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
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
and full of danger for I am ready to be devoured by my Lion-like enemies but Lord thou that canst deliver do deliver me in token of the resurrection of Christ even from death it self and the rather for that heretofore I have found favour and had audience in as desperate a condition and as imminent peril of death by mighty enemies 22 I will in Psalms of praise magnifie thy power and goodnes amongst thy people who are my brethren flesh of my flesh as the regenerate are one with Christ in spirit In the midst of all Israel met together at thy sanctuary to worship thee shall thy praises be openly sung in Psalms of praise which I will dedicate to thee 23 Stirring up thereby thy faithful and obedient people to praise thee with me and for me the Type as thy Church and chosen ones will for Christ the Antitype All ye who are Jacobs posteritie and resemble Gods peculiar and elect people exalt the Lord for the great benefits he hath afforded me and to you by me Serve him with reverence and Godly fear all you that are Israel and sprung of Israel as shall do the children of the promise or the spiritual Israel of God under the Government of the Messiah 24 For he hath ever been mindful both of you and me in all our afflictions then when the world hath contemned and disdained you as it will his Church and me as it will Christ yet hath he highly set by us and done for us nor hath he ever withdrawn his grace and favour from me in my worst estate no more than he will from the Messiah in his but when at such times I cried unto him he hath most of all expressed it ever vouchsafing me a gracious answer and relief as he will to him and his in like condition 25 Therefore will I pay my homage of praise and thanks unto thee of whom I have received all my welfare and happines even before all Israel will I do it to provoke them to do the like who have like cause with me I will at those times of most solemn and publick worship sing thy praise and offer my sacrifice of thanks-giving unto thee that all may joyn with me and take example by me 26 They that meekly undergo their sufferings and do wait upon the Lord for deliverance and the fulfilling of his gracious promises shall be sure at last to have their hearts desire and shall be feasted with their own peace-offerings as Christ shall be in heaven after he hath endured the cross They shall have cause of praise that faithfully seek to him by prayer in their distresses Such men shall not need to be discouraged at no time nor in no condition but shall always have cause comfortably to enjoy themselves by faith in God 27 The time shall come when Christ is come and after his sufferings is exalted into glorie as contemptible as he seemeth to be that all the world shall take notice of their lost estate But for him whom God hath exalted to the office of a Saviour and Mediator and shall thereupon willingly and with all their hearts renounce their errours and idols to serve the onely true God in Christ and the manifold nations of the Gentiles who now are a separate bodie from the Church shall then be incorporated into it acknowledging the Lord Christ and worshipping him who when he is lifted up shall draw all men after him 28 For God hath put all power into his hands and he will shew that his Kingdom is not confined to Israel alone but that he is King over the Gentiles whom he will also bring under his dominion and allegiance 29 All sorts of people from all parts of the earth shall submit to Christs scepter and salvation They that outwardly abound in wealth and honour or inwardly with carnal confidence or self-righteousness shall yet be glad to casheer such destructive principles and deceivable and account it their greater safetie and felicitie to take their souls repast in Christ whom they shall feed upon by faith as their peace-offering for whom and by whom they shall thankfully adore and worship God all also that are abject and poor or that in self-despair apprehend themselves under the bondage and fear of death by sin shall likewise humbly and thankfully take hold of him for their Saviour and honour him as their onely Redeemer And thus it shall be made appear by the conviction of all mens consciences that were it not for him all the world were undone for no man can be saved without him by his own righteousnes nor purchase heaven either by worldly affluence or voluntarie penurie and pennance of soul or bodie but onely by being Christs and having Christ for his 30 Not that all the whole world shall either serve him or be saved by him But a holy seed like Jacobs chosen and called every where out of the world shall believe in him and yield obedience to him and they shall be counted to the Lord for children and he to them for a Father because of their faith in him and obedience to him and his reciprocal love to them and care over them 31 They by the Fathers drawing shall come to Christ and partake of his justifying righteousnes and grace when he is raised and exalted out of his abased condition of humiliation to be the King and Saviour of his Church Which in zeal to Christ himself and in Christian charitie and dutie they shall promulgate and declare also to succeeding Generations and teach it to their children and childrens