ever for me to trust in He shews now that he hath not been idle all the while he seemed so but hath been fitting himself to execute judgement when the time shall come as now it is 8 And the wicked of the world shall ever find it so that though they think him remiss and careless how things go yet they shall find that he is not so but with most perfect wisdom righteousness and integrity will judge and punish the wicked all the world over sooner or later 9 And so also on the other side shall the poor and innocent when they are unjustly oppressed however they may likewise think him regardless yet shall they not find him so but if they flee to him trust in him he will be a refuge to them yea then when because of extremity they most need it and can least think or exspect it 10 And truly they that know thy power and goodness and have had triall of it will venture all upon thee For for my part I am able to say it that as I have sought to thee and none but thee so thou hast never failed mine exspectation nor been unfaithful to my trust but according to my praier and dependance have I ever found thee helpful to me and so shall others 11 O ye Ministers of his worship to whom I have recommended this Psalm of praise Lift up your voices in praises to the Lord that hath chosen Sion for the place of his special residence and solemn worship where accordingly you celebrate it let the people that resort thither hear you sing aloud his marveilous doings that they may also learn to praise him and trust in him 12 When the time cometh that mens sins are ripe and that he will call them to accompt and reckon with them for the bloud of the innocent which they have unjustly shed or coveted he will then make it appear that he remembers to right the wrongs of them that trust in him and seek to him and forgets not the cry of the afflicted that in singleness of heart and poverty of spirit makes his humble addresses to him as to his onely refuge 13 Though I have had many deliverances and thou hast given me great cause to praise thee for ridding me of a world of enemies yet I am not without but still have those that hate me and of meer malice vex and trouble me so that I suffer much by them good Lord still continue to be merciful to me and to deliver me thou that many and many a time hast delivered me when mine enemies had brought me to that pass that I knew not which way to turn me but death and destruction waited for me on every side 14 That I may muster up all thy mercies and praisefully proclaim them in the publick assemblies of Sion the place which of all Israel and Jerusalem thou hast chosen for thy publick and solemn worship Yea there I will most joyfully make known thy saving grace and favour to me 15 Thou hast vanquished the heathen and disappointed their plots and designs against me having ensnared them in the ruine they meant to me 16 All men that have eyes may see that thou favorest me and may be convinced that it is onely thy doing that mine enemies are foiled by the manner of thy effecting it and thine executing such wonderful and admirable judgments upon them making their own wicked enterprises against me the means to bring to pass their own destruction I cannot but extraordinarily put men on seriously to mind and muse on this thy remarkable providence Yea again and again I wish they would well consider this thing 17 And mark how my foes perish even so shall all the wicked of the world that rebel against Christ and resist his government and oppress his innocent and righteous people perish eternally in hell even all the nations of the world that know not God to serve him and believe in him like as the heathen people hereabout that take up arms against me come to ruine 18 For though God may defer his judgeing the wicked and his delivering the poor and needy that trust in him very long for so he did me yet will he not ever do so either first or last there will come a time when the poor afflicted ones shall be sure of what they have long praied and looked for 19 Thou O Lord hast long forborn the heathen but truely they are grown now to that greatness and insolency that if thou doest not shew thy self in my behalf they will have the better of me and so of thee whose quarrel I maintain Therefore look thou to it that they which are but men get not the better of thee by vanquishing me but by thy judgements upon them let them plainly see its thou that condemnest them and justifies me 20 O Lord by thy judgements upon them make them afraid to hold on their course of enmity and opposition against me by seeing thee to take part with me and so cause them to know by their ill success that for all their great power and multitudes of people they are too weak by humane strength which yet they trust in as if it were more to resist thee whose cause I maintain and fight for Yea Lord make them know it to purpose Tenth PSALM David represents to God his own and his peoples condition generally in this world under the insolent confidence of the wicked heaping unmeasurable pressures upon the godly by reason of his long-suffering towards them which makes them worse and not better as he finds by experience in his persecutors Saul and his complices And therefore praies the Lord to appear for his people against them that do but abuse his patience and doubts not but he will even destroy the Churches enemies as he did the Cananites for Israels sake being the same God in pittie and power now as ever 1 2 MOst merciful and righteous Lord why art thou contrarie to thy nature and promise a stranger to the trouble of thy people me and others and takest no knowledge of it to help us in it but seemeth to let the wicked afflict the godly without regard who by thy forbearance is heightned exceedingly in wickednes and takes a pride to vex and trample down the poor thinking to make themselves great by oppression but Lord do thou blast and utterly disappoint their wicked designs against them that are good and do thou turn all the evil they unjustly imagine against the innocent upon the nocent 3 And truly its time for thee to shew thy self for men grow shameless in wickednes and are confident by those courses to carrie all before them thinking meanly of all good men and the ways they walk that are not as wicked and worldly minded as themselves esteeming those onely wise and happie that heap up riches and grow great by hook or crook whom
judgement portending thy everlasting displeasure and disregard as well of their souls as bodies 6 Thou Lord hast brought me into such an estate as I can scare tell how to express it or find fit tearms to parallel the condition and dimensions of my miserie I am as it were shut up under ground excluded the societie of mankind in an Abiss void of the suns comfortable light a very dungeon of darkness in the bottom of the bottomless sea with all the waters a top of me so extream uncomfortable is this my condition so full of horrour and perturbation of spirit and so overwhelmed with grief and withall so remediless 7 For thou hast afflicted me with such a weight of wrath and so loaden me with judgements that I am even pressed to death all comforts are gone and life it self is going after thou as it were hast let in the sea upon my soul thy terrours and affrightments come so thick one in the neck of another that they bear down all before them no hope nor comfort can stand in their way My grief is very great 8 Thou hast made me so uncomfortable a companion that my old friends and acquaintance seperate from me they have abandoned all societie and converse with me for indeed I am like no man nor fit companie for any being miserably inclaved in this forlorn comfortless condition whence I cannot extricate my self nor none for me but am as without comfort so without hope and help 9 I have almost wept my self blind by reason of the long duration and heavie oppression of this mine affliction Lord thou knowest with what uncessant prayers and hands lifted up to heaven I have importuned thy favour and mitigation of this my terrour 10 Lord how long shall it be before thy mercie and truth relieve me if it be whilest I live it must not be much longer deferred if thou hast a purpose to do me good thou must either do it suddenly before the breath go out of my bodie which truly is expiring or else miraculously when I am quite departed but that is not likely it is not thy manner to shew mercie to men dead but living as yet I am I expect not to be raised out of my grave to live again after I am dead to praise thee on earth no therefore I hope to do it ere I die for all this 11 Thy love and faithfulness will certainly be better manifested and fulfill'd in preservation and deliverance than in death and destruction and thy people can better magnifie thee for them living than dead 12 Is it under-ground that thou wilt manifest