ye servants of the LORD praise the name of the LORD 1. O Ye Ministers of the Lord and whosoever you are that love his Service praise his eternal Majesty be not remiss in this heavenly imployment but with your best affections praise the power wisedom and goodness of his eternal Providence 2. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore 2. Praise him now in this present Age and wish that those incomparable perfections of his may be celebrated with the praises of those that live in future times as long as the world shall last 3. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised 3. And not onely here in this little spot of earth but wheresoever the Sun shines and lets men see how splendid and glorious his Majesty is 4. The LORD is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens 4. For all the Nations of the earth are his and but a little parcel of his supreme Dominion which extends far beyond the Sun and Moon and Stars whose light is but a dim resemblance of the brightness of his glory 5. Who is like unto the LORD our God who dwelleth on high 5. Do not think that any of them though worshipped by other Nations as gods is comparable to that great Lord and our most gracious God whom we adore for the very place where his glorious Majesty resides is far higher then they 6. Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth 6. And it is a great condescension in him that He will have any respect to the most illustrious of those celestial bodies though He be so gracious also as to extend his kind and carefull Providence even to us who dwell upon this earth 7. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill 7. Where among other manifest tokens of his stupendious goodness He is pleased to take special notice of those whom the world despises and to raise them out of a mean nay sordid condition to such a pitch of honour and dignity 8. That he may set him with princes even with the princes of his people 8. That at last they are advanced to sit upon a Throne and made the Governours of his own people 1 Sam. II. 8. 2 Sam. VII 8 9. compared with 1. XXIV 14. 9. He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyfull mother of children Praise ye the LORD 9. And which is still more strange He opens the barren womb which according to the course of nature would have brought forth nothing and makes a numerous Family spring from thence to the great joy of her that bears them 1 Sam. I. 20. II. 21. Praise the Lord in these and such like wonderfull works of his PSALM CXIV ARGUMENT As the foregoing Psalm puts them in mind of several works of the Divine Providence about particular persons so this makes a brief narration of some miraculous works wherein the Lord declared his power when He brought the whole Jewish Nation out of the Egyptian bondage 1. WHen Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of strange language 1. WHen our Forefathers with their whole Family were brought out of Egypt and not one of them left behind among that barbarous people who had long oppressed them 2. Judah was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion 2. There was a most glorious appearance of God among them by that bright cloud the token of his presence which then had no other peculiar place for its sanctuary but stood over the whole Camp of Israel XIII Exod. 21. XIV Numb 14. whom He then took for his peculiar Kingdom XIX Exod. 6. 3. The sea saw it and fled Fordan was driven back 3. At which appearance the red Sea forsook its channel and left a dry path for them to march through XIV Exod. 21 24. and so did Jordan also afterwards to make way for their easie entrance into Canaan III. Josh 15 16. 4. The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs 4. All the Mountains great and small which adjoined unto Sinai trembled and leaped like so many affrighted rams or little lambs before the same most dreadfull Majesty XIX Exod. 18. 5. What ailed thee O thou sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back 5. To what else shall we ascribe that sudden ebb of the Sea and that no less strange retreat of Jordan when it overflowed all its banks 6. Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams and ye little hills like lambs 6. What made the mountains and hills leap up like affrighted rams or lambs as if they would run away from the place where they were so firmly fixed 7. Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob 7. But onely the glorious presence of the Divine Majesty who was then bringing his people to the rest He had promised to give them And let the whole earth be afraid and tremble before that great Lord who hath honoured us so far as peculiarly to be our God 8. Which turned the tock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters 8. And was so kind as to supply the necessities of our Forefathers even when they murmured against Him by a new Miracle bringing out of hard rocks as hard as flint such plenty of water as if they had been dissolved into lakes or rivers XVII Exod. 8. XX. Numb 11. PSALM CXV ARGUMENT There is great reason to think that this Psalm was made in some time of sore distress when their Pagan Enemies began to boast and brag as if their gods were too hard for the God of Israel But by whom it was made or on what particular occasion there are so many conjectures that it will be no presumption to interpose mine which is this That when Jehoshaphat saw that vast Army which we reade of 2 Chron. XX. 2. composed of several Nations coming against him and after his prayer to God for deliverance was incouraged by a Prophet to hope for it Ver. 14 15. and had by the Levites given Him thanks for this hope he or that Prophet composed this Hymn to quicken and confirm their faith in God unto which you reade he exhorted them Ver. 20. And it is likely that this was the Hymn which by common consent the Singers were appointed to use when they went out to encounter those Enemies saying not onely those words which we reade there Ver. 21. Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever but these Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake c. 1. NOT unto us O LORD not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake 1. PRosper our arms O Lord and give us the victory over these
like the Moon and the Stars give a good example unto all the Subjects and stir them up to meditate his praise 12. Both young men and maidens old men and children 12. Let no Sex no Age think themselves exempted from this heavenly imployment But let the Young men praise Him for their strength and the Virgins for their beauty they that are going out of the world for all that they have seen and heard of Him and they that are newly come into it for all the goodly spectacles that are before them 13. Let them praise the Name of the LORD for his Name alone is excellent and his glory is above the earth and heaven 13. Let them praise the incomparable Wisedom Goodness and Power of the Lord For how great soever any other Beings are there is no other God but He whose most excellent Majesty infinitely surpasses all that the Earth or the Heavens can tell us of Him 14. He also exalteth the horn of his people the praise of all his Saints even of the children of Israel a people near who him Praise ye the LORD 14. And yet so great is his condescention unto us who are bound therefore more particularly to praise Him He takes a peculiar care of us and hath set over us a powerfull Prince for the defence and safety of his People LXXXIX Psal 19. Whose fame He hath thereby raised to the highest pitch of honour having obliged the Children of Israel by many peculiar benefits especially this that they are a people more nearly related to Him then any other whatsoever for He dwells among them in his holy place where they approach to Him O praise Him there for this singular favour PSALM CXLIX Hallelujah See CXLVI ARGUMENT Theodoret thinks this Psalm was made for them that after their return from Captivity had many opposers but by the Divine Assistance overcame them And that it is a praediction of those great things which were done by the Maccabees Certain it is that some signal Victory was the occasion of it and thence Saint Chrysostome hath here given us a full account I think of the meaning of A new Song which according to the use of the word new in other places when they would express a thing very wonderfull such as hath not been seen or heard of before XVI Numb 30. XXXI Jer. 22. he takes to denote An illustrious and famous Hymn made for Victories for great Atchievements and Trophies Which were never more remarkable in this Nation then in the days of David and therefore this Psalm may very well relate to his reign who subdued several Kingdoms which had stood out and would not submit to Israel till his time though God had promised to give their Countries to them XV. Gen. 18. XXIII Exod. 31. 