children that they in like manner may partake of his grace and be begotten to God by believing in him Even those great things shall they declare which he hath done for Christ and for his Church in and through Christ like as he hath done for me and for the people of Israel by me The xxiii PSALM David from what God had done for him in bringing him to the Kingdom argues what he will do and sets his seal of faith and assurance to it so as that by reason of his past and present condition no future dangers shall dismay him But is confident he shall spend and end his life in happines and promises constant praises for perpetuated mercies A Psalm made by David 1 THe Lord hath shewn himself as careful and tender over me as a shepheard over his sheep which makes me confident of his gratious benignity to me for the time to come that of his bounteous goodnes he will so see to me that I shall lack nothing that is expedient for me 2 For present he hath made large provision for me and carved with a bountiful hand unto me of every good thing he gives me peace and plentie and hath brought me into a safe and happie condition void of danger and full of inward and outward tranquillitie 3 He hath as it were given me a resurrection
above those they count and make miserable here for as wealthy as they are they have their time set them by God which they cannot lengthen a moment neither their own life nor their friends or kinsmans but when their hour comes one must die as well as the other how vain then is their confidence in riches 8 For however money may buy other things yet life the principall of mans happiness neither temporall nor eternall will be purchased by it it s too precious a commodity to be bought with such trash another gets ransome is the price of that and therefore for all their great wealth they may be short lived and then where is all their happiness they and it ceaseth for ever 9 Neither his own life nor any ones else that he hath a mind should live can he with all his wealth make to do so if that were so they would be sure to live always and never die for they know no happiness but what this world affords on the tother side the grave they look for no good 10 And though this be so that they cannot have an everlasting happiness by the transitory and fading wealth of this world but that they must part from it and leave it behind them which they see by dayly experience in others of their rank that death makes no difference of rich and worldly wise men from those that they count fools and brutish and for all their wisdom in getting and fore-casting they are not onely so unhappy as to leave their estates behind them but when they are dead oft times they have it that they never ment it to 11 Yet for all they see and cannot but know this they are far from reflecting upon themselves and seeing their errour but notwithstanding it their thoughts and minds are wholly still taken up how to greaten and perpetuate themselves and their families as if it were so that they should never die nor part from that they have and dream of an earthly immortality and felicity and none other being ignorant of heavens 12 But let them think what they will of this their earthly happiness and price it never so highly and hope to enjoy it everlastingly yet they shall find themselves mistaken miserably they and their contentments will not last long much less always be they never so highly promoted they shall stoop to death and then for all their honour and happiness here what difference between them and the very brute beasts whose happiness was here also for as the one so the other by death bids farewell to felicity which onely this life afforded them 13 However these men applaud themselves in their worldly wisdom and happiness and esteem other men fools that value not the things of this life at the rate they do yet this their wisdom is but foolishness and their confidence their deceit and their end proves it whereby all happiness ends with them but as nothing is more apparent so nor less believed for their posterity tread in the same steps approve of their fathers errours and think that folly that deceived them to be the onely wisdom and so are in like sort deceived themselves And so let them be 14 Though here on earth by their pomp and plentifull way of living they were distinguished from other men of inferiour ranck yet the grave will make no difference but as sheep are put into a fold so shall the grave receive them like as it doth other men and the worms there consume them and those that here they set so light by and trampled upon the godly and faithfull ones after the long night of the grave is over and that Christ in his second coming shall appear and they with him in glory and immortality then shall these despised righteous ones be their judges and shall approve that to be the onely true wisdom which in them they counted here to be but foolishness Thus shall all the honour and contentment they had here on earth end in the grave in corruption and rottenness and they never like to see good days again 15 But how ever my case and the case of the children of God may here seem miserable Lazarus like whilst they lie under the contempt and oppression of the Dives-es of this world yet are we sure of everlasting salvation which they shall not partake of for God in faithfulness and mercy