thy power where none shall see it and fulfil thy promise in the gravem when we are in an incapacitie for it where nothing is taken notice of but thy power grace and faithfulness will die and be buried with us 13 But Lord as I have not deferred my prayers to the grave so I hope nor wilt thou thine answers and whilest I live that the evening of death do not close up mine eyes and shut my mouth I will not cease to importune thee and hope to prevent so sad a farewel by obtaining mercie before I die 14 Lord what is the cause of this grievous desertion and seeming rejection of my soul why am I thus benighted thy face over-clouded no beam of divine favour shining into me nor no spark of renewing grace glowing in me 15 Lord thou knowest I am sure I for my part remember well that ever since I could remember I have scarce had a good day my trials and troubles have been so grievous they have brought me I know not how often to deaths door so tedious and comfortless a life have I led being almost alwayes exercised either under the present sence or future expectation and fear of their return to my no small torment and distraction 16 Lord it is no small matter that I complain of thou knowest I have cause for my burden is greater than I can bear or any man alive that had the feeling of it as I have Thy fierce wrath who can stand under it and yet I am made to bear it and to undergo the surges and waves thereof which are raised like storms and tempests in my soul readie to overwhelm it my terrours and perplexities of mind are such that they have cut me off of all comfort in my self and almost of all hope in thee 17 They brake in upon me like a fierce torrent dayly they do so I have seldom any ease or quiet they fill every crannie of my soul and so begirt me round that I can come at no comfort by no means I can use with complicate evils on all sides am I besiedged so that comfort can enter in at no door 18 Mine intimates avoid me and mine old acquaintance will not now know me I am as a man dead and buried out of their sight having no companion but grief and sorrow not any to make my moan to besides thy self or that can or will comfort me The lxxxix PSALM Expositours differ upon the occasion of this Psalm some make it to be in reference to the salling of the ten tribes from Rehoboam others to Absalons rebellion others to the Babylonish captivitie to which I encline conceiving it prophetically to be composed by Ethan for them to use in that estate It contains matter of praise to God for his covenant for his power to make it good which he both hath done and will do But expostulates how that captivitie and the matter of that covenant can be reconciled and puts God in mind of dangerous inconvenience that must needs insue upon breach of covenant and abolition of Davids Kingdom as also of the enemies reprochful blasphemies And concludes with faithful praises notwithstanding all seeming discouragements An instruction for the people of God how to demean themselves in publick calamities and concussions of Church or Common-wealth by sad complaining humble expostulating and earnest prayer to God penned by Ethan one of the sons of Zerah of the posteritie of Judah famous for his wisdom 1 Kings 4.31 1 WHat ever befal I will be confident of the mercies God hath promised that they shall be fulfilled I will set them forth and sing their praises whilest I live and leave them upon record to thy Church for ever to do the like Thy faithfulness to thy people according to thy promises I will publish and assert it to this age and all that are to come 2 For upon a deliberate well-grounded faith I believe and therefore do and dare affirm and have ever done so in the midst of the greatest concussions that ever befel us that mercie shall be built up from one age of the Church to another like so many stories untill it come in the end like a building perfected to its full accomplishment the Churches perfection in her glorified condition to all eternitie
do perish by frailty and casualty yet his wrath is upon none so sore as them they perish by that more than thâ—se All life is short and all old age wearisome but their shortest and wearisomest of any he praies that a good use may be made both of the naturall and supernaturall brevity of their lives and that God would after so long estrangement be gracious to them and make good his promise touching the promised land and their happy condition therein A Psalm being a Prayer made by Moses that extraordinary servant and Prophet of the Lord. 1 LOrd ever since we were thy people even from Abraham and so downward successively we have wandered and sojourned as strangers in one place after another by thy appointment and providence who hast still gone along with us provided for us and been a harbour shelter and protection to us in all places and throughout all ages to this day as thou wilt be to thy Church to the end of the world 2 There is no God besides thee who art eternall the Creatour of all things for before the huge mountains which seem to have had no beginning but to have been from everlasting yet before them thou hadst thy being when they had none nor no appearance of any both which thou causedst providing the Abyss and huge concave of the sea to receive the waters which till then overflowed their highest tops yea before the earth both sea and land and heavens too had any existence thou Lord hadst thine and formedst them as now they are Before the world was thou wast for else it had not been yea before time was even from everlasting thou wast God and so shalt be to everlasting even when time and all this world shall have an end and thy peoples God from their everlasting predestination to their everlasting glorification 3 Living and dead mans sin and frailty thy power and mercy appears For thou often bringest him to the point of ruin and yet pronounceth a reprieve and lengthenest his life as we well know that else would soon expire under thy hand when thou laiest it upon him and when death it self hath swallowed him thou by thine Almighty power shalt command the grave to give up her dead after she hath long detained them and make all mankind at last to live again at the resurrection whereof we have been a figure 4 For however we judge and measure things by time being subject to futurity and so think a little a great deal and that which is short to be long but to thee who comprehendeth Eternity and before whose eyes all things past and to come are present a thousand years are nothing they are as it were at an end so soon as begun what time past is to us such time to come is with thee an hour day year age are all alike even all the time we lie in the grave though a thousand years which to our thoughts seems a kind of Eternity it is to thee but as a piece of a night a few hours the watch of one Centry 5 6 Lord how in thy displeasure doest thou sweep away the sinfull sons of men what examples of it have we seen both amongst our enemies and our selves like an over-flowing torrent that bears down all before it so vain a thing is man and so frail a thing his life as transient or momentary as a sleep or dream as short-lived as grass In the youthfull part of their time which is as it were the morning of their age they are strong and busie for a while like unto grass which in the morning of the day is green and flourishing and before night is mowed down and withered so short and uncertain is the life of man 7 We of all men have experience of it that have so often and so many of us perished in thy displeasure and by terrible judgements been strangely and suddenly slain to the amazement and terrour of the rest 8 For our sins and provocations as such times as thou hast been pleased to take notice of them and to reckon with us for them which thou hast done very severely even those sinnes which we had thought thou hadst scarce taken notice of the murmurings and secret misbelief of our hearts these thou hast clearly seen and we have felt as much thy grace and favour being be-clouded towards us by their interposition 9 Insomuch as we that had a flourishing time of it when first we came out of Egypt having the light of thy countenance shining sweetly upon us for some season are now in a quite other condition and for a many years have wandred and wasted away in thy displeasure our carcases falling in the wilderness vainly and unprofitably exhausting our time living uselesly and dying regardlesly 10 The ordinary rate of mans life is seventy years and if by speciall blessing or bitterness of constitution any surmount that number and attain to fourscore yet by reason of the infirmities incident to old age that surplusage of time is of little or no content saving that they live so accompanied is that remainder of their life with pains and irksomness such as we have had our shares of