the like even the Almighty God from heaven shall safeguard thee as well as me if thou take sanctuary in him 10 So doing thou shalt be like Israel in Egypt when the first born were smitten how ever it happen to others thy faith shall secure thee yea both thee and thine even from commonest judgements 11 For all the powers of heaven shall be imploid to preserve thee if there be need besides both the ordinary and extraordinary providence of God he shall double his guard upon thee yea not one but many nor many but all the Angels of heaven shall stand charged with thee if there be cause to protect thee from miscarriage by any power or accidents on earth whilest thou walkest in wayes pleasing to God and believest stedfastly in him 12 For as the faithfull have many and great enemies so have they many more and greater friends If Sathan and his Angels lay stumbling blocks in thy way God and his Angels shall either remove them that is enable thee to keep on thy course without making a stand or turning back thou shalt either not stumble or so as not to fall thou shalt catch no hurt though thou maiest be endangered 13 Manifold dangers and fierce enemies men and divels the faithfull shall meet with secret plotters and open assailers but neither the one nor the other shall do them any hurt but instead thereof both they and their attempts shall miscarry Gods faithfull people shall take no hurt by the most hurtfull creatures be they never so poisonous or ravenous nor by men of like dispositions to whom the godly are great eye-sores living amongst them they are a trouble and vexation to them against whom they act their rage and malice but to their own destruction 14 Besides my doctrine and example hear God himself bespeaking thee with promises as from his own mouth whom I his Prophet personate Because saith he he that is faithfull hath out of love to me and my faithfulness put his affiance in me he shall have no cause to repent him I will not deceive him he shall not miscarry I will deliver him out of trouble and danger set him quite out of gun-shot they shall as soon hurt heaven as him because out of a right understanding and belief of my power and faithfulness he hath honoured me by believing in me with sutable recumbency 15 Such an one shall but ask and have if he be in trouble I will have an eye to him and an ear for him if he call for deliverance it shall come at his call I will deliver him and in such a manner as that because he honours me I also will honour him with speciall marks of my favour such as his very enemies men or divels shall honour or envy him for here on earth and reward him with glory in heaven 16 Thus will I preserve and lengthen his life to his own desire maugre all that would shorten it he shall know I can and will save him if he trust in me yea my everlasting salvation more worth than my temporall will I open his eyes to see and desire above it and if he believe me for it he shall be sure of it and he that hath the comfort and assurance of that by my spirits ascertaining it unto him will have no cause to think I break faith with him or deceive his faith in me whatever happen The xcii PSALM The Psalmist for the better sanctifying of the Sabbath having penned this Psalm shews the proper and adequate service of that day is to praise the Lord for his manifestations of himself and thank him for his gracious and beneficiall administrations to his people richly declared in his works of creation redemption providence and just judgements all which are nothing in the eyes of worldlings that mind the creature and not the Creatour but how ever they neglect God yet be neglects not to punish them and bless his people who by him and in him shall be happy here and hereafter A Psalm to be both sung and plaied by voices and instruments principally of use upon the Sabbath-day for its better celebrating and the peoples edifying when then they are solemnly assembled to serve the Lord. 1 IT is an acceptable service to God and a commendable imploiment for his people to be much conversant specially on the Sabbath-day in the meditation and recollection of all the benefits of what nature soever which God hath and doth bestow upon us whether of creation providence or redemption and to have our hearts affected and enflamed with them so as to be exceeding thankfull for them And to view and consider his power goodness and mercy manifested and exhibited in them so as to be moved thereby with reverence love and admiration devoutly and solemnly to worship before him and to celebrate his glory and praise as the great and onely God worthy of honour 2 Our duty is to take continuall notice of thy continued and renewed benefits and always to have our hearts upheld thereby in a sweet gratuitous frame and temper with the eye of faith piercing into the love and faithfulness answerable to his grace and promises which shine forth in them that should take us more than the things themselves and cause our thanksgivings far beyond them 3 Which cannot be too solemnly celebrated all the musick of the Temple is too little to do it therefore lay out your utmost strength and skill you that are especially appointed to that honour and service and gifted for it resembling the heavenly Quire raise up your hearts and in that holy place at the appointed times tune up all your instruments those chiefly that are most affecting and heart-ravishing to this work chiefly on this day 4 For though O Lord thou art exceeding beneficiall to all mankind yet of all the world thou hast done most for us which I and the rest of thy peculiar
wert not God alone yet thou wilt now set their judgements right and let them know that none can pretend to Godhead but thy self as heaven is thy throne so the earth is thy foot-stool and shall be subdued unto Jesus Christ for that in him thou shalt be magnified beyond all that are called Gods who shall then appear to be what indeed they are Lying vanities and so shall be accounted of 10 Great shall be the numbers of Professours and pretenders to Christianity infinite will give their names to Christ and be ambitious to have his name named upon them in those dayes but there is more belongs to it than so He that is indeed the Lord Christs a loyall subject of his Kingdom and member of his Church must sincerely love him and that must appear by an upright walking with him and believing on him he must fear to offend him and therefore hate sin because it doth so and so doing be fearless as touching his salvation and preservation faithfully relying upon the truth and providence of God for both maugre both his ghostly and temporall enemies which God may suffer to hazard his Church and people for the triall of their faith and exercise of their graces but never to ruine them 11 For when ever God seems to plow and harrow his Church by persecutions and troubles that is his and her seeds-time then is he but husbanding his field weeding and clodding it all that time of darkness and infelicity is but the seed-season and preparatory to the breaking out of greater favour and grace upon her which he preserves in store she shall not lose but gain by it when the spring and harvest comes her joy shall be redoubled when the ecclipse is over Thus shall it be not with all professours but with the uncorrupt and pure in heart who are the Lords as well within as without in affections as actions whose ends and motives are principled from God and for God by faith in him and love to him 12 Let such righteous ones though they meet with never so many rubs in the way be so far from being dismaid at them as to go on with full sails of assurance and joy in God making no stop but over-topping all fear by faith still casting their eye upon Gods never-failing faithfulness and being as thankfull for a happy issue and deliverance out of their afflictions as if they had it because of the ingagement of Gods holiness which cannot deceive them The xcviii PSALM This Psalm is as if it had been made by Iohn Baptist himself pointing out Christ and his Kingdom already come through