2. Sam. VIII 1 2 c. X. 19. The interpretation which I have given of the sixth Verse need not seem strange to any one who considers that it hath been and is the custom of all Nations to stir up themselves to fight by the sound of some musical Instrument or other The ancient inhabitants of Etruria saith Clemens Alexandrinus in the second Book of his Paedagogus chap. 4. used the Trumpet for this purpose the Arcadians the Whistle the Sicilians an Instrument called Pectids the Cretians the Harp the Lacedaemonians the Pipe the Thracians the Cornet the Egyptians the Drum the Arabians the Cymball But it was proper to the Israelites to go forth against their Enemies singing Psalms of Praise to God as we reade 2 Chron. XX. 21 22. who had given great Victories to their Ancestours and had promised never to forsake their Posterity while they served Him onely and piously confided in Him 1. PRaise ye the LORD Sing unto the LORD a new song and his praise in the congregation of saintâ— 1. SIng a new Hymn unto the Lord for the fresh and singular benefits He hath bestowed upon us Let Him be praised not onely in private but in the publick assemblies of those who have received special marks of his favour to them 2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him let the children of Sion be joyfull in their king 2. Let all the Israelites rejoice in Him that made them his peculiar people and hath now raised them to great splendour among the Nations of the world let the inhabitants of Sion more particularly be exceeding glad that the Lord who is our King hath there settled his royal Throne 2 Sam. V. 9. VI. 12. 3. Let them praise his name in the dance let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp 3. Let them leap for joy and unanimously praise his most excellent Majesty in their Dances to the Flute 2 Sam. VI. 16. let them testifie their gratitude to Him by singing Psalms with the Timbrel and the Harp 4. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in doing good unto his people and will not onely deliver them after they have been oppressed many years but if they meekly depend upon Him make them as great and illustrious as they have been contemptible and mean 1 Chron. XIV 2. 5. Let the saints be joyfull in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds 5. Which shall fill the hearts of good men who are dear to Him with the highest triumph in the honour that He hath done them and make them shout for joy in the security and peace He shall bestow upon them 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand 6. Which they shall not doubt to maintain against all opposers for in assured hope of Victory they shall go to War with Psalms and Hymns in their mouths concerning the great acts of the Lord which they shall couragiously sing with a loud voice when they fall upon their enemies and prefer to the two edged sword wich they carry in their hand 7. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people 7. Wherewith they shall take a just revenge upon the heathen for all the injuries they have done us and so chastise the insolence of the people that they shall fear again to molest us 1 Chron. XIV 17. 8. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron 8. For their Victories shall be so compleat that they shall not onely rout their enemies and put them to flight but lead away their Kings captive in chains and take their great Captains and Commanders prisoners and keep them fast in fetters of iron 9. To execute upon them the judgment written this honour have all his saints Praise ye the LORD 9. In order to the executing upon them the judgment which God hath long ago decreed and is recorded in his Law VII Deut. 24. XXXII 41 42 43. This is the honour which all Israel shall have when they are in favour with God and such shall be their glorious Victories and
forty years long before the end of which I concluded that they were a people whose heart would never be stedfastly resolved to adhere unto me for they did not mind what wonderfull things I did for them nor what I commanded them to doe for me 11. Vnto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest 11. Which so highly displeased me that I sware they should wander all their days and die at last in the Wilderness XIV Numb 28 c. and never enter into that good Land where I intended to give them rest after all their travels XII PSALM XCVI ARGUMENT This Psalm also wants a Title in the Hebrew but the Greeks are justified in the former part of their Inscription which calls it An Ode of David's by the 1 Chron. XVI where we find that at the bringing up the Ark from the house of Obed Edom to the place he had prepared for it on Mount Sion David delivered this Psalm together with the CV into the hand of Asaph to express the joy he had in God's special presence among them which all their neighbours round about he foretells should be made sensible of as well as themselves This Psalm indeed is not exactly the very same with that but there is a difference in some expressions ex gr it is called here A new Song but not there which shews it was afterward altered by some divine person who accommodated it to other uses And very probably by Ezra when they came out of Babylon which occasioned the Greeks to add in the latter part of the Inscription of this Psalm these words when the house was built after the Captivity Ezra that is made use of it to express their joy at the re-edification of the Temple But it never had a compleat fulfilling answerable to the height of it till the Messiah who was indeed the Temple of God came to dwell among us to give eternal Salvation to us Several of the Jewish Writers acknowledge that it belongs to His times and accordingly we not onely may but ought to have Him in our minds when we say Sing unto the Lord a new Song for his new Grace that is in sending Him to give Salvation to all Nations and the Lord reigneth Ver. 10. and hath all things put under his feet See Euseb in his Demonstrat Evangelica L. 1. c. 4. 1. O Sing unto the LORD a new song sing unto the LORD all the earth 1. O Sing praises unto the Lord for his new and extraordinary benefits which He hath bestowed upon us Let all the earth join together with us to sing his praises 2. Sing unto the LORD bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day 2. We can never praise Him enough and therefore cease not to bless his Name and to spread the fame of his Almighty Goodness towards us but publish every day with joyfull hearts the great deliverances He hath wrought for us 3. Declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people 3. Tell the Nations round about how He hath glorified Himself let none of them be ignorant of the wonderfull things He hath done among us 4. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods 4. For all our praises fall infinitely short of the greatness of the Lord who is worthy of the highest praise of the whole world and hath shewn both to us 1 Chron. XIII 10 12. 1 Sam. VI. 20. and to others 1 Sam. V. 3 4 c. how dreadfull He is above all that are called Gods 5. For all the gods of the nations are idols but the LORD made the heavens 5. For all the Gods of the Nations are nothing worth being able to doe neither good nor harm But the Lord not onely made the earth but the heavens too which abundantly declare the greatness and the splendour of his Majesty 6. Honour and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary 6. Whose heavenly Court infinitely out-shines all the state and pomp wherein the greatest earthly Monarchs live 1. Esther 4. For all the words we have are not able to express the brightness and magnificence the power and comely order of so much as his Ministers an image of which we have in his holy place wherein He manifests Himself among us 7. Give unto the LORD O ye kindreds of the people give unto the LORD glory and strength 7. Ascribe therefore unto the Lord O ye people from whatsoever Family ye come ascribe unto Him that incomparable Majesty and supreme Dominion and Authority which you give to imaginary gods 8. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts 8. And renounce them all and acknowledging the Lord alone to be the omnipotent King of all the world doe Him honour sutable to the excellency of his Majesty bring Him an oblation in token of your subjection to Him and humbly worship Him in his Temple 9. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth 9. O come and cast down your selves before the Lord in his Sanctuary where He hath fixed his glorious residence among us Adore his transcendent perfections and let all the people approach into his presence with a pious trembling and dread to offend their Sovereign 10. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved he shall judge the people righteously 10. Go ye that are already become Proselytes unto Him and publish every where in all Countries that the Lord CHRIST is the Sovereign of the World who alone can make it happy For He shall settle those in peace that submit unto his Government and they shall not be so disturbed as they were wont with wars and tumults He shall administer equal justice unto all and neither suffer the good to be unrewarded nor the evil to escape unpunished 11. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulness thereof 11. Let the whole Universe therefore be filled with joy at this blessed news which the Angels themselves shall gladly receive I. Luk. 30 32. much more ought all mankind wheresoever they are dispersed on the Earth or on the Sea and the Islands thereof exceedingly rejoice and fill all places with the loud sound of their joyfull praises 12. Let the field be joyfull and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice 12. Let the husbandmen and the shepherds and all that dwell in the fields leap for joy and the woodmen and foresters shout for joy to see the happy day approaching when all the Idols that are worshipped there shall be thrown down together with their groves 13. Before the LORD for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth 13. Let them
he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. ARGUMENT A Prayer composed by some pious person toward the latter end of the Captivity of Babylon or rather presently after their return from thence to their own Country Ver. 13 14. who was extreamly afflicted and even overwhelmed with grief and trouble to see the Temple still lie in its rubbish and the rebuilding of it hindred by many enemies This was the cause of those sad complaints and lamentations wherein he takes the liberty to represent their condition unto the Lord and thereby give some ease to his oppressed spirit which began to lift up it self in some comfortable hopes when he considered both the faithfulness of God to his promises and the honour it would be to Him when the Nations round about should see their wonderfull restauration happily compleated and thereby be invited to embrace their Religion Which proved a lively emblem of the coming of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ the eternity of whose Kingdom is here prophesied of in the conclusion of the Psalm Which as Theodoret well expresses it may serve for any mans use who wrestles with any great calamity and implores the Divine favour for his help and deliverance It may be applied also to his sad condition who groans under the burthen of his sins and cries for mercy being the Fifth among those Seven which are called Penitential Psalms 1. HEar my prayer O LORD and let my cry come unto thee 1. REject not my humble supplication O Lord but graciously admit the earnest request which with lamentable cries I present unto thy Majesty 2. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble incline thine ear unto me in the day when I call answer me speedily 2. The distress wherein I am is exceeding great which will move Thee I hope to moderate thy anger and not absolutely refuse my petition but rather to grant me the more favourable audience and to send me the speedier relief when I implore it in a time of the sorest calamity 3. For my days are consumed like smoak and my bones are burnt as an hearth 3. For my days are spent as dismally as if I lived and breathed in smoak and the anguish I suffer is so sharp that it penetrates to my very bones and makes them as parcht and dry as the fire doth the hearth 4. My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread 4. My vital spirits are exhausted and flag like the grass when it is struck with a pestilent blast For together with my appetite I have lost even the thoughts of my necessary food 5. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin 5. Sadness hath seised on me to such a degree that I do nothing but groan and sigh which hath wasted me away to skin and bone 6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness I am like an owl of the desart 6. I take no delight in the company of my friends but seek for lonesome places like a Pelican in the wilderness where I may bemoan my self like the Bittern in the desart 7. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top 7. Grief and sorrow banish sleep from mine eyes and make me like those solitary birds which spend the night on the tops of houses in dolefull shrieks and cries 8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day and they that are mad against me are sworn against me 8. This hath exposed me to the scorn of my enemies who do nothing but upbraid me with my misery and not content therewith are so furiously bent upon my ruin that they have entred into a combination and sworn they will destroy me 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping 9. Which hath still more increased my affliction and made me lie down in the ashes where while I mourn and weep they mingle themselves with my bread as tears do with my drink 10. Because of thine indignation and thy wrath for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down 10. Because thy anger still continues in great severity against us for after Thou hadst lifted me up in glorious hopes I. Ezra 5. II. Ezra 68. III. 10. Thou hast dasht them all in pieces IV. Ezra 4 24. and thereby given me the sorer fall 11. My days are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grass 11. And whilst I wait for better times my life declines apace like a shadow which being come near to its utmost length is ready to vanish For I have very little strength remaining but droop and languish like the dried grass which is ripe for the mowers hand 12. But thou O LORD shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations 12. All my comfort is that though I die Thou abidest to all eternity and canst hereafter remedy all these evils which Thou dost not think fit to redress at present and wilt I am confident for all generations have transmitted down unto us the memorial of thy faithfulness and the glorious things Thou hast done for thy people 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come 13. It will not be long before Thou dost take pity upon the desolations of Sion and raise her out of her ruins For the time prefixed for her punishment being expired XXIX Jer. 10 11. it is the season now the appointed season for thy mercy in her restauration 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof 14. For her scattered stones are far more dear to thy pious Worshippers then the goodliest palaces in Babylon and therefore they cannot look upon her dust and rubbish without the most sensible grief and commiseration 15. So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD and all the kings of the earth thy glory 15. Especially when they consider how thy glory suffers thereby whereas the Nations who now contemn Thee will stand in awe of Thee O Lord all their Kings and Princes will reverence thy glorious power the fame of which now seems to lie buried in her ruins 16. When the LORD shall build up Sion he shall appear in his glory 16. When they shall see Sion rebuilt which the Lord alone can bring about and his glorious Majesty there worshipped with the ancient solemnities 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer 17. And the prayers of miserable captives who were stripped of all prevail with Him not onely for their liberty but for their intire restitution to their former splendour 18. This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD 18. This wonderfull deliverance shall never be forgotten but remain upon record to the following generation who shall transmit the memory of it to their posterity that
