under our feet Hence the Jews to this day dream as did also the Disciples sowred with their leaven of an earthly Kingdom wherein the Messiah at his coming shall subdue the Nations and distribute their Provinces and wealth among his Jews But Christs Kingdom is of another nature and the Nations are already subdued to the Church which remaineth one and the same although the Jews be as branches broken off and others set in their place Rom. 11.24 Besides by the Nations under the Jews feet is meant say some that the Gentiles should be Scholars and the Jews School-masters as it were unto them for so fitting under the feet or at the feet signifieth in Scripture Acts 22.3 Luke 10.39 2 King 2.5 The teacher was called Joshebh or Sitter the Scholar Mithabbek or one that lieth along in the dust in token of his humble subjection And in this sense Seneca some where saith that the basest of people meaning the Jews gave Laws unto all the world Vers 4. He shall chuse our inheritance for us Or He hath chosen Of his free grace he espied out the Land of Canaan for his people Israel flowing with Milk and Honey and such as was the glory of all Lands Ezek 20.6 and as much yea much more hath he done for the whole Israel of God both of Jews and Gentiles by electing them to an inheritance immortal undefiled reserved in Heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.4 The excellency or high-glory of Jacob whom he loved i.e. All those high and honourable Priviledges wherein Jacob once and now all the faithful may wellglory and rejoyce See Rom. 9.4.5 having as great both abundance and assurance of Gods grace and goodness as Jacob ever had Vers 5. God is gone up with a shout The Ark is here called God as also Psa 132.5 and the face of God Ps 105.4 because from the Ark in the midst of the Cherubims God spake to his people and they by looking towards it had a sure symbol of the Divine presence The bringing of it up with pomp and solemnity into Mount Zion was a type of Christs wonderful ascension into Heaven triumphing over all his and our enemies Col. 2.15 Eph. 4.8 and joyfully entertained by Saints and Angels in Heaven The Jews ever apt to work themselves as one saith of them into the foolsparadise of a sublime dotage understand this passage of the future reduction of the Ark into the Sanctuary where it was once and for the which they most earnestly pray still as Buxtorf writeth With the sound of a trumpet Concrepantibus tubis and in like sort he shall return De Syuags Jud. c. 13 Acts 1.11 with 1 Ths 4.16 Vers 6. Sing praises to God sing praises Do it with all alacrity and assiduity being of that Martyrs mind who said Should I do nothing else all the days of my life yea as long as the days of Heaven shall last but kneel upon my knees and repeat over Davids Psalms to the glory and praise of God yet should I fall infinitely short of what is my duty to do Vers 7. For God is King of all the earth q. d. Our King said I it is too little he is King of all the earth A title vainly taken by some proud Princes as Sesostris King of Aegypt who would needs be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord of the whole world So a Decree went out from Augustus Casar that all the World should be taxed Luk. 2.1 The great Turk Amurath the third stiled himself Turk Hist 91 God of the earth Governour of the whole world c. but these were but bubbles of words as Saint Peter hath it God is the sole Monarch of the whole Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sing yee praises with understanding Non bacchantium more but prudently and with a well composed minde saith Vatablus Psalmo Didascalico saith Tremellim with such a Psalm or Song as whereby yee may rightly inform one another concerning his Kingdom and your own duty Heb. Sing yee Maschil that is Quotquot sapientes inrelligentes petitiestis psallend one of the Psalms that bear that title as some sense it or every one of you that hath skill in Songs as others Vers 8. God reigneth over the Heathen This is his universal Kingdom whereof before vers 7. and yet never can too much be said of it God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness He is in a special manner King of his Church as Ahasuerosh was of his Hester called his throne Exod. 87.16 because the hand upon the throne of the Lord that is Amalechs hand upon the Church as some interpret it His throne of glory Jer. 4.21 and here the shrone of his holiness because Christ who is called God so many times in this Psalm loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanseir and so present it to himself a glorious Church Eph. 5.25 26 27. Vers 9. The Princes of the people are gathered together Or the voluntary of the people The great ones disdain not to meet with the meanest at the publick Assemblies for performance of holy duties but thither they fly one with another as the Doves do to their windows Isa 63.8 glorying in this that they are Christs Vassals as did Constantine Valentinian and Theodasius Socrates those three great Emperours casting their Crowns at his feet and willing to come under the common yoke of his obedience with the rest of the people of the God of Abraham the common sort of Christians For the Shields of the earth be long to God That is those Princes and Magistrates also Hos 4.18 Psal 89.18 belong to the covenant of election a though not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1.26 and it was grown to a Proverb â—mnium bonorum Principum imagines in 〈◊〉 annulo scâ—lpi posse The Spanish Fryer was wont to say there were but few Princes in Hell and why because there were but few in all If such shall shew themselves shields to their people to protect them from wrong and not sharks rather to peel them and pillage them God will own and honour such Others thus the shields of the Earth belong to the Lord that is the Militia of the World is his he hath and can quickly raise the Posse comitatus of all Countries He is greatly exalted How should he be otherwise who hath sogreat a command and useth it for the defence of his people Especially if the Grandees of the earth become Religious and draw on others by their example and liberality Magnates Magnetes PSAL. XLVIII A Psalm a song for the sons of Korah When and by whom compiled we certainly know not If by David probably it was upon occasion of the Philistines comming up to seek him but were sent away back with shame and losse 2 Sam. 5.7 9. If upon the slaughter of Sennscheribs army by an Angel Isaiah or some other Prophet of those times as there were many might be
man who is thereby ingaged to bless God Vers 10. Beasts i. e. Wild-beasts that are fullest of life and there-hence have their name in the Hebrew tongue And all Cattel Domestick and tame beasts even to the Elephant which is said to turn up the first sprig towards Heaven in token of thankfulness by a naturall instinct when hee comes to feed Creeping things Whether in earth or Sea all these are summoned in by the Psalmist to pay their tribute of praise and to do their homage to the most high Vers 11 King of the earth These are doubly-bound to God as Queen Elizabeth wrot to the French King first as they are men and next as they are so great men Leunclau Annal Turc But this is little considered Tamerlan having overcome Bajazet asked him whether ever hee had given God thanks for making him so great an Emperour who confessed ingenuously hee never thought of it Princes and all Judges of the earth These are thrice called upon because hardly perswaded to pay God his rent as holding themselves too high to do him homage Vers 12 Both young men and maids Souls have no sexes let the choice youths and the compt lasses quâ— totâ— occupantur in sese ornandis saith Kimchi who are much taken up in tricking and trimming themselves leave that folly and give glory to God Vers 13 Let them praise the Name of the Lord Joyn in this harmony of Halelujah His glory is above Being deeper than Earth higher than Heaven Vers 14 Hee also exalteth the horn i. e. Hee graceth them singularly A people near unto him And in that respect happy above all people on the earth Deut. 4.7 33.29 because in Covenant with him and near-allied to him as the word here importeth PSAL. CXLIX VErs 1 Praise yee the Lord See Psal 148.1 Sing unto the Lord a new song A new-Testament-song of a new argument and for new benefits by the comming of Christ whereof this Psalm is propheticall Old things are past all things are become new 2 Cor. 5.16 new Commandements new promises new sacraments new grace new praises new priviledges For the Congregation of the 〈◊〉 His 〈◊〉 whose joyne praises must come before him as the found of many waters this is Heaven upon Earth Vers 2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him And new made him Ephes 2.10 and thereby highly advanced him as 1 Sam. 12.6 The Hebrew hath it In his makers to shew the Trinity of persons concurring in the work both of creation and regeneration So Gen. 1 2â— Job 35 1â— Isa 54.5 Eccles 12.1 See Psal 100.3 Bee joyfull in their King i. e. In Christ whose Kingdome is such as should swallow up all discontents and make us everlastingly merry Mic. 4.9 Iâ— Seneca could say to his friend Polybius Fas non est salvo Caesare de fortuna tua queri 〈…〉 salvi tibi sunt tui c. It is not fit for thee to complain of thine hard fortune so long as Cesar is alive and well how much more may it bee said so to Christians so long as Christ is alive and reigneth Vers 3 Let them praise his name in the daunce Or with the pipe tibi is tympanis omni musices organicae genere by all lawfull means possible Vers 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people Psal 35.27 when they are under the Cross especially and thereby meekened This the very Heathen saw Lib. de provid 2 and could say Spectant Diâ— magnos viros cum calamitate aliqua â—ollâ—ctantes Eâ—ce sâ—â—ctaculom ad quod respiciat operi suo intentus Deus saith Seneca of Caâ—â— and other gallant Roman spirits How much more may wee say the like of Gods-looking with singular delight on Abraham Jehova â—ireâ— the Lord seeth Gen. 22.14 Job Stephen Laurence and other faithfull Martyrs suffering couragiously for his truth and â—ealing it with their blood He will beautifie or glorifie the meek with salvation i. e. Not only deliver them Mr. Bolton but dignifie them in the eyes of all Psal 91.15 I will deliver him and glorifie him â—radford and such wee shall look upon likely saith a grave Author with thoughts of extraordinary love and sweetness in the next World through all eternity as Bonner and such with execrable and everlasting detestation Vers 5 Let the Saints bee joyfull in glory i. e. In their glorious estate by Christ notwithstanding their present poverty Let the Brother of low degree rejoyce or gloâ—y in that hee is exalted Jam. 1.9 Let them sing aloud upon their beds How hard soever Act Moâ—â— as Philpot and his fellow-sufferers did when they roused in the straw Jacob had never more sweet intercourse with God than when his head lay upon the hard stone at Bethel Some by beds here understand the Temples and Schools Confer Isa 57. Others render it 〈◊〉 de cubilibus suis They shall sing aloud for their beds that is for their sweet and solid tranquillity Vers 6 Let the high praises or the exaltations of God bee in their mouth Heb. In their throat So Isa 58.1 cry aloud Heb. cry in the throat set up thy note Sic clames ut Stentora vincas And a two-edged sword in their hand Such an invincible power shall the Saints have as whereby they shall subdue all their enemies corporall and spirituall See Heb. 14.12 Rev. 1.16 19.15 there was more than metall and form in Goliahs sword delivered by the Priest to David whose arm was not so much strengthened by it as his faith so is every good Christians by that two-edged sword of the Spirit he may well write upon it as that renouned Talbot in the reign of Henry the sixth did upon his sword Speed in blunt and boisterous language Sum Talbotti this was ingraven upon the one side of the blade and upon the other pro vincere inimicâ—s 〈◊〉 See a Cor. 10.4 5. Vers 7 To execute vengeance upon the Heathen viz. Upon a just calling and not for private revenge yea that souldier can never answer it to God that strikes not more as a Justicer than as an enemy bee his cause never so good But that 's the most noble vengeance that is executed upon mens lusts whilst they thrust the sword of the Spirit into the throats of them and let out their life-blood That 's a good sense that some give of these words viz. that the Saints when they go forth to battel should go with holy songs in their mouths as well as with swords in their hands See Judg. 7.19 20 c. Ussier Brit. â—cles â—mord 2 Chron. 20.21 c. the victoria Hallelujatica was got on this manner here in Britaine under the conduct of Germanus against a mighty army of Pelagian Picte and Saxons This was the course and custome of the 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 against their Popish persecutors and the like wee read of the other French Protestants at the siedge of 〈◊〉 that I mention not those gallant
God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he And will sing praise to the name c. Where the Psalmist mentioneth the overthrow of the wicked Laus praecedit sequitur saith R. Joshua Ben Levi here as in this place and Psalm 9. PSAL. VIII TO the chief Musician upon Gittith Upon the Cittern or Gittern brought from Gath saith the Chaldee Paraphrast or that was used by the Sons of Obed-Edom the Gittite 2 Sam. 6.10 or that was sung at the Wine-presses as the Greek hath it for a thanks-giving in time of Vintage This last Aben-Ezra disliketh though I see no reason why he should Vers 1. Vani homines exponunt de torculari Ab. Ezra O Lord our Lord c. The scope of this whole Psalm is to set us a wondering at and magnifying the Majesty and Magnificence of the Almighty together with his inexpressible goodness to Mankind 1 In our Creation in Adam 2 In our Restauration by Christ which last is the true end of this Psalm as appeareth Mat. 21.15 1 Cor. 15.27 and Heb. 2.8 How excellent is thy Name This David speaketh as one swallowed up with admiration at that Nomen illud Magnificum Majestativum that Glory Honour Power Wisdom Goodness c. that being invested in God and manifested in the Creature Gods Handy-work should make us both wonder and inquire into Gods excellencies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhet. lib. 1. cap. 11 according to that of Aristotle to admire and learn at once is a pleasant thing and sure that which is admirable stirreth up desire to see further into it Admiratio peperit Philosophiam saith another Admiration brought forth Philosophy let it breed devotion in us and a desire to praise God who hath therefore displayed his excellencies in his Works that we might give him his due glory The Angels shouted at the Creation Job 38.4 5 6 and shall we be dul and dumb God tells Job of his own great Works the Elephant and Whale especially and thereby brings him to a right temper The Elephant is in Chaldee called Pil of a word that signifieth Wonderful because the Wonders of Gods glory do so marvellously appear in him See Job 40.15 16 c with the Notes The Philosophers make Iris Plate or the Rainbow the Daughter of Thaumas or Admiration but because that when they knew God scil Per species Creaturarum they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations therefore were they given up to a reprobate sense Rom. 1.21.28 In all the earth Where a man cannot look beside a Miracle so full of God are all places Who hast set thy glory above the Heavens Nam in eis robuâ— Dei maximè apparet for in the Heavens how much more above them doth the glory of God chiefly appear the Earth is a small point in comparison of the Heavens and is governed by them as R. David here noteth Vers 2. Out of the mouth of Babes and sucklings For whom God hath filled two Bottles of Milk against they come into the World and in whose birth sustenance and wonderful protection for Puerilitas est periculorum pelagus but especially in their holy and religious education much of Gods Providence Power and Goodness is clearly seen and set forth to the conviction of the vilest Atheists So that besides the Earth and the Heavens we have very Infants Preachers of Gods praises and more effectual Oratours than ever were Isocrates Demosthenes Pericles c. so our Saviour understands it Mat. 21.10 where the Children sang Hosanna when the Pharisees were silent It is sometimes seen that Ipsa Deo blandos fundant cunabula flores John Baptist sprang in the Wombe for joy of Jesus Hierom writeth of Paula that noble Matron that she rejoyced in nothing more than this That she heard her Neece Paula sing Hallelujah in her Cradle Bellarmine tells us out of Theodoret In cunis cunis baâ—â— butienti linâ—â— Hallelujah Cantare Hiâ—â— that the Children of Samosatena playing at Tennis-ball in the midst of the Market did solemnly cast it into the fire because it had but toucht the foot of the Asse wheron Lucius the Heretical Bishop rode The Children of Merindal so posed and answered one another in matters of Religion before the persecuting Bishop of Cavaillon that a religious man that stood by said unto the Bishop I must needs confess that I have often been at the Disputation of the Doctors in Sorbon Act Monâ—â— fol. 865. Ibid. 1156. but yet I never learned so much as I have done by hearing these young children When Mr. Blecter the Bishops Chaplain told Mr. Wisehart the Scotch Martyr that he had a Devil in him and the spirit of Error a Childe that stood by answered him saying A Devil cannot speak such words as yonder man speaketh At the burning of John Laurence at Colchester as he was sitting in the fire for stand he could not he had been so hardly used in the Prison the young Children came about the fire and cried Lord strengthen thy Servant and keep thy promise Ibid. 1403. Here was strength out of the mouthes of little ones taught betime to speak the language of Canaan Sed vae vae parentibus illis saith Polanus on the Text But wo wo to those Parents who make their Children whom God would have to be witnesses of his Majesty witnesses of their impiety pride and vanity That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger i.e. Silence Atheists and Persecutors Vers 3. When I consider thy Heavens And that men should be much in this consideration both the bolt-upright figure of their bodies may monish them and also that fifth Muscle which God hath set in Mans eye whereas other Creatures have but four to draw it upward Ut ejus auxilio coelum intueremur saith the Anatomist that by the help thereof we might consider the Heavens This Columb de re Anatom l. 5. c. 9. those Christians that do not shall have those Heathens rising up in Judgement against them Anaxagoras Clazomenius who used to say that he was therefore born that he might contemplate the Heavens And Ennius who blameth Epicurus for that Dum palato quid sit optimum judicaret coeli palatium non suspexerit he did so purvey for his Palate that he looked not up to Heavens Palace Certain it is that many men have so much to do upon Earth that they cannot have while to cast an eye towards Heaven as the Duke of Alva told a great Prince who asked him if he had taken notice of the last Eclips That wonderful Globe of Silver sent by King Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turk lively expressing the wonderful motions Turk Hist 71 and conversions of the Caelestial frame the hourly passing of the Time the Change and Full of the Moon c. was much more beheld and admired than Heaven it self is by most people True it is that that Globe was
penned by David for private use but for publick Assemblies to be sung by the Congregation on the Sabbath and such like times It may very well be that they began their morning Sacrifice with this Psalm as the Latine Church also afterwards did their Mattens or Morning Service Let us make a joyful noyse With a clear and loud voyce as of a Trumpet singing with grace in our hearts unto the Lord. Vers 2. Let us come before his presence Heb. Prevent his face be there with the first Let us go speedily I will go also Zech. 8.21 Let praise wait for God in Sion Psal 65.1 Rabbi Gaon Praveniamus ante diem judicii Let us make haste saith he to do it before the Day of Judgement and lest we be taken with our task undone Others let us anticipate his face that is prepare our hearts at home before we come into the publick or let us give thanks for mercies already received that we may make way for more With Psalmes Oratione prorsà vorsâ Vers 3. For the Lord is a great God Understand it of Christ as the Apostle also doth Heb. 3. 4. 1 Cor. 10. Above all Gods Whether reputed so or deputed as Kings Vers 4. In his hand are the deep places Heb Searching that is much searched aster but sound to be unsearchable A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vo'ucris volan in altum R. Solom The strength of the hills Heb. The heights such as will sport a bird to get to the top of them Depths and heights are his Vers 5. The Sea is his c. Canutus confuted his Flatterers who told him that all things in his Dominions were at his beck and check by laying his command on the Sea Hen. Huntingâ—on to come up no higher into his Land but it obeyed him not And his hands formed the dry land Worship him therefore Rev. 4. Vers 6. O come let us worship and fall down With our whole bodies prostrate on the ground Kimchi our hands and feet stretcht out The Jews gesture of adoration at this day is the bowing forward of their bodies for kneeling they use none no more do the Graecians neither stir they their Bonnets in their Synagogues to any man Spec. Eur. but remain still covered The Lord our Maeker Who hath not only created us but advanced us as hee did Moses and Aaron 1 Sam. 12.6 Vers 7. The people of his pasture Whom he turns not out into Commons and Fallows but feeds among Lillies Cant. 2.16 And the sheep of his hand His Cades brought up at hand eating of his meat and drinking of his cup and lying in his bosome as Uriahs Ewe-Lamb did 2 Sam. 12.3 To day if ye will hear his voyce i.e. Whiles the day of grace lasteth which is not long 2 Cor. 6.2 Qui paenitenti veniam spofpondit peccanti crastinum non promisit saith Gregory Vers 8. Harden not your hearts by unbeleef and the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.12 13. which gradually obfirmeth the heart against God As in the provocation As your fathers did at Massah and Meribah be not you as good at resisting the Holy Ghost us they were Act. 7.51 Vers 9. When your Fathers tempted mee The times all along the wildernesse Num. 14 2â— though They saw my works Both mercies and judgements Psal 98.8 yet they were refractory and unmalleable Vers 10. Was I grieved Litigavi vel cum taedio pertuli That do erre in their hearts Wandering though not so wide as to misse of Hell They have not known viz. practically and savingly Vers 11. Vnto whom I sware When put past all patience Patientia lasa fit furor If they enter c. This God sweareth cum reticentia to shew how greatly hee was incensed PSAL. XCVI VErs 1. O sing unto the Lord a new song For this new mercy of the Ark now brought into Jerusalem from the house of Obed-Edom I Chron. 16.23 but especially of Christ typified by the Ark who should bee preached unto the Gentiles beleeved on in the World received up to glory I Tim. 3 16â— Sing unto the Lord all the earth Which they could not do aright till they had heard beleeved and were sealed Ephes 1.13 Unbeleevers can have no true notion of God but as of an enemy and therefore all their verball praises are but a black sanct is suitable to such Saints Vers 2. Sing unto the Lord c. David was at this time full of affection and exultation of Sprit insomuch as Michal mocked him for it 1 Chron. 15.29 and thence this heap of holy expressions to the same purpose Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh Shew forth his salvation Evangelize Preach the Gospel of salvation by Christ see Psal 40.10 2 Sam. 18.18 Isa 61.1 where the same word is used Form day to day Other news delights us only at first hearing but the good news of our redemption is sweet from day to day ac si in eodem die redemptio fuisset operata saith Kimchi here as if it were done but to day Tam recens mihi nunc Christus est saith Luther ac si hac horâ fudisset sanguinem Christ is now as fresh unto mee as if he had shed his blood but this very hour Vers 3. Declare his glory Hob. Sâ—pher it up in the particulars that God be no loser by you His wonders among all people There is a world of wonders in the work of mans redemption by Christ and all other mercies meet in this as the lines in the center streams in the fountain Vers 4. For the Lord is great Vere magnus est Christianorum Deus said Calocerius an Heathen he is omni laude major merito mituendus saith David here and elsewhere often Sound out therefore and send abroad his worthy praises the others may hear and fear Vers 5. For all the Gods c. Deunculi deastri Those petty Gods those dunghill-deities of the Heathens are nullities indeed they are Devils and those Idolls were their receptacles and as it were their bodies from whence in some places they gave oracles but were silenced at Christs comming in the flesh to the great amazement of their superstitious worshipers But the Lord made the Heavens With singular artifice Heb. 11.10 Clem. Aleâ— Paid l. 1. c. â—â— using 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every engine of wisdome Vers 6. Honour and Majesty are before him These are his Harbingers and they go often coupled as Psal 21.45.111.145 Job 40. c. By the former seemeth to be meant outward port and splendour by the latter inward reverence and respect following thereupon Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary Gods glory shineth more in his Church than in all the World besides Vers 7. Give unto the Lord See Psal 29.1 2. One rendreth it Tribuite ponderose unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onus pondus portate to shew that our praises of God should bee ponderous and substantiall Vers 8. Give