the propinquity and certainty of it shewing sorth the prais-worthy deliverance and universall benefit that to Iew and Gentile shall accrue thereby yea to the very irrationall and unsensible creatures whereupon be excites all rationall and irrationall to praise the Lord proportionably A Psalm to be sung 1 O what wonderfull occasions from time to time hath God given his people Israel of frequent and fresh praises by deliverance upon deliverance and all of them so strange and miraculous that we could not have the face to ascribe them to any but to him to whom we have endited and sung many a new Psalm for new mercies all which temporall salvations and our thanksgivings for them were but prefigurations of that one onely salvation of his Church by Christ God incarnate whose powerfull triumphant death and holy life active and passive obedience hath gotten so glorious a victory to his everlasting praise over all the spirituall enemies of his elect and faithfull people which as it is the deliverance whereof all others were but adumbrations so ought it to have the praise above them all joyntly or severally A Quire of Angels are but fit to celebrate this great and Gospel salvation the good news whereof ought much more to set the spirituall Preists and people of God on work to praise him for it that are saved by it 2 The heathen people have admired our salvations and wondrous deliverances many a time which the Lord hath wrought for us in their sight and hearing But they shall have much more cause to admire their own when God shall proclaim the year of Jubilee to the Gentiles and bring them by the redemption of the Messiah which is at hand out of the power of Hell sin death and darkness setting wide open to them the doore of life that were shut out and Preaching salvation of free-grace to all the world according to his promise 3 The promised Messiah which was to come of the seed of Israel our Father and in whom is to be accomplished all those covenanted engagements and Gospel promises made with Abraham of grace and mercy pardon and atonement God in faithfulness and fulness of time hath sent him in whom all the nations of the earth are to be blessed for the benefit both of Jews and Gentiles whose all-sufficient merit and common salvation shall in the fame and promulgation of it extend it self by a gracious and free tender to all people in all places of the world without exception our God is their God in and through Christ and his salvation both ours and theirs they being through grace adopted and ingrafted into one stock with us the faithfull seed of faithfull Abraham every where sharers in the blessing 4 5 6 We a corner of the world a few in comparison of the whole O how were we wont to resound and eccho out the Honour and praises of the Lord in that onely Temple with all manner of musicall Instruments and Voices for our temporall and comparatively petty deliverances from earthly enemies and humane captivities and imbondagements O with what ineffable rejoycings in the superlativest manner we could devise did we magnifie the Lord and set the Crown of all glory upon his head How much more now are his praises to exceed when as all the earth is his Church Christ himself the Saviour and the termes to and from which we are saved are heaven and hell the subject of his salvation our pretious souls as well as mortall bodies both redeemed not onely into a capacity but certainty of spirituall and eternall life and freed from death of both sorts What praises are enough for this how can the redeemed of the Lord each whereof is a Temple and each Temple a Quire sufficiently extoll the Lord the King Christ Jesus dead and risen yea ascended into glory Go not less in the praises of such a Saviour for his salvation in the universall Catholick Church than we did for ours in our particular nationall Sinagogue But let your faith praise him in full assurance your joy in heart-ravishment your love by being such as many waters cannot quench your hope anchored within the vail Let all these graces by a joynt harmony like the voices and instruments of the Temple be sublimated to their highest sphear of activity in the celebration of
thou art bound no never to forget neither all nor any of them but to sum them up in thank-ful praises to his name 3 Who hath called thee to be faithfull and of his onely good grace hath freely in the merits of his son forgiven thee all thy sins justified thee from their guilt and pardoned their punishment so that from an heir of hell thou art translated to be an heir of heaven And hath also enabled thee by the spirit of regeneration to walk worthie so rich grace in mortifying thy lusts and raising thee to newness of life and conversation by his sanctifying quickening graces bestowed upon thee 4 Who to save thy life lost his own gave it a price for thee the virtue whereof hath influence every day and hour upon thee O my soul for every trespass thou committest dying virtually as oft as thou sinnest whereby thou art kept from perishing everlastingly as else thou hadst done and wouldst do continually and though the bodie wherein thou doest officiate do die a temporal death and lie down in the grave as all men must yet at that instant shalt thou be translated to live with him in Heaven that died for thee on earth instead of being sent to Hell according to thy demerits and at the resurrection shalt have a happie re-union with a glorified incorruptible bodie having honoured and enriched thee here with the first fruits of glorie pardoning protecting regenerating justifying graces more than I can enumerate because of his love and mercie to thee and for no cause else 5 Who feasts thee with Spiritual and Heavenly dainties suting thy tast and appetite answers all thy prayers touching requisit graces and comforts so that whensoever thy stock of either seems to be spent thy graces enfeebled and thy comforts exhausted then at thy request comes God with sweet and seasonable supplies and maketh them and so thee that wast a dying to live again vigorous and active like an eagle that by casting her beak and feathers and new-ones coming in their stead resumes her former agilitie and strength till then disabled so is thy regenerate part and sanctified habits by fresh auxiliaries and immediate breathings revived when at a loss 6 And not onely in spiritual soul-desertions but also in external bodily afflictions does the Lord appear seasonably for when I was oppressed and opened my case to God pleading mine innocencie and mine enemies injurie how did he judge my cause against them and upon them and so will he do for all his faithful upright innocent people in their wrongful pressures in a season most comfortable and profitable he will deliver them and judge their oppressours 7 Witness his wonderful works of old in the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt he did foretel to Moses what powerful and terrible judgements he would bring upon the Egyptians and how wonderfully in truth and righteousness he would enfranchise his people and what he said he did all he told to Moses by promise he made it good by experience in the sight of all the twelve tribes Israels posteritie he faild not in a tittle nor shall his Covenant of grace made with our redeemer Christ touching his redeemed 8 And as the Lord betwixt man and man is pitiful to the oppressed especially to his Church and terrible to their enemies So is he also betwixt himself and them a very graciously disposed God in respect of the sins and deserved punishments of his people as Israel well experimented all along the wilderness exceeding readie to shew mercie and to pardon sin and punishment when it is petitioned for not easily provoked nor apt to anger as they found and extream readie to grant forgiveness of one sin after another if the sinner pray it uprightly God will grant it willingly even the pardon of all our sins though both many and great as theirs were 9 And when he does visit our sins upon us for he will not alwayes bear with us so nor then will he be alwayes wroth