poor and wretched men and they escape untouch'd or are little hurt by such calamities as are common to all mankind 6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain violence covereth them as a garment 6. Which makes them so unsufferably proud and vainly conceited of themselves that they not onely tyrannize over their neighbours but openly boast of the power they have to do them mischief and glory in all the violence and cruelty whereby they maintain and increase their pompous greatness 7. Their eyes stand out with fatness they have more then heart could wish 7. In which they pamper themselves to such an excess that in their very countenance they express the haughty swelling of their minds and hearts which are strangely puffed up by their being raised not onely beyond the expectation of all other men but far above all that they themselves at first imagined or could design 8. They are corrupt and speak wickedly concerning oppression they speak loftily 8. They mock at all those who scrupulously tie themselves to the Rules of Justice or tell them of the danger they run by their violation for they threaten to undo all those that oppose them and publickly declare in the height of their arrogance that they will not be bound by any Laws 9. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth 9. No not those of God himself who with all the invisible Powers of which men talk they say is but a Name which they do not dread and therefore no wonder if such blasphemers of His Majesty spare neither high nor low but let their tongues loose to abuse and calumniate whomsoever they please upon earth 10. Therefore his people return hither and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them 10. And yet as bad as they are there is none of them but hath his followers and admirers whom he first invites and then retains like beasts by filling their bellies which abundantly contents them though others be squeezed and oppressed to give them this poor satisfaction 11. And they say How doth God know and is there knowledge in the most High 11. Nay they drink in their opinions and join with them in their impiety saying How can God know what we do here or if He do why should we think that He who is so high troubles Himself about our affairs 12. Behold these are the ungodly who prosper in the world they increase in riches 12. For behold there are none that contemn Him more then these men and yet He is so far from inflicting any punishment on them that none enjoy such a continued course of prosperity as they whose wealth and power increases every day 13. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency 13. And verily if these men discourse aright I have taken a great deal of pains to little purpose while I have studiously endeavoured to keep my heart pure from so much as ill designs as well as to refrain the doing of any evil actions from the charge of which I can safely purge my self 14. For all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning 14. And yet I am plagued perpetually by the restless malice of these wicked doers which as constantly as the Sun rises falls on me a deal sooner then on other men 15. If I say I will speak thus behold I should offend against the generation of thy children 15. But whatsoever confused and foolish thoughts came on a sudden into my mind I concluded upon more mature deliberation that if I said as these men do I should basely betray the cause of all them who are truly dear unto Thee 16. When I thought to know this it was too painfull for me 16. And therefore resolved with my self before I pronounced my sentence to study this point more seriously which at first sight appeared so hard that it grievously perplexed me 17. Vntill I went into the sanctuary of God then understood I their end 17. And retiring my self into the holy places to consult with Thee and with those to whom Thou communicatest thy Secrets I was presently sensible how short their felicity is unto which death having put an utter end it is followed with a dismal after-reckoning in another world 18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places thou castedst them down into destruction 18. And next I considered that all of them do not stand so firm as they imagin but merely flatter themselves with vain hopes of continuing in their station to the end of their days for being raised to the highest preferments they find them to be very slippery places from whence to the amazement of themselves and of all spectatours they come tumbling down into a most horrible ruin 19. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrours 19. Oh what an astonishing change is this which is the more frightfull when on a sudden the Divine vengeance seises on them and when they least expect it an end is put to their greatness nay they are quite destroyed in a most terrible manner as if they had never been 20. As a dream when one awaketh so O LORD when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image 20. So that it is but a dream of happiness wherein they live and they pride themselves in a mere imaginary glory which not onely vanishes away when Thou O Lord dost arise to judge them but becomes as contemptible in that very City where they appeared in all their pomp and splendour as the fine things which a man sees in his sleep are when he awaketh 21. Thus my heart was grieved and I was pricked in my reins 21. And therefore when my spirit boiled with vexation and grew sour at the sight of their prosperity Ver. 2 3. when I was so vehemently provoked to passionate complaints feeling the sharpest touches of grief and anger 22. So foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee 22. I now ingenuously acknowledg it was for want of such manly and religious thoughts as these which should have been in my mind when I thought of thy Administrations if I had not been dull and stupid as void of sense as the beasts which look onely at things before their eyes and have no regard to what is to come or is not seen 23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand 23. For if I had looked beyond my senses I might have seen that I am under the care of thy good Providence and that Thou hast been my guide and my supporter even when I had these bruitish thoughts and didst not suffer these wicked men to destroy me 24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory 24. And therefore I ought in all reason still to conclude That Thou wilt direct me to behave my self so wisely that I shall never fall into their snares
the perpetual desolations even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary 3. Make haste good Lord to come and visit the ruins of our Countrey and City which have lasted exceeding long and will never be repaired without thy powerfull help which we implore against the Authours of them who to all the other mischiefs they have done have with a peculiar spite not onely defaced but utterly destroyed thy dwelling-place 4. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations they set up their ensigns for signs 4. They are thy Enemies therefore as well as ours whose fury and rage so transports them that they roar rather then shout whilst they triumph in those places where thy people were wont to meet to praise thy Name There they have set up their Banners in token of their Victory and bragg as if their Gods were superiour unto Thee 5. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees 5. Every one of them laid about him and bestirred himself with all his might as if he hoped to get renown by the mischief he did which was committed with no more remorse then if they had been lopping off boughs in the thickets of a Forrest where they may be spared 6. But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers 6. Just so methinks I see as if it were now a doing how they hacked and hewed with Axes and knocked down with Hammers the curious carved Work of the Temple whose elegance would have moved any but Barbarians to have preserved it with as great a zeal as they imployed to beat it in pieces 7. They have cast fire into thy sanctuary they have defiled by casting down the dwelling-place of thy name to the ground 7. But so mad was their rage it was not satisfied with this but set fire unto thy holy place And what that did not consume they pull'd down till they had utterly profaned the habitation consecrated to thy Majesty by laying it level with the ground 8. They said in their hearts Let us destroy them together they have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land 8. Nor did all this give a stop unto their fury but they rather grew the more outragious For designing quite to destroy our Religion both in this and in future Generations they left not so much as one place wherein we might meet to say our Prayers or hear the Law throughout the Land 9. We see not our signs there is no more any prophet neither is there among us any that knoweth how long 9. And which is the saddest thing of all Thou seemest to have left us too and we see no token of thy Divine presence with us So far we are from beholding any miraculous works as our Fathers did for our deliverance that there is not so much as a Prophet to be found to give us any advice or speak a word of comfort to us not a man among us that can tell when these calamities will have an end 10. O God how long shall the adversary reproach shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever 10. What a reproach is this O God which hath quite tired our patience and makes us cry unto Thee to make haste to avenge thy self of these insulting Enemies Stop their blasphemous mouths O God and let them not say any more as they have done too long that Thou art not able to deliver us 11. Why withdrawest thou thy hand even thy right hand pluck it out of thy bosom 11. For we are confounded and know not what to say while Thou thus withdrawest thy powerfull presence from us that mighty power which was wont to do such wonders for us exert it again we beseech Thee and stretch it out for the destruction of those who have spoken of it so contemptuously 12. For God is my King of old working salvation in the midst of the earth 12. Why should I despair of it since the great God whom they deride hath many Ages ago undertaken the Government and Protection of us working for us such deliverances in this Land which now lyes waste as astonished all the world 13. Thou didst divide the Sea by thy strength thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters 13. Thou art that God to whose power the raging Sea is subject which at thy command retired and opened a way for us to pass thorough but came back again with its wonted violence and overwhelmed the Egyptians who like so many Sea-monsters thought to have devoured us 14. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness 14. Pharaoh that fierce Tyrant as terrible as the vastest Whales Thou didst utterly destroy there with all his stern Captains and Commanders whom the Sea spewed up XIX Exod. 30. to find their Tombs in the bellies of the wild Beasts and Birds which people the neighbouring Wilderness 15. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the floud thou driedst up mighty rivers 15. Where when our Fathers wanted drink Thou madest water to gush out of a Rock XVII Exod. 6. XX. Numb 9. which followed them in a full stream till they came to the borders of Canaan And then Thou driedst up the waters of Jordan at a time when they ran violently and as if many Rivers had been joined in one it overflowed all its Banks III. Josh 15 17. 16. The day is thine the night also is thine thou hast prepared the light and the sun 16. And still there are such instances of thy power which the whole world if they would but mind have alway before their eyes For as Thou didst sometimes change the dry Land into a River and a River into dry Land so Thou dost continually change the Day into Night and the Night into Day having settled the Moon to govern the one and the Sun to govern the other in their turns 17. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth thou hast made summer and winter 17. By thy Almighty wisedom also it is that the motion of the Sun not onely makes the days and nights but the different climates of the Earth and the seasons of the year which are sometimes hot and sometimes cold sometimes flourishing as we see in the Summer with all manner of fruit and sometimes stript as we see in the Winter of all its ornaments that afterward it may be the more fruitfull 18. Remember this that the enemy hath reproached O LORD and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name 18. And we sure have indured a very tedious winter wherein all things have lookt most ruefully May it please Thee now to return like the Sun unto us and let thy Enemies know Thou hast not forgotten how they have reproached Thee O Lord whom they ought to have honoured as the mighty Creatour of all things but wilt vindicate thy glory by punishing these insolent people who foolishly puft up
be devoured by ravenous Beasts and Birds 3. Their bloud have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them 3. For they valued the shedding of their bloud no more then the pouring out of water which flowed in such abundance about Jerusalem that they left not men enow alive to take care of the Interment of the dead 4. We are become a reproach to our neighbours a scorn and derision to them that are round about us 4. And we that remain lead a most despicable life being not onely scorned and abused but openly derided and made the sport of the Edomites and other Nations which formerly stood in awe of us 5. How long LORD wilt thou be angry for ever shall thy jealousie burn like fire 5. And which is saddest of all we have long complained of this and find no relief but onely in our most passionate cries to Thee O Lord the effects of whose just anger and jealousie we groan under because we have forsaken Thee and been unfaithfull to our Covenant with Thee but hope it will not always last nor proceed to make an utter end of us 6. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name 6. Pour it out rather in as full a measure and with as little pity as they did our bloud Ver. 3. upon the Babylonians who though they have conquered many Kingdoms do not acknowledge Thee at all nor ascribe their successes to thy Power but to their Idols whom they serve and honour with that worship which is due to Thee alone 7. For they have devoured Jacob and laid wast his dwelling-place 7. They have been the Instruments indeed of thy vengeance but have executed it with such cruelty that not content with the conquest of us they have sought our total extirpation having depopulated our Country and made that pleasant Land a Wilderness which Thou gavest to Jacob and his Seed for their habitation 8. O Remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low 8. O let not his vertue and the Covenant Thou madest with him be forgotten when Thou reckonest with us for the sins of our Fore-fathers the punishment of which we beseech Thee that we may bear no longer speed our deliverance Good Lord and how unworthy soever we be let thy tender compassion prevail with Thee to save us from utter ruin which is very near so few so broken and spent we are unless seasonably prevented by thy mercy 9. Help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy names sake 9. Send us that seasonable help O God from whom alone we expect it and have heretofore very often received it for it will tend much to the honour of thy almighty Goodness which in former times was much celebrated but of late hath been exceedingly disparaged to save us now when none is able to preserve us upon that account be pleased to pass by our sins and to interpose for our deliverance lest Thou suffer together with us 10. Wherefore should the heathen say Where is their God let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the bloud of thy servants which is shed 10. While the Idolatrous Nations utter this insolent language which is exceeding grievous nay insupportable to us If their God be so great in Himself and so kind to them as they pretend why doth He not take their part and appear for their deliverance O that Thou wouldst put them to silence by taking such an open and remarkable vengeance on these blasphemous Nations for the bloud they have shed that not onely we but all the world may see Thou hast a care of us thy Servants 11. Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die 11. Let the sighs and groans of those who lie in prison be as prevalent with Thee as thee prayers and magnifie thy power by preserving the lives of those whom they have condemned to die 12. And render unto our neighbours seven fold into their bosom their reproach wherewith they have reproached thee O LORD 12. And when Thou hast done with the Babylonians reckon with our neighbours also who have insulted over us and derided us or rather have spoken so reproachfully of Thee O God that they justly deserve not onely to be paid home in their kind but to be made seven times more contemptible then we have been 13. So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever we will shew forth thy praise to all generations 13. So we thy people being conducted again to our Land and happily restored to live under thy Government there will never cease to give thanks unto Thee for thy benefits bestowed upon us And be carefull to transmit the memory of them to those who shall come after us that all future Generations may perpetuate thy praises PSALM LXXX To the chief-Musician upon Shoshannim Eduth A Psalm of Asaph ARGUMENT This Psalm is something of kin to the former deprecating the displeasure of the Almighty in a time of great calamity Which as all that I have met withall think was either in the captivity of Judah and Benjamin by Nebuchadnezzar or of the Ten Tribes by Salmanassar But it seems to me rather to have been penned between these two in the time of Hezekiah who had wrote a Letter you find 2 Chron. XXXI 6. to the remnant that were escaped out of the hand of the King of Assyria especially to Ephraim and Manasseh the Tribes nearest to them that they would come to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem and keep the Passover with them which summons several of them obeyed Ver. 11. 18. and kept the Feast as long again as they were wont Ver. 23. And when this was finished they all went through the Country and threw down all the High places and Altars that they found not onely in Judah but in Benjamin also Ephraim and Manasseh 2 Chron. XXXI 1. But after this happy settlement you reade there XXXII 1. that the Land was invaded by Senacherib and sorely distressed to the great discouragement no doubt of those who had joined in the Reformation which moved Asaph mentioned 2 Chron. XXIX 30. see the Argument of LXXIII Psal most earnestly to beseech God Ver. 2. of this Psalm that he would be pleased to stir up Himself before Ephraim and Manasseh as well as Benjamin who was so linkt to Judah that part of Jerusalem and of the Temple stood in that Tribe and let them see by a remarkable deliverance that their zeal for the purity of their Religion was acceptable to Him Another reason indeed there may be given which I have not omitted in my Paraphrase why these three are joined
our Defender 2 King XIX 19. 10. For a day in thy courts is better then a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the tents of wickedness 10. For one day spent in thy Courts is far more pleasant than a thousand in any other place and I had rather lie at the Gates of thy House then live in the most splendid condition in Idolatrous Countries 11. For the LORD God is a sun and shield the LORD will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly 11. For though our happiness be sometimes clouded yet the Lord like the Sun will dispell the darkness of affliction and having brought us out of a disconsolate condition defend and secure us in a better 2 King XX. 6. The Lord will give those favour with others and advance them to great honour 2 Chron. XXXII 22 23. He will never be sparing of his blessings but heap them abundantly on those who sincerely doe his will in all things 2 King XVIII 5 6. XX. 3. 12. O LORD of hosts blessed is the man that trusteth in thee 12. O most mighty Lord who commandest all the host of heaven happy is that man who by his integrity preserves this hope and confidence in Thee though for the present he be restrained from the delightfull injoyment of Thee in thy Temple PSALM LXXXV To the chief Musician A Psalm for the Sons of Korah ARGUMENT It is thought by many that this Psalm was composed by some of the Sons of Korah after David's banishment from Jerusalem by his Son Absalom called a Captivity as we reaâ—… Psal XIV ult and his happy restauration to his Kingdom though not to such a settlement as they desired But it may be as well or better applied to the miraculous providence which drove Senacherib out of the Land who had taken many Captives V. Isa 13. and restored them to the happy liberty whose loss they bewailed in the Psalm foregoing Which way soever we understand it the composure is such that it might be much better used by them after their return from the Captivity of Babylon then at any other time when they were infested with many enemies who disturbed their peaceable injoyment of their Country and Religion And therefore it is possible it might be reviewed if not made in those days and delivered to the chief Master of Musick in the Temple to be sung presently after the Foundation of it was laid III. Ezr. 10 11 c. but the Work hindred from proceeding by the opposition of their enemies And so I shall interpret it 1. LORD thou hast been favourable unto thy land thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 1. THou hast been exceeding kind unto us O Lord and we most thankfully acknowledge the favour Thou hast done us in delivering us the posterity of Jacob out of our sad Captivity and restoring us to the Land in which Thou thy self hast chosen to dwell I. Ezra 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Selah 2. Our sins kept us from it in banishment a long time but now Thou hast graciously pardoned both our Idolatry and all the other crimes for which we justly suffered 3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness of thine anger 3. Thou hast put an end to the sore punishments which in thy heavy displeasure Thou inflictedst on us and turned thy severity which like sire had almost consumed us into great clemency and mercy toward us 4. Turn us O God of our salvation and cause thine anger towards us to cease 4. Compleat good Lord our deliverance which Thou hast thus graciously begun and let not our ingratitude provoke Thee to continue this new vexation and trouble that is befaln us IV. Ezra 4 5 21 23. 5. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations 5. Which forces us to sigh and say in the anguish of our Souls will there never be an end of our miseries Is it not enough that the foregoing generation hath felt the sad effects of thine anger but it must extend it self to us also and our posterity 6. Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee 6. Will it not be more for thy honour not onely to preserve this feeble life which Thou hast bestowed on us but to give us a perfect recovery that thy people may have nothing to damp their joy and intire satisfaction in thy goodness to them 7. Shew us thy mercy O LORD and grant us thy salvation 7. Make us so happy good Lord and though we deserve indeed to be more miserable then we are yet let thy mercy prevail with Thee to grant us a compleat deliverance 8. I will hear what God the LORD will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints but let them not turn again to folly 8. I will wait patiently upon the Lord the Judge of the world for a gracious Answer to these Prayers hoping that He will not condemn us to further punishment but settle his people who devoutly worship Him in a prosperous tranquillity provided they return not again to their old Idolatry 9. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him that glory may dwell in our land 9. He will be so far from deserting those who fear to offend Him that I am confident the time approaches when He will finish what He hath begun to doe for us in rebuilding our Temple V. Ezra 2 8. VI. 7 8 c. and restoring our Country to its ancient dignity and splendour 10. Mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other 10. For methinks I see goodness and fidelity justice and concord which are the principal glory of a Kingdom meeting together like ancient Friends which have been long absent and embracing each other 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven 11. And as Truth and Honesty with all other Vertues shall grow and flourish among us like Flowers and Herbs in the Spring after a tedious Winter so God shall faithfully fulfill his promises to us and exercise a most gracious providence over us 12. Yea the LORD shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase 12. Yea the Lord will doe us good beyond our expectation and reward our fruitfulness in good works with such a large and plentifull increase of the fruits of the earth as shall demonstrate the bounty of heaven to us 13. Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps 13. He will govern us with great justice and mercy having his faithfull promises always before his eyes from that rule He will never swerve but stedfastly proceed by it as the constant method He will hold in his Divine Administrations PSALM