incedis solito divine Sacerdos Túque acris Princeps tu fidissime custos Virginis egregiae quae utroque misella Parente Orba in te Patruele utrumque ô faustâ parentem Repperit Ostentant vestri nunc quanta libelli Jobe tua sumpsit sibi jam nova cornua Moses Quòd tibi sors praesens melior fit sorte priori Mulcet inaudit â mentes dulcedine Psaltes Jam nil triste sonat Testudo Regia at ode Quae modò lugubris jacuit nunc laeta triumphat Arte tuâ haee facilè praestas clarissime Trappe Cui vite eximiâ sobole octuplieà que beato Nestoreos exopto annos illámque salutem Quae mihi dum vixi fuit at cum Conjuge vitae Quae mihi vita fuit dulci cum Conjuge fugit Barfordiae Aug. 28. 1656. Tuus Siquis Sim. THO. DVGARDVS AN ALPHABETICAL Table Of all the Principal things contained in this whole WORK A. ABsolution Ministerial page 293 Accepting persons page b 123 Admonition the fruit of it page 721 Adultery costly a. 120. punished page 265 266. Affliction God afflicteth in measure a. 89. and for good b. 9. crosses come thick b. 11. prepare for them b. 12. See God in them b. 16. praise him for them ib accept of them b. 24. affliction shewes a man b. 39 40 it comes not by chance b. 50. maketh a man blessed b. 56. is a mercy to be tried b. 74 the best may suffer deeply b. 90. and are then subject to be slighted b. 11. crosse providences for our good b. 204. how to finde out the cause of crosses 290. the benefit of affliction 313. chuse it rather then sin 316. good men censured for their afflictions 694. afflictions teach us 882. edge of prayers 902. Affection carrieth men page a. 166 Allegories frothy page 351 Ambition punished a. 149. ruined a. 156. is all for it self page ib. Amen how to be used page 695 Angels how they are Gods sonnes b. 6. servants b. 45. their office b. 6. their comparative impurity b. 45. guard of Angels page 804 Anger an ill Counsellour a. 164. 169 unreasonable a. 109. moderate it ib. furious described 569. 't is a madnesse b. 162. a shame 278. fury is fiery page 775 Antipathies in nature page 342 Antiquitie of what Authority page b. 77 78 Apparel costly a. 178. gorgeous page a. 156. Arrogancy page b. 109. Atheisme 604. Atheists bald conceits of God 199 Pliny an Atheist page ib. And Aristotle page 913 Augustines wish page a. 146 B Backbiting page 605 Beauty compleat what page a. 114. 116 Blasphemy of Papists a. 149. of Hacket b. 23. abhorred b. 6. punished b. 84. Blasphemy of Caligula page 592 Body of man a fabrick b. 19. a house of clay b. 4â— of wonderful formation page 914 Books lest page a. 193 Brotherly unity rare b. 4. happy page ib C Calamities good men may taste of common calamities page a. 11â— Calvins censure of Luther 299. how he was conjâ—red by Farrel page 30â— Censurers shall be censured page b. 7â— Chaldee Paraphrast on Job who and of what credit page b. 2â— Chambones Conversion page 293 29â— Charitie thinketh the best page b. 14â— Childe-birth a wonder page 335 76â— Children provides for them b. 3. good and bad children 899 900. good are a great blessing b. 92â— and b. 59. Gods grace in them page 58â— Chiromancy page 32â— Christ our Surety b. 157. he reigneth and veâ—ruleth a. 155. his humanity exalted b. 825. his Kingdome and Priesthood 853. his King doâ— everlasting 922. he is a Suretie if a better Testament 888. his Sacrifice and Intercession 36â— kisse him 568. he was deserted for a time 62â— he is our pattern 651. his outward and inwâ—â— beanty 702. 703. his Deity 704. fulnesse â— sweetnesse ib. the dream of his earthly Kiâ—â—dom Chronicles use of them page a. 125. 1â—◠〈◊〉 wonder of them page 3â— Comfort all is from God b. 72. receive it b. 141. divine comforts b. 151. worth of an able Comforter page 292 252 Communion of Saints page 337 Confession of sin confesse with aggravation a. 33â— b. 294. mine not 274. how to confesse 661 deal ingenuously 746. confession hath pardon page a. 81 Conference profitable b. 39. forcible page b. 67 Conflict of flesh and Spirit page b. 28 Conscience terrours of it b. 6. b. 144.145 confidence of a good conscience page b. 119 Confidence carnal miscarrieth a. 181. See Trust Constancy in Mordecai page a. 150 Constantines donation page a. 175 Contentious desire the last word page 219 Courtiers pious page a. 155 Covetousnesse cruel a. 137. unsatisfiable b. 182. its meed page 181 Counsellours evil seduce a. 152. good a happinesse a. 155. how such should be qualified page a. 110 Courage page a. 171 Cruelty of Turkes b. 75. of Archb. Hatto a. 62. Immane cruelties page a. 129 130 132 Crown of life unloosable page b. 168 Curiosity dangerous page b. 903 Cursers accurst 851. curse not another b. 273. shall be punished page b. 270 Curates and Substitutes page b. 11 Cyrus whence so called page a. 1. D Dancing mixt condemned page a. 107 Davids Physicks 833. his love to Gods Law 885 his health-cup page 871 Day-river in Peru page 739 Death terrible to wicked a. 166. sudden b. 189. some that died sinning page b. 217 Deformity despised 825. yet preferred page ib. Deluges page b. 113 Depopulatours unblest page b. 147 Desertion what to do in that case b. 127. see 128 876 600 724. Doeg a Leper page 726 A dog King of Denmark page 303 Dreams dreadful b. 73. Pilates wives dream page 290 Drunken tospots page a. 161 E. Eagle see 342.343 how she reneweth her youth page 831 Earth how it is founded page 328 Eclipse dismal page b. 89 Education page a. 13 Elephant wonder of him page 348.349 350 Elihu described 279. He was not Balaam ib. but a Moderator ib. wronged by Gregory 280 he was an excellent Oratour page 312 Eliphaz who b. 37. his vision page 42 Q. Elizabeths clemency page a. 2 Envie poison of it a. 48. 't is divelish b. 9. mischief of it page b. 49 Envy not wickeds prosperity page a. 160 677 Esther mystery of that book a. 104. Esthers dresse and addresse to the King a. 148. her policie commended 148.149 activenesse for God page a. 191 Extortioners described page b. 211 212 Eyes abuse of them a. 116. watch over them 262 eyes full of cruelty page a. 168 Ezra's learning page a. 1.24 F. Face of Malefactours covered why a. 166. the contrary is Faith force of it a. 144. long tried it flaggeth b. 27. yet will hang on still b. 124. faithful men faile page a. 99 Family a good Master of a family b. 826. sincere page 827 Famine misery of it page b. 57 Fasting force of it a. 30. and 139. and 145. long fasts ib. fasting praised page 672 Fatal day page a. 176 Fear of God filial a. 23. and b. 2. 577. and servile a. 22. panick terrour a. 182. be not
the like here The Parliament here held Anno 1376 was called The Good Parliament and another not long after Parlamentum benedictum The blessed Parliament God grant us such a one next for at present we are without any but not without cause to cry out This was written May 18. 1653. as those in Jeremy chap. 8.20 22. The harvest is past the Summer is ended and we are not helped Is there no balme in Gilead is there no Physician there Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered We looked for peace but no good came and for a time of health and behold trouble ver 15. Verse 9. And this is the number of them Had they not beene things of great price and use they would not have beene numbered Cant. 6.8 The Queenes and Concubines are numbered how many but not the Virgins that bring not forth fruit to God Men use not to count how many pibbles they have in their yard or piles of grasse in their field as they do how many pence in their purse or sheepe in their fold When the Great God shall count his peoples flittings bottle up their teares as sweet water book up their sighs as memorable matters Psal 56.8 shall we not say of them as the Jewes did of Lazarus when Jesus wept Behold how he loves them When the very hairs of their head are all numbered Matth. 10.30 so that not one of them falleth to the ground without their heavenly Father what store think we setteth He by their persons by their performances I know thy work and thy labour Rev. 2.19 I pitie this people they have beene with me now three dayes and fasting they are and farre from home and faint they may if sent away empty Matth. 15.32 Lo is not this a wonderful condescension that Christ should consider tantus tantillos tales and reckon every circumstance of their service so particularly and punctually that he might give to every man according to his works Oh his Jewels his book of remembrance c. Mal. 3.16 17 See the Notes there Thirty chargers Serving to hold such parts of the Sacrifices as were to be eaten by the Priests and others Nine and twenty knives Sacrificing knives richly hafted Verse 10. Thirty basins of gold These were to hold the sprinkling-water or blood And other vessels Of sundry sorts whereof see 1 Kings 7.50 Verse 11. All the vessels of gold and of silver Those best of mettals and therefore fittest for his use and service who is Good Psal 106.1 Better Psal 108.9 Best Phil. 1. 23. goodnesse it self Matth. 19.17 Whose great purse is the Earth with All that is either on it or in it Psal 24.1 whose great storehouse are the Stars and Planets the Sun especially making these mettals and causing plenty Deut. 28.12 Let us lavish out of the bag and when we have honoured the Lord with the Best of our best cry out with David Of thine owne Lord have we given thee and with Justinian 1. Chron. 29.6 Cedren dedicating a very rich Communion-table 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. CHAP. II. Verse 1. Now these are the children of the province THat is of Judaea now a Province though formerly a Princesse now solitary and tributary that was once populous and great among the Nations Lam. 1.1 Medinah the word here rendered Province sometimes signifieth Metropolis aliis jus dicens a place that giveth Lawes to other places and so Judaea in her flourish had beene See chap. 4.20 But now it was otherwise and so it is at this day not onely with Judaea but with other renowned Empires and Kingdomes not a few all which together with most of those Churches and places so much mentioned in Scripture are swallowed up in the greatnesse of the Turkish Empire Shiâ—dler That Medina a City in Arabia where Mahomet lieth buried where his Sepulchre is no lesse visited then is Christs Sepulchre at Jerusalem holdeth this Medina in hard subjection making her children pay for the very heads they weare and so grievously afflicting them that they have cause enough to take up a new Jeremies Elegie over their doleful captivity That went up out of the captivity That listed themselves in Babylon to go up Which if any failed to do as by comparing verse 5. of this chapter with Nehem. 7.10 it appeareth some did it was because either they changed their minds or their lives His life by Crashaw before they came there When that Noble Marquesse Galeacius Caracciolus set forward for Geneva some of his most familiar friends promised and vowed to accompany him thither But divers of them when they came to the borders of Italy turned back again c. and so might many of these ingagers magis amantes mundi delicias quà m Christi divitias graviorem ducentes jacturam regionis quà m religionis Which had beene carried away But had Gods promise that they should returne be built up planted and not rooted out Jer. 24.6 and his command to marry and beget children Jer. 29.6 which should inherit the promises for they are good sure-hold Whom Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon That Metus Orbis flagellum Dei as Attilas King of Hunnes proudly stiled himself that is The Terrour of the world Gualth in Hab. 2. Eucholc and scourge in Gods hand See Esay 10.5 That Ira Dei Orbis Vastitas as Tamerlan loved to be called The wrath of God and ruine of the world Had carried away to Babylon As to his Lions-den Nah. 2.10 but God sent from heaven and saved them with such a mighty salvation as eclipsed that deliverance out of Egypt Jer. 23.7 8. Every one unto his City Appointed him by the present Governours For during their abode in Babylon Judaea lay utterly waste and uninhabited The Land kept her Sabbaths resting from tillage and God by a wonderful providence kept the roome empty till the returne of the Natives Verse 2. That came with Zerubbabel That famous Prince of Judah chap. 1.8 Governour of Judah Hag. 1.1 who was borne in Babylon and accordingly had a Babylonian name His hands laid the foundation of the second Temple his hands also finished Zech. 4.9 whence some conclude that the Lord gave him a life much longer then ordinary His children shall notto bed till their work be done Jeshua This was that Jehoshuah the High Priest the great assistant of Zerubbabel in building the Temple chap. 5.1 Hag. 1.14 These were those faithful Witnesses of God in their generation as before them had beene Moses and Aaron Elijab and Elisha and as after them Paul and Barnabas Luther and Melancthoâ— Oecolampadius and Zuinglius c. Christ sent out his Disciples by two and two for two is better then one and why See Eccles 4.9 10 11 12. Nehemiah Saraiah Reelaiah Mordecai Not that famous Nehemiah nor that renowned Mordecai so much spoken of in the book of Esther but others of the same name Reasons see in Master
the great God So they stile him because the Jewes called and counted him so The Lord your God saith Moses is God of gods and Lord of lords a great God a mighty and a terrible c. Deut. 10.17 He is Fortissimus Maximus as Tremellius there renders it yea he is a degree above the superlative Not onely is God great as here greater Job 33.12 Greatest Psal 95.3 but Greatnesse it self Psal 145.3 and to him all other Gods whether Deputed or Reputed are but deastri deunculi diim inorum gentium petty deities poor businesses Verse 9. Who commanded you Chald. Who hath made you a Decree See the Note on verse 3. Verse 10. We asked their names also See verse 4. That were the chief of them For the rude multitude follow as they are led And as in a beast the whole body goeth after the head so do most people after their Rulers and Ringleaders hence that severity of God Num. 25.4 Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the Sunne Ver. 11. We are the servants of the God of heaven And in that respect higher then all the Kings on the earth Psal 89.27 for all his servants are sons heirs of God and coheirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 who have held it no small honour to be called his vassals See how bold these 〈◊〉 men beare themselves upon this relation to the God of heaven and earth and how couragiously they stand to their work and stout it out with their adversaries See Prov. 28.1 with the Note These many years ago Five hundred at least Verse 12. But after that our fathers had provoked Sinne is the make-bate that sets heaven and earth at oddes and hurleth confusion over the whole creation Esay 59.2 Num. 11.31 there were more remarkable expressions of Gods anger upon mans sinne in the dead body of a man then of a beast One made uncleane but till the evening the other for seven dayes He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar This is still the property of sinne unpardoned to raise the Posse comitatus all the armies of God against the sinner Verse 13. But in the first year of Cyrus See chap. 1. verse 1. with the Notes Verse 14. The Temple of Babylon For there also was a Temple built for Bel. Faciunt vespae favos simis imitantur homines The Devil will needs be Gods Ape and affecteth to be semblably worshipped Verse 15. Take these vessels go carry them Go thy self in person and see that all things be well carried there This pleased Zerubbabel well it confined him to live in that element where he would live as if one should be confined to Paradise Verse 16. Then came the same Sheshbazzar All this is truly and fairly related as was likewise that of Doeg to Saul against Ahimelech but with no good intent Now to speak the truth not for any love to the truth nor for respect to justice nor for the bettering of the hearer or of the offendor but onely to incense the one and prejudice the other this is plaine slandering And yet it is not finished And all by reason of such ill-conditioned persons as your selves who retarded it Verse 17. Now therefore if it seeme good Verba byssina Whether it be so They supposed it was nothing so and hoped that these Jewes would be found falsaries but it fell out farre otherwise like as Saint Pauls persecutions at Rome fell out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel then else Phil. 1.12 CHAP. VI. Verse 1. Then Darius the King DArius Hystaspes who succeeded Cambyses being chosen by the Princes of the Persians as saith Herodotus Plato commendeth him for a restorer of the Persian Monarchy much defaced under Cambyses Howbeit he discommendeth him for this In Thalia lib 3. de Legib. that he bred not his sonne Xerxes so well as he might have done and further testifieth that to him it might be said O Darius how little care hast thou taken to shun Cyrus his slacknesse for thou hast bred Xerxes every whit as ill as he did Cambyses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the house of the Rolles So called because rolled up together volumes rolled up like the web upon the pinne Verse 2. And there was found at Achmetha Or Ecbatana This was occasioned by the malice of the Jewes adversaries and proved a great furtherance to the finishing of the Temple Sic canes lingunt ulcera Lazari All things work together for good to them that love God Venenum aliquandò pro remedio fuit saith Seneca Rom 8.28 Verse 3. The height thereof threescore cubits Yet was it lesse then Solomons Temple Hag. 2.3 Ezra 3.12 Solomons cubits therefore were longer likely then these here mentioned Verse 4. Out of the Kings house i. e. Out of the royal revenue in those parts chap. 7.20 Herodotus testifieth that Cyrus and Darius who married his daughter Atossa and made him his patterne for imitation were highly honoured among the Persians for their Kingly munificence God hath threatened that the Nation and Kingdome that will not serve the Church shall perish yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted Esay 60.12 See verse 12. of this chapter Verse 5. And also let the golden and silver vessels This was decreed and this was done accordingly chap. 1.7 8. Let good resolutions be put in execution purpose without performance is like a cloud without raine and not unlike Hercules his club in the Tragedy of a great bulk but stuft with mosse and rubbish Verse 6. Be ye far from thence i. e. Come not at them to hinder them at all Thus though the Churches enemies bandy together and bend all their forces against her yet are they bounded by Almighty God who saith unto them Be ye farre from thence as is the raging sea Jer. 5.22 Surely saith the Psalmist the wrath of man shall praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restraine Heb. gird that is keep it within compasse as with a girdle The Septuagint render it thus The remnant of wrath shall keep holy-day to thee that is it shall rest from working or acting how restlesse soever it be within Verse 7. Let the work of this house of God alone Meddle not make no disturbance this was doubtlesse an hard task to them for their spirits were irked as Moab Num. 22. 3. and their fingers even itched at these builders They sleep not except they may do mischief Prov. 4.16 Ver. 8. Moreover I make a Decree So did some of the Heathen Emperours for the persecuted Christians Charles the fifth for the Lutherans at the motion of Albertus Archbishop of Ments and Ludovicus Palatine of Rhine and Henry the third of France for the Protestants which yet was but sorrily observed though sworne to It is written by an Italian no stranger to the Court of Rome that their Proverb is Mercatorum est non regum stare juramentis that it is for Merchants and not for Kings to
venire Venus tristis abire solet Into the second house of the women That having made sale of her honesty she might converse with such as had likewise left their honesties behind them companions in evil and miserable comforters with whom they might make up their measure and God power on his She came in unto the King no more But must burn in lust without means of allayment being scalded as it were in her own grease frying within and freezing without Sed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Cyril saith in a like case We do but rake a dughill in a discourse of this nature Merlin Let us therefore stay here no longer as an Interpreter hath it in setting forth the filthinesse of this Heathen Prince who yet hath too many amongst us that imitate his uncleannesse and intemperance Verse 15. Now when the turne of Esther c. Then and not till then So when Joseph was sufficiently humbled Psal 105.20 the King sent and loosed him the Ruler of the people let him go free When David was become weaned from the world as a child from the breasts when his heart was not haughty nor his eyes lofty c. then was he advanced to the Kingdome Psal 131.1 He that beleeveth maketh not haste Gods time is best and as he seldome cometh at our time so he never faileth at his own The daughter of Abihail The seed of the righteous and so an heiresse of that precious promise His seed shall be mighty upon earth Psal 111. She was also a daughter of Israel and therefore Gods first-born higher then the Kings of the earth Psalme 84.27 Who had taken her for his daughter This good work was so well pleasing to God that it is once again recited and honourably mentioned What shall the Lord Christ then do at the last day for his people who are full of mercy and good fruits If now he doth not onely make mention of us but mediation for us at the throne of glory surely then he will much more make our faith which worketh by love to be found unto praise and honour and glory 1 Pet. 1.7 She required nothing As other maids had done to set out their beauty but contenting her self with her native comelinesse and that wisdome that made her face to shine she humbly taketh what Hegai directed her to and wholly resteth upon the Divine providence And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all By her comely countenance and gracious deportment Plutarch speaks of a Spartan woman that when her neighbours were shewing their apparel and jewels she brought out her children vertuous and well taught saying These are my ornaments and accoustrements Esther did the like by her vertues which drew all hearts unto her like as fair flowers in the spring do the passengers eyes She had decked her self with the white of simplicity with the red of modesty with the silke of piety with the sattin of sanctity with the purple of chastity as Tertullian expresseth it taliter pigmentatae Deum habebitis amatorem saith he and being thus adorned and beautified Tertâ—de cult scem women shall have God himself to be their suitor and all godly men their admirers Whereas on the otherside Nequaquam ornata est benè quae morata est malè Pulchrum ornatum turpes mores pejùs coeno collinunt Plaut M stell Act. 1. Scen. 3. Verse 16. So Esther was taken unto King Ahashuerus And so that sweet Promise was fulfilled and exemplified in her Though ye have lien among the pots yet shall ye be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold Psal 68.13 God raised up this poor Orphane this despicable exile out of the dust and lifted this needy one out of the dunghil that he may set her with Princes even with the Princes of the people Psal 113.7 8. Thus he raised Moses and Joseph David and Daniel c. Into his House-royal A place of rest and honour Thus Flebile principium melior fortâ—na secuta est In the tenth moneth Not in the twelfth moneth as Josephus hath it falsely and yet the Papists tell us that the common people may well want the historical part of the Bible and for it read Josephus his Jewish Antiquities Barclai In the seventh yeare of his reigne Foure or five yeares before Hamans advancement this was a sweet Providence that God should set up one to be a deliverer to his Church so long before the danger grew on So Joseph was sent down to Egypt before Moses was skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians and afterwards sent to Midian that he might be fitted to be King in Jeshurun c. Oh how unsearchable are Gods judgements and his ways past finding out Oh the depth c Latimers three last Petitions were granted Verse 17. And the King loved Esther This was the Lords own work who regarded the low estate of his Handmaid and framed the Kings heart to affect her Luke 1.48 Let all such maids as desire loving husbands and all such wives as would have their husbands loyal and loving to them get Gods favour and adorne themselves with humility and modesty as Esther did Let Christian husbands also learn for shame of this barbarian to love their wives above all women with a conjugal chaste and fast affection not lusting and hankering after strange flesh 'T is remarkable that after Solomon had said Rejoyce in the wife of thy youth be thou ravisht always with her love he subjoyneth And why wilt thou my sonne be ravisht with a strange woman and embrace the bosome of a stranger Prov. 5.19 20. She obtained grace and favour in his sight Surely as meat pleaseth better in a clean dish so vertue in comely persons in more amiable saith Hugo Beauty of it self is a greater commendation saith Aristotle then all letters testimonial So that he set the royal Crown upon her head For Queens also had their Crownes and did shine with the beams of their husbands saying as once those Romane Ladies Vbi tu Caius ibi ego Caia wheresoever thou art King I also am Queen Severus here saith that the King clothed Esther with a purple robe to shew that he shared the Kingdome with her but the text holdeth forth no such matter Indeed he made her Queen in stead of Vasthi he made also a great wedding feast and gave a release to the Provinces and gifts to his Grandees as it followeth Verse 18. Then the King made a great feast Feasts are never more in season then at the recovery of the lost rib See the note on Gen. 29.22 Vnto all his Princes and his servants So did Mauritius the Emperour of Greece Niceph. l. 18. c. 8. when he married Constantina and Henry the third Emperour of Germany when he married Agnes daughter to the Prince of Pictavia at Ingelheim Whither when a great sort of Players Fidlers Jesters and Juglers resorted Funcc â—d annum 1044.