against us punish us he may destroy us he never will no nor yet be alwayes angrie at us or frown upon us his face shall clear up and his favour shine forth after a while faithful prayer will scatter those clouds 10 We of all the World have cause to acknowledge him such an one he hath not done by us as we have deserved our experiences from time to time have made good all his gracious properties of grace long-suffering and plenteous mercie having ever been a God exceedingly bearing with us and forbearing of us though a provoking ungreatful people towards him 11 For the immensity of his mercie is superlative to any natural comparison no dimensions can proportion it the height of heaven above the earth does not resemble it to us such and beyond it is his mercie in preterition and pardon to his people that unfeinedly repent them of their sins and with full purpose of heart Covenant to fear and serve him 12 Consider the heavens either for height or wideness and which you think is the greater for the help of your faith conclude that so great and greater is the mercie of God towards such as turn to him and walk with him sincerely The East and West shall as soon come together as the sins of such shall be laid to their charge how grievous so ever they have been for at a greater distance and disproportion hath God sundred a penitent sinner and his sins even as far as infinite is from finite Christ himself who is God having taken them off of him upon himself 13 You that are earthly parents know what are the bowels of a father to a child when with tears and prayers it begs pardon for its offences such for such comparisons we are fain to use for the help of our natural apprehensions and far greater are the earnings of God and his compassions towards those that in the faith of his mercie repent of their transgressions beg pardon of their punishments and promise and perform upright obedience 14 For the Lord knoweth of what brickle matter we are made he remembers how transitorie our natures are so that should he deal with us after our sins and would punish us according to our provocations he would have no people left on earth to serve him or to carrie on the existence and being of a Church so that our frailtie moved him to mercie and not to do as sin would have him cut our short lives shorter 15 Man being no better than grass both sprung out of the earth hath a little time of Being alotted him here wherein he takes some contentment during part of that little in his youthful season as a flower that hath its moneth to spring flourish and decay in so at best is mans condition by course of nature but besides that naturally he is so frail and momentany he is subject to be cut off by infinite accidents that
in the praiseful acknowledgement whereof as also of thy grace and goodness towards us thy people thou thereby wilt give us infinite cause to rejoyce and glorie 48 And how ever we smart deservedly for our sins yet let the Lord be glorified Let us not forget his surpassing mercies to this nation but bless him that whatever our demerits have been yet hath ever approved himself like himself faithful and gracious and so will ever be to his people who ought therefore in the memorie of past and the faith of future mercies to bless him for it whilest the world endures and to this let all Israel subscribe and consent one and other for it is their dutie and the Lords due from them Therefore fail not on your part let nothing discourage you from thus praising the Lord and mark the issue The cvii. PSALM The Psalmist publishâ—th the Lords goodness and stirs up his Israel both in letter and spirit to be thankful for it so many wayes extended to them in all dispensations of what nature soever Yea all afflicted ones whom though in justice God punish for their sins yet he spares them when they crie unto him for mens folly enforceth God in goodness aswel as in justice to teach them wisdom by chastisement which so soon as they have learned they are released which providences and dispensations the Psalmist would not have lightly over-looked but solemnly acknowledged together with those admirable sea-providences in preserving and delivering men out of the jaws of death that King of fears as also his just and powerful transmutations in nature upon the land aswel as at sea and the righteous and gracious government he exerciseth upon the oppressor and oppressed respectively which to the godly-wise ought to be great rejoycing to see such love in such providence 1 LEt us give God his due praise and thanks for all those great and gracious mercies which he hath expressed to and bestowed on us his people and that goodness that still remains with him in our behalfs by vertue of his Covenant which makes that his mercie shall not determine but that we shall reap the benefit of his gracious engagement till all be fulfilled that is promised concerning his people to the end of the world 2 Let us and all the redeemed of the Lord to the worlds end speak forth our and their praise-worthy experinces of God his goodness and mercie whom he hath mightily rescued from under the cruel captivitie of our deadly enemies whether temporal or spiritual Pharaoh or the devil by Christ or Moses 3 And whom he hath chosen from among the confused heap of mankind to be peculiarly his and gathered far and near his elect from out all places on earth to inhabit heaven as he did us his Israel first out of Mesopotamia whence Abraham and his family was called and after that out of Egypt to be possessors of Canaan 4 In passage whereunto they had many a wearie step in a desert wilderness as the godly must exspect in their pilgrimage here and during all that time had no setled habitation but sought one to come as the faithful must do who like strangers and way-faring men here on earth live upon the promise and expectation of heaven hereafter 5 All that while having nothing to sustain them neither bread nor water but what providence and that extraordinarie administred to them which did supply them but not till God had tried and humbled them with the want yea very great want even of needful and essential accommodations as spiritually he orders his Church and chosen people during this their peregrination 6 When they were necessitated and saw that by no ordinarie course of nature nor no humane help they could be supplied they cried to the Lord for what they lacked and he never failed them when they did so but super-naturally supplied to them both bread and water and protection too when their necessitie required it and that Moses faithfully craved it for them as spiritually he provides for and sustains his Church when their soul-necessities sends them and Christs intercession recommends them to him 7 And he guided them by his own special conduct with a visible pillar of cloud and fire continually protecting and directing them the way that was most for his glorie and their good though to their carnal eyes least seeming so towards the land of Canaan there to settle them in tranquillity and rest and possess them of Towns and Cities ready built and provided to their hands like care to which he takes for his Church spiritual affording them invisible conduct all along this life in the manifold windings and turnings thereof which is the best though seemingly not the nearest way to heaven where they shall enter into their rest and be everlasting inhabitants of the new Jerusalem the Citie which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God purchased and prepared for them by Christ. 8 Oh that all men that every where participate of the goodness of God some more some less some in one kind some in another would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 9 For its he that fills the hearts of men with food and gladness and the souls of penitents that hunger and thirst after righteousness with enough of it 10 Such as either in bodie or soul are in a comfortless condition and have the sentence of death really or in their own sense and apprehension past upon them and are detained in outward bonds or trouble of spirit or both 11 Because they have sinned against the Law of God written in their hearts or the word of God written in the Scriptures and refused to be ruled by his reason who as he is the Lord of all things ought also to be theirs and they obedient to his dictates 12 Therefore did the Lord and doth still upon occasion so load them with outward or inward sorrows either by enemies cross accidents or desertions that they are made glad to confess their folly and to humble themselves before the Lord whom they before set light by when they find themselves helpless in any other way than by the powerful hand or free grace of God 13 Then they used and are wont to make their addresses to God in such inextricable extremities and he both hath done and of mercie will still in such cases when their troubles have wrought so good effect hear the cries of afflicted suppliants to ease and deliver them 14 Out of that disconsolate condition whereinto he cast them for their rebellions that he might humble them and then be gracious to them 15 Oh that all men that every where participate of the goodness of God would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of