will raise us up from death to life and though our bodies have suffered in this world our souls shall be saved in the next for as we belong to the election of his grace so he will be sure to receive us into glory of this we may be confident 16 And as I said before what need I or any other child of God then fear what man can do unto us Though we see power put into worldly mens hands that fear not God though wealth and honour increase upon them 17 Let not this dismay us nor make us envy them but consider such a mans end when death comes and die he must then and there he shall be poor enough and low enough neither his honour nor riches shall profit him or disprofit thee in the grave then is thy turn to be happy and his to be miserable 18 Though while he lived here in the midst of sensualities and had what the world could afford to give him content and make him happy he flattered himself with omne bene never once thinking of a change but lived as if he should never die and thought himself by reason of his worldly affluence as much and more in favour with God then Gods own children that wanted what he had and surely so think others too the world generally believes those men onely to be happy and in a good condition that have the world at will and pampers themselves with that they have these are they that are had in reputation for the onely wise and happy men 19 But alas how are they deceived both the one and the other for he must die as his forefathers did in their times and turns his happiness here will have an end as theirs had and then begins his misery as theirs did which will have no end the lamp of this life shall extinguish in utter darkness 20 The sum and substance of all is this That those men that have honour and riches if withall they have not the knowledge and fear of God they live like brute beasts whose God is their belly and shall die like them too for they and their happiness shall perish together The l. PSALM God by the Psalmist declares that as all the world lies in sinne so he will judge them for it and yet can and will save his faithfull and elect people when he condemns the rest which he will procâ—â—â— against in judgement though they never partaked of that divine light which shâ—â—â— onely amongst his people Israel who therefore he more especially taxes
given them Canaan the type of heaven which his people what ever they may suffer heâ—e shall be sure of For which mercies to all Israel but principally for his own particular ones which have been extraordinarie he promiseth praise with a free heart and a libâ—ral hand in all sorts of sacrifices appointed by God and would have the upright take notice for their learning that he never praid but was answered which he speaks to incourage such not Hypocrites who have no such priviledge as he and the rest of the â—aithful have whose prayers shall be effectual as his was To the President of the Quire is this Psalm committed for his ordering it to be sung and plaid by voices and instruments 1 THough all nations but we are as forreiners to God yet shall he have a Church of larger extent even all the World over that shall worship and praise him with joyful acclamations for his saving truths and benefits vouchsafed to them 2 They shall have their temple as well as we even the Gentils shall partake so liberally of his saving graces as that in the Antitype and complement of all our ceremonious musick they shall upon the coming of Christ his having a Church amongst them spiritually in a more divine strain than ours honour and magnifie his saving goodness gloriously praise him for it in higher degrees of faith and knowledge 3 Magnifie God for the terrible victories he hath at sundry times wrought upon the Gentils by the power of his might on the behalf of us his chosen people through the greatness of the power of whose grace shall these same rebellious Idolatrous Gentils one day be won to take Laws from God and become his people that now are in open enmitie against him and his Church to destroy it for which he so destroyes them 4 The time shall come that not we onely but the whole World shall know thee fear thee and believe in thee the Lord and shall offer thee that worship in substance which ours portrayes out in shadows the whole earth shall be thy temple and Quire for thy Church shall every where praise thee and magnifie thy saving goodness to them Lord let this thy Kingdom come 5 I would have all that are Gods in all ages often to recollect and consider for the strengthening of their faith and glorifying of God the wondrous things from time to time that he hath done for his Church and the works he hath wrought for the preservation of it how terribly he hath ever proceeded against the men of this World that have offended them and what judgements he hath alwayes executed upon such and ever will 6 How of old when his people Israel were in jeopardie and humanely impossible to escape being encompassed on all hands with unavoidable dangers the sea before and Pharaoh and his host behind how then the Lord by miracle wrought for them and divided the sea through which they passed upon drie land so also when they entred the land of Canaan what way the Lord made for them over Jordan in like sort though at that time it overflowed not going over it by help of boats or bridges but just as they did