Davids wife though she hall no great goodnesse in her The like is reported of Cleopatra daughter to Antiochus the great who gave her in marriage to Ptolemâ—â— Epiphantâ— thinking by her to destroy him but he was deceived according to Dan. 11.17 Valerius Maximus and Fulgesius speak much in the commendation of Thuria Sulpitia Chilonia Antonia Egnatia c. for loving and faithful wives Valâ—â—â—â— Maximus Christianus also for like cause celebrateth 〈◊〉 wife to Philip the Emperour and Mary wife to Sigismâ—â—d King of Bohemia and Hungary c. lib 2. cap 16. Verùm hac Esther tantùm alias inter capat extulit omnes Quantum lenta solent inter viburna cupressi Verse 23. And when Inquisition was made of the matter The King neither sleighted this accusation not over-hastily believed it Not this lest he should discover a needlesse feare or precipitate a wrong sentence Not that lest he should betray his own life and put all into a confusion as Gedaliah did Jer. 40. and 41. and as he in the history did who being forewarned by a letter of a dangerous plot laid for his life laid aside the letter with these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tomorrow we will minde these serious businesses but ere the morrow he was dispatched The matter was here enquired into saith the text lest haply it might be mis-reported and so the innocent be punished Or if not innocent yet Doth our Law condemn any before his cause be heard Surely Pilate and Festus were farre better Justicers then Caiaphas and Lysias for they would execute a man in the morning and then sit upon him in the afternoon Aeneas Sylvius in his twentieth chapter of Europe tells of some places wherein if any one be suspected of theft he is forthwith taken and trussed up Three dayes after they judge of the suspicion and if they finde the man guilty they let his carcasse hang till it rot as if otherwise they take it down and bury it honourably at the publike charge This is preposterous justice judgement turned into gall and righteousnesse into hemlock It was found out As treason usually is and strangely witnesse those in Queen Elizabeths reign and the powder-plotters Creighton the Jesuite a Scot sailing into Scotland and being taken by certain Netherland-Pirates had torne certain papers in pieces But the torne pieces being throwen out of the ship were blowen back again by the wind and cast by a Providence into the ship not without a miracle as Creighton said himselfe Camd. Eliz. 266. Which being set together by Wade with much labour and singular cunning discovered new designes of the Pope and his Agents here against England Anno 1585. Detexit facinus fatnus non implevit saith Tacitus of one about his time Either the Traitours own tongue shall betray him as it befel those two sent by Mahomet to kill Scanderbeg or the foules of heaven shall reveal the mischief Turk Hist fol. 60. and that which hath wing shall tell the matter Eccles 10.20 It was a piece of a wing a quill that discovered that hellish powder-plot Or some other way it shall be found out as here and the Conspiratours brought to condigne punishment Therefore they were both hanged on a tree Traitours like bells will be never well tuned till well hanged till they have worne a Tyburne-tippet as father Latimer phrased it Campian that spider was swept down by the hand of justice and drew his last thread in the Triangle of Tyburne His words in his Epistle to the Honourable Counsellours of Queen Elizabeth were these Quamdiu vel unus quispiam è nobis supererit qui Tyburno vestro fruatur c. As long as there is any one of us left to enjoy your Tyburne c. Much joy may they have of it sith it is their ambition and may their quarters be set as high as that false Edricks head once was by King Knute viz. Dan. Hist 19. upon the highest part of the tower of London therein performing his Promise to a Traitour of advancing him above any Lord of the Land And it was written in the book of the Chronicles Heb. in the book of the words of dayes in the Diary of the Kings or in the book of remembrance As the Jewes so the Persians had their Chronicles or publike Commentaries wherein all memorable acts were recorded and Scribes or Historiographers for that purpose appointed and maintained Plutarch writeth that at that great sea-â—ight between Themistocles and the Persians Xerxes sate in a throne of gold and saw the conflict having many Scribes about him whose office was to set down all that was done that day This was a commendable custome and might be a motive to their Kings and great ones to take heed of doing ought that they would not have registred and read by succeeding ages Suetonius telleth us Suet. in August that Augustus upon this account forbade his Daughter and Neeces to say or do any thing that they would not have to be chronicled Before the King Perhaps in his presence and for his special use though Mordecai's good service was soon forgotten God forget not to recompence Ahashuerus his love to Fisther and courtesie to her people by detecting and defeating those Conspiratours that â—ought his life But he soon forgets Mordecai Gods instrument for his deliverance though the matter were written in a book before him hence he goes noted with a black coale for his ingratitude Tamerlane had a catalogue of the names of such as had best deserved of him Turk Hist 227. which he daily perused oftentimes saying that day to be lost wherein he had not given them something There was a Providence in it that nothing was yet done for Mordecai Gods time is the best and we shall one day say so neither is there any thing lost by waiting his leisure He bottles up our tears he books up our sighes he writes down all we say or do in his roll of remembrance Mal. 3.6 10. See the Note there and the Reference CHAP. III. Verse 3. After these things did King Ahashuerus promote Haman FOure yeares after his marriage with Esther or near upon did Ahashuerus magnifie and exalt Haman Hominem profanum sceleratum as one saith a profane wicked person meerly for his minde sake Alexander the Great made Abdolominus a poor Gardiner King of Siden to shew his Soveraignity and that he would like some petty god upon earth set up whom he would and whom he would put down Dan. 4.19 Whether it were also by flattery or sycophancy or some new projects for establishing his tyranny and increasing his tributes that Haman had insinuated himself into this Kings favour it is uncertain Sure it is that Mordecai a better man lay yet unlook't upon like good corne he lay in the bottome of the heap when this vilest of men was exalted Psal 12.8 Thus oft empty vessels swim aloft rotten posts are gilt with adulterate gold the worst
nescit vel nolit as Austin hath it De C D. l. 5. c. 18. to strangers or enemies He tells them therefore Of the multitude of his children His sonnes and his successours like to be I say likely to be not sure to be for Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo God gave Leda Luctuosam foecunditatem as Hierom saith of her EpÃst 7. a sorrowful fruitfulnesse because she lived to bury her many children There were two and twenty children and childrens children of the House of Portugal betwixt Philip the second of Spain and that Crown and yet he out-lived them all as Histories shew Balthas Exuer and his successours held that Kingdome till within these sew years It is but a vain thing therefore for a man to boast of the multitude of children sith he may either lose them Utinam aut coeiebs vixissem aut orbus perâ—issem or live to wish as Augustus the Emperour did Oh that I had either lived a Batchelour or died childelesse And all the things wherein the King had promoted him Wherein but Wherefore he sheweth not Dignity should wait upon desert but many times we see it otherwise and it was of old complained of Psal 12. ult He telleth what the King had done for him but not a tittle what God God was not in all his thoughts He might justly have been twitted as once that Pope was pithily when he had engraven upon the gates of his new-built Colledge Vtrecht where he was borne planted me Lovain where he was bred watered me but Cesar who had promoted him to the Popedome gave increase a merry Passenger under-wrote Hic Deus nihil fecit here God did nothing God had done much for him but for a mischief to him as he once gave the Israelites quailes to choke them and a King to vex them as Saul gave Michal to David to be a mare to him and as our Saviour gave Judas the bag to discover the rottennesse of his heart This Bernard calleth Misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem God gives outward blessings to wicked persons to furnish their enditement out of them as Joseph put a cup into his brethrens sack to pick a quarrel with them and lay theft to their charge And how he had advanced him above the Princes What an impudent Thraso was this Haman this odious bragging of his Gregory referreth to that third kinde of pride Lib. 25. Marol such as Gods soule abhorreth and surely punisheth as he did in the Prince of Tyre Nebuchadnezzar Antiochus Herod whose hearts were listed up with their estates as a boat that riseth with the rising of the water whose bloods and goods rose together Corde stat inflato pauper honore duto But as the Peacock so delighteth to be seen and to behold his own taile that he discovereth his filthy parts behinde so do vain glorious Bragadochio's It is therefore very good counsel that a grave Divine giveth to such as are advanced above others Carry humble hearts and adde grace and vertue to your places else they shall prove but as an high gibbet to bring you to more disgrace in this world and torment in the next Whatcleys Archetype That of the Poet also is very savoury and soveraign Desinat elat is quisquam confidere rebus Magna repentè ruunt Claudian summa cadunt subitò Verse 12. Haman said moreover He makes no end of vaunting and vapouring and all to aggravate the indignity done him by Mordecai in not stooping to so great a personage Now Esther the Queen did let no man come in but my selfe This he mistaketh for a special favour when as Esthers banquet proved no better to him then Semiramis her tomb did to them that rifled it they expected to finde treasure but met with a deadly poison And to morrow am I invited c. Where thou shalt as hypocrites do at the Lords Table eate thy bane and drink thy poison yet art thou over-joyed as if highly favoured A temporary may receive both the word audible and the word visible the Sacrament with much seeming joy which yet is but only as the commotion of the affections in a dream It fareth with such in the end as with one that sleeping on the top of a steep rock dreameth of great matters befallen him but starting suddenly through joy thereof tumbleth headlong into the sea and breaketh his neck at the bottom Verse 13. Yet all this availeth me nothing It is seldome seen saith a Right Reverend Interpreter here that God allows unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment Something they must have to complaine of that shall give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels and make their felicity miserable Totum hoc non est utile mihi I enjoy nothing of all this No more did Ahah when sick of Naboths vineyard 1 Kings 21.4 His heart did more afflict and vex it self with greedy longing for that bit of earth then the vast and spacious compasse of a Kingdom could counter-comfort So long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate So tormentful is envy if it cannot come at another mans hurt it will feed upon its own Who would ever set by the profits pleasures and preferments of this present life that yield so little sound and sincere contentment to those that have most of them In the very pursuit of them is much anguish many grievances feares jealousies disgraces interruptions c. and after the unsanctified enjoyment of them if any such thing there be for even in laughter the heart is sorrowful Prov. 14.13 and there is a snare or a cord in the sin of the wicked Prov. 29.6 to strangle their joy with followeth the sting of conscience that will inexpressibly torment the soule throughout all eternity besides the vexation of it to see such as Mordecai the Jew whom they once would not have set with the dogs of their flocks sitting not at the Kings gate but on Christs own Throne Rev. 3.21 as Partakers of all his glory Verse 14. Then said Zeresh his wife Thraâ—o's shall never want for Gnatho's Such as have first flattered themselves shall have enow others to sooth them and to say with them Zeresh sets the motion of revenge on foot she was a fit helve for such an hatcher wittily wicked The wit of women hath wont to be noted for more sudden and more shrewd And all his friends unto him Indeed no friends because flatterers and furtherers in evil Sed divitibus ideò amicus deest quia nihil deest The rich hath many friends saith Solomon seeming friends but true enemies parasites brokers cole-carriers good to scoure an hot Oven withal Such a one was that Adullamite to Judah Gen. 38.20 Jonadab to Amnon 2 Sam. 13.2 3. those green-headed counsellours to Rehoboam c. Haman should have made a better choice and have come more calme to counsel It is not good sowing in a tempest nor taking
Let us do up our work and then God will send us to hed all in good time Isa 57.2 Rev. 14.13 Verse 14. With Kings and Counsellors of the earth g. d. Those that here have been most negotious and as the Grandees of the earth have had greatest matters in hand with those should I have been coupled in the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Congregation-house of all living as it is called Job 30.23 That long or old home Eccles 12.5 Heaven is called the Congregation-house of Gods first born Heb. 12.23 and their house not made with hand 2 Cor. 5.1 But not many Kings or Nobles meeâ—e here 1 Cor. 1.26 because strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth to it there must be stripping and stooping which great men cannot frame to It was a poor comfort to Hen. 8. to be told upon his death-bed that he should now go to the place of Kings And a small commendation to Hen. 2. The Spanish Brier was wone to say there were but few Princes in hell for why because there were but few in all Daniels hist 111. that some sew hours before he died seeing a list of their names who had conspired against him and finding therein two of his own sons he fell into a grievous passion both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born and in that distemperature departed the world which himself had so often distempered He went indeed to his grave and slept with his fathers yea he was royally interred under a stately Monument meant here haply by building desolate places for themselves Absolom had erected a pillar for this purpose and the Egyptian Kings their Pyramides â—o perpetuate their memories Confer Ezek. 26.20 With these Iob had he died betime or never seene the light might have been fellowed for death is the only King against whom there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 and the mortall fithe is master of the royall Scepter mowing down the lilies of the crown Sceptra ligonibus aquat as well as the grasse of the field Verse 15. Or with Princes that had gold great store of it Petrarch reporteth of Pope John 22 that his heirs found in his coffers no lesse then 250 tuns of gold Boniface the eighth taken prisoner and plundered by the command of Philip the Faire King of France had as much gold carried away out of his Palace as all the Kings of Europe received for one years revenue from their subjects together with their crown-land What a Masse of Treasure had Cardinal Wolsey gotten here and before him Cardinall Beauford who when he saw that he must needs die and that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time asked Fox Mart. 925. why should I die being so rich fie will not death be hired will mony do nothing The Cardinall Sylberperger took so great a pleasure in mony that when he was grievously tormented with the gout his onely remedy to ease the paine was to have a bason full of gold set before him into which he would put his lame hands turning the gold upside-down Of Nugas the Scythian Monarch it is storied that when Michael Paleologus the Greek Emperour sent him many rich ornaments for a present Pachymer hist l. 5. he asked whether they could drive away calamities diseases and death this because they could not do he slighted them These Princes that had gold and filled their houses with siluer what would not they have given to have bought off death but riches availe not in the day of wrath it is righteousnesse only that delivereth from death Prov. 11.4 Thrice happy then are they who are rich to God as our Saviour phraseth it who have the Almighty to be their gold and who have silver of strength as Eliphaz speaketh chap. 22.25 Who filled their houses with silver That is their graves say some called the dead mens houses chap. 17.13 The Jewes call the burying-place Beth-chajin the house of the living and they used not only to adorn their sepulchers richly but also to put their wealth into the grave with them Iosephus saith that Hircanus found in Davids sepulchre three thousand talents And Ier. 8.1 Lib. 13. Antiq. cap. 15. 〈◊〉 cap. 11. God threatneth that the Chaldeans shal bring out the boxes of the Kings of Iudah and of his Princes out of their graves as searching there for hid treasure so some conceive Sure it is Josephm that in the siege of Jerusalem under Veâ—pâ—sian there was gold found in the entrailes of a Jew that was slain which caused above twenty thousand of them to be ripped up Verse 16. Or as an hidden and untimely birth I had nor been As an abortive or miscarrying Embryâ— that falleth from the mother as untimely fruit falleth off from the tree See Râ—v 6.3 Hidden it is called because cast a deâ— as an unsightly spectacle that cometh in with vanity and departeth in darknesses and his name is covered with darknesse Eccles 6.4 Jâ—â— could have wisâ— eâ—â—ome way or other never to have been rather then to have been in so calamitous aâ— condition and herein he linned Job 3.6 no doubt for that 〈◊〉 as of the flesh is flesh As infants wâ— châ—rever â—aw the â—ight but were still-born as we call them The word rendred infants is taken from a word that signifieth to 〈◊〉 â—ee Job 16.15 for children in the womb are compassed about with pollution and the first sheeâ— or blanket wherewith they are covered is woven of sinne shame blood and filth Ezek. 16.4.6 Verse 17. There the wicked cease from troubling Here they are restlesse as being acted and agitated by the divel who being a discontented turbulent creature maketh adoe in the world and setteth his â—mps awork to do mischief and to vex others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word here rendred wicked signifieth vexatious persons that worry and weary out others molestuous and mischievous In the grave they shall cease from so doing That was a strange mind of our Edward the first who adjured his Son and Nobles that if he died in his journey into Scotland they should carry his corps with them about Scotland and not suffer it to be interred till they had absolutely subdued the Country This was a deure more Martial then Christian saith the â—hronicler Daniels hist 201. shewing a mind so bent to the world as he would not make an end when he had â—one withâ—â—t but deâ—greth his travel beyond his life An 〈…〉 Hence some Heathens also have counted mortality a mercy and some of them appointed contrary ceremonies to those now in use for they brought their friends into the world with mournfull obsequies but they carried them out or the world with joyfull exequies Plotin ap Aug. de C. D.l 9 c. 10 Quntil Inst lib. 5 Hâ—â—ol l. 5. Vaâ— Max. all sorts of sports and pastimes because then they conceived they were at rest and out oâ— gun-shot Verse 18.
draines produce in a thousand places sources and rivers Some render it upon the out-places and understand it of wildernesses to set forth Gods bounty Others render it upon the face of the streets and will have it meant of Navigable rivers which by the passage upon them do after a sort make streetes and high-way wayes through several Countries to the which also they convey many commodities Verse 11. To set up on high those that be low By those rich raines whereby hee fatteneth the earth and makes it fruitfull giving them a whole country of corne Aben-Ezra as hee did that vir divitiarum qui animam etiam habuit tririceam Luke 12.16 But God hath more wayes then this to preferre men to riches honour and authority as he did Joseph David Daniel Mordecai c. He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dung-hill that he may set him with Princes c. Psal 113.6 7. Let Job heare this and know it for his good as ver 27. That those which mourn As those do commonly who are in a low condition and 't is much if they murmur not The word signifieth such as are pullato 〈◊〉 in mourners weedes or that having layn among the pots are smutched and sullied like so many black scullions Psal 68.13.10 Lo these shall the Loâ—d not only make to he as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold but shall also make them to mount up with wings as Eagles Isa 40 31. He shall exalt them to safety saith Eliphaz here yea he shall safely exalt them to safety Wicked men are oft exalted Psal 12. ult but then it is not to safety toümutur in aelium ut lapsu graviore ruant they are listed up but for a mischief that they may he brought downe againe with the greater poise as Haman and Pharaohs chiefe Baken whose head was listed up but to the gallows the chiefe Butlers head was lifted up too but aster another manner There is great difference betwixt the advancement of the righteous and the wicked Those God carrieth as the Eagle doth her young on her wings to exalt them to safety to set them upon a rock that is higher then they these he lifteth up as the Eagle doth her prey in her talons to dash them against some rock and to destroy them Verse 12. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty Hee vacateth and endreth ineffectual the curious contrivances of the worlds wisards full of 〈◊〉 subtilty and so setteth his people in safety by out-plotting their enemies served he not Pharaoh so who dealt craftily with our fathers saith 〈◊〉 Acts 7â— 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Saul that subtile tyrant and Herod that crofty-fox Luke 13.32 and all the primitive and modern persecutors to whom the old Dragon had lent his seven head to plot and his ten hornes to push againâ—â— the people of God but all 〈…〉 purpose God disappointed the devises of those 〈◊〉 so the Vulgar 〈…〉 which the Chaldee appropriateth to Pharaoh and his Counsellâ—â—s who said Comes and let us deale wisely when-as in laying hand taskes upon the Israelite to keep them from increasing they never dealt 〈…〉 your labouring men have the most and the 〈…〉 So that their hands 〈…〉 an actuall being or such 〈…〉 Broughton rendreth it Otherr thus 〈…〉 that is 〈◊〉 what they had 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 cruel-crafties of the primitive times sounded the triumph before-hand and engraved the victory upon the pillars of marble but the Church may still sing as of old Psal 20.8 They are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright Charles the fifth and the French King had covenanted the utter extirpation of the Lutheran faction throughout their dominions but God found them other employment and gave his Church an happy Haleyon And who knowes not how God hath hitherto helped us of this Nation against the power and policy of earth and of hell Verse 13. He taketh the wise in their own crastinesse Those wise to do evil worldly wise meere machiavellians for though the Florentine Secretary was not born of some thousands of yeeres after Eliphaz speke this yet the divel was well nigh as great a master then as how and had his crafty cubs students and great proficients in that wisedome which St. James affirmeth to be from beneath and not from above like the wings of the Ostrich it may help a man to out-run others upon earth but helpes not at all towards heaven and further describeth it to be earthly sensuall divelish Earthly as managing the lusts of the eyes unto the ends of gaine Sensual as managing the lusts of the flesh unto ends of pleasure and Divellish as managing the pride of life unto ends of power these subtile Sirs these profound politicians that dig deepe to hide their counsels not from men only but which is impossible from the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3.19 Isa 29.15 that think they can work out any thing and that none can prevent them as the Apostles word from this text importeth God takes and makes fooles of them he frustrateth the tokens of these lyars and maketh the diviners mad he turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledg foolish Isa 44.25 Surely the Princes of Zoan are fools the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become bruitish they have also seduced Egypt even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof the Lord hath mingled a spirit of perversities in the midst thereof and they have caused Egypt to erre in every worke thereof as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit Ifai 19.11 13 14. Did ever any man deal so unwisely as Ahitophel that Oracle 2 Sam. 17.23 Curious to provide for his family after his death and yet carelesse to preserve himself from eternall death Was not this a madnesse even to a miracle He should first saith a Reverend man have set himself in order and then he might have hanged his house with coverings of tapestry Pro. 7.26 and with broidered work of Egypt Ezek. 27.7 And if he had bridled his anger when he saddled his Asse he would not have broken the lanthorn of his body and quenched the light of his life he would not have put his house in order and himself into such a desperate and irrecoverable confusion But what saith Solomon His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and hee shall be holden with the cords of his sinnes Prov. 5.22 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth the wicked is snared in the worke of his own hands Higguion Selah Mark 〈…〉 ate as one rendreth it Psal 9.16 And the counsel of the froward is carried head-long More haste it maketh then good speech Lib. 2. de Invent. though it be the counsel that is the extract of reason the result of serious and 〈…〉 as Cicero defineth it because it proceedeth from froward persons obtorti
and many fell to their prayers for pardon of their sins as thinking verily that the day of judgment was come St. Paul in the tempest at sea saw neither Sun nor stars for many dayes Acts 27.20 And I have read of a forraigner who having been in these parts in the deep of winter and returning home again desired one that was then bound for England to commend him to the Sun when he next saw him for I have not seen him there said he of a whole fortnight together Ezek. 32.7 I will cover the Sun with a cloud and in that sense speak to it that it rise not And sealeth up the stars Heb. Sets a seal upon the stars making them hide their heads and with-draw their influences for stars are Gods store-houses Deut. 28.12 which he openeth or shutteth at his pleasure Every star is like a purse of gold out of which God can when he will throw down riches and plenty into the earth but many of them never appear to us though visible to the Antipodes Job 37.7 Verse 8. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens Without the help or counsel of any other As God was alone and by himself in making the world Isa 44.24 so lie is in ordering it Job 37.18 Psalm 104.1 2. The Hebrews as they held with Pythagoras in the point of transanimation so with Plato in that false opinion of his that the Angels were the movers of the heavens and the governours of the whole world whence grew that Angel-worship amongst them Col. 2.18 As God made the heavens alone even that whole Expanse or Firmament Gen. 1.6 the whole region of the Ayre so he still spreadeth it out as a curtaine which he draweth before the Sun and starres masking and muffling them up with clouds whensoever he pleaseth And treadeth upon the waves of the sea Or spurneth exercising a regiment over the raging surges of the seas though they seem to swell against him Thus Job fetcheth evidences of Gods power from all places See Psalm 89.9 Verse 9. Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades Those glorious constellations which do after a sort govern the four seasons of the year but are governed by God from whose power all their influence and vertue is borrowed even that which they exercise upon the raging seas The Learned interpreters have not unfitly translated Has Acturus Chesil Orion Chimah Pleiades or the seven stars and the Climates of the South Beza the Summer signes altogether neglecting the toyes of the unlearned Rabbines which stars or signs are answerable to Autumn and Winter the Spring time and Summer But I had rather saith Reverend Mr. Beza retain still the Hebrew words then use the other which have been so much abused with glosure and impure tales and devices of the wicked and profane Poets See the Note on Job 38.31 And the Chambers of the South Interiora Austri the most remote hidden and secret parts of the South so called because the stars which are under the Southern pole are hidden from us and are enclosed and lodged as in a chamber Those stars and so all the rest God maketh Mr. Carâ—l Psalm 147.4 that is he maketh them to appear and do their office for the use and good of man It is He alone that telleth the number of the stars he calleth them by their names neither can they do any thing but as they receive order and commission from him Aug de civ Dei lib. 16. That was an idle brag of Aratus the Astrologer that he had found out and set down the whole number of the stars and that is a strange arrogancy of the Kings of Mexico who when they are consecrated are reported to take this oath Lopez de Gomara I swear that the Sun during my life shall hold on his course and that the clouds shall send down rain the rivers shall run and the earth bring forth all manner of fruit c. Verse 10 Which doth great things c. See the Note on chap. 5.9 whence this verse is taken verbatim If Eliphaz say the truth of Gods wisedome and power Job will soon seal to it he can find in his heart to speak all good of a wounding God of a killing God and not wish as Spira did O that I were above God and could over-power him Camd. Eliz. fol. 403. Or as Hacket here did Anno 1591. threaten God to fire the heaven about him to pluck him out of his throne c. Verse 11. Lo he goeth by me and I see him not As he is powerful in his deeds so he is secret in his desingns passing and not repassing daily but yet unseen he is every where present and not so farre from any one of us as the bark is from the tree for in him we live move and have our being and therefore we had need take heed what we say or think of him in any extremity or misery for he over-heareth us yea he knoweth our thoughts long before Psalm 139.2 As a circumspect judg that goeth obscured under some disguise to hear and see what is said and done by those that are to be judged by him Or as the Great Turk standing behind the Arras at the dangerous door to hear all the debates and decrees of his Senate and to call them to a strict account of all afterwards God as he is invisible too subtile for sinew or sight to seize upon so he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All-eye to survey and look round about us yea to see through us The Lord is in his holy-Temple the Lords throne is in heaven Howbeit he is not so confined or shut up there as the Epicures dreamt but that his eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men Psalm 11.4 The one points out his knowledge the other his judgment or his critical descant he prieth into the very entrals of the soul the heart of the heart the reins those seats of lust and most abstruse parts of the body No man needs a window in his brest as the Heathen Momus wisht for God to look in at every man before God is all window and he like the Optike vertue in the eye seeth all and is seen of none Look to it therefore and walk exactly Cave spectat Cato Take heed Cato seeth you was an ancient watchword among the Romans and a great retentive from vice how much more should this amongst all men Take heed the Lord looks on What though he be invisible and we see him not he passeth on also and we perceive him not shall we like the foolish Bustard thrust our heads in an hole and then think that because we see none we are therefore seen of none The whole world is to God as a sea of glasse clear and transparent Rev. 4.6 and his eyes are as a flaming fire Rev. 1.14 that need no outward light but can see by sending out a ray God that fills and sees all saith Nazianzen though he lighten the mind