his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 16 For in such cases when and where the afflicted have turned to the Lord by sorrow for their sin and strong cryes after mercie what infinite difficulties hath he broken through and removed and his power and providence is the same for ever to extricate and give relaxation to such afflicted ones all ages have made this manifest 17 Men void of the fear of the Lord which onely is true wisdom or that have it yet foolishly by temptation or negligence deviate from it and to gratifie their lusts by impiety or iniquitie displease the Lord these thereby bring evil upon themselves 18 God so severely chastizing their sins with inward or outward pains in bodie or mind that they are brought to that pass to abhor the very sight and tast of all manner of meat which should sustain nature and are brought in all mens seeming to deaths door 19 Then they use to make their addresses to God in such inextricable extreamities and he both hath done and of mercie will still in such cases when their troubles have wrought so good effect hear the cries of afflicted suppliants to ease and deliver them 20 For so soon as his rod drives them to him he cannot but as he was wont compassionate them and therefore as by his command the affliction whatever it be befel them so also at his word they are cured how deadly soever the disease be his command is enough to restore them to life and liberty 21 Oh that all men that every where participate the goodness of God would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 22 That men would note the works of God and be so sensible of his benefits especially his own select people as to be thankful for them both inwardly in heart and outwardly also celebrate them with sacrifices according to the rule in such cases and with joyful hearts joyn in the memorizing and magnifying of his works of power and grace at his sanctuarie 23 Sea-men and merchants that trade in forreign Countreys and commodities and so are necessitated to venture themselves in the deep and main Ocean and are exposed far from land among the storms and surges incident to great waters in unsteady ships 24 25 These have dayly and visibly experience of the power of God raising the winds and by them causing terrible storms and tempests that swell the seas with mountainous waves 26 That hoise the vessel they sail in in an instant as high as the clouds so that the face of the waters under them shew like a valley from an hill and on a sudden they descend again as low as before they were high viewing the waves pendent over their heads as if the whole Ocean would overwhelm the ship whereat their hearts so misgive that every moment they expect death which seems inevitable 27 Thus they continue tossed and tumbled hither and thither at the pleasure of the waves the ship not being able to keep any course reeling first on this side and then on that as the winds blow or the waves beat upon it like a man that is drunk nor know they how in the world to help or save themselves but give all for lost both the ship and all that is in her their fears so amazing them that they can exercise neither Art nor strength nor if they could would it avail in such concussions of winds and waves 28 29 Then in self-despair when all creature-hopes are at an end they usually apply themselves to God seldom before and then he lets them see his power in their weakness and that their extremity is his opportunity maketh the storm a calm and quickly reduceth their fears and the seas outrages to a peaceable period 30 Then they are as much overcome with joy as before with fear when their lives are as it were restored and their troubles removed thus the Lord is gracious to them and brings them that ere while valued not their lives and lading at any thing safely to land in the port they so often prayed to be in when they were ready every foot to sink 31 O that all men that every where participate of the goodness of God would make answerable returns to him and take faithful notice of his admirable works of providence principally to his Church but generally to all to praise him for them and acknowledge his grace and goodness in them 32 Let such mercies be every where memorized and in all companies praise-fully related whether in congregations ecclesiastical those solemn meetings of his people in the sanctuarie or civil in juridical and magistratical conventions of Rulers and Governours that all may hear and fear and praise the Lord Almighty 33 We see what alterations and changes in nature are wrought in many places of the world how he dries up rivers and causeth drought where before was plenty of water 34 How for the sins of the inhabitants and abuse of his mercies he makes many a fruitful land and countrie barren and fruitless we have known it to be true in ours than which none was more fertil when God blessed it nor none more sterril when our sins cursed it 35 And on the contrarie when he bespeaks blessing to a place it shall be blessed The drie and desert places of the earth he can and does oft times make fruitful and habitable furnishes them with springs and water courses that were like the torrid zone 36 And there many times he bestowes the out-casts of other nations the poor and abject people yea his own persecuted ones causing them by providence there to set down their staff to plant colonies and begin a new Common-wealth in peace and quiet from their oppressours and contemners and to prosper by degrees from rude beginnings and scattered dwellings to cohabit in Towns and Cities 37 And to exercise husbandry plowing and planting fields and vine-yards and reduce them by Gods blessing thereupon to a yearly and orderly increase like other places long inhabited 38 The Lord also in time by his blessing multiplies them as we know he hath done us from a very few to a considerable and numerous people and with them proportionably increaseth their cattel the whilest they please him 39 But when they have forgot their low beginnings and Gods great blessings grow proud and sensual practise wickedness in stead of honesty and pietie God soon changeth the scene he that raiseth them up quickly casts them down and as before he blessed them with freedom and preserved them from evil so now he lets them loose to every