prove the pious are not always miserable 11. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me 11. Nor the wicked alway prosperous For to all other pleasures this shall be added that I shall see those deprived of all power who have long watched to doe me mischief or certainly hear of the ruin of those malicious men who set themselves with all their might to destroy me 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon 12. Which may be an incouragement to every good man to hope in God and not question the justice of his Providence if at present he be afflicted for as He shall overturn all his enemies at the last so He will make the righteous flourish not as the wicked do like the grass Ver. 7. but in a durable prosperity like the fruitfull Palm and the stately Cedar in Lebanon 13. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God 13. For they are under the care of the Lord our God whose House they frequent and there partake of his Divine blessing for the growth and increase of their happiness 14. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing 14. Which shall not decay as the strength and freshness of those Trees will do with age but the older they grow the more happy fruits shall their piety produce and they shall abound in wealth and honour as much as they do in that 15. To shew that the LORD is upright he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him 15. To demonstrate to all the world that the Lord is a most impartial Governour whom I have found my firm unmoveable Friend and assure your selves is so just and kind that he will never let wickedness go unpunished nor vertue be always unrewarded PSALM XCIII ARGUMENT There is no Title in the Hebrew to tellâ— us who was the Authour of this Psalm Nor was there any in Origen's Hexaplus or in Eusebius as Theodoret confesses who found in the Greek Copy which he used this Psalm called An Ode of David in praise of God To which hath been since added in the day before the Sabbath when the earth began to be inhabited Which Musculus thinks was not rashly done by the Greeks but suspects they were moved to it because they knew perhaps that the Jews used this Psalm upon that day As indeed they did for the words of the Talmud in the Title Kedishim confirm his suspicions which are these as I find them set down by de Dieu upon the foregoing Psalm The Canticles which the Levites sung in the Sanctuary were as follow on the first day of the week the XXIV on the second the XLVIII on the third the LXXXII on the fourth the XCIV on the fifth the LXXXI on the sixth the XCIII and on the seventh the XCII Nor is the matter of this Psalm more distant from the foregoing then the sixth day is from the seventh for it seems to me to have been composed when some of those potent enemies began to take heart again and threaten to disturb David's peace and tranquillity which in the foregoing Psalm he had said he was confident they should never be able to overthrow Though in the more sublime sense it ought to be applied to the stability of Christ Kingdom which several of the Jews acknowledge is prophesied of in this and in all the Psalms that follow unto the Hundredth 1. THe LORD reigneth he is cloathed with majesty the LORD is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself the world also is stablished that it cannot be moved 1. LET the Nations boast of the power and splendour of their Kings and trust to their military preparations this is our glory and our confidence that the LORD reigneth over us whose royal ornaments are not gold and precious stones but Majesty it self and is not armed with sword and spear but with almighty strength which is ready to fight for us who have this comfort also that He who made the world will support that excellent order wherein we are settled so that it shall not be in the power of man to disturb what He hath established 2. Thy throne is established of old thou art from everlasting 2. This we know because thy Kingdom O Lord is fixed and immoveable and did not begin now when we were made thy peculiar people but was as Thou art from everlasting 3. The flouds have lifted up O Lord the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves 3. We will not be afraid therefore though multitudes of combined enemies threaten to break in upon us like a floud though they storm and rage and insolently vaunt as if they were sure to overwhelm us 4. The LORD on high is mightier then the noise of many waters yea then the mighty waves of the sea 4. Though they roar terribly and be as numerous as the waters of the Sea swelling like its boisterous waves in a furious tempest the great Lord is above them all and can instantly depress them as low as He pleases 5. Thy testimonies are very sure holiness becometh thine house O LORD for ever 5. And thy fidelity in performing the promises wherein Thou hast testified thy good will to us is as unquestionable as thy power no age shall find it fail for it becomes not Thee to start from thy word delivered to us by thy Oracle but it is thy glory to observe it sacredly for ever PSALM XCIV ARGUMENT This Psalm also wants an inscription in the Hebrew to tell us who was the Authour of it but the later Greeks intitle David to it and call it A Psalm of his for the fourth day of the week which they had as I shewed in the Argument of the foregoing Psalm from the Hebrew Tradition in the Talmud And he hath little acquaintance with the History of David who doth not see that here is an exact description of the Court of Saul who abused their Authority to all manner of oppression and violence especially against David without any fear of God or thought that He would call them to any account for it as he complains in several other Psalms particularly LVII LVIII LIX But it might as well be penned by any other holy man who lived in times of general corruption when as Theodoret expresses it their Kings and their Princes i. e. Judges loved not to be tied to the Law but pronounced unjust sentences and committed murthers selling the bloud of innocents for bribes of whom the Prophet Isaiah sadly complains Ver. 21. of the first Chapter where Ver. 10. he calls them Rulers of Sodom Certain it is the Psalmist whosoever he was desires he may see justice done upon such Atheistical Oppressours and desires good men not to be discouraged under their tyranny but patiently