appeareth And in length of dayes understanding By reason of their much observation and frequent experience together with their ability to draw other things out of those they have observed and from former events to presage future This is to be understood of such old men as are like flowers which have their roots perfect when themselves are withering as with roses keep a sweet savour though they lose their colour as with the Sun shine most amiably at their going down But lest we should attribute too much to such sages Job shewes in the next verse that all their wisedome is but derivative and that all their understanding is but a spark of Gods flame a drop of his Ocean Verse 13. With him is wisedome and strength c Wisedome strength counsel and understanding are all concentred in the Ancient of dayes compleat he is in all excellencies and perfections all which do meet in him and continue alwaies in the highest degree The mighty God fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding Isai 40.28 He is also no lesse good then great and wise good original universal all-sufficient and satisfactory proportionable and fitting for our soul which as it was made by him and for him so it is never at quiet till it resteth in him See chap. 9.4 He hath counsel and understanding Counsel he hath but without consultation Wisedome but without experience Knowledg but without discourse Decree but without deliberation Aug. Loquimur de Deo c. we speak of God saith one not as we ought but as we are able And these things we speak of God saith another Father because we find not what better to speak of him But Job hath a mind to say the utmost that may be said Verse 14. Beheld he breaketh down and it connot be built again As he did the old world Sodom and Gomorrah many Monarchies and Empires the Tower of Babel and other castles and houses which now live by fame only If at all If God have a mind to mine these who shall raise or repair them Julian the Apostate in spite to the Christians Am. Marcel lib. 23. Socrat. 3. Theod. Ruffin set the Jewes awork to reedifie the Temple at Jerusalem but they could never effect it by reason of a terrible earth-quake that slew the workmen and marred the materials The Arian Bishops held a second Council at Nice with purpose to have abolished the memory of the first together with the Nicene Creed Func and to have established Arianism but God disappointed them and sent them packing thence by a huge earth-quake which overturned a great part of that city and destroyed a number of people Constans Nephew to Heraclius the Greek Emperour Theophanes Zonaras Cedrenus Job de Columnae in Mari historiarum Gen. Chronol and three hundred years after him Othe Emperour of Germany indeavoured but in vain to make Rome the seat of their Empires as anciently it had been God would not suffer it so to be saith Genebrard because the Kingdom of the Church foretold by Daniel was to have its seat there If he had said the kingdome of Antichrist foretold by Paul and John the Divine he had hit the nail on the very head He shutteth up a man and there can be no opening He clappeth him up close prisoner as Manasseh Zedekiah Bajazet Boniface the 8. c or fasteneth him to his bed by some chronical disease as he did Abimelech Ahaziab Asa Aeneas Acts 9.33 or otherwise straiteneth him that he knows not how to help himself as he did Pharaoh Saul when the Philistims were upon him of every side those refractaries in Isaiah chap. 9.2 and shall do the whore of Babylon Rev. 18. when her lovers shall bewail her but not be able to bestead her ver 9 10. For when God shutteth up any in this sort they must lie by it till he please to release them and extricate them as he did Joseph Jehoshaphat David Peter Valentinian and many others when they were even forsaken of their hopes Verse 15. Behold he with-holdeth the waters and they dry up He not only when he pleaseth imprisoneth men but waters also that they cannot get out of the clouds those bottles of rain those airy sponges vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them it is from the power of God that they dissolve not upon us at once and overwhelm us Bartholinus reports that in the year of grace 1551. a great number of men and cattle were drowned by the sudden breaking of a cloud divers vine-yeards De meteor li. 2. stone walls strong houses were destroyed and ruined At sea sometimes ships are by the same means sunk sea-men call it a spoâ—t Again it is by the anger and judgments of God that the clouds are sometimes so closed up that they yeild no more water then iron or adamant If I shut up heaven saith he that there the no rain 2 Chron. 7.13 and Deut. 28.23 24. God threateneth as a punishment of mens sin that the heavens over their heads shall be brasse and the earth under them shall be iron that the rain of their land shall be made powder and dust from heaven shall it come down upon them c. by exceeding great drought grains of dust shall ascend into the air with the wind and come down as the drops of rain in a shower when it is kindly weather Thus it was in Aâ—obe dayes 1 King 18. See Joel 1.20 with the Note And they dry up The rivers fruits of the earth roots of trees all dry up languish and perish feavers also and other acute diseases abound Also he sendeth them out and they overturn the earth They did so with an accent in the general deluge and in Deucalious flood in Thessaly besides many other great tracts and parts of the earth over-turned by water Pliny and Seneca give us sundry instances of towns and countries laid waste by water What great hurt was lately done about Amsterdam by water and what breaking down of bridges mills and other houses Prin. Nat. hist lib. 2. cap. 90.92 Sen. Nat. quast lib. 6. cap. 23. by excessive rain and floods thereupon besides marring of grounds and rotting of cattle in many places amongst us needeth not here to be related Verse 16. With him is strength and wisedome i. e. Such strength as he exerciseth most wisely mightily and righteously Sic volo sic 〈◊〉 saith the Tyrant Right or wrong thus it shall be Volumus â—uâ—emus saith that man of sin wee will and command c. neither must any one mute or say so much as what dost thou upon pain of damnation When Constantius would have Paulinus Lucifer and other Bishops subscribe against Athanasius and communicate with the Arians he yeilded to no other reason but this Quod ego volo pro canone fit Do as I bid or get you into banishment But God though he hath all power in his hand and may do
Vzzah and here Verse 10. He will surely reprove you That 's all the thank you are like to have from God your work in pleading for him so stoutly though it be materially good yet it will never prove so formally and eventually because you so confidently determine of things you understand not but only by a light conjecture You do secretly that is cunningly and deceitfully accept persons that is Gods own person whilst ye wrong me for his sake and under a pretence of doing him right condemn me for a wicked hypocrite whom till thus afflicted you ever counted honest and upright This the righteous Judg who loveth judgment and hateth robbery for a burnt-offering Isai 61.8 will at no hand endure No but he will certainly reprove you arguâ—ndo arguet he will surely and severely blame and punish you Carry it never so cleanly cover in never so closely God who seeth in secret will reprove you openly that is he will chide you smite you curse you for it if Repentance interpose not to take up the matter he will so set it on as no creature shall be able to take it off Men reprove offenders sometimes slighty and overtly deest ignis as Latimer said whereby they do more harm then good for their reproofs are rather soothings then reprovings Personatae reprehensiones frigent such was that of Eli to his sons Junius 1 Sam. 2.23 Such also was that of Jehoshaphat to wicked Ahab Let not the King say so But when God took those same men to do he handled them after another manner 1 Kings 22.8 he gives it them both by words and blowes till both their ears tingled till their hearts aked and quaked within them so fearful a thing it is to fall into the punishing hands of the living God Let all those look to it especially that are in place of judicature Psalm 82.1 2 3. Let them hear causes without prejudicate impiety judiciously examine them without sinister obliquity and sincerely judg them without unjust partiality remembring that Acceptatio personarum est judiciorum pestis accepting of persons is the pest of judgments Verse 11. Shall not his excellency make you afraid Heb. His highnesse his Majesty his surpassing sublimity and transcendent glory shall not this affright you and reine you in from wrong-dealing and warping Who would not fear thee ô King of Nations for to thee doth it appertain Jer. 10.7 And Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence Jer. 5.22 If an earthly King be so dread a Soveraign if the glory of Angels hath so terrified the best Saints on earth that they could hardly out-live such an apparition what shall we think of the great and terrible God as he is called Nehem. 1.5 the first motion of whose anger shall put men into disorder and the brightnesse of his offended Majesty strike their spirits with astonishment It is reported of Augustus the Emperour and likewise of Tamberlane that war-like Scythian that in their eyes sate such a rare Majesty Turk hist 236 415. as a man could hardly endure to behold them without closing of his own and many in talking with them and often beholding of them have become dumb Now the Lord of glory as farre outshineth any mortal wight as the Sun in his strength doth a clod of clay Jer. 17.17 and this made Job cry out chap. 9.34 Let not his fear terrifie me Be not thou a terror to me ô Lord saith holy Jeremiah and the Lord most high is terrible saith David Psal 47.2 Most high he is and therefore terrible And his dread fall upon you Some read the whole verse thus Shall not this acceptation of him make you afraid seeing his dread will fall upon you q. d. Let the sense of your sinne and the feare of his wrath ready to seize upon you deterre you from passing an unrighteous sentence and from harbouring such low conceits of God Verse 12. Your remembrances are like unto ashes c Mr. Beza readeth the whole verse thus Your speeches are the words of ashes and your stately bulwarks are but bulwarke of clay And thus he paraphraseth For these things which you alledg as matters gathered by long observation and which you thunder out against me as if they were most certain and grounded axiomes are indeed no more sound and substantial then ashes and those your high forts as it were and turrets out of which you assaile me are made but of dirt and mire Others by Your remembrances understand with Mercer quicquid in vobis memorabile est whatsoever it is for the which you are so often remembred and mentioned by others as your wealth dignity power splendor name and fame yea your very life is nothing else but ashes and all shall return to ashes and come to nought according to that of Abraham I am but dust and ashes Genes 18.29 such an infinite distance there is betwixt Gods unconceiveable Highnesse and your extreme meanenesse or rather utter nothingnesse Your bodies to bodies of clay i. e. To images made of clay or earth Or that which is highest in you even your best enjoyments your chiefest eminencies or greatest elevations are like to a lump of clay terrae quam terimus terrae quam gerimus See Job 4.19 with the Note Verse 13. Hold your peace let me alone c. This he had requested of them before verse 5. and now having nipt them on the crown by these rebating arguments he calls upon them again for silence and audience which he now requesteth not but requireth and the rather haply because they began to take him off as fearing lest by his unadvised expressions he should provoke the Lord to lay yet more load upon him Wherefore he addeth And let come on me what will That is At my peril be it take you no thought let all the trouble that may ensue be on my score I will be accountable for it to God who I hope will be more favourable to me then you Interim non sine stomacho hoc dicit saith Mercer This Job speaketh not without some heat yet not as one desperate but rather resolute for he feared no hurt from God Verse 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth q. d. Do ye think ô my friends that I am in a fit of spiritual frenzy and so far out of my wits that tearing as it were my flesh with mine own hands I mean to use any cruelty towards my self Vatab. and willingly to betray mine own life Non sum ita crudelis ut totus perdi velier I am not yet so cruel to my self whatever you may gather by my complaints and out-cryes as utterly to cast away my confidence and all care of my life and soul See 1 Sam. 19.5 To despair in part and for a time may befall a godly man See Mr. Perkins his discourse of spiritual desertion where he remembreth that Luther lay after his conversion three dayes in
wise men teach us as themselves have learned of their religious Ancestors But both continued experience and consent of men teach us that wicked men have terrors within and troubles without Therefore this is to be taken for a truth Therefore also by consequence that is false which thou hast spoken concerning the prosperity of wicked men chap. 12.6 Neither canst thou avoid the charge of wickednesse who dost suffer the punishments of the wicked Now what is all this more then Eliphaz had said in a former discourse so that Job might have cried out Apage coccysmum only there he groundeth his Argument upon a night-vision here upon the testimony and consent of certain wise men commended by their power and justice Some think he meaneth Noah and his pious posterity That which I have seen I will declare Wil t thou not believe in eye-witnesse What can be more sure then sight 1 John 1.1 Surely if we were well read in the Story of our own lives and had laid up our experiences we might have a divinity of our own The 119 Psalm is made up of experiments and David oft telleth us what he had seen and observed Verse 18. Which wise men have told from their fathers Who have carefully and faithfully transmitued it as a doctrinal truth to us their posterity from hand to hand For in Jobs time 't is likely that the Scriptures were not yet written Which or Which things wise men who did in their generations Deum rectè cognoscere câ—lâ—râ— rightly know and worship God which is the highest wisdome saith Lactantiâ—â— Have told Have spoken it so plainly and plentifully as if they had shewed us the things acted before our eyes From their Fathers Who were careful to instil good instructions and heavenly truths into the minds of their children their familiars and families as did Abraham Gen. 18. and others according to Gods own appointment Deut. 6. And have not hid it But communicated it for the good of many Light in diffusive of it self Knowledg is perfected while it is communicated The more you teach and impart to others Bodin theat Nat. p. 9. eo ditior ac doctior fias saith One the richer and skilfuller you become It is not powring out but want of pouring out that dryeth up the streames of grace as of that Oyle 2 King 4.6 See Prov. 11.24 25. Psal 78.2 3 4. Verse 19. Merlin Bold To whom alone the earth was given Noah and his pious posterity as was above noted whom Methodins and other Ancients call Misudi chiliarchas the Lords of the whole word given them by the Possâ—ssor of heaven and earth as Melchisedech first calleth God Gen. 23. Gen. 14. and from him Abraham another Prince of God as those Heathens acknowledged him and heir of the whole world Rom. 4. As for Melchisedec commonly taken to be Sem he was King in Salem and no stranger that is no enemy molested him no not those great spoilers Kedarlaomer and his Complices these never medled with Melchiseaec and his subjects probably out of respect to his wisdome and holinesse for which he was famous no not when marching against the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah they wasted and smot all the neighbour Countries So true of his subjects and territories was that which followeth here And no stranger passed among them viz. in an hostile way in a warlike manner Nah. 1.15 Some read No strangs thing passed among them As not the devouring sword so neither the pestilence that walketh in darknesse nor the destruction that wasteth at noon day Psal 91.6 Such as was the raigne of Ferdinando the third King of Spain for five and thirty yeares space In quibus nee fames nec pestes fuit in regno saith Lâ—piz Gloss in Prolog par 1. wherein there fell out neither Famine not Pestilence Verse 20. The wicked man travelleth with pain all his dayes He tormenteth himself or thrusteth himself through so some read it 1 Tim. 6.10 He takes no more rest then one upon a Rack he hath his hands on his loynes as a woman in travel Jer. 30.6 he smiteth upon his thigh sicut mulierculae in puerperio facere solent saith Luther in his Marginal Note on Jea 31.19 And if he would do so for his sin as he doth for his misery pia esset illa tristitia si dici potest beata miseria as Austin hath it Aug Epist 545. his grief would be godly and his misery a blessing God would pity him as he did his moan-making Ephraim and earnestly remember him still ver 20. But alas the wicked wight the hypocrite in heart as he heaps up wrath so he cryeth not when God bindeth him Job 36.16 Or if he do cry 't is perii and not peccavi I am undone and not I have done amisse Hence God many times turneth loose upon him those three Vultures Care Fear and Grief to feed upon his heart It is seldome seen that God alloweth unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment In the very pursuit of these outward vanities is much anguish many grievances fears jealousies disgraces interruptions diâ—contentments In the unsanctified enjoyment of them something the wicked shall have to complain of that shal give an unsavoury verdure to their sweetest morsels and make their very felicity miserable witnesse Ahab Human c. But then followeth the sting of conscience that maketh a Cain a Pashur a Richard the third to be a terrour to himself And with this pain some wicked men travel all their dayes here but hereafrer it shall infallibly and inexpressibly torment the souls of them all through all eternity And this with the following illustrations is that Oracle or divine sentence which Eliphaz received from those famous men above mentioned and which he not obscurely applyeth and wresteth against Job whom herehence he would prove a wicked man by his own concessions chap. 3.25 26. and 7.13 14. compared with Devit 26 36. Deuâ— 28.65 for that which Eliphaz had heard from his Ancestors was but the same Law for substance that was afterwards written by Moses And the number of years is hidden to the Oppressour Heb. to the terrible Tyrans who as he hath not a more cruel Executioner then his own conscience so not a more sensible displeasure then to know that he is mortal and yet to be ignorant when his Tyranny must end The number of the years of his Tyranny is uncertain saith the Vulgar translation And from this uncertainty which he knoweth not how to remedy though he run to light a candle at the devil sometimes viz. by consulting with Soothsayers and Sorcerers to know of them how long he shall live and who shall succeed him as Tiberius and other Tyrants did followeth suspicion and fear saith Aquinas upon this Text. Verse 21. A dreadful sound is in his ears Heb. A sound of fear and terrors Not one but many at once so that he is a Magor-missabib factus à corde suo
timely gathered into their Barnes and Granaries and so by Off spring Germina they taking it literally conceive to be meant their plants Multos sanos vegetos vivaces trees flowers fruits all which come kindly and grow to their minds But better interpret it of their children and nephews whom they have many healthy lusty and lively and not unfitly compared to seed as if the parents were but only the husks and to branches or sprigs because they may be and must be bent betime to the best things before they be aged and crooked in their evil practises refusing to be rectified And their Off-spring before their eyes This is the same with that before and is repeated because a singular happinesse to see their children prosper as much as themselves This is a third time instanced ver 11. Verse 9. Their houses are safe from fear Seculi Latitia est impunita nequitia No domestical scords no forraign disturbances but peaceable possession and enjoyment of that they have as much welfare as David wished to Nabal 1 Sam. 25.5 Thus shall ye say to him that liveth that is that liveth prosperously for that 's the only life Peace be to thee and to thine house and to all that thou hast Neither is the rod of God upon them So that they seem to themselves and others to be out of the reach of Gods rod. They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain August c. Psa 73.5 6. Vermis divitiarum est superbia It is hard for the rich not be high-minded 1 Tim. 6.17 Verse 10. Their Bull gendreth and faileth not c. All things hit and nothing misseth to make them happy and wealthy they have profit and pleasure at will the world comes tumbling in upon them as Townes were said to come in to Timotheus his toyles Pluâ— in Syll. whiles he slept and so they seem to be the only heires of those Promises Exod 23.26 There shall nothing cast their young nor be barren in the Land So Deut. 7.14 whereunto notwithstanding they are perfect strangers Laban and Nabal for instance Verse 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock Sunt quide eorum vitulis intelligunt recens natis saith Mercer Some understand it of young Calves but better of young children which have here their name from a root which signifieth wickednesse naughtinesse to shew what little ones are not Innocents as we call them not pueri quasi puri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is both a fool and a child The first blanket wherein a child is wrapt is woven of sin shame blood and filth Ezek. 16.4 6. Hence Infants were circumcised and their foreskin cast away to shew that themselves had deserved to be so served Parents therefore should strive to mend that by education which they have marred by propagation Wicked parents think not on this though they send out their little ones like a flock but tend them not keep them not from the Wolf of hel who seeketh to devour them And their children dance Exiliunt vitulantur châ—reas ducunt they skip and leap up and down Nemo sobrius saltat Cic. as young cattle and are taught to dance Artificially which no sober man will do saith Cicero And the better Dancer the worse man said Diogenes Verse 12. They take the Timbrâ—l and the Harp They take them and are taken with them being melted in sensual delights which wise men slight The Philosopher told the Fidlers that he could be merry without Musick Aristotle said Jupiter is happy Plut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet no Musician One in Plutarch saith of the Scythians That though they had no Musick nor Vines amongst them yet they had God It is here alledged as a piece of their lasciviousnesse and luxury that they took or touched the Timbrel c. Not but that Musick is lawful for it is the gist of God and a noble Note there these wicked and their children lived in pleasure upon earth which is not a place for such a purpose God did not cast man out of one Paradise that he might make himself another James 5.5 and were like the people of Tâ—mbuâ—â—â— in Affrica who are said to spend their whole time in singing and dancing It is not good for men to take pleasure in pleasure to spend too much time in it as Salomon did and afterwards Cleopatra It was not simply a sin in Esau to go a hunting but yet the more he used it the more profane he waxed and came at length to contemn his birth-right They rejoyce at the sound of the Organ Their mirth was meerly carnal they did rather revel then rejoice Their chearfulnesse did not end in thankfulnesse their Musick made them not more heavenly minded as it did that late Learned and holy Mr. Esty who when he sat and heard a sweet consort of Musick D. Hall Art of Div. Medit. seemed upon this occasion carried up for the time before hand to the place of his Rest saying very passionately What Musick may we think there is in heaven The Instrument here mentioned hath its name as Mercer noteth Ab amore oblectatione lusu From love delight and sport Amabit sapiens cupient caters saith Sâ—utea Verse 13 They spend their dayes in wealth Or in mirth Hebr. In good They wallow in wealth and have the world at will even more then heart could wish as David phraseth it in Psalm 73. which may well serve for a Comment upon this Text And the rich glutton for an instance He in his life-time received his good things and in a moment went down to the grave Luke 16.25 True it is that this is not every wicked mans case for some of them live wretchedly and dye lamentably being held long upon the rack of a torturing Disease as Jehoram all which is to them no other then a Type and foretaste of hell whither they are hasting And in a moment they go down to the grave Ad inferna to hell saith the Vulgar they spend their dayes in wealth and end their dayes in woe their merry dance determineth in a miserable downfall Thus that rich man dyed and was buried and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment c Luke 16.22 23. But though the same Hebrew word signifieth hell and the grave both which have their names from their unsatiablenesse Prov. 30.15 16 yet here in a sutablenesse to what went before the grave is to be understood and the sense is Dicto citius moriâ—â—tur they dye easily suddenly sweetly without much pain of body or trouble of mind there are no bonds in their death saith David Psal 73. They dye without much ado like a lamb or like a lamp that goeth out of it self when the oyle faileth they go quickly and quietly to the grave some wicked persons indeed dye piece-meal by a complicate Disease and a long lingring
friends For this therefore he must be better humbled and henceforth learn to abstain not only from things simply evil but seemingly so quicquid fuerit malè coloratum as Bernard hath it whatsoever looks but ill-favouredly Verse 9. Hast thou an arm like God That thou shouldest wrestle a fall with him and hope to over-match him Thou hast a mighty arm saith David strong is thy hand and high is thy right hand Psal 89.13 It spans the heavens and holds the earth in the hollow of it The weight of it broke the Angels backs and the terrour of it may be seen in all those writs of execution recorded in the Scriptures Oh it s a fearful thing saith the Apostle to fall into the punishing hands of the living God Heb. 10. Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him Of Pericles the Oratour it is said that when he declaimed Intonabat fulgurabat totam Graeciam commiscebat c. Cicero he thundered he lightned he mingled all Greece together And Livy speaking of a certain Roman Commander saith Haec cum intonuisset iracundus c. These things when he had thundered out angerly and with a courage the people departed of their own accord Alexander the Great being once vexed at his Souldiers for mutining and tumultuating thunder-struck them with these words Facessite hins acyùs neminem teneo liberate occulos meos ingratissimi milites Get you quickly out of my presence and be packing hence ye ungrateful Souldiers And Severus the Emperour in like sort dealt with his unruly Army Discedite Quirites said he et incertum an Quirites These were terrible hard words and very resolutely uttered But what 's any or all of this to the voice of Gods thunder whereof see before Knowest thou not O Job that thine arm is an arm of flesh and thy voice so small and low that a Fly would not be frighted at it Verse 10. Deck thy self now with Majesty and Excellency Or With magnificence and sublimity c. i. e. Deum age shew thy self as God for he thus decks himself Psal 93.1 96.6 104.1 2. Job 29.14 And array thy self with glory and beauty That thou maiest appear Os humerosque Deo similis as Herod afterwards in his cloth of silver which being beaten upon by the Sun-beams saith Josephus dazeled the peoples eyes and drew from them that fond acclamation It is the voice of a God Act. 12.22 Verse 11. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath In this glorious equipage make thy just indignation felt by all the rebels of the world Nemo te impunè lacesset And behold every one that is proud Look upon him oculo minaci with a flaming eye look through him let him see thy displeasure Upon some God looketh to convert them as Christ did upon Peter Luk. 22.61 Upon others to confound them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And abase him Abate his pride and abase his pomp and greatnesse this is God-like Psal 147.6 Aesop being asked by Chilo one of the seven wise-men of Greece What God was doing Answered He abaseth the proud and exalteth the lowly-minded Tamberlain to manifest that he knew how to punish the haughty made Bajazet the great Turk to be shackled and shut up in an iron cage and so carried up and down as he passed through Asia to be scorned and derided of his own people And when one of his Favourites requested him to remit some part of his severity against the person of so great a Prince Tamberlain answered Turk hist f. 22â— That he did not use that rigour against him out of hatred to the man but to manifest the just judgement of God against the arrogant folly of so proud a Tyrant Verse 12. Look on every one that is proud and bring him low This God doeth Isai 2.11 12 17. 5.15 The Babel-builders Pharaoh Sennacherib Nebuchadnezzar Herod Dioclesian Attilas and others for instances Amurath the third King of Turks in the pride of his heart stiled himself God of the Earth Governour of the whole World Turk hist f. 920 the Messenger of God and faithful Servant of the great Prophet This proud Prince was slain by an half-dead Christian Souldier who coming to crave his life of him after a battel Ibid. 200. stabbed him in the bottom of his belly with a short dagger of which wound that King and Conquerour presently died See the Note on vers 11. And tread down the wicked in their place Heb Vnder them lay them as low as may be God putteth away all the wicked of the earth as drosse he treads them as vile things under his feet Psal 110.1 till they bethink themselves and humble their souls at his feet for mercy for then he will make the place of his feet glorious as he promiseth Isai 60.13 and as Exod. 24.10 they saw under Gods feet as it were a paved work of Sapphire stone to shew that he had now changed their condition the Bricks made in their bondage into Sapphire See Isai 54.11 Verse 13. Hide them in the dust together Make a hand of them all at once as God can do his enemies by raking them all into the grave yea turning into hell whole Nations that forget God a whole rabble of rebels that fight against heaven he can soon lay them low enough even in that slimy valley where are many already like them and more shall come after them chap. 21.31 32. Now when God biddeth Job do all this who was himself lying in the dust full of sores and sorrows how could he but he greatly ashamed and affected with grief for his former follies And bindâ— their faces in secret As Hamans face was covered when the King had sentenced him Esth 7.8 See the Note there Or rather as dead-mens faces use to be bound up and covered for we like not to look on deaths face Abraham was desirous to bury his dead out of his sight Gen. 23.4 though she had once been the desire of his eyes Ezek. 24.16 Lazarus came out of his grave with his face bound about with a napkin Job 11.14 See the like done to our Saviour Job 20.6 7. though there was as little need to have done it as was of those sweet spices brought by the good women to anoint his body which could not see corruption Mark 16.1 Verse 14. Then will I also confesse unto thee c. Or I will give praise unto thee as thou by right shouldest do to me not for my goodnesse only but for my greatnesse and majesty also in destroying the wicked See David doing it Psal 18.27 and Moses Exod. 15.1 and the whole quire of heaven Revel 19.1 2. And that thine own right hand can save thee That â—hou art self-sufficient and my compere Et ego quoque praedicabo te beroa Tig. strong enough to maintain thine own cause and that thou hast some shew of reason to withstand me This is that which we all naturally but foolishly fancy viz. that we are