escaped God hath alwayes preserved me and in stead of mine enemies destroying me he hath destroyed them I am confident I must and shall ever do so God inabling me as he hath done I have been as hard beset as a man that hath a swarm of bees about his ears not knowing 'i th world how to avoid them ready to fall upon me on every hand with deadly devouring hatred which though it was very terrible for the time yet the Lord put an end to it made their malice to me the destruction of themselves like thorns consumed in their own flame and so shall he ever inable me against all mine enemies I am confident and that they shall never have better success 13 Mine utter ruin as an obstruction to this preferment hath been strongly endeavoured by him that had no small power in his hands nor small malice towards me but God hath both preserved me and advanced me maugre all that Saul could do and all his complices 14 The Lord alone was my defence and the ruiner of mine enemies who else had ruined me a thousand times over the glorie and praise belongs to him and he shall have it who hath perfected his promise given me final deliverance from all those troubles and seated me above the reach of those mine enemies 15 What cause of rejoycing hath God given to the families in Israel that fear the Lord how glad are they to see this day and such a change of things I and they so preserved and delivered from the malice of those that hated and sought the ruin of goodness and good-men and now to see them conquered and quite subdued and that by so apparent providence and Almighty power must needs rejoyce them greatly 16 It is he that deserves and I hope shall accordingly have the honour of it who by his sole power and victorious providence hath mightily effected it 17 As near as I have been to destruction many and many a time and as hopeful as mine enemies were of it so that both they and I my self have given me for a gone man yet God hath purposed otherwayes die I must not and therefore die I did not but am alive at this day and in a good condition preserved purposely of God by example and acknowledgement to manifest and magnifie what he hath done for me and what he can and will do for his Church whose person I bare and represented in all my troubles and enfranchisements 18 The Lord gave mine enemies much power over me so that I under-went sore trials and sad chastisements to teach me to know my self and sin but though he gave them liberty to afflict me yet not to destroy me as they hoped to have done but maugre their malice hath preserved my life though often endangered 19 O ye that are the porters and door-keepers of the Lords holy sanctuarie a place of late years disfrequented and sequestred from good and righteous men that properly have onely right and title to it Now by Gods good providence the case is well altered I and other such as I am that with upright hearts desire to serve the Lord have liberty and opportunity to do it therefore set the doors of the courts of the Tabernacle wide open for us that I and they may comfortably come and worship the righteous Lord there specially present and give him the due praises of all his faithful performances of those his gracious promises touching me and his Church in my time 20 I mean I say the gate of the Lords own Tabernacle where he is so peculiarly resident and will therefore there be especially worshipped set that open for me and all my fellow-saints and servants of God who as of right they ought so now I have power they shall have free access unto it having been too long secluded 21 Lord my heart is full and there I am purposed to empty it upon thee in most affectionate thanks and praises for thine often audiences gracious and effectual answers and principally for this complement of all thy promises in saving me from mine enemies and advancing me to the Kingdom so far above their power to hurt me 22 Insomuch as now I who heretofore was by Saul and his Grandees those great Artificers of State hatefully persecuted and disdainfully rejected as unworthy and unfit for this preferment like a refuse stone that is broken and cast out of the way by master-workmen as altogether useless and unserviceable for building and as the Messiah whom I prefigure shall be by Cajaphas with his confederates the chief Priests and Scribes those ring-leaders of the Jews who shall despightfully use him and cruelly crucifie him I say I that was thus refused am advanced from this my despicable condition to fit in the throne and wield the Scepter of Israel upon whom under God the Government and wellfare of Church and Common-wealth principally depends even as it shall be with Christ whom both in weal and woe I typifie he shall rise again from the dead and be gloriously advanced even in his humane nature so much contemned and hardly used to be Saviour Mediatour and King of and over the Church consisting then of Jews and Gentiles united in him and supported by him maugre her enemies as the sides and weight of a building are by a principal binding corner stone against all blasts 23 This strange transversion of a persecuted abject to become a King and a contemned condemned crucified man to be the sole Saviour and Monarch of the world is by the holy and wise ordination and effectual operation of God brought to pass both which are worth our wonder and admiration to see persecution produce dignitie and death life and glorie 24 This day of mine inthronization resembling that of Christs resurrection and glorious exaltation at his fathers right hand is the time and means whereby God hath and will make good all his promises of grace and happiness to his Church who lives therefore that hath the faith and acknowledge of these things and joyes not that he hath lived to so happie an hour as to see them thus fulfilled 25 O Lord it s a day indeed that thy Church hath cause to be glad of and so she is and prayes thee to add to her joyes and that now from henceforth all those blessed promises of happiness to thy King and people may be effectual and they prosperous 26 As Christ himself who is the Messiah and sent of God for the good and salvation of his people is blessed and diffuseth blessings to his people whom they again that are his Priests and the living Temples of the living God do gratifie with the return of blessings in behalf of his Kingdom praying the increase and consummation of it and offering the sacrifice of praise to him that by Gods gracious emission came to offer himself in sacrifice for them So let David the anointed of the Lord
evermore had and which many and many a time hath crushed them sore yet could never through the over-ruling hand of our Almightie and good God prevail to supplant and eradicate it as was their aim and desire to have done no nor never shall no more now than heretofore fear it not 3 4 The poor Church and people of God have undergone great hardship by the ungodly men of this world to whom it hath been meat and drink to afflict us witness our late Babylonish task-masters and as much pains have they taken to do it by plots and practices as the plow-man does to tear the ground in pieces and as cruelly they have handled us so far as ever God gave them leave and so they shall Christ himself whose husbandmen they are and ever have been and the Church his field wherein thereby he hath always sown his seed and reaped his harvest that hath been the use he put the Churches afflictions and persecutions to always notwithstanding them approving himself righteous and faithfull to his word and promise of grace and so is still and ever will be to remember mercie though the wicked world know none to abate of what it intends against them both for length of time and measure of affliction as we have experience in our late deliverance and to disappoint their purposes and machinations as he hath always done to his churches preservation and their destruction in his own time and by his almightie power maugre their malice 5 And as Lord thou hast ruined Babylon for our sakes so vouchsafe still to appear for thy Church against her enemies bringing them all to confusion that would do so by Sion the place of thy worship and type of thy Church for ever let not their malicious combinations and wicked projects take effect against the type or anti-type but utterly and shamefully defeat and frustrate them for it is for thy sake that they bear evil will to thy place and people 6 7 8 Lord let such haters of God and godliness however they seem to flourish and over-top thy poor Church come to nought both they all their wicked designs as the light corn that makes a fair shew on the