in this time of thy disfavour for their strength then is not vigorous meerly yields subsistance and being but no well-being and that very being so frail and feeble that almost any thing serves to annihilate it so uncertain and transient is our life alwayes especially then at that decrepit age that we are gone in a moment 11 We have had experience of thine anger and thy power to execute it though in a remiss degree what infinite numbers of us momentany short-lived creatures have untimely perished by it and not reached that proportion of years which our infirm natures might else have attained unto and yet hast thou been mercifull to us too considering how able thou wast to have cut us all off at a blow for it can neither be expressed nor conceived how Almighty thou art to vindicate thy dishonour upon such sinners as we have been if thou wouldst have stirred up all thy wrath and put forth thy power to the uttermost but this terrour of thine is hid from most mens eyes the world hath not the faith of it because they have not the fear of thee onely thine own people nor they neither saving such of them as thou hast by an inward call begotten to thee and made to fear thee have any right understanding of the greatness of it they that filially fear thee which is the true knowledge of thee do onely tremblingly reverence thine irefulness 12 Naturally we know nothing neither the power of thine anger nor our own brevity of life and imbecillity of nature thou must teach us not onely what concerns thee but what concerns our selves also doctrine will not do it it is thou that must be our teacher else we shall never learn practically and profitably
Lord my soul is as the broken and chawned earth in time of drought labouring alwayes in unsatiable desire after the soul-nourishing and refreshing knowledge of the divine excellencies comprehended in thy righteous precepts and covenant-dispensations as it doth incessantly after rain that so I may alwayes live the life of faith and fear love and obedience 21 That 's my desire to understand the fear of the Lord that I may walk humbly with my God for the proud disobedient gain-sayers of his will that have taken cursed and displeasing curses the Lord hath sooner or later met with them as they are hatefull to him so he hath made it appear upon them by heavy judgements 22 Which I am confident shall still be their portion even the portion of my proud disdainfull enemies who think scorn of me and basely asperse me because of my faith in and obedience unto God but Lord I hope that both I and they are accepted at thine hands and that thou takest notice of mine Ismaelitish persecution by mine arrogant foes and wilt find a time to quit me of them who thou knowest hath not been ashamed of thee nor deserted either my faith or fear of thee for fear of men 23 I have been the by-word of high and low those that should have been by their places men of more integrity and good example yet did not they stick to abuse their authority and me by casting scorn upon me in the audience of others but I patiently bear it and my thoughts the while were upon thy word and my duty in such cases that so I might approve my self to thee not caring to be judged by mans day 24 And though I had cause enough of sorrow and trouble yet my comfort is they made me not break covenant nor falsifie my faith but still I kept a good conscience and followed my rule and had the comfort of it in mine own spirit not consulting with flesh and bloud what to do at such times when temptations were sore upon me but with thy word which I knew was the will and wisdom of God the mighty Counsellour and Prince of Princes Daleth The fourth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fourth part 25 I am exceeding low brought by thine afflicting hand my discomfitures make my life a very death oh do thou raise me restore comfort and thereby life unto me according as thou hast graciously promised 26 For I have not hid mine offences but confessed and declared them to thee as I have done every thing else in the whole course of my life I have alwayes acquainted thee how it was with me in my temptations and troubles and I have ever found thee gracious and so doubt not still to do speak peace and holiness therefore now to my soul that I may sinne no more but learn to love and serve thee 27 Lord instruct me and over-power my naturall pravity and corrupt disposition to walk holily and steadily in the fear of thy name and obedience of thy commandments by thy renewing of my joyes and strengthening of my graces so shall I magnifie thy power in my weakness and animate the faith of others 28 The sense of my sinne and thy displeasure for it lies so heavy upon my spirit that I sensibly decay and wast under it speak reconciliation and absolution to me that may revive and restore me according to thy promise of grace and mercy to poor penitents and suppliants such as I am 29 The sinne that hath brought me into this distemper is my want of faith to carry me through and my making now and then in extremity of temptation lies my refuge which repents me that ever I did so the Lord forgive it and remove that spirit of fear and diffidence that caused it that I may no more tread in such by-paths of thine own free goodness grant me the mercy and grace promised in thy word and exhibited in the typicall ordinances of thy law 30 Lord how ever I have slipt through frailty yet thou knowest the bent and bias of my heart is to love truth and not falshood it is the way I have chosen to walk in and have used the means that might aw me to it and direct me in it by serious pondering thy righteous commandments penally inhibiting such sinfull aversations though my grace being weak my endeavours through temptation have sometimes been ineffectuall 31 I have not ordinarily no nor willingly at any time given the reins to my corruption though otherwhiles they have been too strong for me but have carefully and conscionably in the main and course of my life though troublous and temptatious walked exactly and kept me closely to thy will testified in thy word O Lord therefore compassionate me in this my sinne and trouble for it and so order my wayes that I sinne no more to provoke thee against me to the loss of thy favour and the forfeiting my self to mine enemies 32 I have been faithfull though with some failings which if thou wilt but please to pass by and renew thy favour to me and grace in me whereby my heart may again be comforted and consequently enlarged and enabled for thy joy is my strength then do I promise for my self being confident in the power of thy grace to yield universall and chearfull obedience to thy commandments maugre impediments He. The fifth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fifth part 33 I know my whole life throughout is to be expended in thy service but how to persevere with unwearied and unvaried constancy I see not but by thy speciall and spirituall guidance who canst either order mine affaires to be free from temptation or teach and enable me to wade through them without warping from the rule and way of thy commandments pitie therefore my weakness and humane frailty and by thy spirit supply and prompt me continually so shall I do what else I cannot avoid sinne and persevere in holiness all my life in all the various alterations of it 34 How many are befooled with worldly wisdom and carnall reason Lord thou knowest and truly so shall I amongst the rest if thou beest not more mercifull unto me to teach me better yea contrary to such things as those principles dictate even the wholesome rudiments of thy law and covenant dispensation which if thou wilt of thy good grace vouchsafe to do I shall gladlier serve thee than sinne yea if thou wilt effectually lead me I will gladly and cordially follow and obey thee in whatsoever thou commandest for to will is present with me but how else to perform I see not 35 Both the will and the deed is thine and of thee now therefore as thou hast enabled me in the one for through thy grace my heart is byassed to obedience so that my desire is to it and my delight is in it so do thou no less graciously and