cadent damnabunâ—ur at the Great Assizes they shall bee cast and condemned Revel 6.17 For the great day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4.18 Surely no where but in Hell their own place Acts 1.25 not before God for he is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult and they chaff or stubble fully dried See Isa 33.14 Not before Christ for he shall come in flaming fire rendring vengeance c. 2 Thess 1.7 not in Heaven for it 's an undefiled inheritance neither may any dirty Dogge trample on that golden pavement Revel 22.15 Not any longer on Earth defiled by their iniquities and therefore to bee purged by the fire of the last Day for the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 R. David Kimchi by Judgement here understandeth the day of the wicked mans death and indeed his Deaths-day is his Doomesday when he must take a fearful farewell and breath out his Soul and hope together with the breath of the same dying groan Job 27.8 11.20 Hinc illae Lachrymae hence that loth-to-depart though some set a good face upon it when to dye as Sir Thomas Moore who dyed for the Popes Supremacy with a light jest in his mouth Vespasian likewise dyed with a jest and Augustus in a Complement This was but the Hypocrisie of mirth for Death is the King of terror to a Natural man See Heb. 2.15 1 Sam. 15.32 28.20 Saul at the message of death swooned quite away and fell all along Quantus quantus erat as Peter Martyr phraseth it yea good Hezekiah wept when sentenced to death and the approach of it was to him Mar mar bitter bitterness Isa 38.3.17 he must have his faith at his fingers ends as one saith that will dye actively But all men have not faith 2 Thess 3.2 and those few that have are not always assured that their hearts shall live for ever as Psal 22.26 and that Death the Devils Serjeant to drag wicked men to Hell shall be to them the Lords Gentleman-usher to conduct them to Heaven as Mr. Brightman expresseth it Nor Sinners in the Congregation of the righteous They shall never set foot within heavens Threshold within that general Assembly that sacred Panegyris ample Amphitheatre the Congregation-house of crowned Saints and glorious Angels Tertullian saith of Pompies Theatre which was the greatest ornament of old Rome that it was Arx omnium turpitudinum a receptacle of all kind of Ribaldry and Roguery Not so Heaven There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye Rev. 21.27 Augustin The Irish air will sooner brook a Toad or a Snake than Heaven a Sinner Mali in area nobiscum esse possunt in horreo non possunt Chaff may be with Gods good Corn on the floor but in the Garner it shall not For Christ will throughly purge his floor and gather his Wheat into the Garner but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire Mat. 3.12 Vers 6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Or acknowledgeth approveth administreth and ordereth all things to their eternal Salvation as may appear by the opposition wherein there is a Rhetorical Aposiopesis Gods knowledge of men and their ways is not meerly Intuitive but Approbative of the good and Vindictive of the evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Providence which is the carrying on of his Decree is that helm which turns about the wholeship of the Universe with singular skill and justice Dominus diligit dirigit viam id est vitam omne institutum justorum See Psal 37.18 142.4 Nahum 1.7 Prov. 2.8 with the notes there God knows the righteous by name Exod. 33.17 knows them for his own looks upon them and their whole course with singular delight and complacency they are his Hephzibah Isa 62.4 the dearly beloved of his Soul Jer. 12.7 Verba notitiae apud Hebraos secum trahunt affectum But the way of the ungodly shall perish Their practices and persons shall perish together be done away be lost for ever And why because the Lord knoweth them not unless it be for black Sheep as we say or rather for reprobate Goats Mat. 25. Hence their Souls are flung out as out of the middle of a sling when the Souls of the Saints are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God 1 Sam. 25.29 PSAL. II. Vers 1 VVHy do the Heathen rage Why or for what The Psalm beginneth abruptly with an angry interrogation q.d. What are they mad to attempt such things as whereof they can neither give any good reason nor expect any good effect The Lord Christ of whom David was both a Father and a Figure as here appeareth shall surely reign maugre all the rage and resistance of his enemies who may seem to be ambitious of their own destruction and are therefore in this Psalm schooled and counselled to desist Nothing is more irrational than irreligion Why do the Heathen tumultuously rage or hurtle together Fremunt ferociunt When the Philistines heard that David was made King in Hebron they came up to seek him and to unking him 2 Sam. 5.17 so the Heathen and People that is Gentiles and Jews would have dealt by Christ Acts 4.25 26. The Devil ever since hee was cast out of Heaven tumultuateth and keepeth ado so do unruly spirits acted and agitated by him Dan. 6.15 Then those men kept a stir with the King against Daniel it is the same Hebrew word that is here and possibly Daniels spirit might think of Davids terms John 11.33 Jesus troubled himself but after another manner than these his enemies his passions were without mud as clear water in a Chrystal Glass what was an act of power in Christ is an act of weakness if not of wickedness in others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 4.25 The Apostles Greek word for this in the text denoteth rage pride and fierceness as of Horses that Neigh and rush into the Battel And the people imagine Heb. meditate or mutter a vain thing an empty design that shall come to noting Niteris incassum Christi submergere puppem Fluctuat at nunquam mergitur illaratis Dipt may the Churches Ship be but not drown'd Christ will not fail her enemies to confound Some think that by this muttering people are meant such as act not open outrages against Christ but yet in words murmur and mutiny whispering Treason Vers 2. The Kings of the earth set themselves Or stand up as if they would do the deed and bear down all before them The many had acted their part vers 1. and now the mighties shew themselves but go off again with shame enough The Spanish Frier used to say there were but few Princes in Hell and why because there were but few in all It was a
special favour A man may have together with them animam triticeam as that rich fool had Animas etiam incarnavimus as a Father complaineth These outward things are got within men and have stolen away their warmest and liveliest affections from God Not so in the Saints They must have God or else they dye The people mourned and put on black when they heard that God would not go with them himself but send an Angel with them Exod. 33.2 3. And when great gifts were sent to Luther he sent them back again with this brave speech I will not be put off with these poor things I look for better Let God bestow himself upon me and it sufficeth As with Manna there fell a dew so to a good Soul together with Corn and Wine be it more or less there is a secret influence of God which the carnal heart is not acquainted with A fly cannot make that of a Flower that a Bee can do The treacherous Shechemites had plenty of Corn and Wine Judg. 9.27 but having not the grace of God withall they were soon after destroyed by Abimelech Vers 8. I will both lay me down in peace and sleep Heb. In peace together will I lye down and sleep that is saith the Syriack interpreter Non solum cubabo sed etiam Dormiam I will not only lye down but also sleep which many cannot do for fears and cares those Gnats that keep them waking The Arabick hath it I sleep as securely in adversity as those can that are in prosperity Others thus I wil lay me down together with the joy before spoken of and confidence in God this shall be my Bed-fellow and then I am sure to rest sweetly and safely For Thou Lord only makest thou settest me in safety thou givest to thy beloved sleep Psal 127.2 that is extraordinary quiet refreshing sleep as the learned note upon the Aleph quiescent in 〈◊〉 which is not usual PSAL. V. TO the chief Musician See on Psal 4. title Vpon Nehiloth Upon Wind-instruments Pneumatica tribulata The Rabbins say that this Psalm was made and appointed to be sung concerning Doeg and Ahitophel Vers 1. Give ear to my words O Lord David knew him to be a Prayer-hearing God Psal 65.2 and that his ears were always open as the doors of the Roman Aediles were to hear complaints and requests hence this prayer Consider my meditation i. e. the conception of my soul uttered with a low voyce Murmur meuns Hieron but with most vehement affection All this Mussitationeâ—â— meam the Hebrew word importeth Vers 2. Hearken unto the voyce of my cry He thrice repeats the same request to shew the greatness of his grief and the necessity of help from Heaven Let mind and mouth spirit and speech go together in prayer and then its right the voyce of the Heart is simply necessary Moses cried to God at the red Sea though he said nothing The voyce of the lips is of great use also 1. For preventing of distraction 2. For exciting devotion My King And therefore help O King as she said 2 King 5.24 And my God who art in covenant with me both offensive and defensive For unto thee will I pray Thou art the proper object of Prayer as being Omnipresent Omniscient Omnipotent and a God in covenant with thy people Vers 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My voyce shalt thou hear in the morning That fittest season usually for Prayer or any other serious business The very Heathens chose the morning chiefly for Sacrifice as Nestor in Homer the Argonauts in Apollonius The Persian Magi sang Hymns to their Gods at break of day and worshipped the rising Sun The Pinarii and Potitii certain Idolatrous Priests sacrificed every morning and Evening to Hercules upon the great Altar at Rome The Jews counted and called it an Abomination of desolation if at any time the Morning and Evening Sacrifice to the Lord were intermitted So should Christians if they offer not unto him twice a day at least viz. Morning and Evening prayers and praises Mass and Meat hinder no mans thrift say the very Papists A whet is no let a bait by the way hindreth not the journey so neither doth prayer in a morning hinder a mans business be it never so hasty or weighty but furthereth it rather Cardinal Wolsie though hee were Lord Chancellour His Life and Death by his Gentle Ush pag. 18. when he came in a morning out of his privie Chamber would not go abroad till he had heard two Masses nor go to bed at night with any part of his service unsaid no not so much as one Collect. Mahometans what occasion soever they have by profit or pleasure pray constantly five times a day Christians have a charge to continue instant in prayer and to let all business wait upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 12.12 with Act. 6.4 David knew that if prayer stand still the trade of godliness standeth still He therefore will be up and at it betimes and rather break his sleep than leave such a duty undone In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up Or look out spy like a Watch-man Gnarach Or dinavit aciem disposuit Tsaphah Speculando expectavit Two Military words the Prophet here maketh use of hee would not only pray but marshal up his prayers put them in array And when he had done he would be as a Spy upon a Tower to see whether he prevailed whether he got the day Some men pray of course or as a task but never look after their prayers or mark what answer This is very great folly and oscitancy Who sends forth a Ship and waits not for the return thereof Who shoots an Arrow or casts a Boul and looks not where it lights Prayer is the Souls Arrow Angle Seed Dove Messenger c. And they that take not notice how they speed deal as scofling Pilat did who scornfully asked Christ What 's truth but stay'd not for the answer If God shall hearken what David speaketh David must likewise hearken what God will speak He must look up to God if God shall look out of himself to David sith he humbleth himself to behold things done in Heaven Psalm 113.6 by a wonderful condescension how much more then to look upon man that is a Worm and the Son of man that is a Worm Job 25.6 Tantus tantillum Vers 4. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness As the Kings of the Earth have saith R. Solomon Alexander the Great promising a Crown of one hundred and eighty pound to those of his Guests that drank most caused one and forty to kill themselves with drinking for that Crown King Charls the Ninth of France gave one Albertus Tudius an Hucksters Son six hundred thousand Crowns Camera Med. Hâ—stor to teach him to swear with a grace But God perfectly hateth wickedness and wicked persons There were more
better of us but as there were many Marii in one Caesar so are there many Doegs and Absoloms in the best of us all As in water face answereth to face so doth the heart of a man to a man They flatter with their tongue The Apostle Rom. 3.13 rendreth it With their tongues they have used deceit And it is remarkable that in the Anatomy of a Natural man there he stands more on the Organs of Speech Tongue Lips Mouth Throat than on all the rest of the Members Vers 10. Destroy thou them O God Heb. Condemn them as guilty They were Gods enemies no less than Davids Tom. 8. in Enarr â—ujus precationis and implacable incorrigible and hence hee so prayeth against them Est Prophetia non malediction saith Austin Let them fall by their own counsel As it befel Ahitophel Haman the Powder-Traitors Or let them fall from their own counsels i.e. not be able to effect their evil designs but defeated frustrated Cast them out c. Let those who were once a terrour now be a scorn for they are even ripe for ruine as having added rebellion to their sin Job 34.37 For they have rebelled against thee And so are more thine enemies than mine which maketh me so earnest against them being swallowed up with a zeal of thy glory Vers 11. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce Joy is the just mans portion contra Hos 9.1 Isa 65.13 14. and according to the measure of his faith so is his joy 1 Pet. 1.8 Let them ever shout or shrill out set up their Note as a Peacock doth which hath his name in Hebrew from this root Because thou defendest them Heb. Velut pie tabernaculum R. David Thou over-coverest them with thy sure defence for upon all the glory shall be a defence And there shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain Isa 4.5 6. The Ram-skins covering the Ark from the violence of wind and weather figured out Christs protecting his people Let them also that love thy name As all the Virgins do who have smelt Christs name as an Oyntment poured out Cant. 1.3 See the Note there Be joyful in thee Heb. exult and leap for joy as if they were dancing Levalto's Thus Dr. Taylor the Martyr fetcht a frisk and danced when he was near unto the place where he should be burnt Rabbi Zabdi Ben Levi repeated this verse when he was at point of death Mid. Tillin in Psal 5 Another that in Psal 32. For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee A Third that in Psal 84. One day in thy Courts is better c. A Fourth that in Psal 31. O how great is thy goodness c. Vers 12. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous yea the righteous man shall abound with blessings Prov. 28. 20. yea God will bless all them that bless him Gen. 12.3 or that but give him a cup of cold water Mat. 10. With favour Or goodwill Qua praecedit nostram bonam voluntatèm saith Augustin Wilt thou compass him Or encircle him as with a Crown and so make them higher than the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 whose Crowns cannot keep their heads from aking but fill them with cares which made one King cry out Val. Max O vilis pannus c. and another spake this to his Crown Nobilis es fateor rutilisque onerata lapillis Innumeris curis sed comitata venis Quod benè si nossent omnes expendere neme Nemo foret qui te tollere wellet humo As with a shield A piked-shield such as doth circuire tres partes hominis compass about three parts of a man saith R. Salomon on this Text. Shields and Bucklers ' besides other Bosses for ornament had one great Boss in the middle with a sharp pike in it for use to pierce and wound the adversary See Job 15.26 God will be all in all to his People Crown Shield c. they may therefore well enough rejoyce shout leap as in the former verse PSAL. VI. TO the chief Musician on Neginoth See Psal 4. Title Upon Sheminith or upon the eight i.e. Intentissimo sono clarissimo voce Vatab. to be sung aloud An Eight is the highest Note in Musick See 1 Chron. 15.21 Others say that hereby is meant the Base and Tenor as fittest for a Mourner Vers 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger In this and some other Psalms David begins so heavenly ends so merrily that one might think they had been composed by two men of a contrary humour as Moulin observeth De L' amont Divin Every new man is two men Rom. 7. The Shulamite hath in her as it were the company of two Armies Cant. 6.13 The Lord also chequereth his Providences white and black hee speckleth his work represented by those speckled Horses Zach. 1.8 Mercies and Crosses are inter-woven Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure Chastened David desires to be as Jer. 10.24 1 Cor. 11.32 Heb. 12.7 8. But in Mercy and in measure 1 Cor. 10.13 Fury is not in me saith God however it may sometimes seem to be Isa 27.4 Of furious people the Philosopher giveth this Character that they are angry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against those whom they should not 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for matters they should not 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more than they should be But none of all these can be affirmed of God Anger is not in him secundum affectum but seemeth so to be secundum effectum when he chideth and smiteth as angry people use to do when there is no other remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 his anger is in Scripture put 1 For his threatnings Hos 11.9 Jon. 3.10 2. For his punishments Mat. 3.7 Rom. 2.8 But as God therefore threatneth that he may not punish Amo. 4.12 so in the midst of Judgement he remembreth Mercy and it soon repenteth him concerning his people Vers 2. Have mercy upon me O Lord As the woman in story appealed from Philip to Philip so doth David fly from Gods anger to Gods grace for he had none else in Heaven or Earth to repair to Psal 73.25 he seekes here to escape him by closing with God and to get off by getting within him For I am weak or crushed gnashed extreamly dejected with sickness of body and trouble of mind Basil expounds it of his soul sins into which he fell of infirmity and for which hee was threatned with Judgements by the Prophet Nathan O Lord heal me On both sides heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Psal 41.4 heal my body which is full of dolours and diseases Psal 107.18.20 for thou art Jehovah the Phisician Exod. 15.26 Heal mine estate which is very calamitous by reason of mine enemies who wish my death and would gladly revel in my ruines See Hos
side to shew their numbers and their insolencies all places are full of them such dust-heaps are found in every corner when as the godly are as the salt of the earth sprinkled here and there as Salt useth to be to keep the rest from putrifying When the vilest men are exalted Heb. Vilities the abstract for the concrete quisquiliae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oft empty Vessels swim aloft rotten Posts are gilt with adulterate Gold the worst weeds spring up bravest Chaff will get to the top of the Fan when good Corn as it lieth at the bottom of the heap so it falls low at the feet of the Fanner The reason why wicked men walk on every side are so brisk so busie and who but they is given in to be this because Losels and Rioters were exalted See Prov. 28.12.18 29.2 As Rhewms and Catarrhes fall from the Head to the Lungs and cause a Consumption of the whole body so it is in the Body Politick As a Fish putrifies first in the head and then in all the parts So here Some render the Text thus When they that is the wicked are exalted it is a shame for the Sons of men that other men who better deserve preferment are not only slighted but vilely handled by such worthless Ambitionists who yet the higher they climbe as Apes the more they discover their deformities PSAL. XIII VErs 1. How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever It appeareth that when David penned this Psalm which some think was about the end of Sauls Persecution when he was forced to fly into the Land of the Philistines 1 Sam. 27.1 he was under a dreadful desertion and that for a long while together Hence his many How-longs and for ever Christ saith Greenham was forsaken for a few hours David for a few months and Job for a few years Luther confesseth of himself that after his conversion he lay three days in desperation and the like is reported of Mr. Robert Bolâ—on who felt himself for the time in the Suburbs of Hell as it were So did Heman Psal 88.5 so did David here and elsewhere The final absence of God is Hell it self Depart from me yee cursed is worse than into everlasting fire To be punished from the presence of the Lord is the Hell of Hells 2 Thess 1.9 God seemeth to forget his dearest Children sometimes for a season to the end that they may remember themselves and become every way better as the Lion leaves her Whelps till they have almost killed themselves with roaring that they may become the more courageous But to speak properly God cannot forget his people Isa 44.16 49.14 15 16. Non deserit Deus etiamsi deserere videatur non deserit etiamsi deserat saith Austin If he leave us for a time yet he forsaketh us not at all If he hide his face as in the next words which is a further trial and a greater misery for it importeth indignation contempt and hatred yet it is but for a moment though it should be during life and he therefore taketh liberty to do it saith one because he hath an eternity of time to reveal his kindness in time enough for kisses and embraces mean while as when the Sun is ecclipsed though the earth wants the light thereof yet not the influence thereof so Gods supporting Grace is ever with his deserted Vers 2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul i.e. conceal my grief saith Aben-Ezra which is no small aggravation of it or how long shall I toss and tumble in my mind sundry counsels and purposes but allto no purpose This is no small affliction when we try all courses to get out of durance and nothing will do Such must needs have much sorrow in their hearts Having sorrow in my heart daily Heb. by day sc when others are full of business and forget their sorrows saith R. David But the Greek rendreth it day and night David was a cheerfull man and a great Musician but at this time heavinesse had possest his heart and his harp would not relieve him Sadnesse of Spirit had dryed up his bones Prov. 17.22 and made him a very bag of bones a bottle in the smoak shrinking away to nothing almost See Prov. 12.25 15.13 and the Notes Vers 3. Consider and hear mee O Lord my God Hee turns him to God in this peck of troubles for they seldome come single and pleads the Covenant My God beseeching him to see and hear both at once how it fared with him and to send him feasonable and suitable succour It were wide with the faithfull if they had not their God to repair unto in distresse pouring out their souls into his blessed bosome This they must do most earnestly when under a cloud of desertion as our Saviour being in an agony prayed more fervently Luk. 22.44 and as Micah having lost his Gods set up his Note Judg. 18. Lighten mine eyes lest I sleep death i. e. Comfort my conscience clear up my condition and chear up my drooping spirit lest I faint away as a dying man whose eyes through weaknesse wax dimme lest I fall into that somnus ferreus as the Poets call death that longest sleep Surge ne longus tibi somnus unde Non times detur Mor. lib.3 â— 11. Vers 4. Lest mine enemy say I have prevailed against him This David frequently deprecateth as a great evill because Gods honour was concerned in it and would suffer by it As unskilfull hunters shooting at wild Beasts do sometimes kill a man so Persecutors shooting at Saints hit Christ reproach him and this the Saints are very sensible of And those that trouble me rejoyce when I am moved Compose Comedies out of my Tragedies iram Dei ad calumniam rapiant The wicked are vindictive and implacable sick of the Devills disease 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejoycing at other mens harms revelling in other mens ruins But this is to inrage God and hasten wrath Prov. 24.17 18. Vers 5. But I have trusted in thy mercy Notwithstanding all the endeavours of Earth and of Hell to cast down this castle of my confidence I will not quit it but be still as a green Olive tree in the house of God I le trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever Psal 52.8 Vers 6. I will sing unto the Lord How farre different is the end of this Psalm from the beginning See the like Psalm 6.1 with the Note there Because hee hath dealt bountifully with mee Qui retribuit mihi so Popish merit-mongers read it and would there-hence collect something in favour of their absurd Tenent But their own Vulgar Translation hath it bona tribuit Aynsworth hath givenmee good things And it is well observed that though the Hebrew word be sometimes taken for rewarding evill for good Psal 7.5 or evill for evill Psal 137.8 yet from God to his people it commonly signifieth a bountifull rewarding of good things instead of evill which
c. See the Note on Job 35.6 7 8. Vers 3. Best to the Saints The family of faith were by a speciality the object of Davids bounty Socrates seeing a certain man giving alms to all hee met were they good or bad said male pere as qui ex Gratiis cum sint Virgines facias scorta David the better to perswade with God to preserve him safe to the Kingdome promiseth two things first that he will cherish and countenance the godly party secondly that he will cashier and cast out all kind of Idolatry and maintain to his utmost the sincere service of God vers 4. And to the excellent Or Noble glorious wonderfull magnificent The Saints are Princes in all lands Psal 45.16 of an excellent Spirit Prov. 17.27 More excellent than their Neighbours dwell they wheresoever Prov. 12.26 They are stiled the glory Isa 4.5 a Crown of glory Isa 62.3 a royall Diadem ibid. a Kingdome of Priests Exod. 19.6 higher than the Kings of the earth Psal 89.27 greater than the four famous Monarchies Dan. 7.18 worthies of whom the World is not worthy Heb. 11.38 fitter to be set as stars in Heaven And surely as stars though seen sometimes in a puddle or stinking ditch though they reflect there yet have they their situation in Heaven So the Saints though here in a low condition yet are they fixed in the Region of happinesse In whom is all my delight Heb. Cheptsibam So the Church is called Gods Cheptsibah Isa 62.5 Next to communion with God the communion of Saints is most delectable It is the very being bound up in the bundle of life which was the blessing of Abigail upon David Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat saith Senecae the very sight of a good man morally good delighteth what then of a Saint Ezra 10.3 This the Heathen Persecutors knew and therefore banished and confined the Christians to Isles and Mines where they could not one come at another as Cyprian observeth Vers 4. Their sorrows shall be multiplied Many sorrows shall be to those wicked Idolaters Vide Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 32.10 some of their own Creating by their superstitions and will-worships others from a jealous and just God others from the Devill who acteth and agitateth them beateth and whippeth them as at this day he doth the poor Indians who worship Devills in most terrible figure beleeving that they are permitted of God to punish or spare them at their pleasure And some they shall besure of from mee whenever I come to the Kingdome Some after the Chaldee read it their Idols are multiplied The old Heathens had thirty thousand in Hesiods dayes In China there are said to be at this day no fewer than an hundred thousand Idols which they use to whip if they come not at a call to help them Before a sick man they put the Devills picture that hee may learn to know him in another World It is storied of one King of England that he bestowed as much upon a Crosse as the revenues of his Kingdome came to in a year and take him for his friend That hasten after another God Or that endow another God Superstition is not only painfull but chargeable Idolaters lavish out of the bag and spare for no cost witnesse the Papists vowed presents and memories as they call them hanged up in honour of their he-Saints and she-Saints the Lady of Loretto especially But it was the Serpents grammar that first taught men to decline God in the plurall number Eritis sicut Dii as Damianus observeth from Gen. 3.5 and hence that innumerable rabble The Jesuites boast of their Ignatii Apotheosis and Cardinall Bembus is not ashamed to say of his St. Francis quod in deorum numerum ab Ecclesia Romana sit relatus Hist Venet Is not this abominable Idolatry 1 Pet. 4.3 Their drink offerings of blood Many Heathens sacrifised to their Idols that is to Devils with mans blood Euseb de praep Evangil against all laws of humanity and piety Thus they sacrifised to Bellâ—na the Sister of Mars as also with blood let out of their own armes The Priests of Baal who perhaps was Mars cut and launced themselves 1 King 18. So do the Mahometan Priests at this day as the Papists whip themselves c. the old Idolaters offered their Children in sacrifice to Moloch or Saturn David abhorreth the thought of such inhumanities Neque deos illegitimos nec illegitiâ—â—â— colans saith he I 'le have no such doings Nor take up their names into my lips But spit them out of my mouth with utmost detestation 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 according to the law Exod. 23.13 It repented Austin that ever hee had used the word Fortune that Heathen Goddesse And Ab sit ut de ore Christianâ— sonet Jupiter omnipatens c. saith Hierâ—me Let no Christian mouth say Jupiter omnipotent or swear Mehercule Mecaster The Primitive Christians would not call their dayes of the week dies Martis Mercurii c. as Trismegist had named them but the first second third c day of the week All occasions or semblances of Idolatry should be shunned it is not safe being at Satans Messe though our spoon bee never so long saith One. See Hof 3.16 17. Zach. 13.2 Deut. 12.2 Vers 5. The Lord is the Portion of mine inheritance Therefore I have neither need nor mind to run a madding after dumb Idols for hee is Good originall universall all-sufficient and satisfactory proportionable and fitting to my soul so that having Him I am abundantly provided for And of my cup A phrase taken from those shares that every one had assigned unto him at feasts Gen. 43.34 1 Sam. 1.4 9.23 q. d. Thou art my meat and my drink Lord and I am very well content with my condition bee it better or worse That which gives quiet in any portion is first The favour and presence of God secondly that t is from the hand of a Father thirdly that it comes to us in the covenant of grace fourthly that t is the purchase of Christs blood fifthly that t is an answer of prayers and a blessing from above on honest indeavours Thou maintainest my lot Upholdest mee in a good condition who should otherwise soon lose and forgoe it were it in mine own keeping And here the Psalmist useth four severall words all to the same sense ad corroborandum saith R. David Vers 6. The lines are fallen In allusion to those lines wherewith they measured Land when they parted it See Deut. 32.9 Psal 105.11 78.55 Act. 26.18 Epes 1.11 David having God for his portion could say with Jacob I have all things Gen. 33.11 Paul also saith the same Phil. 4.18 and further telleth us that having nothing he set possessed all things for why he had got the divine art of contentation vers 12. and so could bee either on the top of Jacobs Ladder or at the bottome hee could sing either Placentia or Lachrymae abound or be