ridge of an house for want of rooting withers in a moment before it ripen and comes to any perfection by the heat of the sun and is of no use nor regard so let alwaies the Churches enemies that are under a curse and not a blessing and at present our persecuting neighbours be blasted and in thy wrathfull displeasure destroyed both their persons and purposes let neither the one nor the other ever come to good like those empty ears let them be found by those they curry-favour with a dissembling lying generation great promisers and no performers and find favour accordingly Let not those that are spectatours of us and them whose pendulous judgements the event will preponderate the common errour of the world to judge and side according to success let them not have cause by their prospering against us to bless them and curse us and to misuse thy name against thine own people in behalf of thine and our enemies by blessing those whom thou cursest and cursing those whom thou blessest The cxxx PSALM The Psalmist sore afflicted under the sense of sin and miserie cries to the Lord for mercie making mercie his onely plea for himself and incouragement to persist in the obedience of faith and patient waiting and eager longing for appearance of grace And draws his practise into precept to all the faithfull people of God willing them to hold out hoping in mercie for deliverance through Christ whatever be their pressure sin or suffering See the Title of the 120. Psalm 1 IN the extream agony of my spirit now that I am to mine own sense and in all appearance quite over-whelmed with outward distress and inward terrour death on the one hand ready to devour me my sins and thy wrath on the other hand grievously afflicting and affrighting me yet as from the bottom of this gulph and sea of miseries have I sent forth mine ardent prayer in the faith of thy power and hopes of thy goodness O Almighty and mercifull Lord. 2 In such a case as this Lord let me not speak to a deaf ear but graciously grant me audience yea watch for my prayers at such a time for they shall never fail thee neither do thou fail them especially in such straits 3 If thou O Lord who art the righteous and terrible Judge of all the world a jealous God and a consuming fire doth take strict notice of our sins to take us to task and punish us for them according to our deservings by the law of righteousness and rule of justice alas in such a case what man can stand before thee in his own justification either to acquit himself as sinless or to make satisfaction being sinfull or in case he be able to do neither as no man can how shall he be able to bear and undergo thy judgement and heavy displeasure for sin without sinking under it no flesh can do it 4 But the case is otherwaies with thee towards poor humble hearted sinners and suitours to such thou standest not upon such terms of strictness for thou hast proclamed pardon to all such which by faith they may take out and plead for themselves as also a gracious acceptance of their weak but filiall services whereby they may be and are incouraged knowing thy loving kindness and mercy to worship and serve thee both by believing in thy promises though with much mixture of unbelief and doing thy commandments though in frailty and weakness short of perfection which none can reach yet in sincerity 5 Though my sinns be heavy and mine affliction burdensome upon me and have been so along time yet I despair not but in the faith of his forgiveness and compassion I wait for the sun to break out from under this cloud my soul is in continuall expectation of it and so long as I have his word for it I will hope and look for deliverance and mercy what ever be my fears and dangers 6 My soul longs for and looks out after the comfortable appearance of the grace of God to set me free from these my tedious insupportable miseries of his disfavour and the sad effects thereof with as eager a desire yea far more earnestly and affectionately do I and will I hold on to expect it than ever the poor weary Watch-man or Centry that hath been kept waking all Night prayes for Day-break that he may be discharged and have his liberty to take his rest 7 What ever be the afflictions of faithfull Israel the people of God let them for all that by no means relinquish their hope in the Lord his power and goodness but hold out in the assured confidence that God both is mercifull in himself however he seem and will be
of battell against the enemie as now it doth by secret machinations of inveterate deadly foes no less endangering it 8 And as I pray for my self by virtue of mine interest and near relation to thee so give me leave to pray against my wicked enemies that are also thine that what they desire to bring to pass against me may not take effect blast thou their wicked designs which I am sure can take no place if thou doest not more or less allow them which I pray thee do not but the contrarie least they vain-gloriously magnifie their cause and disparage mine and being fleshed with success blasphemously set light by thee as well as me compared with themselves which else they will be sure to do 9 As for the chief hunts-men the principal ringleaders and occasioners of this my trouble and persecution Saul and Doeg that set the multitude on work to betray and entrap me every where where I come whom they have deceived and misled by their false reports let that they intend to bring upon me even destruction fall heavily and unavoidably upon them that they may by no means escape it but in thy justice be themselves taken in the net they laid for others 10 Let such impenitent reprobate minded men come to an exemplarie end by some severe and formidable judgement as did Sodom and Gomorrah consume them utterly by thy vengeance and fiery indignation yea by sudden and fearfull destruction as thou didst Korah and Dathan remove them once for all from off the face of the earth where they do so much mischief in opposing thee and the coming of thy Kingdom that they may rest in perpetuall darkness of death which onely can stitle them and hold their hands and whence they shall never more return to do as they have done being thereby everlastingly disposed of 11 Lord let not any man much less mine enemies by lying and slandering and such wicked unworthy wayes prosper in his designs against the plain and sincere hearted least it incourage other earth-worms that know not God nor care not for heaven to take the like courses when they see them thereby brought to ruin and the wicked contrivers succesfull and fortunate against them No I am confident and dare pronounce it in the name of the Lord that the wicked purposes and contrivances of the ungodly bloud-thirsty man be he higher or lower wherewith he hunts others to the death if he could catch them shall follow him at heeles and drive him into such a trap and snare at last that he shall never escape even utter destruction 12 And on the other hand I dare promise as much for God on the behalf of them that for his sake are unjustly wronged and persecuted be they never so poor and their oppressours never so potent God will patronize both them and their cause against the wrong-doers stand to them and appear for them to do them right and justifie their innocence of this I am confident for his truth is ingaged for it and his glory is concerned in it I doubt not to find it so in mine own particular though it fare ill with me now 13 Sure enough the time will come that they that with a good and honest heart mannage a righteous cause though they may and must be content to suffer for a time as long and as much as pleaseth God yet they shall see a happy end of their sufferings and the miserable catastrophe of their oppressours to their exceeding great cause of joy in and thankfulness to God that by his grace and power hath brought it so about beyond expectation or probability They that are upright and so hold out under affliction keeping a good conscience toward God and man patiently waiting and enduring shall happily survive their afflictions and