his bow and made it readie 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors 14 Behold he travelleth with iniquitie and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falshood 15 He made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head and his violent dealing shall come upon his own pate 17 I will praise the Lord according to his righteousnes and will sing praise to the name of the Lord most high Psalm 8. To the chief musician upon Gittith A Psalm of David 1 O Lord our God how excellent is thy name in all the earth who hast set thy glory above the Heavens 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thineâ— enemies that thou mightest still thâ— enemie and the avenger 3 When I consider thy Heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Starrs which thou hast ordained 4 What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels hast crowned him with glory and honour 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet 7 All sheep and Oxen yea and the beasts of the field 8 The fowl of the aire and the fish of the sea and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea 9 O Lord our Lord how excellent is thy name in all the earth Psalm 9. To the chief musiciâ—n upon Muth-labben A Psalm of David 1 I will praise thee O Lord with my whole heart I will shew forth all thy marvellous works 2 I will be glad and rejoyce in thee I will sing praise to thy name O thou most high 3 When mine enemies are turned back they shall fall and perish at thy presence 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause thou â—atest in the throne judgeing right 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen thou hast destroied the wicked thou hast put out their name for ever and ever 6 O thou enemy destructions are come to a perpetual end and thou hast destroied cities their memory is perished with them 7 But the Lord shall endure for ever he hath prepared his throne for judgement 8 And he shall judge the world in righteousnesse he shall minister judgement to the people in uprightness 9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed a refuge in times of trouble 10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee for thou Lord hast not forsaken them that seek thee 11 Sing praises to the Lord which dwelleth in Sion declare among the people his doings 12 When he maketh inquisition for blood he remembreth them he forgetteth not the cry of the humble 13 Have mercy upon me O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me thou that liftest me up from the gates of death 14 That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Sion I will rejoyce in thy salvation 15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made in the net which they hid is their own foot taken 16 The Lord is known by the judgement which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten the exspectation of the poor shall not perish for ever 19 Arise O Lord let not man prevail let the heathen be judged in thy sight 20 Put them in fear O Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men Selah Psalm 10. 1 WHy standest thou afar of O Lord why hidest thou thy self in times of trouble 2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined 3 For the wicked boasteth of his hearts desire and blesseth the covetous whom the Lord abhorreth 4 The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts 5 His ways are always grievous thy judgements are far above out of his sight 6 He hath said in his heart I shall not be moved for I shall never be in adversity 7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud under his tongue is mischief and vanitie 8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages in the secret places doth he murder the innocent his eyes are privily â—et against the poor 9 He lieth in wait secretly as a Lion in his den he lieth in wait to catch the poor he doth catâ—h the poor when he draweth him into his net 10 He croucheth and humbleth himself that the poor may fall by his strong ones 11 He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hideth his face he will never see it 12 Arise O Lord O God lift up thine hand forget not the humble 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God he hath said in his heart Thou wilt not require it 14 Thou hast seen it for thoâ— beholdest mischief and spite to require it with thy hand the poor committeth himself unto thee thou art the â—eâ—per of the fatherless 15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man seek out his wickâ—dness till thou find none 16 The Lord is King for ever and ever the heathen are perished out of his land 17 Lord thou hast heard the desire of the humble thou wilt prepare their heart thou wilt cause thine ear to hear 18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed that the man of the earth may no more oppress Psalm xi To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 IN the Lord put â— my trust how say ye to my soul flee as a bird to your mountain 2 For lo the wicked bend their bow they make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart 3 If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do 4 The Lord is in his holy temple the Lords throne is in heaven his eyes behold his eye lids trie the children of men 5 The Lord trieth the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousnes his countenanâ—e doth behold the upright Psalm xii To the chief musician upon Sheminith A Psalm of David 1 HElp Lord for the godly man ceaseth for the faithful fail from among the children oâ— men 2 They speak vanitie every one with hiâ— neighbour with flattering lips and witâ— a double heart 〈◊〉 they speak 3 The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and
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
me and my small company from place to place and have now overtaken and begirt us round using all diligence to find us out wheresoever we hide our selves that they may destroy us 12 Greedily lion-like gaping after us to prey upon us and either by strength or policy utterly to ruine us 13 Consider my strait O Lord and step into my rescue defeat his purpose and disable his power save my life now endangered by my wicked enemies and destroy them that would destroy me by thy might and in thy justice 14 Save me from men which though they are too hard for me are not able to stand under thy hand O Lord God of power yea from such men as care never to see thy face in heaven nor shall they on whom thou liberally bestowest temporal favours for that 's all they are to have from thee as the fat and sweet of the earth and store of children to whom they leave store of wealth and that 's all they care for 15 But Lord this is not my care nor herein consists not my happiness but in this that I can appeal to thee in the faith of thy grace and the sense of mine own innocency This is my care and comfort at present and I am sure for future I shall be happy when they are miserable at the day of the resurrection of all flesh when I shall appear acceptable to thee clothed in thine Image of holiness and righteousness which they shall not and so be received into life and immortality when they shall be rejected The xviii PSALM David having upon the consideration and view of his great and many benefits first kindled the love of God in his heart then falls to praising him for them which he performs with much divine Art and elegancy in musical Identities poetical strains and Hyperbolical allusions similitudes and comparisons of his deliverances for substance with the most wonderful ones that ever God wrought for his Church or servants by any his notoriousest miracles Then he shâ—ws the ground hereof to wit the innocency of his cause the uprightness of his wayes and the grace and righteousness of his good God And thence raises conclusions of future mercies both to himself and others in like case that walk with and depend on the Lord as he had done to whom he thankfully ascribes all his preservation deliverance victories advancement and promises himself victory for time to come and enlargement of his dominions as a type of Christs Kingdom over as well Heathens as Israelites And resuming his acknowledgements above all he records his deliverance from Saul as most remarkable and thank-worthy By all which he gives to understand the ratification of the Kingdom to him by God and his appointment to signifie for the comfort of the faithful Christs conquests by the power of his father in the Churchâ—s behalf in and over which he shall râ—ign foâ— ever To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire is recommended for the care and ordering of it to be sung by David whose greatest honour in this his high advancement is that he is the designed and dedicated servant of the Lord this Psalm which he composed at the end of his troubles when the Lord had delivered him from the power and violence of all his home-bred enemies but principally from Saul who was his greatest persecutor and potent adversary and made him King in his stead And upon this occasion he gave thanks and praised God as followeth 1 AS I have cause so I ever will bear in mind thy mercies and love thee for them O Lord in whom I repose all my trust and stay and so have ever done 2 I have bottomed my self on the Lord onely and made him my defendor and trusted in him for deliverance which he hath sent me I own him and no other God but him for my God I will never think my self weak while I have him for my strength whom I will choose