fear the want of it They shall praise the Lord viz. At the Eucharist and after Your heart shall live for ever Apostrophe ad mansuetos Emphatica You meck of the earth and seekers of the Lord who have eaten of Christs flesh that was given for the life of the World Joh. 6.51 Your heart shall live for ever And if so then in death it self As Aristotle giveth the reason of the Swans singing a little before his death because generous bloud goeth then to the heart making it cheerful and that thence cometh the melody Vers 27. All the ends of the World shall remember Shall turn short again upon themselves as those Solomon prayed for 1 King 8.47 and the Prodigal Luke 15.17 And turn to the Lord From their dead Idols as 1 Thess 1.9 And all the Kindreds of the Nations c. Christ when he is lifted up shall draw all men to him Joh. 11. the heavenly Eagles from all parts shall fly to this dead but all-quickning carcass and shall feed thereupon Vers 28. For the Kingdom is the Lords The Spiritual Kingdom over the Church and the universal Kingdom over all the World belongeth unto Christ Diod. the eternal God Vers 29. All they that be fat upon earth i. e. Rich and prosperous wealthy and well-liking these shall feed on Christ and be furthered thereby in his service so shall also the poorer sort called here They that go down to the dust and that cannot keep alive c. That is that are low kept and half dead through hunger and misery Vers 30. A Seed shall serve him And be saved by him a remnant reserved for royal use a chosen generation Rom. 9.20 Isa 53.10 Vers 31. Declare his righteousness i.e. his Mercy and Goodness they shall propagate his praise to all posterity That he hath done Or performed viz. the Salvation promised by Christ PSAL. XXIII VErs 1. The Lord is my Shepherd This Psalm may well be called Davids Bucolicon or Pastoral so daintily hath he struck upon the whole string through the whole Hymn Est Psalmus honorabilis saith Aben-Ezra it is a noble Psalm written and sung by David R. Kimchi R. Solom not when he fled into the Forrest of Hareth I Sam. 22.5 as some Hebrews will have it but when as having overcome all his enemies and setled his Kingdom he enjoyed great peace and quiet and had one foot as it were upon the battlements of Heaven Leo. Modena The Jews at this day use for most part to repeat this Psalm after they are sate down to meat God is often in Scripture called the Shepheard of his people Psal 80.1 Ezek. 34.12 14 15. Isa 40.11 Joh. 10.11 1 Pet. 2.25 although non est officium magis contemptibile quam opilionis saith R. Jos Bar. Hamna there is not a more contemptible office than that of a Shepheard Every Shepheard was an abomination to the Aegyptians But God disdaineth not to feed his Flock to guide to govern to defend them to handle and heal them to tend and take care of them and all this he hath tied himself by Covenant to do Ezek. 34.25 well therefore might David confidently conclude I shall not want Non deficiam indigebo destituar The wicked in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits Job 20.22 Tantalus-like he is ever wanting content he hath none Contrarily true piety brings true plenty and a Saint is never to seek of wel-contenting sufficiency 1 Tim 6.6 for to him Parva seges satis est And he saith Discite quam parvo liceat producere vitam Et quantum natura petat c. Lucan Pharst lib. 4. Vers 2. He maketh me to lye down in green pastures In folds of budding-grass where he feedeth me daily and daintily plentifully and pleasantly as among the Lillies Cant 6.3 that is amidst the Ordinances David here seemeth to resemble powerful and flourishing Doctrine to green Pastures and the secret and sweet comforts of the Sacraments to the still waters where I shall not need to bite on the bare ground but may go in and out and finde pasture Joh. 10.9 such as will breed life and life in more abundance Joh. 10.10 Isa 49.10 fat pastures hee provideth Ezek. 34.14 and fair Coates or Coverts from the Suns heat as the word here used may also be rendred Confer Cant. 1.6 Virgil saith it is the office of a good shepheard Aestibus in mediis umbrosam exquirere vallem He leadeth me Heb. Gently leadeth me beside the still waters Heb. waters of rests Ex quibus diligunt oves bibere saith Kimchi such as sheep love to drink of because voyd of danger and yeelding a refreshing air Popish Clergy-men are called the inhabitants of the Sea Rev. 12.12 because they set abroach gross troubled Brightman brakish and sowrish Doctrine which rather bringeth barrenness to their Hearers and gnaweth their entralls than quencheth their thirst or cooleth their heat The Doctrine of the Gospel like the waters of Silâ—â— Isa 8.6 run gently but taste pleasantly Lene fluit Nilus fed cunct is amnibus extat Vtilior Claud. Vers 3. De nat Animal lib. 9 He restoreth my Soul He reduceth me when like a lost sheep I have gone astray Psa 119.176 A Sheep saith Aristotle is a foolish and sluggish Creature Et omenium quadrupedum stupidissimum aptest of any thing to wander though it 〈◊〉 no want and unablest to return The Oxe knoweth his owner and the Asse his Masters crib Swine in a storm run home and at night will make to the trough But a sheep can make no shift to save it self from tempests or inundations there it stands and will perish if not driven away by the shepheard Loe such a silly shiftlesse thing is man left to himself But blessed be God for a Christ that best of Shepheards who restoreth the lost soul and maketh it to return into the right way giving it rest and causing it to serve Him without fear in holinesse and righteousnesse Luk. 1.74 Hee leadeth mee in the paths of Righteousness Or In plain smooth easie paths or sheep-tracks wherein I may walk unweariably unblameably without cessation or cespitation The wayes of sin are craggy crooked full of errour and terrour leading to those precipices that tend to destruction From such stand off saith Christ to his sheep who are all rationall and will bee ruled by him Joh. 10. For his Names sake i.e. Of his free grace and for his meer mercy-sake Otherwise hee would never do us any of these good offices but let us alone to perish in our own corruptions Vers 4. Yea though I walk thorow the valley of the shaddow of death In the most dark and dangerous places where there is Luctus ubique pavor plurima mortis imago those dark places full of cruelty Psal 74.20 where Wolves wait for mee Though I walk not step thorow not crosse the valley not a dark entry only of the shaddow of death the darkest side of it
death in its most hideous and horrid representations I will not fear for I fear God and have him by the hand I must needs bee Tutus sub umbra leonis safe by his side and under his safe-guard It God be for us who can be against us For thou art with mee Hence my security see a promise answerable to it Joh. 10.28 Christ is not to lose any of his sheep Joh. 17.12 Having therefore this Ark of Gods Covenant in our eyes let us chearfully passe the waters of Jordan to take possession of the promised land Cur timeat hominem homo in sinu Dei positus saith a Father Thy rod and thy staff Hee pursueth the former Allegory Shepheards in driving their flocks have a rod or wand in their hand wherewith they now and then strike them and a staff or sheep-hook on their necks wherewith they catch and rule them Of Christs rods and staves see Zach. 11.7 c. foolish Shepheards have only forcipes mulctram Zach. 11.15 R. Solomon by rod here understandeth afflictions by staff support under them a good use and a good issue They comfort mee Gods rod like Aarons blossometh and like Jonathans it hath hony at the end of it Vers 5. Thou preparest a table before Here hee makes use of another Metaphor from a liberall feast-maker or as some will have it from a most kind Father making provision for his dearly beloved child So did God for David both in regard of temporalls and spiritualls God had given him as hee doth all his people all things richly to injoy all things needfull for life and godlinesse the upper and nether springs the blessings of the right hand and of the lest bona throni bona scabelli as Austin phraseth it Now outward prosperity when it followeth close walking with God is very sweet as the cipher when it followeth the figure addeth to the number though it bee nothing in it self Davids Table was laden with Gods Creatures and did even sweat with variety of them God had let down to him as afterwards hee did to Peter a vessell with all manner of beasts of the earth and foules of the air in it Act. 10.12 This he is very sensible of and thankfull for as a singular favour In the presence of mine enemies i.e. In fight and spite of them hostibus videntibus ringentibus God doth good to his people maugre the malice of earth and of Hell Thou anointest my head with oyle A peece of entertainment common in those times and amongst that people Luk. 7.36 37 38. to shew the greater respect to their guests And although this is not every good mans case in temporall respects yet at the Word and Sacraments God anointeth his guests with the Oyl of gladnesse My cup runneth over Hee had not only a fullnesse of abundance but of redâ—ndancy Those that have this happinesse must carry their cup upright and see that it overflow into their poor Brethrens emptier vesseâ—â—s Vers 6. Surely goodnesse and mercy c. Vtique bonit as beneficentia Or as Tremellius hath it Nihil nisi bonum benignitas Nothing but goodnesse and loving-kindness c. This is his good assurance of Gods favour for the future grounded upon Gods promise whereby hee was well assured that mercy should follow him though hee should bee so foolish as to run from it like as the Sun going down followeth the passenger that goeth Eastward with his beames And I will dwell c. Devoted to his fear I will stick to him in life in death and after death Apprehensions of mercy in God must work resolutions of obedience in us PSAL. XXIV A Psalm of David The Greek addeth Of the first day of the week Because wont to be sung in the Temple on that day which is now the Christian Sabboth in memory of Christs resurrection and ruledome over all which is here celebrated Vers 1. The earth is the Lords and the fullnesse thereof Hee alone is the true Proprietary Job 41.11 Deut. 10.14 and the earth is Marsupium Domini as One saith the Lords great purse the keeping whereof hee hath committed to the sons of men Psal 115.16 like as also hee hath given the heavenly bodies to all peoples Deut. 4.19 every star being Gods storehouse which hee openeth for our profit Deut. 28.12 and out of which hee throweth down riches and plenty into the earth such as the Servants of God gather and the rest scramble for What use the Apostle putteth this point to See 1 Cor. 10.26 28. with the Notes Other uses may well bee made of it as that Kings and Princes bear not themselves as Lords of all the Turk and Pope so stile themselves the great Cham of Tartary every day assoon as hee hath dined causeth they say his trumpets to besounded by that sign giving leave to other Princes of the earth his Vassals as hee conceiteth to go to dinner but the Lords vicarii villici vicegerents and Stewards to whom they must give an account of all Again that Gods dear Children cannot want any thing that is good for them sith they have so rich a Father who seemes to say unto them as Gen. 45.20 Regard not your stuff for all the good of the land is yours To him that overcommeth will I give to inherit all things I have all things Phil. 4.18 2 Cor. 6.10 The world and they that dwel therein This is Gods universall Kingdome by right of Creation vers 2. besides which hee hath a spirituall Kingdome over his elect ut docet nos pulcherrimus hic Psalmus saith Beza who are here described vers 4 5 6. and encouraged to enlarge their desires after their Soveraigne in the exercise of faith and use of means and to give him the best entertainment vers 7 8 9 10. For the Church is Christs Temple and every faithfull soul is a gate thereof to let him in as Rev. 3.20 Vers 2. For hee hath founded it upon the Seas The solid earth hee hath founded upon the liquid waters This Aristotle acknowledgeth to bee a miracle as also that the waters which are naturally above the earth overflow it not but are kept within their shoares as within doors and barres This is the very finger of God and a standing miracle worthy to bee predicated to his praise all the World over Job 38.6 7 8. c. See the Notes there See also Gen. 1.9 with the Note And established it upon the floods Upon the waves and surges of the Sea which but for Gods decree would soon surmount it The dry land is that which is here called Teb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the habitable world And this is Gods universall Kingdome which because lesse considerable the Prophet speaketh but little of it in comparison as hastening to the spirituall Vers 3. Who shall ascend into the Hill of the Lord Montem caelestem significat saith Vatablus hee meaneth into Heaven for the Prophets purpose is to shew that although
Origen Nusquam non ardet faith Erasmus sed nusquam est ardentior quam ubi Christi sermones actusque tractet that he was ever earnest Praefat. ad Origen opera but most of all when he discoursed of Christ Of Johannes Mollias a Bononian it is said Act. Mon. sol 855. that whensoever he spake of Jesus Christ his eyes dropped for hee was fraught with a mighty fervency of Gods holy Spirit and like the Baptist he was first a burning boyling or bubling and then a shining light Ardor mentis est lux Doctrinae I speak of the things which I have made touching the King Or I will speak in my works that is in this Psalm concerning the King viz. Salomon and Him that is greater than Salomon in all his glory Christ the King of the Church Works he calleth this Poem not for the greatnesse but for the exquisitenesse thereof it being breve longum planeque aureum utpote in quo universa pane salutis nostrae mysteria continentur as containing almost all the mysteries of mans salvation My tongue is the pen of a ready writer i. e. I will roudly and readily relate what I have so well ruminated and dexterously deliver my most mature meditations concerning the mystical marriage of Christ and his Church This is a good president for Preachers Demosthenes would have such a one branded for a pernicious man to the Common-wealth who durst propose any thing publickly which hee had not before-hand seriously pondered And Aristides being pressed to speak to something propounded ex tempore answered propound to day and I will answer to morrow for we are not of those that spit or spue up things c. Vers 2. Valde palchiuiâ—i Vat. Thou art fairer than the Children of men Heb. Thou art double-fairer the Hebrew word is doubled ad corroborandum faith Kimchi It may very well be that Salomon was for his beauty another Nireus and for his eloquence another Nestor Lentulus ad Senat. ap Magdeb. cent 1. wisdom might make his face to shine Of Christ we are sure that his body being of the finest temperament and no way diseased could not be but very beautifull The Roman register reporteth him to have been of a reverend countenance his stature somewhat tall his hair after the colour of the ripe hazel-nut his forehead smooth and plain his face without wrinkle mixt with moderate red his eyes gray various and clear c. Surely if Stephens face was as the face of an Angel and if with his bodily eyes he could peirce the heavens and see there what he would How much more could the Lord Christ whose very manhood came the nearest unto God of any that ever was or could be His very countenance did expresse a divinity in him And what if to the Jews who esteemed him not but maligned him and crucified him he had neither form nor beauty Isa 53.2 what if he were so broken at thirty three years of age with continuall paids and grief for them that they judged him wel-nigh fifty Job 8.57 yet he was every way compleat and comely above all the Children of men yea above all the Angells in heaven for in him the Godbâ—â—d dwelt bodily Col. 2.9 and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truâ—h Joh. 3.14 His soul was like a rich pearl in a rough shell like the Tabernacle Goats-hair without but gold within or as Erutus his staff enjus insue soliduns aurum â—ernto vilabatur cortice He was all glorious within had a fullness of grace above that of Adam Joh. 1.16 as much as a Creature was capable of Plutarch and more near familiarity with the Godhead than any creature Grace is poured into shy lips So that thou canst gracefully deliver thy self in a set speech Solomen could no doubt as another Phacion or Pericles in whose lips 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Eupolis sat a strange perswasive faculty so that he could prevail with the people at his pleasure Jesus Christ could much more do so for together with his words there went forth a power he spoke as never man spake he spoke with authority and not as the Scribes all that heard him wondred at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth Luk. 4.22 Isa 50.4 Therefore God bath blessed thee Or better because that God hath blessed thee and endowed thee with such gifts and graces Vers 3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O most mighty This is one of Christs titles Isa 9.6 the Giant or the mighty strong God O Herosâ— the valliant Champion of his Church And his sword is the word of his mouth Rev. 1.16 Heb. 4.12 Isa 49.2 All the wars in the conquest of Canaan were types of the spirituall wars under the Gospel whereby the Nations were subdued to the obedience of the faith 2 Cor. 10.4 Ephes 6.11 Christ hath his sword then a two-edged sword and he is here called upon to gird it to his thigh after the manner of those Easterlings as we do our skeans bangers woodknives that is to take unto him his authority and to exercise it for the conversion of his people and confusion of his enemies Additur â—i gladius quem non ostentet velut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed quem etium destring at A sword hee hath not for shew but for service whence it is added with thy glory and thy Majesty Equita super verbum veritâ—tis Vers 4. And in thy Majesty ride prosperously Heb. Prosper thou ride thou upon the Word of truth of meeknesse and of Righteousnesse q. d. Ride thou in thy triumphant Charret as it were drawn by those three glorious graces Truth Meeknesse and Righteousnesse and governed by the Word as by the Charter-man Cui divinissim a allegorie explicand a pro rei gravisate ac dignitate integro volumine opus esset saith Bâ—za For the explaining of which most divine allegory according to the worth of it a whole volume might well be full written The Kings of the earth for most part have their Charrets drawn by other horses viz. Pride Ambition Cruelty c. as Sesostres King of Egypt Qui Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things i. e. Shall inable thee to perform them Christ riding on his white horse his Apostles and Preachers went forth conquering and to conquer Rev. 6.2 Salomon was no such sword-man as was Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 5. Thine arrows are sharp c. Peters converts were pricks at heart Act. 1. Act. 7.54 and Stephens heaters were cut to the heart Christ can fetch in his rebelts afarre off he hath arrowes as well as a sword to wound them that men may either bend or break yeeld or become his footstool One way or other he will surely have the better of them Vers 6. Thy throne O God Here the Prophet
Daughter of Tyre shall be there With a gift Isa 23.18 The Tyrians that wealthy people when once converted think the same of other Nations shall leave hoarding and heaping and find another manner of Merchandise and imployment of their substance viz. to feed and cloath Gods Saints and maintain his Ministers Vers 13. The Kings Daughter is all glorious within In the Inner-man Ephes 3.16 the hidden man of the heart 1 Pet. 3.4 Great is the glory of the new Creature but not discerned by the World through which the Saints must be content to passe as concealed persons and not think much to have the greater part of their warein the inner part of their shop and not all on the board or stall Her cloathing is of wronght gold ex vestibus auro ocellatis Cloathed she is with humility and other golden graces as with that party-coloured garment whereby Kings Daughters as Tamar were anciently distinguished from others Vers 14. She shall be brought See the Note on vers 13. she shall be presented to Christ a glorious Church not having spot wrinkle or any such thing Ephes 5.27 Rev. 21.2 Vers 15. With gladnesse and rejoycing As at marriages is usuall Sampsons wife solecised in weeping at such a feast Oh the joy the joy said that dying Saint But what in the mean-while Vers 16. In stead of thy Fathers c. The Church shall still bring forth Children to her Husband Christ and there shall bee a succession of his name Psal 72.17 Whom thou maiest make Princes The Saints are Kings in Righteousnesse though somewhat obscure ones as was Melchiscdech Vers 17. I will make thy name c. This is a second benefit promised to the Church viz. everlasting renown with highest estimation and imitation to the Worlds end PSAL. XLVI VPon Alamoth i.e. Upon the Virginals Virgins with their shril treble tune 1 Chrâ—â— 15.20 used belike to sing this triumphant Psalm and to play it on the Instrument and their hearts were somewhat suitable to it The pen-man some think to have been David upon occasion of those notable victories 2 Sam. 8. Others Solomon for the Virgins to sing and play at his wedding Psal 45.8 9. with Cant. 1.2 Others Isaiah either upon the overthrow of those two Kings Rezin and Pekah 2 King 16.5 Isa 7. 8. confer Judg. 5.11 or else after the slaughter of Sennacheribs armie by an Angel then the Virgin Daughter of Zion much more than before despised him and laughed him to scorn the Daughter of Jerusalem shook her head at him Isa 37.22 and sang as followeth Vers 1. Tremel God is our resuge and strength Dem nobis est receptus robur All Creatures when in distresse run to their resuges Prov. 30.26 Psal 104.18 Prov. 18.11 Dan. 4.10 11. Judg. 9.50 51. So do the Saints to God Almighty for the safe-guarding of their persons as here and Isa 25.4 Luther when in greatest distresse was wont to call for this Psalm saying Let us sing the forty sixth Psalm in consort and then let the Devill do his worst A very present help in trouble Or Joh. Manlii loc com We have abundantly found him an help in tribulation God as he is not farre off his people at such a time so he needeth not much intreaty but when we are nearest danger he is nearest to deliver as in the Gun-pouder-plot prevented eight or nine houres before it should have been acted Masses were sung in Rome for the prospering of it but no prayers particularly made in England for the preventing nor could be Here God was if ever auxilium praesentissimum Vers 2. Therefore will we not fear though the earth c. No not in the greatest concussions of States and revolutions in nature Earthquakes are very dreadfull and lay whole Cities on heaps sometimes as Antioch often which was therehence called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but though not some part only but the whole earth should be turned topsy-turvy 1 ege Plindib 2 cap. 83. 88. as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it upside down 2 King 21.13 yea though heaven and earth should be mingled Heb. 13.26 in this also the Beleever would be confident because God is with him Psal 23.4 27.1 whose praise and promise is to see to his Servants safety in the greatest dangers and to set them out of the gunshot And though the Mountaines be carried into the midst of the Sea Though all the World should be reduced again into that first Chaos of confusion Si fract us illab at ur orbis Horat. Od. 3. Lib. 3. Impavidum forlent ruina Vers 3. U omnes procellae horriblli cum boatu circumsonent Ethic. 3.7 Though the waters thereof roar and bee troubled Heb. Be mudded yet we will not fear viz. with a base distrustfull fear Tanti est experientiam sensunique auxilii divini habere The tempestuous rising and roaring of the Sea is so terrible that Aristotle saith whosoever feareth it not is either mad or senselesse Fear not saith the Angell to St. Paul himself in that dreadfull storm Act. 27.24 which implyeth that he was afraid with a naturall fear and he might be so without sin An a wefull fear of God is consistent with faith neither is any Beleever guilty of a Stoical apathie The very Devills beleeve and tremble Jam. 2.19 The A postles word there implieth that they roar as the Sea roareth and shrieke horribly Though the Mountains shake c. As sometimes Promontories fall with the force Id quod Propheta miris verborum figuris additis illustrate Beza and impetuous beating of the Sea upon them Admit all this and more whether in a sense literall or allegoricall set forth it is in a strain high and hyperbolicall yet wee will bear up and bee bold to beleeve that all shall go well with us Vers 4. there is a River c. Interea civitas Dei amidstall these garboiles and hurly-burlies abroad the Church shall be helped with a little help as Dan. 11.34 that through weaker means she may see Gods greater strength That contemptible brook Cedron whereof read Job 18.1 compassing some part only of the City Jerusalem or passing thorough the middle of it as some write together with the rivorets Siloe and others that run into it shall be able through God to save her from the power and greatnesse of her enemies Confer Isa 8.6 and this place shall be the better understood The holy place of the Tabernacles This was the beauty and bulwark of Jerusalem viz. the Temple the continued sincere service of God this was the Tower of the slock and the strong hold of the Daughter of Gods people Mic. 4.8 See Psa 26.1 2. And these Rivers of the Sanctuary these waters of life drawn with joy out of the wells of Salvation the precious Promises made glad the City of God the Consciences of Beleevers and caused them to triumph over all troubles Vers 5. God is in the midst