afflictours here so that God shall lead them through and land them safe on the other side as I doubt not he will do me where the residue of their dayes they shall propitiously enjoy the Lord for their God or if they miscarry in them as so he may permit yet shall they not miscarry by them but shall be happier in heaven whither they shall translate them than earth could have made them in a full fruition of him there in that glorified estate whither no sorrow shall follow them The cxli. PSALM David and his men being in great danger by Sauls surprise probably either in the wilderness of Engeddi or of Ziph and having opportunity and temptation of revenge prayes that God would deliver him both from death and sinne in that strait Is greatly troubled that so many innocents should so prosecute him through misunderstanding wishes they would take another course more agreeable to charity for whom yet his charity shall move him to pray that they may not perish with their malicious mislâ—aders in hope that when they are removed out of the way by Gods just judgâ—ments these will then be reduced and hear reason though now their ears are charmed And lastly represents his and his partizans perillous case to God but withall his faith in God praying for his own deliverance and his enemies subversion A Psalm made by David 1 LOrd no danger is so great nor eminent as to stifle my faith or stop my mouth but be it what it will be I make my moan unto thee even now in this mine extremity wherein I am not a little concerned nor thee to make hast to my rescue being sore laid to be not therefore a stranger to me nor deaf to hear me but graciously compassionate my misery and hear me effectually now and alwayes when in such straits I supplicate thy Majesty 2 Let my prayer which I dayly put up unto thee in the virtue of Christs mediation ascend and be accepted of thee as the Type thereof that perpetuall fragrant incense-offering burnt each morning in the sanctuary â—nd let my supplication the spirituall sacrifice of a faithfull heart be as pleasing as the appointed meat-offering every evening 3 Lord my temptations are great and provocations many suffering so unjustly and ungratefully as I do under a tedious and trying persecution that exerciseth all the faith and patience I have and were it not for thy supporting auxiliary grace would be too hard for me notwithstanding mine which can of it self ill grapple with such adversaries and adversities without out-breaches of corruptions whereto my mind and mouth in thoughts and words are over prone therefore good Lord carefully keep and restrain me that through sinfull impatience or incogitancy I sometime or other forget not my self and imprudently let fall either words or rash discontent towards thee or of sinfull revenge towards mine adversaries unworthy the Mediatour and Lamb-like patience of him whom I prefigure in these my durances but may patiently wait and bear what is thy pleasure to the utmost time and measure as he shall not sinning so much as in word or thought 4 I
vexation and affliction when they become a vexation unto him chastising them with wars plagues and civil oppressions that minisheth their number impoverisheth their plentie and renders their lives uncomfortable 40 Nor doth the Lord onely afflict wicked and degenerated underlings but Kings and Princes also are judged by him If they forget their duties unto him he makes their people do the like to them and casts their honour in the dust at home and abroad rendring them scornful and contemptible and intricates them into such Labyrinths of troubles that all their policie and King-craft cannot extricate them or shew them a way out 41 And as he pulleth down unjust and wicked Princes from the top of honour and voluptuousness into penury and disgrace so on the other hand is he as mindful to protect and deliver the poor oppressed people from under the inhumanity of such tyrants when they crie to him and maketh them able to overtop their oppressions and oppressours by advancing them and abasing these blessing them with a numerous of-spring and making them able in a state of liberty and freedom to spread forth their branches that ere-while were stocked by tyrannie and oppression witness our condition under and from under Pharaoh 42 Those that have eyes in their heads the godly-wise shall take notice of such dispensations of justice and providence respectively to good and bad and shall rejoyce in confidence and hope of Gods goodness to them and in the goodness of their conscience and conversation towards him when they see that God takes notice of men and their manners and that sooner or later he will make it appear so and as the good rejoyce to see the reins of government in Gods hand so the wicked are sorrie for it and down in the mouth to see they are under judicature and not lawless as they hoped they had been 43 Those whom God hath endowed with grace and spiritual understanding the onely true wisdom and will set themselves faithfully and heedfully to consider and observe his judgements upon wicked oppressours and his strange providences in the behalf of the innocent and humble suppliant to deliver bless and prosper him as he hath done us They shall experimentally perceive the love and tender affection the Lord bears his people that sincerely serve him trust in him and call upon him and how safe and comfortable it is to do so The cviii PSALM A Psalm made by David to be sung and plaid by voices and instruments THis 108 Psalm is made up or composed of the two latter parts of two foregoing Psalms viz. the 57. and 60. which being joyned together upon the same or like occasion of success and victory do here make one entire Psalm Therefore for these five first verses of this Psalm see the Paraphrase upon the five last verses viz. the 7 8 9 10 11. of the 57. Psalm they being the same And for these eight last verses of this Psalm see the Paraphrase upon the eight last verses viz. the 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. of the 60. Psalm they also being the same The cix PSALM David doth promiscuously and prophetically in this Psalm treat of Christ and himself And though Saul Doeg and Judas be eminently to be understood one or all of them by the third person singular in diverse verses yet for most part he intends thereby his enemies in the general as they were united in conspiracie against him together with the nation of the Iews embodied as it were in one â—oint combination against Christ as appears by the third person plural used in other verses chieflie in the 20th which is a summinarie and explanatorie conclusion to his fore-going maledictions shewing the persons he meant them to and for what And so passeth from his adversaries to himself where Christ is still here and there to be taken in Praying as their confusion so his preservation argued from Gods mercie his own miserie and the glorie that God will get and praises that he will give thereupon To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for his care and ordering it to be sung 1 O Lord as I know thou art not regardless of my unjust calumniations so I pray thee make it appear upon my calumniators let them find thou takest notice of the wrong they do me O God who hath all my life long given me cause to praise thee for thy goodness and with whom I am well accepted though of men rejected as the Messiah shall be 2 For such as make no conscience of what they say and that studiously abuse the ears of Saul whom they know hates me they spare not to let flie aginst me all manner of lies and slanders to gain them his favour and me his dis-favour 3 They do me all the wrong they can in word or deed reproching and threatening me on all hands as if they would eat me up alive and causelesly with open violence attempt to take away my life 4 5 Nay I did not onely walk inoffenssively towards them but did them many actual good offices and ever expressed my self a friend to them as occasion served and the more I have endeavoured to express my love and loyalty the more I am