before through the red-sea the waters were divided miraculously and they went through on foot in the face of their enemies as if there had been no river betwixt O the joy that then was apprehended by our fore-fathers at the sight and experience of such wonderful power and goodness of God extended to his Church in their so supernatural accommodations for their safe transporting and their enemis destruction and disheartning which ought also in the memorie of it to rejoyce us and the people of God for ever being wrought by God as a pledge and assurance of his continual love towards the whole bodie of his Church and that he is the eternal Saviour of it from which act therefore ought to flow cause of rejoycing to us and all the Godly in all ages in the faith of the same immutable goodness 7 And power which shall never be weakened but as he then was so he is and ever will be of the same strength and sufficiencie to stand his Church in steed and to over-master their enemies nor will he be one jot less careful of his people hereafter than heretofore but as circumspect over them for their good in all parts of the world when they are universally called and gathered out of all nations to be peculiarly his as he was then to those that were so And as that ought to be an example and incouragement of joy and confidence for ever to the Church of God so of terrour and humbling to her enemies that having such a president before their eyes upon sacred and everlasting record dare rebel against God by wronging his people thinking to suppress and root them out because they are few and short of them for power and policie but it shall turn to their ruin in after-ages as well as then They may be sure of it 8 All Gods people ought to bless God and magnifie him for what he hath done and assuredly will do for his Church but especially we that are before-hand possessed of so many mercies and great deliverances we ought to resound and publish the praise of his famous acts for the Gentils to take notice thereof thence to be confirmed in faith and hope 9 From what he hath done for us who but for his care over us had long ere this been swallowed up a thousand times over of death and destruction by our many enemies which yet were never able to have their will of us but that still we are a people and have been upheld against as it were the whole world who because of Gods peculiar choice have a special malignant hatred to us 10 For Lord thou knowst what troubles we have undergone since we have been a people to thee and all to the end thou mightest have occasion to shew how firm thou art to us as thou hast ever made it to appear and to trie whether we will be as firm to thee in our faith in thee and worship of thee thou hast proved us over and over again by afflictions to give us testimonie of thee and that thou mightest have assurance of us a faithful sincere people 11 Thou thus to trie us and shew thy self hast many times led us into inavoidable dangers and to outward appearance exposed us into the power of our enemies to be destroyed by them and suffered them to oppress us sore as in Aegypt and otherwise 12 We have undergone as base and cruel usage as can be imagined counted no more of them than the dirt in the streets enduring the uttermost hardships under cruel task-masters and bloudie enemies as could possibly be invented and contrived against us and such things must thy Church alwayes look for in this World but thou hast made us
in a Metaphoricall figurative sence so let me tell you also what you are and what you shall find your selves really to be without any figure that is mortall men such as no Titles nor distances can exempt or priviledge from the common fate of all men to die and rise to judgement for you have not laid aside your nature by taking up your Title but shall certainly come down from that degree you are advanced unto and stoop to death as every man of what ranck soever though equall with you or superiour to you have done before you 8 And though you have been gods on earth yet shall you be judged by the God of heaven who onely is God indeed and Sovereign Judge of all the world and it s well he is so such miserable disorder have you brought and will bring all things unto if you may be suffered in your Tyrannicall and unjust ways for nothing will reclaim you no doctrine though from God himself whether exhortation or commination so that my prayer shall be that God would by his power judge you for thus misjudging and misgoverning and do the inhabitants of the earth right upon such Princes and Judges as do them wrong and let them know that the earth yea every Kingdom and Countrey in it is the Lords and not theirs though they Lord it in their severall dominions as if right of inheritance and not thy donation were their chief investiture they pay thee no homage therefore distrein for thy glory as Lord Paramount and proprietor of what they count theirs and not thine as one day thou wilt be sure to do The lxxxiii PSALM When Senacherib instigated by his own ambition and others solicitation was preparing with all the power he could make to fall upon Iudah some men of God either good Hezekiah or some Prophet composed this Psalm relating the whole design and consederation by way of complain to God praying him to lay it to heart and to do for his Church and judge his enemies