of her Hence the Church is called Jehovali Shannonah the Lord is there Ezek. 48.35 there he hath set him up a Mercy-seat a Throne of Grace and paved his people a new and living way thereunto with the Bloud of his Son so that they may come boldly obtain mercy and finde grace to help in time of need Heb. 4.14 She shall not be moved Or not greatly moved Psal 62.2 in those great commotions abroad the world vers 2 3. This bush may burn but shall not be consumed and that by the blessing of him that dwelt in the bush Deut 33. Exo. 14.23 Begneth have-shugnah Kimchi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 built shee is upon a rock Mat. 16.16 and so is every particular Beleever Mat. 7.25 And if at any time they be in distress God shall help her and that right early Heb. When the morning appeareth that is in the nick of time when help shall be most seasonable and best welcome Mourning lasteth but till morning Psal 30.5 the Church is invincible Vers 6. The Heathen raged Among themselves and against the Church Christ mystical as Psal 2.1 2. with great force and fury Quia ab ascenfore suo Damon◠perur gentur as Bernard giveth the reason because the Devil rideth them and spurreth them on The King doms were moved to remove and root out the Church but that will not be because in the thing wherein they deal proudly God is above them See those three sweet similitudes Zech. 12.2 3 6. He uttered his voyce Thunder-struck the enemies and saved his people by a Miracle of his mercy Psal 18.6 7. The earth melted Centra naturam suam quia est arida saith Aben-Ezra against the nature thereof for it is dry By the earth some understand the enemies who had almost filled the whole Land with their multitudes Vers 7. The Lord of Hosts is with us Even the Lord who commandeth far other Hosts and Armies than the enemy hath any and this they shall see by our Spiritual security The God of Jacob is our refuge Heb. Our high tower such as our enemies cannot come at When he calleth him the God of Jacob hee hath respect to the Promises saith Vatablus Gods Power and Goodness are the Churches Jachin and Boaz. Ver. 8. Come behold the Works of the Lord Venite videte God looks that his Works should bee well observed and especially when he hath wrought any great deliverance for his people Of all things hee cannot abide to bee forgotten What desolations he hath made in the earth How he hath dunged his Vineyard with the dead Carcasses of those wild Boars out of the Forrest that had infested it Those four mighty Monarchies had their times and their turns their rise and their ruine but the Church remains for ever Vers 9. He maketh Warres to cease As the Lord putteth the Sword in Commission bathing it in Heaven so he can quiet it and command it up at his pleasure He did so when Sisera was slain and when Sexnacherib The Church hath her Halcyous He breaketh the bow c. No weapon formed against thee shall prosper Isa 54.17 The Spanish Armada was set forth with infinite labour and expence but soon dispersed and defeated He burneth the Chariots Inquibus instrumenta bellica vel victualia pro militibus circumgestant saith Aben-Ezra i. e. their carriages for ammunition and provisions Vers 10. Be still and know c. q. d. As you must come and see vers 8. so come and hear what the Lord saith to those enemies of yours Cessate scitete Be still St and know Ex vestris saltem malis discite learn by what yee have felr that there is no contending with omnipotency I will be exalted asking you no leave c. Vers 11. The Lord of Hosts c. See vers 7. PSAL. XLVII A Psalm for the Sons of Korah Carmen triumphale saith Mollerus a Panegyrical Oration saith Beza written by David when top-full of most ardent zeal and sung by the Korites in that stately solemnity whereat he brought at length the Lords holy Ark into the City of David which gallant History is lively set forth 2 Sam. 6. 1 Chron. 15. And the use that David doth here make of it viz. concerning Christs Kingdom and the benefits thereby concerneth us as much or rather more than that ancient people The Rabbins with one consent say that this Psalm is to be understood De diebus Christi of the days of the Messiah who was prefigured by the Ark and should be the joy of all Nations Vers 1. O clap your hands all yee people As they used to do at their Kings Coronation 2 King 11.12 shew your joy for and interest in Christ your King by manifesting your righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Other joys are mixt and dear-bought but this is sincere and gratuitous as the Prophet Isaiah setteth forth elegantly chap. 9.3 5 6 7. Shout unto God with the voyce of triumph Heb. Of shrilling gods praises are to be celebrated with all manner of chearfulness and we are to be vexed at the vile dulness of our hearts that are no more affected and enlarged hereunto seeing all causes of joy are found eminently in God and he is so well worthy to be praised Psal 18.3 Jews and Gentiles are here joyntly called upon joyfully to praise their Redeemer Vers 2. For the Lord most high is tirrible Amiable to his own terrible to his rebels This Son if not kissed will be angry Psal 2. This Lamb for a need can shew himself a Lion as he is the Father of Mercies so the God of Recompences c. and being most high hee can easily overtop and subdue the stoutest of his enemies He is a great King over all the earth As having taken possession by his wonderful Ascension of the universal Kingdom given him by his Father and gathered himselfa Church out of all Mankind which he wonderfully ruleth and defendeth against the rage of Earth and of Hell Vers 3. He shall subdue the people under us This was typified in the Government of the Israelites then ascendent in Davids days but fulfilled when Christ rode abroad on his white Horse the Apostles Conquering and to conquor Rev. 6. Quando Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo patuerint as Tertullian hath it Christ subdued the Britans and others whom the victorious Romans could never come at The Chaldee hath it he shall kill the people under us sc with the sword of the Spirit the Word when the Law came sin revived and I dyed Rem 7.9 The Hebrew is He shall speak the people under us that is he shall by the preaching of the Gospel powerfully perswade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem Gen. 9.27 Tremellius rendreth it Jun. ex Aben-Ezra R. Judah Cogit in caulam populos he gathereth the people into the fold viz. that there may be one Sheep-fold and one Shepherd as Joh. 10.16 Eph. 2.14 And the Nations
contentions that were in the Church might be quenched though it were with his bloud so when he dyed he was more sollicitous of the Churches welfare than of his own Vers 2. He shall judge thy people with righteousness sc If thou please to remember thy promise to me and to answer this my prayer of faith founded thereupon And thy poor Or thine afflicted The people the poor afflicted especially are the Lords and therefore not to bee tyrannized over and trampled on by their Governours Vers 3. The mountain shall bring peace i. e. They shall not be so pestered and infested by Theeves and Robbers who usually 〈◊〉 and hide themeselves in hills and hollow places By righteousness By right administration of Justice as it was here in King Alfreds days who ordained that his 〈◊〉 should be divided into Tâ—â—s or Tythings every of which severally should give Bond for the good abearing of each other and he who was of that 〈◊〉 behaviour that he could 〈◊〉 be admitted to these Tythings was forth wich conveyed to the House of Correction The ancientest of these men were called by a specialty the Tything men Vers 4. He shall judge the 〈◊〉 of the people Indeed all indifferently without respect of persons but a poor mans Tale shall be heard and his Cause judged as well as a rich mans Under Christs Government it shall be so howsoever I know thy poverty but thou art rich saith he Rev. 3.9 Amongst men both in sures of Love and of Law Money maketh Mistery Not so here And shall break in peeces the oppressour The Syceyâ—â—nt saith the Creek the Slanderer saith the Latine the Devil say some Over these He shall turn the wheel Vers 5. They shall fear this Who hast blessed them with so good a King such as maketh it his main care to set up God where-ever he hath to do As long as the Sun and Moon 〈…〉 The Lacedonians publickly professed Quoad sol codem it itenire maebit quo 〈◊〉 meet 〈…〉 sociat cum Xerxe 〈◊〉 whiles the Sun shall hold on his course we will never make a League with Xerxes Vers 6. He shall come down like rain upon the 〈◊〉 grass That is he shall bee very dear to us and much delighted in See Job 29.23 with the Note As showers that water the earth This is chiefly fulfilled in Christ who by raining down righteousness maketh his Church to grow and flourish Vers 7. In his days shall the righteous flourish As watered Gardens Jar. 31.12 or as the Willows by the water courses Isa 44.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And abundance of peace The work of righteousness shall be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and affurance for ever Isa 32.17 Christs subjects have peace 〈◊〉 Isa 25.3 a multiplied peace a multiplied pardon Isa 55.7 where sin aboundeth grace superaboundeth neither can they commit more than God will remit unto them Vers 8. He shall have dominion also from Sea to Sea Salomon shall from the Mediterranean in the West to the Persian Sea or Indian Ocean in the East And from the river unto the ends of the earth i.e. From Euphrates and the Northern Countries to Aegypt and the utmost pares of all Africa This was a Type of Christs universal dominion thoroughout the whole World Zech. 9.9 Psal 110.1 Vers 9. They that dwell in the Wildereness Wild Barbarous rude people such as were the ancient Britains our Progenitours till Christ the Sun of righteousness shone upon them till they were brought to the obedience of faith Bond in Horsâ— Tunâ— enim sensinâ— evannit ferit as indias ezulavit immanit as corruit crudelites c. for then it was otherwise And his enemies shad lick the dust A Ceremony much in use among the Easterlings Prostrani adorant hiâ—rationemâ— saith Herodotus of the Persians Lib. 1. they worship their betters by falling to the ground before them and how Tridetes King of Parthians worshipped Nero. is to be read in Die Cassius Christs foes shall all bee made his footstool Vers 10. The Kings of Tarshish and of the Isles i.e. All the Kings of the earth which being encompassed with the Ocean is therefore by the old Geographers called a great Island Judes though part of the Conâ—iâ—â—â—at is called an Isle Isa 20.6 because separated from other Countries with whom God would have his people to have as little to do as might be that they might not be corrupted with forein fashion This was a 〈…〉 in Salomon See 1 King 4.21 24 chap. 10.25 perfectly it is and shall be in Christ De 〈…〉 of the Christ a certain saith Kimchi all the Kingdom of the earth shall one day but his Kingdoms he shall be the 〈…〉 and be alone Ver. 11. 〈◊〉 King 〈…〉 Vers 12. For 〈…〉 If the people complained of See on vers 9. If the people complained of Salomon 〈…〉 and 〈…〉 yoke 〈◊〉 as by thy Father it was but of a sinful 〈…〉 saith 〈…〉 people 〈◊〉 know when they are well but quarrelling at and complaining of the present Government you even 〈◊〉 Christs 〈◊〉 yoke and light burden as if importable Vers 13. He shall spare the poor an 〈◊〉 Hereby David sheweth his Son and all his Successours Quaâ—â— debent 〈…〉 what manner of man a King ought to be Regiment without Righteousness turneth into tyranny it is but Robbery with authority O. Scipio Nastra for his good Government was â—â—â—med Optimus by the Senate and had an house gived him at the Pâ—â—lick charge in 〈◊〉 saira that the poor might repair to him Vers 14. He shall redeem their soul from decent and violence Those two noted Engines of all mischief to the poor viz. privy deceit Ufury the Septuagint and Vulgar render it and open violence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fraud and force craft and cruelty And precious shall their bloud be in his sight He shall be very tender of their lives that they bee not causelesly cast away either in times of Peace or War Precious also in the sight of the Lord Christ is the death of his 〈◊〉 his Martyrs Psal 116 15. Vers 15. And he shall live The King shall according to the poor mans prayer when releeved or the poor shall and the King shall give him gold brought from Sheon or 〈◊〉 the happy Whereupon Prayer shall be 〈◊〉 c. By the poor for him or though 〈◊〉 applying it to Christ and for the increase of his Kingdom and for his coming Vers 16. There shall be an handful of Corn â—amp c. 〈◊〉 The batrâ—â— mountain shall yeeld Corn abundantly and also by handfuls as 〈◊〉 in those seven years of plenty Gen. 41.47 The fruit thereof shall 〈◊〉 The Corn shall 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 like the Trees in Lebanon shaken by the Wind. And they of the city shall flourish Men also increase and multiply Jerem. 31.27 to a very great number as piles of Grass Christs subjects shall Vers 17. 〈…〉 for ever i. e. His Kingdom for it shall not bee nomen
to God To hang ever upon thee in this general defection of others by the faith of the Gospel Heb. 7.19 by putting my trust in thee that I may declare all thy works and relate my experiments A circle is the perfectest figure because it beginneth and endeth the last point meeteth in the first from whence it came We shall never come to perfection or satisfaction till we draw nigh to God till God make the circle meet c. PSAL. LXXIV A Psalm of Asaph Concerning the Babylonish Captivity saith Kimchi which either was here fore-told by Davids Asaph or bewailed by another of that name who lived at that very time when the Jews groaned under those grievous calamities Vers 1. O God why hast thou cast us off for ever The greatness of their grief and diuturnity of their misery draw from them such expressions of discontent as if they were doubtful of an utter dereliction Why doth thine anger or thy nose smoke against the sheep of thy pasture Anger is a fire and in men or other Creatures enraged a smoke formeth to go out of their Nostrils Xenophâ—n saith of the â—heâ—â—ns when they are angry they breath fire This then is spoken of God after the manner of men Vers 2. Remember thy Congregation which thou hast purchased His complaints end not in murmuring and grunting against God but in humble Petitions so intermingled with sighs and groans as that his speech is not so plain and perfect as at other times Thâ—â— which he mainly 〈◊〉 iâ— the 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 of heavenly Honey as one calleth it The rod of thine inheritance Inheritances were 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 out by Rods and 〈…〉 〈…〉 Metaphor from combatants Qui 〈◊〉 pedes passâ—â— ut violentiâ—â— in hostâ—m invehantur Some have reward 〈…〉 thereby the Temple that place 〈…〉 Ezek. 43. 〈…〉 whither he 〈◊〉 for safety Vers 4. 〈…〉 Posuerunt signâ— sua signa Kimchi R. Solom are so called by a word 〈…〉 They set up their 〈◊〉 for signs They set them up upon the very Temple as if they had conquered God himself those their Trophies and Monuments of victory Some referre us for the sense of these Words to Ezek. 21 2â— others render them thus They have 〈◊〉 in their 〈◊〉 or 〈…〉 the sacred signes and to have pointed there holy places Besides what Antiochâ—â— did concerning which see the Books of Maccabâ—â—s and 〈◊〉 in after times the Arms of Rome were set upon the Temple and a Swâ—â—◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—ven over the gate this was the abomination of desolation fore-told by our Saviour Mat. â—4 15. Vers 5. Aman was 〈◊〉 according it c. i. e. Time was when the Workmen got them a name by cutting down and fitting the Timber for this building the Temple renowned throughout the whole World for costly and choyse materials for curious and exact Workmanship for Spiritual employment and for mystical signification never was there the like edifice Vers 6. But now they break down the carved work 〈◊〉 The Chaldeans did with Military violence and afterwards the Romanes under Titus who could not preserve it from the Souldiers fury though he desired so to have done as 〈◊〉 Historians have told us Now if the enemies rage were so great as is here described against the outward marks of Religion how much more should our zeal kindle against the most costly or curious Monuments of Idolatry and Superstition Zisca the valiant Bâ—heâ—ine overthrew three children Monasteries with their Mawmets and among the rest the famous Monastery called the Kings Court a mile from Prague in the walls whereof the whole Bible was most exquisitely written in Letters of gold Vers 7. They have cast fire into thy Sanctuary Heb. They have sent thy Sanctuary into the fire So the French Papists under the conduct of the Guises dealt by the publick Meeting-houses of the Protestants there and particularly by that Church at â—ions which was called 〈◊〉 Hoc apud Ethnicâ—◠〈…〉 horrendum Herodot in Vâ—an The Heathens observed of such as destroyed Temples that they commonly came to some fearful end by Thunder-bolts or otherwise Vers 8. Let us destroy them together Them that is the Saints let us prey upon them as Hawkes do upon Doves or them that is the Temples and Schools these the Devil ever sought to destroy as contary to his Kingdom and so 〈…〉 still by the Turks and Papists and other Hereticks They have burnt up all the Synagogues Theâ—e were a kind of Chapels of ease to the Temple at Jerusalem and in these the people met frequently on the Sabbath especially for holy Exercises as we do in our Churches The good Centurion built one of these Luke 7.5 See Jam. 2.2 Vers 9. We see not our signes Those testimonies of Gods special 〈…〉 the publick Ordinances together with the legal Ceremonies which was then Christ in Figures q. d. 〈…〉 There is 〈…〉 any Prophet c. Hence some conclude that this Psalm was written about the end of the Babylonish Captivity when there was Chaâ—â—â—â—â—th 〈◊〉 〈…〉 up of Prophecy as 〈…〉 so that they had Prophets 〈…〉 〈…〉 Vers 11. Why withdrawest thou thy hand Some by hand understand the left hand and so both hands are withdrawn yea held behind retrovertis after the manner of those that have little to do and lesse to care for Out of thy bosom Another posture to the same purpose Prov. 19.24 26.15 Vers 12. For God is my King of old He is the same yesterday toâ—â—y and for ever I doubt not therefore but he will see to the safety of his loyall subjects Working salvation in the midst of the earth i.e. Openly and to the view of all Jerusalem is in the midst of Judaea and Judea is in the midst of the earth the very center and navel of the habitable world say the Fathers it joyneth those of the East to the West by the Midland-sea and those of the North to the South by the same Sea running out as farre as the lake of Maeotis very farre North and by the red Sea descending very low into the South This Country therefore God seemeth purposely to have espyed out as himself speaketh that therehence he might send abroad salvation into all parts And hereabout some gather from Joel 3.2 Christ will sit to judge the world at the last day Psal 50.1 2. Vers 13. Thou didst divide the Sea c. Thou in this and the following verses is emphaticall and exclusive q. d. Thou and none but Thou Thou brakest the heads of the Dragons Or Crocodiles So he calleth Pharaohs chieftains who were Satans swordmen and with him had their heads broke at the red Sea Vers 14. Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan i.e. Of Pharaoh himself See Isa 27.1 Ezek. 29.3 Egypt is situate between two seas and a great part of it overflowed by the River Nilus Pharaoh therefore is fitly compared to the Master-fish and his Captains to Crocodiles And gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the
their lives leaving all behind them The Rabbines expound it they are spoyled of their understanding infatuated They have slept their sleep Their long Iron-sleep as the Poets call it of Death The destroying Angel hath laid them fast enough and safe enough And 〈◊〉 of the men of might Viri diviliâ—rum the vulgar rendreth it Men of riches such as are all 〈◊〉 but men of might is better these men of their hands could not finde their hands when Gods Angel took them to do Vers 6. At thy rebuke O God c. i. e. with thy mighty word of command and without any more ado God can nod men to destruction Psal 80.16 blow them into Hel Job 4.9 rebuke them to death as here do it with as much ease as he that swimeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim Isa 25.11 The Chaiâ—â— and the Horse The Chieftains of the Army Vers 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Herodotus saith that 〈…〉 was written 〈…〉 〈…〉 is Gods Wrath revealed plainly and plentifully Rom. 1.28 and 〈◊〉 he oft appeareth for his people and out of an engine The earth feared All was 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 Thunder 〈◊〉 Vers 9. When God 〈…〉 Being stirred up as it were by the prayers of his people as vers 2 3. To save all the 〈◊〉 of the earth Who cease not to seek the Lord to 〈◊〉 righteousness and judgement Zeph. 2.3 Vers 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise theâ— As when 〈…〉 army was destroyeth the Istraelites sang praise yea the Aegyâ—ians built Altars as Isa 19. God by his wisdom ordereth and draweth the blinde and brute motions of the worst Creatures unto his own honour as the Hiâ—ts-man doth the rage of the Dogge to his pleasure or the Mariner the blowing of the Wind to his voyage or the 〈◊〉 the heat of the fire to his Work or the Physician the bloud-thirstiness of the Leech to a Cure saith a Reverend man The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain Heb. Shalt thou gird 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is curb and keep within compass The Greek hath it It shall keep holy day to thee that is cease from working or acting outwardly how restless â—oâ—ver it be within Vers 11. Vow and pay to the Lord A plain precept and yet Bellarmine saith Lib. 2. de Monach cap. 17 De cult Sanctor cap. 9. 〈…〉 est praeceptum As for vowing to Saints hee granteth that when the Scriptures were written the Church had no such custom Saint-worship then is but new worship Let all that he round about him All the neighbouring Nations and so they did after Ashurs overthrow 2 Chron. 32.21 23. To him that ought to be feared Heb. To fear that is to God the proper object of fear called therefore Fear by an appellative property Vers 12. He shall cut off the spirit of Princes Vindâ—â—â—iabit he shall slip them off as one would do a bunch of Grapes or a Flower between ones fingers easily suddenly Auferet de 〈…〉 as he dealt by 〈◊〉 Princes He is terrible to Kings Enemies to his Church as most Kings are PSAL. LXXVII A Psalm of Asaph Or for Asaph Davids melancholy Psalm some call it made by him when he was in grievous affliction and desertion Out of which he seeketh to wind by earnest Prayer by deep Meditation upon Gods former favours and unchangeable nature and lastly by calling to minde Gods wondrous works of old both in proving and in preferving his Church and chosen Vers 1. I cried unto God with my voyce c. I prayed instantly and constantly and sped accordingly No faithful prayer is ineffectual Vers 2. In the day of my trouble The time of affliction is the time of supplication Psal 50.15 My fore 〈◊〉 in the night Heb. My hand was poured out that is stretched out in prayer or wet with continual weeping Non fuit remisse nec 〈◊〉 in lectum And ceased not Or was not tired in allusion belike to Moses his hands held up against Aâ—â—leck though My soul refused to be comforted I prayed on though I had little heart to do it as Daniel afterwards did the Kings work though he were sick or though with much infirmity whilst I rather wrangled with God by cavelling objections than wrastâ—ed with him as I ought to have done by important prayer Vers 3. I remembred God and 〈…〉 troubled 〈…〉 for God seemed to be angry and to cast out my prayers this made mee mourn and little less than 〈◊〉 My 〈…〉 With sense of Sin and seat of Wrath. This was a very grievous and dangerous temptation such as we must pray not to be â—â—d into or at least 〈◊〉 to be left under 〈…〉 Vers 4. 〈…〉 That I cannot speak Cura lâ—â—es loguuntur ingâ—ntes stupent Vers 5. I have considered the days of old What thou diddest for Adam Abraham Israel in Aegypt c. all which was written purposely that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope See Deut. 32.7 Vers 6. I call to remembrance my Song in the night i. e. My former feelings and experiments being glad in this scarcity of comfort to live upon the old store as Bees do in winter I commune with mine own heart Psal 4.4 see there And my spirit made diligent search For the cause and cure of my present distempers Vers 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever No not at all though the extremity and length of the Psalmists grief put him upon these sad Interrogatories with some diffidence touching the Nature and Promise of God Will he be favourable no more So the Devil and carnal reason would have perswaded him and did haply for a time But this very questioning the matter sheweth he yet lay languishing at Hopes Hospital waiting for comfort The Soul may successively doubt and yet beleeve Vers 8. Is his mercy clean gone for over They that go down into the pit of Despair cannot hope for Gods truth Isa 38.18 but so doth not any Saint in his deepest desertions Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath he retracted his Promises recalled his Oracles confirmed with Oath Seal No he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth Psal 89.33 Vers 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious So it seemeth sometimes to those that are long afflicted and short-spirited But what saith the Prophet Can a Woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Hâ—yt Geor. yea they may forget they may prove unnatural and grow out of kind as Medea and those Suevian women who threw their young Children at the Romanes under the conduct of Drusus Son in Law to Augustus instead of Darts yet God will not forget his people Isa 49.15 Indeed he can as soon forget himself and change his nature Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies These things the Psalmist speaketh not as utterly despairing but as one couragiously wrastling against an
and pour out its complaint before the Lord. Vers 1. Hear my prayer O Lord O Lord Christ for so this Psalm is to bee understood as the Apostle sheweth Heb. 1. And let my cry Which is that thou wouldest be pleased to bring us poor exiles back to our own Country and so this prayer is answerable to that of Daniel Chap. 9. Vers 2. Hide not thy face from me For this would be worse than all the rest See Jer. 16.13 I will cast you cut of this land-and I will shew you no favour This last was a cutting speech and far worse than their captivity and yet Non exul curae dicitur esse Deâ— Answer me speedily Festina responde In our earnest prayers we may press for expedition in general not tying God to any particular time as those Bethulians did in the book of Judith Vers 3. For my dayes are consumed like smoak Which the higher it mounteth the sooner it vanisheth Some read it in the smoak So Psal 119.83 I am become like a bottle in the smoak dryed and withered 〈…〉 And 〈◊〉 bones are burnt as an hearth Ossae mea quasi friâ—â— contaâ—â—erâ—â—â— My strength is gone Velâ—â—l sartagiâ—â—â— Arah Here to the twelfth verse is a most lively picture of a dejected person such as can hardly bee paralleld teaching us to be deeply affected with the Churches afflictions Vers 4. My heart is smitten Blasted with thins indignation that ventus urent â—xiâ—ans So that I forget eat my bread I am â—â—â—achless through want of that beat heart should supply Vers 5. By reason of the voyce of my 〈◊〉 A broken spirit drieth the bones Prov. 17.22 and by drinking up the marrow and radical moisture casâ—eth all into a consumption Vers 6. I am like a 〈◊〉 Or 〈◊〉 which liveth in lonely plaâ—â—â—â— and crieth ou◠〈…〉 I am like an Owl of the Desert Avis lutifuga Night-bird a Night-raven the Vulgar hath it others a Bat a Cuccow but most an Owl that noctis monstrâ—â— as Pliny speaketh of her net cantu aliquâ— vocales sedgeâ—itu hated of all other fouls Lib. 10. cap. which never come near her but to keep a wondering at her Vers 7. I watch I can as little sleep as eat vers 4. That nurse of nature and sweet Parenthesiâ— of mens griefs and cares sleep departeth from me Nec membris dat curasâ—pâ—rem And am as a sparrow That hath lost his mate so have I mine associater which is a sore loss for optimum solatium sodalitium Vers 8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day This is an evil that mans nature is most impatient of See Psal 137. And they that are mad against me That let flye at meâ— or that once praised me flattered meâ— So the Sept. Are sworn against me Have sworn my death or do swear and curse by me as the Turks do at this day when to confirm a truth they say Judaeus sim si sallam I would I were a Jew it is so See Zach. 8.13 Isa 6.15 Jer. 29.22 God make thee as Abab and as Zedechiah c. Vers 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread Being cast on the ground as a mourner I know not whether I eat bread or dust this relisheth to me as well as that my mouth is so out of taste And mingled my drink with weeping I forbare not to weep no not while I drank sorrow is dry and wine driveth away sorrow we say Not so from me Wine is calle by Simon ideâ— in Athonaeu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an expeller oâ— sadness De coelo in terram R. Solom Vers 10. Because of thine indignation This lay heavier upon the good mans heart than all the rest God was displeased For thou bast lifted me up and cast me down That is that I might fall with the greater poise Significatur gravissima collisie Here the Prophet accuseth not God of cruelty but bewayleth his own misery Miserum est suisse felicem It is no small unhappiness to have been happy Vers 11. My dayes are like a shadow that declineth As at Sun-set the shadows are at longest but not long lasting And I am withered like grass Mown down and laid a drying Vers 12. But thou O Lord shalt indure for ever And therefore wee thy Covenanters shall be restored Lam. 5.19 And thy remembrance Which thou hast of us and we of thee Vers 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion This hee speaketh with as much confidence as if he had been in Gods bosome for hee knew the promise of deliverance after seventy years captivity See the like Hab. 1.12 For the time to favour her c. This he understood by books as Dan. 9.2 and therefore presseth God to a speedy performance God loveth to be burdened with his own word to be sued upon his own bond c. But besides the promise the Psalmist had another ground of his confidence and that is in the next Vers 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones They pity heâ— and wish her welfare much more then dost thou Hee argueth from that sweet tender melting frame of spirit that was found in the faithful which is but a reflex of that farsweeter that is in God And savour the dust thereof Theruines and the rubbish heartily desiring and expecting a re-edification and restauration whereof they had a sweet promise Am. 9.9 and for the spiritual Temple to be built of Jews and Gentiles they had many more See all that followeth Vers 15. So the beathen shall fear c. By the restauration of Jerusalem where the Messias was to be born and manifested the everlasting Gospel shall be preached and the Gentiles converted to the faith And all the Kings of the earth Caught by those Fishermen and their successors in the Ministry Vers 16. When the Lord shall build up Zion Isaiah had foretold that the second Temple should be more glorious than the first Isa 54.11 and 60.17 the stones whereof were types of those living stones whereof that spiritual Temple was to bee built 1 Pâ—t 2.5 and wherein God would manifest more of his glory than ever liâ— had done in all the world besides Vers 17. Humilesque Myticae Virg. He will regard the prayer of the destitute Heb. Of the poor shrub tha is in the wilderness trod upon by beasts unregarded worthless Heath Juniper t Wild Ta marâ—k Tremelliâ—â— rendreth it Nudatissimi Others Excitantis se the prayer of one that stirreth up himself to take hold of God and thereby prevaileth with him I came for thy prayer saith the Angel to Daniel chap. 10.12 Vers 18. This shall be written for the generation to come This that the poor shrub hath sped so well in prayer together with all other the particulars of this Psalm and indeed the whole Scripture Rom. 15.4 So little truth is there in that assertion of the Jesuits that the Epistles of the Apostles were intended onely for the use of those Churches or persons to whom