to trust in as mine all in all my defendor and mine enemies strong offendor in my behalf my safeguard from them and advancer above them 3 I have often called on the Lord in prayer in mine adversity and now I will change my note and sing a Psalm of praise to him who is right worthy to be praised by me for what he hath done for me and so I shall still be sure of him for my God and Saviour as well against those that shall be mine enemies as those that have been 4 I have been many times brought into inextricable dangers of death so that I have even given my self for lost and have thought it impossible to escape the hands of such a wicked multitude as sought my bloud 5 Yea I have made full account of my grave so near have I been to mine end in mine own apprehension I judged it utterly impossible ever to escape the deadly dangers I have been in 6 But ever in my distress I made my repair to God I called to him who I knew was of power to help me and made my earnest supplication to him that I believed loved me and would be good unto me and accordingly I found it so for he failed me not but heard my prayer and answered it from Heaven the place of his presence as shall be the Temple and was moved by my pitiful case and earnest supplication which he took special notice of and ever lent me relief according to it 7 For thereupon he miraculously delivered me and wrought wonderfully for me and against mine enemies in effect as much and as marvellously as he did of old either in the punishment or for the terrour of his own people when they rebelled against him and his servant Moses or at any time for the deliverance of Israel whether in Egypt the red sea wilderness or since yea as conspicuously did he appear for me in the acts of providence and power as if he had really and in letter created all those revolutions and transmutations in the aire and elements hereafter mentioned as to instance when at any time in his wrath he did or as if he had sent terrible earth-quakes that as it were shook the whole earth and the most unmoveable mountains from top to bottom 8 And like as when supernaturally he sent forth fire and smoak which consumed the ungodly and rebellious with all they had to ashes and strangely kindled and set on fire combustible materials as natural fire naturally uses to do coals and such like 9 Or manifested his presence in thick and darksome clouds descending as it were down to the earth 10 Or when at any time he used the powerful ministration of Angels and winds wherewith himself also was present 11 Or terribly appeared by overcasting the aire with an unwonted darkness occasioned by an extraordinarie concourse of dark watery clouds all over the skie benighting the day and obscuring the
friend promises to trust in him worst come that can come hoping his enemies shall not always escape punishment nor he always be oppressed magnifieth God for his great deliverance out of Gath and concludes thence Gods future protection of him To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Jonath-elem-rechokim signifying the dumb dove in a far Countrey a denomination significant and proper to Davids behaviour and condition at Gath of the Philistines where he was in imminent danger and a remarkable deliverance 1 Sam. 21.10 c. by counterfeiting himself mad and speechless which is the occasion and subject matter of this Psalm being chiefly set to it and committed to him by David that made it to be sung to the special tune of Michtam played on that instrument 1 O Lord God be thou my helper and vouchsafe me mercie or else I am in a miserable condition and sure to be undone for I have no friends nor can find no favour on earth but on all hands am beset readie to be devoured and praid upon by cruel-minded men I am forced to flie to my very enemies for refuge and to use my wits to get from them as soon as I am come to them being driven into those inextricable straits by Saul and his complices my bloudy enemies who will let me rest no where seeking my life and with open war and professed enmitie persecuting me continually 2 So bitterly enraged are mine enemies against me that they think every day a year till they have destroyed me greedily affecting it and they are a numerous company of them all set by might and main to mischief me that am a poor innocent lonely man thus pursued and persecuted by Saul and his men of war But my confidence and hope is in thee that art of power and might above them to whom onely I make my moan 3 And in assurance of thy power and good will to help me whensoever I am in extream danger and in never such fear and perplexitie of mind by reason thereof yet such hath been my experience of thee at all times as that when I can flie no whither nor be safe no where I will yet then flie to thee by faith and hope 4 And my confidence is that I shall allwayes find that word and promise of thine which thou hast made concerning me to be faithfully performed by thee thy grace and power shall answerably appear for me and that I shall never have other cause but to praise thee for thy truth and to thank thee for thy goodness notwithstanding all my dangers and therefore as I have hitherto believed on thee so I will still and whilest I have thee that art God on my side and they be but men that are mine enemies I will never so fear them nor the harm they can do me as not to trust and hope in thee for preservation and deliverance from them 5 What I say or do be it never so well meant and be I never so innocent I am sure to be belied and perverted by them as if I plotted and practised nothing but treason when as I do nor think nothing less and as they falsly surmise so they wickedly conspire and complot my ruin 6 They both secretly advise and openly associate themselves together against me a single friendless man they have stratagems and designs against me which they carrie covertly least I should discover and avoid them as by thy goodness to me I have strangely done hitherto and they have spies upon me to pick all advantages against me that they may have whereof to accuse me and a fit opportunitie to cut me off and murder me which notwithstanding they could never yet compass 7 Lord how long shall these wicked wretches practise iniquitie and not be punished nay prosper in such courses O God manifest at last in thine own good time thy just displeasure upon such vile reprobate people as these are by bringing them and their wicked devices to nought 8 How ever I am hated by mine enemies and persecuted from place to place yet am I regarded and preserved by thee that hast pitie on mine unquiet condition and by thy special providence and secret guidance goest along with me to protect me Let my manifold tears which I shed in my manifold miseries when no eyes sees me but thine be heedfully taken notice of by thee to remember me according to them yea Lord I know and find they are so 9 Though my peril be imminent and seemingly inavoidable yet I have found and doubt not still to find it so that if I put up a faithful and fervent prayer unto thee thou wilt in instanti some way or other disappoint and defeat mine enemies and shew me a way to escape them this I know to be true by former experience and shall find it so always for thou O Lord art every whit as careful and vigilant over me to preserve me as mine enemies are to destroy me 10 11. See the fourth verse of this Psalm which specially the former part of it is here repeated to shew the strength of Davids faith in the truth of God and his promises and that it rather increaseth than diminisheth by his dangers 12 Such and so great have been my deliverances that they have drawn solemn vows from me of solemn praise and thanks to be given thee in most exact manner of performance according to thy Law in such cases which though at present I cannot perform in the ceremonies and formalities thereof being banished from the place of thy worship yet I hope and promise to bear them in mind till the time that thou shalt restore and inable me so to do and in the mean time mine heart and lips shall not be wanting to give thee praise in spirit and truth 13 For though thou hast vouchsafed me many a deliverance from many a danger yet none was ever more imminent nor thy goodness and power more conspicuous than in this at Gath where I was discovered and my life endangered very near and shall not I gather from this surely I will and do that thou wilt never let me be a prey to mine enemies nor worship any other God but thee which I was in danger to have done amongst the Philistines hadst not thou speedily brought me thence but wilt still preserve my life and give me to enjoy the happiness of serviving thee the onely true and living God amongst thine own people who onely of all the world that every where lies in darkness and in the shadow of death have the light and knowledge to worship thee aright The lvii PSALM David being driven into a narrow compass and being in great straits by his enemy Saul and his complices surrounding him in the cave flies by prayer and faith to God and promises himself deliverance by miracle rather than not at all He sets forth the cruell and proud nature of his enemies to