requited with hatred and malignity seeking my life that have saved theirs as the Jews do Christs but as he so I desire nor seek not revenge or like for like as to my self but refer me and my cause to be judged by God upon whose faith and protection I cast my self praying onely deliverance from them and that they may be of better minds 6 But in zeal to thee as they are enemies to thy Church and people and fore-runners of those that shall betray and murther the Messiah and as a Prophet and publick person so I wish that their deserts may over-take them let them reap oppression as they sow it let those that hate and persecute me for thy sake because I am thy select and anointed servant be as the Jews and Judas shall for betraying and crucifying the Lord of life how shall the one be captivated to the heathenish Roman Empire and the other exposed to Satan that enemy of mankind to prevail against him and destroy him even with his own very hands by making away himself 7 Let them find such favour as shall Judas at the hands of the Chief-priests and Elders upon his repentance even to be judged and condemned from his own confession out of his own mouth yea both by God and man be unpitied and unpardoned 8 Let them not live to the end of their lives as they may be prolonged by nature but cut short their daies by some violent and unnatural death such as Judas shall die and possess another more worthy of their place and office as Judas his
Apostleship shall be transferred upon Matthias and the Jewish priviledges translated to the Gentiles for crucifying Christ. 9 As the sin of my persecutour and Christs crucifiers is communicative and tendeth to the destruction not of me onely but of Christ his Church and Spouse also so let their punishment be derivative let their wives and children become widows and fatherless by their untimely ends pitied and relieved of none for that they oppress and are merciless to the innocent and afflicted 10 Let my persecutours prosperity be hatefull as shall the Jews amongst all nations let them that have made me an exile out of my own Countrey among the heathen Idolaters be themselves and their children after them no better but be like the wandering Jews that when they have crucifyed the Lord of glorie shall not be restored into Canaan as aforetime out of their captivities but be continual vagabonds a dispersed people in all countries glad to beg an abiding place any where being hatefull every where and driven so from place to place that very necessitie shall inforce them to take up and seek relief in the most abject desolate places of the world such as will scarce yield them to keep life and soul and glad they may 11 12 Let them become a prey to all manner of men let the griping usurious extortioner so entangle their estates in bonds and bils and use upon use that they may never be able to come out of debt till the creditor seize on all they have and turn them out of doors a begging let them find no manner of mercy but be esteemed as enemies of mankind every where where they are let them be made a prey counted for intruders and exposed to the spoil and rapine of the inhabitants and natives of all countries where they come as a people not fit to be entertained any where into scocietie and protection both they and their children though never so fatherless and destitute let them be relict and deserted of all according to the curse of guiltless bloud which they brought upon them and theirs so let it be with them and upon them 13 Let my persecutours by the sword of thy justice weilded in the hands of their enemies be quite cut off let them be destroyed root and branch so that after a while no succession or name of them may remain though in yet not over Israel but the rule thereof be utterly and for ever trans-ferred from them to another as shall befall the rebellious Jews Christs persecutours by the Romans no name nor place of any such nation once so famous shall remain but be quite blotted out a Lo-ammi or vagabond people they shall be at best and Christian written in the room of it in the next age of thy Church which shall be among the Gentiles to whom thou wilt trans-fer thy grace and favour for ever 14 Let the persisting in the same sin of abrenunciation and blaspheming Christ by their scattered progeny bring to remembrance the guilt of all their stiff-necked predecessours transgressions and rebellions ever since they were a Church espoused to thee their Lord and husband the punishment whereof was then sparingly inflicted by thee but now upon divorce and putting away let justice and judgement run down like a torrent upon them without any mixture and stop of mercie 15 As the bloud of Christ shall alwaies appear before God so let the sins of them do that murtherously shed it that as they would have destroyed the Messiah whom yet God raised again so his vengeance may root out them either to have no being or to be hatefull and odious where ever they are 16 Let such things befall mine enemies whose mercilesness to me doth in a figure pourtray out the usage of Christ himself for as they shew me no more mercie in miserie but are the more cruel and pitiless by how much I am the more miserable and the more they see me implunged into distress and insupportable grief of bodie and mind by so much the more eagerly lust they after my life to take it away thus shall it be with him and so as aforesaid let it be with them 17 Let the cursed calumnies and balsphemies of mine and his enemies wherein they are so conversant bring like evil upon their own heads as they intend to others let their curses light upon themselves that refuse salvation and blessing and put it far from them when God graciously visites them with it renouncing me for their King and Christ when he comes for their Saviour 18 Let such as take the curse and bring the guilt of mine and Christs guiltless bloud upon themselves have enough for it as they are ambitious to be known to be his crucifiers and my persecutours and voluntarily involve themselves into so great a sin and the deadly consequences that attend it by acting the one and labouring the other so let it be unto them let hardness of heart blindness of mind and seared consciences be the cursed product of such wicked bloud-suckers 19 Let the guilt and curse they so sinfully bring upn themselves never depart from them but stick by them and accompanie them in all places and throughout all ages 20 Let these foresaid maledictions be the judgement and reward of mine and my Lord Christs adversaries who can right himself and me though all men joyn together to wrong us and devise to take away both good name and life it self as mine enemies and his do endeavour and shall in great measure effect but wo be to them by whom such offences do come 21 But Lord as much as others are against me and mine Anti-type the Lord Christ so thou that art his God and father and in him mine be thou as much for me and him for thy covenant and righteousness sake wherein and whereby thy grace and faithfulness is engaged to approve thy self a mercifull good God protector of the innocent and deliverer of the oppressed be thou so to me let my preservation and deliverance from mine enemies by thine Almighty power adumbrate Christs powerfull resurrection out of the grave whence thou shalt raise him and the Churches final deliverance out of all her terrestial miseries by thy mercie both whom I personate 22 Let both thy mercie and my misery move thee who am low brought by reason of outward afflictions inward fears and terrours which affect me deeply and distress me sore as Christ himself shall be with complicate evils within and without in soul and body-sufferings 23 My life seemeth to me by reason of mine imminent dangers that threaten death every moment to be but as a shadow when the sun is setting ready to extinguish and whilest I do live I have no setlement but am harrowed hither and thither from place to place by the incessant persecutions and various contrivances of mine enemies to take away my life even as the grashopper