for in God we live move and have our being Act. 17. A frown of Augustus Cesar Camden proved to be the death of Cornelius Gallus Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellor of England dyed Sept. 20.1591 of a flux of his urine and grief of mind conceived upon some angry words given him by Q. Elizabeth Thou takest away their breath Heb. Thou gatherest it callest for it again viz. their vital vigour Vers 30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit Virtutem vivificam They are created Others of the same kind are and so the face of the earth is renued whiles another generation springeth up This is matter of praise to their maker Vers 31. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever Or Let glory be to the Lord for ever so For his great works of Creation and Conservation The Lord shall rejoyce in his words As he did at the Creation when he saw all to bee good and very good so still is doth God good as it were to see the poor creatures feed and men to give him the honour of all Vers 32. He looketh an the earth and it trembleth This must be considered that God may be as well feared as loved and praised He toucheth the hills and they smoak It s therefore ill falling into his hands who can do such terrible things with his looks and touches Vers 33. I will sing unto the Lord Though others be slack to do God this right to help him to his own to give him the glory due to his Name yet I will do it and do it constantly so long as I have a breath to draw Vers 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet Or Let it be sweet unto him let him kindly accept it though it be mean and worthless through Christs odours powred thereinto I will be glad in the Lord Withdrawing my heart from other vile and vain delights or at least vexed at mine own dulness for being no more affected with such inexplicable ravishments Vers 35. Let the sinners be consumed c. Such sinners against their own souls as when they know God or might know him by his wonderful works glorifie him not as God neither are thankful Rom 1.21 but pollute and abuse his good creatures to his dishonor fighting against him with those lives that he hath given them Bless the Lord O my soul The worse others are the better be thou kindling thy self from their coldness c. PSAL. CV VErs 1. O give thanks unto Lord Some tell us that this and the two following Psalms were the great Hallelujah sung as solemn times in their assemblies But others say better that the great Hallelujah as the Hebrews called it began at Psal 113. and held on till Psal 119. which they at the Passover began to sing after that cup of wine they called Poculum bymni sen laudationis Call upon his Name Call upon the Lord whe is worthy to be praysed Psal 18.3 See the Note there Our life must be divided betwixt praises and prayers Vers 2. Sing unto him sing Both with mouth and with musical instruments Talk ye Or meditate ye Let your heart indite a good matter and your tongue be as the pen of a ready writer Psal 45.1 Vers 3. Glory ye in his holy Name Of his power and goodness See 1 Cor. 1.31 Alsted with Jer. 9.23 Non est gloriosier populus sub caelo quam Judaicus saith One there iâ— not a more vain-glorious people under heaven than the Jews But we are the circumcision which worship in spirit and glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh Philip. 3.3 Let the heart of them rejoyce c. All others are forbidden to rejoyce Hos 9.1 and bidden to weep and howl Jam. 5.1 Vers 4. Seek the Lord and his strength That is his Ark at the remove where of to Jerusalem this Psalm was sung 1 Chron. 16.7 8. c. Called it is Gods strength and Gods face here yea even God himself Psal 132.5 It s as if he should say Frequent holy Assemblies as ever you desire to draw nigh to God and to have your faith in him confirmed Vers 5. Remember the marvellous works c. Deeply and diligently ponder both the works and words of God comparing the one with the other that ye may the better conceive of both Vers 6. O yee seed of Abraham c. Do thus or else your pedigree will profit you no more than it did Dives in the flames that Abraham called him Son An empty title yeeldeth but an empty comfort Vers 7. For he is the Lord Jehovah the Essentiator the promise-keeper therefore praise him He is also in Covenant with us and will we not do him this right His judgement are in all the earth His executions upon the Egyptians and Philistims are far and near notified and discoursed Vers 8. He hath remembred his Covenant I Chron. 16.15 it is Bee ye mindful alwayes of his Covenant God ever remembreth though we many times forget it and out selves The word which be commanded The conditions of the Covenant Vers 9. which Covenant be made with Abraham c. Whom hee found an Idolater Josh 24.2 he justified the ungodly Rom. 4.5 And his Oath That by two immutable things c. Heb. 6. Vers 10. And confirmed the same c. So God sealeth and sweareth to us again and again in every Sacrament that all doubts of his love may be taken away and out hearts lifted up as Jebosaphats 2 Chron. 17.6 in the way of the Lord. Vers 11. Vnto thee will I give the land of Canaan That pleasantest of all lands Eâ—â—k 20.6 a type and pledge of heaven to the faithful Vers 12. When they were but a few men in member Seventy souls at their going down into Egypt which yet say the Hebrews truly were more worth than the Seventy Nations of the whole world besides Howbâ—â—t God chose them not for their worth or number but loved them meerly because he loved them Deut. 7.7,8 Vers 13. When they went from one Nation to another There were seven several Nations in that Land wherein they sojourned flitting from place to place and having no setled habitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4.11 From one Kingdome Forced by Famine or other necessity See Gen 10.12 and 20.1 2 c. and 26.1 c. Vers 14. He suffered no man c. So as utterly to oppress them for otherwise they had their ill usages such as was the taking away of Sarah casting out of Isaac the rape of Dinah c. Strangers meet many times with hard measure Yea be reproved Kings Gen. 12.17 and 20.3 Kings and Queens must not think themselves to good to nurse Gods little ones yea to do them homage licking up the dust under their feet Isa 49.23 Vers 15. Touch not mine anointed c. This God speaketh not of Kings but to Kings concerning his people who have an unction from the Father being sanctified and set apart for his
both the vision and fruition of thy great goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee Psal 31.19 giving them a taste thereof aforehand as a few grapes of that promised Canaan Of thy Nation i.e. By this name Gods elect are here and elsewhere stiled and therefore the Jews have no reason to reproach us as they do by it calling us Goi and Maâ—zer goi bastard heathens Vers 6. We have sinned with our Fathers Adding to their heap and making up their measure Mal. 23.32 People think the example of their Fathers a sufficient excuse Jerom once but not well desired leave of Austin to erre with seven Fathers whom hee found of his opinion I will follow my forefathers saith Cicero although I fall together with them See Jer. 44.17 But so would not these good souls as neither Jeremy chap. 3.25 nor Daniel chap. 9.5 whose confession suting and symbolizing with this together with that we read vers 47. maketh some think that this Psalm was penned for the peoples use then when they were captives in Babylon We have committed iniquity c. Sin must bee confessed with utmost aggravation I le hear how full in the mouth these are against themselves laying on load whilst their sins swell as so many toads in their eyes Vers 7. Our Fathers understood not i.e. They weighed them not improved them not but as the dull earth is surrounded by the heavens yet perceiveth it not so were these with miracles and mercies yet understood them not Even at the red Sea Not only whiles they were on the bank they feared to enter but also even when they were passing and walking over that dry land made for them by a miracle they did still continue their murmurings and muâ—inings Vers 8. Nevertheless be saved them for his Names sake Here he comes in with a Non-obstante So Isa 57.17 Now if God will save for his Names sake wheat people is there whom he may not save That be might make his power to be known The Lord hath other things to look unto than presently to punish his people when they most deserve it Vers 9. He rebuked the red sea also Ingentia beneficia flagitia supplicia as appeareth in the subsequent verses So be led them through the depths Inter duas aquarum congeries betwixt two mountains of waters which stood on each hand of them as a wall and made a lane Every main affliction is our red sea which while it threatneth to swallow us up preserveth us Vers 10. And be saved them c. From Pharaoh that perfect enemy of theirs that pursued them with a deadly design but was happily prevented Vers 11. And the waters covered their enemies The preservation of the Church is ever accompanied with the destruction of its enemies that the mercy may appear the greater Not one of them was left Left alive to carry the news Vers 12. Then they beleeved his words Then for a flash whilst the memory of the mercy was fresh and warm but ere they were three dayes elder they murmured again It proved not so much as a nine dayes wonderment they were soon at old ward They sang his praise Exod. 15. A tempory faith and joy Vers 13. They soon forgat his works Heb. They made baste they forgat This is an aggravating circumstance See Gal. 1.6 Exod. 32.8 Deut. 9.16 They waited not for his counsel For the performance of what he had purposed and promised they were short-spirited and impatient Vers 14. But lusted exceedingly Heb. Lusted a lust See Num. 11. they had a sufficiency but must have superfluities as belly-gods not want but wantonness set them a lusting and that in the wilderness where they knew that in an ordinary way it was not to be had And templed God Whom they should have trusted rather sith he waiteth to be gracious and being a God of judgement knoweth best when to deal forth his favours Isa 30.18 and 49 8. Vers 15. Aug. And he gave them their request Deus saepe dat iralus quod negat propitius Munera magna quidem misit sed misit in bamo Martial Quales they had but to choake them as afterwards a King but to vex them c. But sont leaneness into their soul i.e. Into their bodies such a loathing as caused leanness Num 11.20 a plague upon their bodies a curse upon their souls Many men eat that on earth which they digest in hell It is dangerous seeding on sins murthering-morsels Vers 16. They envied Moses also Korah and his complices did and because the people punished them not they are all accused as guilty of that conspiracy and looked upon as a rabble of rebels against heaven And Aaron the Saint of the Lord Separated to the Priesthood The Rabbins tell us that they had chosen Dathan instead of Moses and Abiram for Aaron Vers 17. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan c. Korah is not here mentioned haply for his sons sakes who were famous Prophets and Musick-masters in Davids dayes As for On the son of Peleth one of the chief conspirators the Rabbins say that by the good counsel of his wise he repented and so escaped Vers 18. And a fire was kindled in their company It is both a just presage and desert of ruine not to be warned Let seditious persons and Schismaticks take heed for even our God also is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult The flame burnt up the wicked And among the rest Korah as some conceive Dathan and Abâ—ram are stigmatized for their stubbornness Num. 26.9 as was afterwards Abaz 2 Chron. 28.22 and before them all Cain Gen. 4.15 and Lamech 23 24. Vers 19. They made a Calf in Horch i. e. In the Country near to that mountain where they at same time saw visible tokens of Gods dreadful presence Well might Aaron say of this people that they were wholly set upon wickedness Exod. 3â— 22 This peece of Idolatry they had learned belike of the Egyptians who worshipped Apis in such a shape so catching is sin Lege Lactâ—nt 〈◊〉 1. de muab Scrip. cap. 15. and so dangerous is ill company Vers 20. Tous they change their glory i.e. Their God Rom. 1.23 the Creator for a contemptible creature Of an Oâ—e that eateth grass Tunâ— stercora egerit multam inquinatâ—r as R. Solomon here glosseth They pretended not to worship the Calf but God in the Calf as did also Jehu a King 10.16.29 2 Chron. 11.15 and as the Idolatrous Papiste do at this day See Exod. 32.5 yet the text here saith They worshipped the moâ—en Imago they changed their glory into the siâ—ilitude of an Oxe And although some of the Rabbins would excuse this gross Idolatry of their fore-fathers yet others more wise bewail us and say that there is an ounce of this golden Calf in all their present sufferings Vers 21. They forget God their Saviour This is often mentioned as the Mother of all the mis-rule amongst them
understanding Those are the Statutes of Heaven and as men by studying the Statute-book get worldly wisdome so they may hereby get heavenly Therefore I hate every false way Whether in point of opinion or practise I shall look upon Auxentius as a Devill so long as hee is an Arrian saith Hilary And I would shun an Heretick as I would do a Devil for hee is sent on his errand saith another Vers 105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet Without the direction whereof both for my whole course of life and for every particular action thereof I cannot but bee in dreadfull darknesse and desperate downfalls Vers 106 I have sworn and I will perform it A religious vow is nothing else but a solemn promise or rather oath made to God to use this or that means either to avoid some evill whereunto hee findeth himself inclined or too bee set onwards in the performance of some duty unto which hee finds himself very backward Thus Neh. 10. Masora sepes legi dec mae divitiis vota sanctimoniae silentium sapâ—entiae Piâ—ke Aboth they take a new oath and seal to it Thus Job chap. 31.1 and Jacob Gen. 28.21 22. called therefore the Father of vows That I will keep thy Righteous Judgements Keep them as I am able and as thou by thy grace shalt enable mee Psal 119.32 Peter was too peremptory Jephtha too hasty Vers 107 I am afflicted very much Usque valde extreamly If David bee so fully bent to obey God hee shall have troubles great store 1 Tim. 3.12 All that will live godly and are set upon it shall suffer persecution Zeal for Christ draweth troubles to it self as the wind Caecias doth clouds Quickeâ— mee O Lord according to thy word Help mee to keep my promise to perform mine oath notwithstanding these troubles growing upon mee A vow made without prayer is never kept Vers 108 Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offerings My prayers and praises prayers for thine assistance and praises for thine enablements Psal 50.14 22.25 And teach Judgments This is a request that David hath never done with Vers 109 My 〈…〉 I am 〈…〉 nor afraid of death in this case I make no more of life than a child doth of his bird which hee carrieth in the palm of his hand held open See Judg. 12.3 Job 13.14 Yet do I not forget thy Law Notwithstanding all these dangers my I love it and like it so much the better as those Psal 44. Rom. 8. and that holy Martyr who caught up the Revelation cast into the same fire with himself and cryed O 〈◊〉 Apocalypsis c. Vers 110 The wicked have laid a sâ—are for mee Such as rather than their lives would have had mine such as sought and fain would have suckt my blood Yet I erred not from thy Precepts I held the Kings high-way and leaped not over the hedge to avoid a peece of foul way Vers 111. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage 〈…〉 aliâ—nandi patrimonii vice A Patrimony that I prize and will never part with sith I hold it from thee as a child of thy grace For they are the rejoycing of mine heart Other heritages have their troubles Qui habet terras habet querras saith the Lawyer but the just mans joy is unmixed Vers 112 I have inclined mine heart to perform thy Statutes This is the fruit of my Christian contentation and spirituall joy I have inclined my heart Indeed thou Lord hast done it for thou art the only heart-maker and heart-mender but thou countest and callest it my doing for mine incouragement in thy service Certum est nos facerâ— quod facimus sed Deus facit ut faciamus saith Austin Alway even to the end For else I shall lose the things that I have wrought and not receive a full reward 2. Job 8. Vers 113 I hate vain thoughts Which though they may swarm in my head shall never lodge in my heart Jer. 4 14. for there I have entertained a better guest Thy Law do I love All hatred proceedeth from love and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the whole kind as Aristotle speaketh True love to Gods law enrageth the hearts of Gods people with an holy hatred of heresies and perverse devises Vers 114. Thou art my hiding place and my shield To defend mee from deadly darts and dangers See Psal 18.2 32.7 God either preserveth his from common calamities or from the hurt of them I hope in thy word And am content to stay thy time Hee that beleeveth maketh not hasle Vers 115 Depart from mee yee evill-doers For why there is no doing my duty in your company besides a double danger 1 Infection of sin 2 Inflection of punishment Rev. 18.4 For I will keep the Commandements Which it booteth mee not to set about unless I do first abandon your society hating the garment spotted by the flâ—sh that is avoiding evill company saith Mr. Perkins that Râ—mora or Pest of true piety See Levit. 15.4 Vers 116 Uphold mee according to thy word The promise is the souls support Turn wee the palm and not the backside of the hand to this staff leaning upon it praying hard for the accomplishment of it and then bee content though wee can say but as that holy man Mr. Paul Bain did I thank God in Christ sustentation I have Bains Letterâ— but sâ—avities spirituall I taste not any And let mee not bee ashamed of my hope Let mee not bee defeated disappointed frustrated This David knew hee should not be for Speâ— in terrenis incerti 〈…〉 spes in divinis nomen est certissimi Heb 11.1 Rom. 5.5 but yet think fit to seek it by prayer as Eliah foretold abundance of rain but yet went up to the top of Carmel and prayed for it 1 King 18.41 4â— Vers 117 Hold thou mee up and I shall bee safe No longer are wee safe from sin and punishment than God putteth under his hand wee subsist meerly by his manutension and if hee withdraw his grace never so little wee are down on all four as wee say And I will have respect 〈◊〉 Saints shall persevere because they are kept by the power of God through faith 〈◊〉 salvation Vers 118. Thou hast trodden 〈…〉 c. Thou 〈…〉 King oâ— Conquerour hast made use of them for a 〈…〉 King of Persia did 〈◊〉 the Roman Emperour and as Tâ—merlâ—â— did Bâ—jâ—zâ—â— For their deceit is falshood They think themselves to bee out of the reach of thy rod but they will find it somewhat otherwise Vers 119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross Consuming them in the fire of thy wrath and casting them out as refuse See Isa 1.25 vel quoâ—irubiâ—â—â— existimasti Kimchi thou hast reckoned them as rust whereas the Saints are preciously esteemed as the least filings of gold are Therefore I love thy Testimonies Quia purgant a scoriis hypocrisâ—os in◠〈◊〉 est ut foris because they take out
sing in a strange Land Quid nobis cum fabulis cum risu saith Bernard in hoc exilio in hoc ergastulo in hac valle lachrymarum Let us cast away carnall mirth and groan earnestly to bee cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 Vers 5 Iâ— I forget thee O Jerusalem As I might seem to do should I herein gratifie these Idolaters or otherwise obey them rather than God The Jews at this day when they build an house they are say the Rabbines to leave one part of it unfinished and lying rude in remembrance that Jerusalem and the Temple are at present desolate At least they use to leave about a yard square of the house unplaistered on which they write Leo Modena of the riâ—es of the Jews in great letters this of the Psalmist If I forget Jerusalem c. or else these words Zecher lechorban that is The memory of the desolation Let my right hand forget Fiat abalienata atque emortua Let it bee paralyticall and useless unfit to touch the harp Vers 6 If I do not remember thee Hi gemitus Sanctorum sunt gemitus Spiritus sancti these are the very sighs unutterable that precede joys unspeakable and full of glory Either our beds are soft or our hearts hard that can rest when the Church is at unrest that feel not our Brethrens hard cords through our soft beds If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy Heb. If I cause it not to ascend above the head of my joy Christ in his Ordinances must bee our chiefest comfort overtopping all other and devouring all discontents whatsoever Vers 7 Remember O Lord the Children of Edom Those unbrotherly bitter enemies The Jews call Romists Edomites Rase it rase it Discooperite discooperite Diruite ex imis subvertite fundamentis Buchanan Darius hearing that Sardis was sacked and burnt by the Athenians commanded one of his servants to say to him thrice alwayes at supper Sir remember the Athenians to punish them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod Tâ—rp Vers 8 That art to bee destroyed Spoliatrix saith the Syriack Isa 33.1 Happy shall hee bee i. e. Well rewarded with wealth and good wishes Vers 9 That taketh and dasheth thy little ones So at the destruction of Troy Sed palam raptis heu nefas heu Nescios fari puerâ—s Achivis Ureret flammis etiam latentes Mâ—tris in alve Horat. l. 4. Od. 6. PSAL. CXXXVIII VErs 1 I will praise thee with my whole heart Which no Hypocrite can do though hee may pray in distress from the bottom of his heart A gratefull manis a gracious man viz. if hee come with a true heart as the Apostle hath it Heb. 10.22 Aben-Ezra Before the Gods will I sing praise unto thee That is before Angels who are present in holy assemblies 1 Cor. 11.10 as was represented by those Cherubines pictured in the Temple as also before Princes and Potentates see vers 4. Kimchi Vers 2 I will worship toward thy holy Temple Wheresoever I am the face of my soul shall turn like the needle of a Diall by sacred instinct Abbot towards thee in the Ark of thy presence in the son of thy love For thy loving kindness and for thy truth For thy grace and truth which come by Jesus Christ the Ark and Mercy-seat were never sundred Gods loving kindness in Christ moved him to promise his truth binds him to perform and hence our happiness For thou hast magnified thy Word above all thy Name Or Thou hast magnified thy name in all thy Words Or Thou hast magnified above all things thy Name by thy Word that is Thou hast got thee a very great name by fulfilling thy promises and by setting on thy Word with power Vers 3 In the day when I cryed c. This hee worthily celebrateth as a singular favour a badge of grace Psal 66.18 and pledge of glory Act. 2.21 And strengthenedst mee with strength in my soul With strength in the inward man Ephes 3.16 20. with spirituall mettal with supporting grace keeping head above water My body is weak my soul is well said that dying Saint I am as full of comfort as heart can hold said a certain Martyr The Apostle speaketh of the new supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 the joy of the Lord is strengthening 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neh. 8.10 Vers 4 All the Kings of the earth shall praise thee Such of them as shall read these Psalms of my composing or otherwise shall hear of thy gracious dealing with mee according to thy promise Such also as shall hereafter bee converted to the faith for though Not many mighty not many noble are called 1 Cor. 1.26 yet some are and these shine in the Church like stars of the first magnitude Vers 5 Yea they shall sing in the wayes of the Lord As having tasted the excellencie of the comforts of godliness far surpassing those of the Crown and Scepter and felt the power of Gods Word subduing them to the obedience of faith whereby they come to rule with God to bee faithfull with his Saints and to sing their songs Vers 6 Though the Lord bee high c. Even the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity Isa 57.15 See on Psal 113.6 7. Yet hath hee respect unto the lowly This maketh that Ancient cry out Videte magnum miraculum See here a great miracle God is on high thou liftest thy self up Aug. de Temp. and he flieth from thee thou bowest thy self down and hee descendeth unto thee Low things hee looketh close upon that he may raise them higher lofty things he knoweth a far off that he may crush them down lower The proud Pharisee pressed as near God as he could the poor Publican not daring to do so stood a loof of yet was God far from the Pharisee near to the Publican The Lord Christ is a door to Heaven Aug. in Johaâ— but a low door hee who will enter in thereby humiliet se oportet ut sano capite intrare contingat saith Austin hee must needs stoop to save his head-peece But the proud hee knoweth a far off As not vouchsafing to come anear such loathsome lepers For pride is like a great swelling in the body apt to putrifie break and run with loathsome and foul matter Hence God stands off from such as odious and abominable hee cannot abide the sight of them Superbâ—s à calo longè propellit as the Chaldee here paraphraseth he driveth the proud far enough off from Heaven yea hee thrusteth them into Hell to their Father Lucifer that King of all the children of pride as Leviathan is called Job 41.34 Vers 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble Even in the vale of the shadow of death so that I seem little different from a dead man Thou wilt revive mee That is restore mee from so great a death as 2 Cor. â— 10 Thou shalt stretch
Jer. 30.17 Qui nil sperare potest desperet nihil Vers 3 Hee healeth the broken in heart Pouring the oil of his grace into none but those broken vessels And bindeth up their wounds As a good Shepheard Zech. 34.4 that good Samaritan Luk. 10.34 and as a good Surgion dealeth by his patient But let no man ever think that God will lap up his sores before they bee searcht or scarf his bones before they bee set Vers 4. Hee telleth the number of the stars Which to man is impossible 1322. Alsted Encyclop as Aristotle maintaineth against those Astronomers that tell us they are a thousand and some hundreds But Abraham was a great Astronomer yet hee could never do it Magir. Phys lib. 2. cap. 5. Gen. 15.5 and the wiser sort of Astrologers have rightly distinguished the stars into numerable and innumerable as to men Hee calleth them all by their names As knowing exactly their nature and authoritatively commanding every of them to do his pleasure How much more can God cull together his out-casts and cause them to return especially since hee calleth those things that are not as if they were Rom. 4 Vers 5 His understanding is infinite Heb. Of his understanding there is no number for hee knows not only the kinds and sorts of things but even the particulars though they exceed all number Sic spectat universes quasi singulos sic singulos quasi solos That Philosopher did not say nothing who being in danger of Shipwrack in a light starry night said Surely I shall not perish there are so many eyes of providence over mee Vers 6 The Lord lifteth up the meek This truth was well known to the very Heathens who have said the same thing as Herodotus in Polyâ—nia Euripides in Hera and Esop being asked by Chilâ— one of the seven wise men of Greece what God was doing answered Hee is humbling the haughty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and exalting the lowly Vers 7 Sing unto the Lord Heb. Answer that is sing by turnes as Hos 2.15 Deut. 31.21 Or answer Gods goodness by thankfullness and obedience Vers 8 Who covereth the Heaven with clouds as 1 King 18.45 and still as there is need It is not by nature or hap-hazard as men are apt to dream and are therefore so often told this truth and admonished that the second causes do but serve the divine providence in these common occurrents Who prepareth rain for the earth Rain which is nothing else but the flux of a moist cloud out of the middle Region of the air as it commeth by a decree of God Job 28.26 so it is wholly at his dispose when and where it shall fall even to a drop Amos 4.7 Vers 8 Hee giveth to the beast his food See Job 39.3 Psal 104.27 28. with the Notes And to the young Ravens which cry By sending flyes into their mouths as they cry say the Rabbines or by a certain moist air as Euthymius or by small worms put into their mouths magâ—â— providentia symbolâ— though they bee such contemptible creatures and very carnivorous by reason of the vehemency of naturall heat in them so that a little will not satisfie them yet God feedeth them See more on Vers 10 Hee delighteth not in the strength of 〈◊〉 horse Plutarch in Nuâ—â— saith the 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God â—areth 〈◊〉 for horses or any such helps as wherein carnal people confide as if they had no heed oâ— God Oriâ—â—â— observeth that in the conquest or Canaan the enemies had horses and Charâ—ets but Israel had none And it is expresly cautioned that the King of Israel shall not multiply horses to himself nor cause the people to return to Egypt to the end that hee should multiply horses Deut. 17.16 least they should occasion him or his people to trade with that Idolatrous people 1 King 10.26.28 or to trust in the number and strength of that warlike creature an horse Prov. 11.31 Hee taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man How swift soever as Achilles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Asabel as light of foot as a wilde Roe 2 Sam. 2.18 None sooner perish in the waters nor oftner than those that are most skilfull in swimming and diving because they do too much trust to their skillâ— so t is here for there is no out-running of divine vengeance Nemo soelus gerit in pâ—ctore qui non idem Nemesin in tergo your sin will finde you out Here the 〈◊〉 is not to the sâ—ift nor the battel to the strong Eccles 9.11 Vers 11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him That put themselves into the hands of Justice in hope of mercy These are his Hephzibah's his darlings in whom hee taketh singular delight and complacency Meâ—â—â—â— habere queis bonâ—m Et esse â—orâ—â—lis datum est Vers 12 Praise the Lord O Jerusalem Whatever the World doth let not the Church defraud God of his due praises though thou Israel play the harlot yet let not Judah offend Hos 4.15 Gods blessings go round about graceless and ungratefull people and they are no more moved than the earth that hath the circumference carried about it and it self standeth still But the Saints must bee of another alloy Col. 3.15 and there is good reason for it Vers 13 For hee hath strengthened the bars c. So that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against them God hath promised to break in peeces those gates of brass and cut in sunder those bars of Iron as Sampson did the gates of Gaza Isa 45.2 to perfect stablish strengthen and settle his Saints 1 Pet. 5.10 to bee a wall of fire round about them c. Hee hath blessed thy Children within thee Making them to bee many Isa 54.1 and all taught of God vers 13. children that will not lye Isa 63.8 Vers 14 Who maketh peace in thy borders Peace peace Isa 26.3 peace of Country and of conscience And filleth thee with the finest of the Wheat Heb. With the fat of Wheat called fat of kidneyes of Wheat Deut. 3â— 14 See Psal 81.16 Judaea was once called and counted Sumen totius terrae not so much for the nature of the Country as for the blessing of God thereupon for now it is nothing so fruitfull But the Saints have still the bread of Angels a feast of fat things full of marrow of wines on the Lees well refined Isa 25.6 Vers 15 Hee sendeth forth his Commandement c. Hee speaketh the word and it is done immediately hee can make a nation to conceive and bring forth all at once Isa 66.7 8. Ahashâ—erosh had his â—osts to carry abroad his edict God needeth none such all creatures are at his beck and check Vers â—ellera nivis â—rg Georg. 16 Hee giveth Snow like Wâ—â—â—â— For whiteness lightness plenty softness warmth for Snow though it bee very cold yet by keeping in the vapours and exhalations of the earth it causeth an inward warmth to it and