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
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
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
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
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
my greatest dangers mine enemies were too cunning for me and all the shift I could make and by their subtility and secrecy had certainly surprized me hadst not thou mightily prevented it 4 I ruminated with my self and thought as men in such cases are apt sometimes to hope and sometimes to fear that sure this or the other man would intercede to Saul for me and stand up in the defence of mine innocency to save my life and that I had some friends and acquaintance yet left me that would appear for me in such a time of need but there was none all were against me not a man for me all sought my ruin none pitied my case nor offered to speak a word in my behalf when my life lay at stake so utterly destitute was I and humanely helpless 5 My last and best refuge was therefore to thee O Lord whom I earnestly beseeched to be helpfull to me in that so great extremity shewed thee how all helps else failed me that thou onely and alone wast left me to flie to and hope in who art the stay and strength of mine heart my never-failing deliverer and how that being stript of all interest and propriety in the promised land and all in it as if I were an utter stranger and no Israelite nothing is left me but thy self a naked God in promise is all my part and portion therein 6 Lord forget not thy servant that is so mindfull of thee whose all in all thou art but make this mine extremity thine opportunity hear me effectually that cry unto thee ardently as mine extremity enforceth me to do having as it were one foot within the door of death never man was nearer it and scape be thou that art Almighty my powerfull deliverer from my potent enemies and bloudy persecutours that so surround me and so far surpass me 7 Deliver me from out this present danger and inclusion yea put a finall end to my persecution whereby my life is held in continuall danger and set me at liberty from the oppressing power of mine enemie that as thy free-man when freed I may glorifie thee thy power and goodness that hath done so great things for me And then shall the good and well-meaning people though now misled too many of them flock about me with admiration and praise of thy wonderfull works in my strange manifold and manifest deliverances by the good hand of God to me which shall clearly shew it self to the conviction of all that I am the man which under thee must rule over them as Christ over his Church The cxliii PSALM David under great persecution and trouble prayes earnestly that God would not as he might proceed against him in relation to himself but against his enemies in relation to him for though as to God he was a sinner to them he was none who therefore injuriously sought his life to his extream perplexity Yet he comforts himelf in God his former mercies and prayers to him for present deliverance and perseverance in holiness and concludeth with prayer for his own preservation and his enemies destruction A Psalm made by David 1 MY calamities are such as put me upon vehement and often supplications to thy Majesty for deliverance O that thou wouldest hear me once for all by putting a period to my misery according to the faithfulness of thy promise in that behalf and the gracious nature that is in thee in justice to deliver the oppressed 2 Let not mine afflictions be the punishments of my sins as I confess they justly may for then shall I be hopeless and they endless but remember me under another notion as one chosen and called through grace to be thy servant and that in eminent place in thy Church consider me as such I pray thee in mercy to pardon and pass by my sinfulness for it is not mine innocency but thy clemency that must acquit me as to thee though as to mine enemies I dare plead it but not as to thee who art a God of pure eyes and seest sin enough in me and every one else seem he never so righteous in the eye of the world or his own utterly and for ever to sentence us to hell much more to punish us here 3 It is justice betwixt me and mine enemies that I sue for to be of grace vouchsafed me for they have unjustly hunted after my life for a long time together and have brought it as near to death as could be possible and banished me the society and communion of men to seek sanctuary in wildernesses and caves solitary and desolate disregarded and given of all for lost never to recover any better fortune no more than for a man that is dead and buried to arise 4 Which uncomfortable forlorn cast-away condition doth grievously affect me with trouble of mind and makes my heart as void of comfort within as my life is without 5 Yet Lord do not I altogether count my self as others do but for all I am so as I am my hope is still in thee I consider how it hath been both with my self and other thy servants of old what difficulties they have waded through what deliverances and preservations they have had and from what an ebb-condition thou hast by thy mighty power and goodness raised them and truly this holds mine head still above water and sustains me in faith and hope 6 So that I cease not to pray my danger stops not my mouth nor makes me desperate but in the hope I have in thee though destitute of all else I make my fervent addresses to thee with an eager desire to be heard and to enjoy the fruits of thy promises never did the chawned earth more need and desire the rain to moisten it in time of drought than doth this heart of mine thirst after the supplement of grace in this my calamity Thou Lord knowest it 7 And therefore accordingly vouchsafe to expedite help unto me for truly such outward miseries inward perplexities and forcible heart-breathings after thee will quickly expire me I cannot long live under such heavy burdens and depressions of nature they will consume me if thou doest not quickly afford some reviving by timely redress and effectuall favour which I beseech thee to do least death and destruction seize suddenly upon me which to speak humanely I am within a very little of 8 Whilest yet there is hope before life extinct make hast to help me and as it were to revive my dying decaying spirits with some cordiall of grace and timoâ—s deliverance for my trust is still in thee for it how low soever I am brought point me out by thy singer of direction and hand of providence how I may come safe out of this inextricable labyrinth of troubles wherewith I am incumbred and know no way to escape them but by immediate and miraculous mercy for which I am an humble suitour to thee with all
are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand up â—ight 9 Save Lord let the King hear us when we call Psalm xxi To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 THe King shall joy in thy strength O Lord and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoyce 2 Thou hast given him his hearts desire and hast not withholden the request of his lips Selâ—h 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head 4 He asked life thee and thou gavest it him even length of dayes for ever and ever 5 His glorie is great in thy salvation honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance 7 For the King trusteth in the Lord and through the mercie of the most high he shall not be moved 8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee 9 Thou shalt make them as a fierie oven in the time of thine anger the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them 10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth and their seed from among the children of men 11 For they intended evil against thee they imagined a mischievous device which they are not able to perform 12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them 13 Be thou exalted Lord in thine own strength so will we sing and praise thy power Psalm xxii To the chief musician upon Aijeleth-Shahar A Psalm of David 1 MY God my God why hast thou forsaken me why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring 2 O my God I crie in the day time but thou hearest not and in the night season and am not silent 3 But thou art holy O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel 4 Our father 's trusted in thee they trusted and thou didst deliver them 5 They cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded 6 But I am a