as he was wont and thereby get himself glory amongst those that are not his people as well as amongst those that are A Psalm probably committed to Asaphs successours rather than made by himself by the penman of it to be sung and plaid by them 1 O God do not thou sit still in silence neither be careless of the condition that both thou and we are about to fall into it is high time for thee to be-think thee O God concerning it 2 Considering the vast preparations that are making of a tumultuary army consisting of diverse confederate nations instigated by our pestilent neighbors and inveterate enemies the Ammonites and Moabites who grow sure and confident upon it to have a day and to subjugate and do by us as thou for our sakes hast heretofore done by them 3 They have negotiated this league with much subtility and solicitation against us the remainder of thy holy seed and chosen people and combined their heads and hands with the Assyrian and others to ruin and utterly root out those few Israelites that are left and do possess a narrow room in this great Kingdom which once was such and that have no other hope nor help but thy sanctuary and thine own residence in it amongst us under the wings whereof we shelter and secure our selves hoping by it for defence and protection against this mighty combination and deluge that is flowing down upon us 4 Promising themselves an absolute issue in this their undertaking utterly to destroy us as they have done the ten Tribes and so to put a finall end to the name of Israel who is brought at this day very low 5 And indeed to speak humanely it is no hard thing for them to do such an army as this is made up of so many nations unanimously agreed all of them to war upon thee for so thou knowest it is for though it be against us yet it is for thy sake because we belong to thee and profess thee and thy worship 6 Our near kinsmen born originally together with us of godly parents are chieftains and ringleaders in this confederacy against thy Church but that is no news for when were they other or how can other be expected from such a degenerate generation as Esau hated Jacob though his brother so do the Edomites his posterity hate us those Arabians with their Tents and military provision are coming against us with them the Ishmaelites the sons of Ishmael that old enemy of Isack his brother who because he could not be coheir with him his seed are at open enmity with us and so are the Moabites Lots incestuous brood and all them that came of Hagar the Egyptian bond-woman who have ever hated us free-men her Masters legitimate of-spring sole heirs of Abraham and his promise 7 With these kinred of ours are conjoyned forrainers of strange names and nations as the Gibbits borderers upon Sidon yea both far and near have they commixed their forces for with them are the Ammonites our near neighbour that incestuous generation and the Amalekites Esaus posterity also our old enemies the Philistines that brood of cursed Ham with the Citizens of Tyre that famous place and rich people 8 All these have combined their forces and the better to effect their design have joyned themselves to the King of Assyria and he with them and all against us that great nation is confederate with our enemies the Ammonites and Moabites who are backed by them and upon whom they bear themselves so high being confident by their means to ruine us 9 But Lord how easie a matter is it for thee to defeat the hopes of our adversaries and overthrow this mighty confederate army and deliver thy people as thou hast done heretofore magnifie thy self therefore O Lord put forth thy power do by these as we well remember thou didst by the Midianites though they were like Graslioppers for multitude yet with the noise of broken Pitchards in the hands of Gideons handfull of men didst thou rout them and set their swords one against another to their own destruction likewise as thou didst to Sisera the Generall of Jabins mighty Host when they encamped with nine hundred Chariots and a strong army at the river Kishon to fight against a small force of the children of Israel gathered onely out of the Tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali under the conduct of Barak and Deborah who yet utterly subdued them 10 Even that great army with all the confederate forces of the Kings of Canaan which then so freely unhired aided Jabin when all Israel shamefully declined Barak save those few perished at En-dor near to Taanack by the waters of Megiddo where they sought to rally and re-enforce the battell there were they hewed down and slain by Barak and his men hot in actuall pursuit of his victory gotten at Kison so that their carcases lay spread there like compost upon soil
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
Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge Selah Psalm xlvii To the chief musician A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 O Clap your hands all ye people shout unto God with the voice of triumph 2 For the Lord most high is terrible he is a great King over all the earth 3 He shall subdue the people under us and the nations under our feet 4 For he shall chuse our inheritance for us the excellencie of Jacob whom he loved Selah 5 God is gone up with a shout The Lord with the sound of a trumpet 6 Sing praises to God sing praises sing praises unto our King sing praises 7 For God is the King of all the earth sing ye praises with understanding 8 God reigneth over the heathen God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness 9 The Princes of the people are gathered together even the people of the God of Abraham for the shields of the earth belong unto God he is greatly exalted Psalm xlviii A song and Psalm for the sonnes of Korah 1 GReat is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the Citie of our God in the mountain of his holiness 2 Beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth is mount Sion on the sides of the North the Citie of the great King 3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge 4 For â—o the Kings were assembled they passed by together 5 They saw it and so thâ—y marvelled they were troubled and hasted away 6 Fear took hold upon them there and pain as of a womaâ— in travell 7 Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an Eastwind 8 As we have heard so have we seen in the Citie of the Lord of hosts in the Citie of our God God will establish it for ever Selah 10 We have thought of thy loving kindness O God in the midst of thy Temple 10 According to thy name O God so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth thy right hand is full of righteousness 11 Let mount Sion rejoyce let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgements 12 Walk about Sion and go round about her tell the towers thereof 13 Mark ye well her bulwarks consider her palaces that ye may tell it to the generation following 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever he will be our guid even unto death Psalm xlix To the chief musician A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 HEar this all ye people give ear all ye inhabitants of the world 2 Both low high rich poor together 3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding 4 I will encline mine ear to a parable I will open my dark saying upon the Harp 5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil when the iniquity of mine heels shall compass me about 6 They that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him 8 For the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever 9 That he should still live for ever and not see corruption 10 For he seeth that wise men die likewise the fool and the brutish person perish 11 Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever and their dwelling places to all generations they call their lands after their own names 12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not he is like the beasts that perish 13 This their way is their folly yet their posterity approve their sayings Selah 14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave death shall feâ—d on them and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave for he shall receive me Selah 16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the glory of his house is increased 17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his glory shall not descend after him 18 Though whilst he lived he blessed his soul and mâ—n will praise thee when thou dost well to thy self 19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers they shall never see light 20 Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Psalm l. A Psalm of Asaph 1 THe mighty God even the Lord hath spoken called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof 2 Out of Sion the perfection of beauty God hath shined 3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him 4 He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that he may judge his people 5 Gather my saints together unto me those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice 6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness for God is judge himself Selah 7 Hear O my people and I will speakâ— O Israel and I will testifie against thee I am God even thy God 8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings to have been continually before me 9 I will take no Bullock out of thy house nor He-Goats out of thy folds 10 For every beast of the forrest is mine and the cattell upon a thousand hills 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field are mine 12 If I be hungry I would not tell thee for the world is mine the fulness thereof 13 Will I eat the flesh of Bulls or drink the bloud of goats 14 Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high 15 And call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me 16 But unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statures or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth 17 Seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee 18 When thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him and hast been partaker with adulterers 19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil and thy tongue frameth deceit 20 Thou â—iâ—test and speakest against thy brother thou slanderest thine own mothers sonne 21 These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes 22 Now consider this ye that forget God least I tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver 23 Who so offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God Psalm li. To the chief musician A Psalm of David when Nathan the Prophet came unto him after he had gone in to