worm and no man a reproch of men and despised of the people 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip they shake the head saying 8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him 9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mothers breasts 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb thou art my God from my mothers belly 11 Be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help 12 Many buls have compassed me strong buls of Bashan have beset me round 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring Lion 14 I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joynt my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowels 15 My strength is dried up like a pot-sheard and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws thou hast brought me into the dust of death 16 For dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me they pierced my hands and my feet 17 I may tell all my bones they look and stare upon me 18 They part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture 19 But be not thou far from me O Lord O â—â—y strength hast theâ— to help me 20 Deliver my soul from the sword my darling from the power of the dog 21 Save me from the Lions mouth for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns 22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee 23 Ye that fear the Lord praise him all ye the seed of Jacob glorifie him and fear him all ye seed of Israel 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither hath he hid his face from him but when he cried unto him he heard 25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation I will pay my vows before them that fear him 26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kinreds of the nations shall worship before thee 28 For the Kingdom is the Lords and he is the Governour among the nations 29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him and none can keep alive his own soul. 30 A seed shall serve him it shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation 31 They shall come and shall declare his righteousnes unto a people that shall be born that he hath done this Psalm xxiii A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord is my shepheard I shall not want 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me besides the still waters 3 He restoreth my soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousnes for his names sake 4 Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies thou anointest my head with oyl my cup runneth over 6 Surely goodnes and mercie shall follow me all the dayes of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever Psalm xxiiii A Psalm of David 1 THe earth is the Lords and the fulnes thereof the world and they that dwell therein 2 For he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the flouds 3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place 4 He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanitie nor sworn deceitfully 5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousnes from the God of his salvation 6 This is the generation of them that seek him that seek thy face O Jacob. Selah 7 Lift up your heads O ye gates â—â—d be ye lift up ye everlasting doors and the King of glorie shall come in 8 Who is this King of glorie the Lord strong and mightie the Lord mightie in battel 9 Lift up your heads O ye gates even lift them up ye everlasting doors and the King of glorie shall come in 10 Who is this King of glorie the Lord of hosts he is the King of glorie Selah Psalm xxxv A Psalm of David 1 UNto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. 2 O my God I trust in thee let me not be ashamed let
and I am withered like grass 12 But thou O Lord shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations 13 Thou shalt arise and have mercie upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glorie 16 When the Lord shall build Sion he shall appear in his glorie 17 He shall regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer 18 This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. 19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuarie from heaven did the Lord behold the earth 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death 21 To declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 When the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the Lord. 23 He weakened my strength in the way he shortned my dayes 24 I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my daie 2 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed as the Eagles 6 The Lord executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed 7 He made known his wayes unto Moses his acts unto the children of Israel 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy 9 He will not allwayes chide neither will he keep his anger for ever 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercie toward them that fear him 12 As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removeth our transgressions from us 13 Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 14 For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust 15 As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth 16 For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 17 But the mercie of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children 18 To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them 19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all 20 Bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength that do his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word 21 Bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure 22 Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord O my soul. Psalm civ 1 BLess the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art clothed with honour and Majestie 2 Who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariot who walketh upon the wings of the wind 4 Who maketh his angels spirits his ministers a flaming â—ire 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the mountains 7 At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away 8 They go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth 10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hils 11 They give drink to every beast of the field the wild asses quench their thirst 12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation which sing among the branches 13 He watereth the hils from his chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works 14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel and hearb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth 15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man and oyl to make his face to shine and bread which strengtheneth mans heart 16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap the Cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted 17 Where the birds make their nests as for the stork the fir-trees are her house 18 The high hils are a refuge for the wild Goats and the rocks for the conies 19 He appointeth the moon for seasons the sun knoweth his going down 20 Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forrest do creep forth 21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God 22 The sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens 23 Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening 24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches 25 So is the great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great 26 There go the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein 27 These wait all upon thee that thou maist give them their meat in due season 28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good 29 Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 31 The glorie of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works 32 He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoak 33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being 34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. 35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more bless thou the Lord O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cv 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the people 2 Sing unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wonderous works 3 Glorie ye in his holy name let the heart of them rejoyce that â—ear the Lord. 4 Seek
polluted with bloud 39 Thus were theâ— defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions 40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people insomuch as he abhorred his own inheritanâ—e 41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen and they that hated them ruled over them 42 Their enemies also oppressed them they were brought into subjection under their hand 43 Many times did he deliver them but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquitie 44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their crie 45 And he remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies 46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives 47 Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise 48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hands of the enemy 3 And gathered them out of the lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitarie way they found no Citie to dwell in 5 Hungrie and thirstie their soul fainted in them 6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses 7 And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a Citie of habitation 8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness 10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most high 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder 15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children ofmen 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in â—â—nder 17 Fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are afflicted 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death 19 Then they crie unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses 20 He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction 21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanks-giving and declare his works with rejoycing 23 They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters 24 These see the works of the Lord â—nd his wonders in the deep 25 For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof 26 They mount up to the heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble 27 They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 28 Then they crie unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses 29 He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven 31 Ohâ— that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into drie ground 34 A fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein 35 He turned the wilderness into a standing water and drie ground into water-springs 36 And there he maketh the hungrie to dwell that they may prepare a Citie for habitation 37 And sow the fields and plant vineyards which may yield fruits of increase 38 He blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly suffereth not their cattel to decrease 39 Again they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow 40 He poureth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high and maketh him families like a â—lock 42 The righteous shall see it and rejoyce and all iniquitie shall stop her mouth 43 Who so is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Psalm cviii A Song or Psalm of David 1 O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glorie 2 Awake Psalterie and harp I my self will awake early 3 I will praise thee O Lord among the People and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations 4 For thy mercie is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds 5 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens and thy glorie above all the earth 6 That thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand and answer me 7 God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce I will divide Sechem and meet out the valley of Succoth 8 Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of mine head Judah is my law-giver 9 Moab is my wash-pot over Edom will I cast my shoe over Philistia will I triumph 10 Who will bring me into the strong citie who will lead me into Edom. 11 Wilt not thou O God who hast cast us off and wilt not thou O God go foâ—th with our hosts 12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man 13 Through God we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies Psalm cix To the chief musitian A Psalm of David 1 HOld not thy thy peace O God of my praise 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceiptful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue 3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause 4 For my love they are mine advâ—rsaries but I give my self unto prayer 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love 6 Set thou a wicked man over him and lâ—t
presence of the God of Jacob. 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters Psalm cxv 1 NOt unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake 2 Wherefore should the heathen say where 〈◊〉 now their God 3 But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased 4 Their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands 5 They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 6 They have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not 7 They have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat 8 They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is thy help and thy shield 10 O house of Aaron trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield 11 Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield 12 The Lord hath been mindfull of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron 13 He will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great 14 The Lord shall increase you more and more you and your children 15 You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth 16 The heaven even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he given to the children of men 17 The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Praise the Lord. 1 I Love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications 2 Because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 3 The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell-gate hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow 4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my Soul 5 Gracious is the Lord and righteousâ— yea our God is merciful 6 The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me 7 Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living 10 I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted 11 I said in my hast All men are liars 12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me 13 I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints 16 Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanks-giving will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 19 In the courts of the Lords house in the middest of thee O Jerusalem praise yâ— the Lord. Psalm cxvii 1 O Praise the Lord all ye nations praise him all ye people 2 For his merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxviii 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercie endureth for ever 2 Let Israel now say that his mercie endureth for ever 3 Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercie endureth for ever 4 Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever 5 I called upon the Lord in distress the Lord answered me and set me in a large place 6 The Lord is on my side I will not fâ—ar what can man do unto me 7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me 8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princeâ— 10 All nations compassed me about but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them 11 They compassed me about yea they compassed me about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 12 They compassed me about like bees they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me 14 The Lord is my strength and song and is become my saltion 15 The voyce of rejoycing and salvation is in the Tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 17 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. 18 The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over unto death 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness I will go in to them I will praise the Lord. 20 This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter 21 I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner 23 This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it 25 Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperitie 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. 27 God is the Lord which hath shewed us light bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the Altar 28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God I will exalt thee 29 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever Aleph 1 BLessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart 3 They also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes 4 Thâ—u hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently 5 O that my wayeâ— were directed to keep thy statutes 6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgements 8 I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly Beth. 9 Wherewithall shall a