welcome that day and meet the Lord with forward affection who is coming to them For he comes to reform the earth and will govern mankind by righteous and mercifull Laws and faithfully keep his word with all those that truly observe them PSALM XCVII ARGUMENT Some of the Hebrews conceive as I observed upon Psalm XC that Moses was the Authour of this as well as the rest of these Psalms which want an Inscription And indeed he excelled in this faculty of composing Hymns as we learn from Exod. XV. and Deut. XXXII and might upon some other occasion as well as the overthrow of Pharaoh in the red Sea make a Song of triumph after some of those great victories which God gave them over their enemies Which was a thing in use before his time as it appears by the fragments of ancient Songs recorded in his Books particularly that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made by some Poet among the Amorites after Sihon had taken Heshbon from the Moabites to whom it formerly belonged wherein they triumph over their God Chemosh as unable to deliver his worshippers XXI Numb 27 c. And if we could be sure this Psalm was made by Moses I should think it to have been composed after the Israelites had conquered Sihon and his Land over whom they triumphed as he had done over the former possessours of that Country But the Psalm seems so plainly to have been composed in pursuance of what was said in the foregoing Psalm that the Lord reigneth and is King not onely over Israel but all the earth that one cannot but think they had the same Authour who shews the truth of that by the illustrious Victories which God as their King had given them over all those that opposed them For the eighth verse makes it manifest that this Psalm hath respect to some Conquests they had lately made over the heathen which I suppose were no other then those which David won over divers Nations not long after 1 Chron. XVIII 1. he had brought the Ark to Sion and delivered the foregoing Hymn to be sung to put the Israelites in hope and their enemies in fear of the great things which would insue upon this special presence of God among them Which moved the Greeks to call this A Psalm of David after his Land was restored unto him that is after he was made Master of all those Countries which God anciently designed to be the inheritance of Israel For that it should relate to the restoring his Kingdom to him after Absaloms rebellion is not probable because the mention of Idolaters and of their gods Ver. 7. seem to determine it to other Countries In the subduing of which God it is likely fought for them by some such tempest as we reade of 2 Sam. V. 20 21 24. whereby their enemies Armies were shatâ—ered and so terrified that they not onely fled but left their images behind them such was their haste and gave the Israelites an easie Victory over them But whatever was the carnal sense it belongs in the diviner meaning to Christ's triumph over the grave and all the powers of darkness at his Resurrection and Ascension to his throne in heaven as appears by those words which the Apostle to the Hebrews alledges out of the seventh verse and applies to Christ's royal power and authority over Angels Which the Hebrew Doctours themselves as Kimchi confesses take to be there intended and may be further justified from that exposition which we meet withall in Midrasch Tanchuma of the words of the Prophet Isaiah LII 13. Behold my servant shall prosper He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high This is the King Messiah says that gloss who shall be exalted above Abraham and extolled above Moses and be very high above the Angels of the Ministry 1. THe LORD reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof 1. THE Lord it is manifest is the Sovereign of the world under whose happy Government not onely we and they who are already become subject to Him in other places ought to rejoice but the most distant Countries have the greatest reason to be glad thereof 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne 2. His Majesty is most dreadfull and hath appeared in great terrour against those that oppose Him whom as he will not wrong so He will certainly punish for He maintains his Authority and supports his Government by doing exact and equal justice 3. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about 3. Let none therefore resist Him for flames of fire proceedâ— from his presence which make the battel too hot for his enemies who can turn no way but they feel them flashing in their faces 4. His lightnings enlightned the world the earth saw and trembled 4. It was his thunder and lightning the brightness of which the world lately saw and were so amazed that shivering pains took hold upon them as upon a woman in her travail 5. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD at the presence of the LORD of the whole earth 5. The hearts of the stoutest Kings and Captains failed them and melted like wax before the fire at this terrible appearance of the Lord at the appearance of Him whose dominion extends over all the earth 6. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory 6. For He is the Lord of the heavens which have declared by this dreadfull tempest excited by his Angelical Ministers his severity against his enemies and made all the people sensible of the incomparable splendour of his Majesty 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols worship him all ye gods 7. Which may well make them all ashamed and they shall be confounded by Him if they will not renounce their errours who worship graven Images though of gold and silver 2 Sam. V. 21. and boast themselves in vain gods who can doe nothing for them Let all that are called gods whether Princes on earth or Angels in heaven bow down to Him as the onely Saviour 1. Heb. 6. and acknowledge his supreme authority over them all 8. Sion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments O LORD 8. Jerusalem the mother City hath received the news of thy Victories with a joyfull heart after whose example all the other Cities of Judah are exceeding glad O Lord because Thou hast judged righteously in destroying our idolatrous enemies and defending thy faithfull servants 9. For thou LORD art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all gods 9. Whose hearts are filled with the greater joy because Thou O Lord hast manifested thy self hereby to be the supreme and onely Potentate who rulest over all the earth and art infinitely superiour to all that have the name of gods 10. Ye that love the LORD hate evil he preserveth the
even upon the most barren and stony Mountains 17. Where the birds make their nests as for the stork the fir-trees are her house 17. In these trees the birds both small and great build themselves convenient habitations and some of them as the Stork for instance who seats her nest on the top of lofty Pines and Fir-trees with admirable artifice 18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies 18. And with no less safety the wild Goats deposite their young in the top of those craggy Mountains whither they can climb as easily as the birds fly to the tops of trees and other feeble creatures creep into the rocks and there lie secure from the violence that stronger beasts would offer to them 19. He appointeth the moon for seasons the sun knoweth his going down 19. By his most wise contrivance the Moon hath her full and her wane and the Sun doth not always shine but observes a constant time for its going down 20. Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth 20. And then darkness covering the face of the earth and inviting us to rest gives the wolves and other wild beasts of the Forest such is thy care O Lord of all creatures who were afraid to venture abroad before security and confidence to come out of their lurking places and seek their food 21. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God 21. Which the ravening young Lions then meet withall falling upon their prey with a horrible noise whereby they express the eagerness of their hunger which is not so sharp and devouring but by the Divine Providence it finds full satisfaction before the morning 22. The sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens 22. When the Sun again appearing and rouzing us out of our sleep they all return with one consent and lay themselves down in their several dens 23. Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour untill the evening 23. And so man refreshed by the nights repose goes forth without any danger about his business in the fields and continues his labours till the night call him to rest again 24. O LORD how manifold are thy works in wisedom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches 24. O eternal Lord how many and how great are thy works and with what admirable wisedom hast Thou contrived them all If we look no further then this Earth what astonishing variety of good things do we behold wherewith Thy bounty hath inriched it 25. So is this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts 25. And this great and spacious Sea also which seems to embrace the Earth in its arms is no less full of thy wonderfull works For there swim Fish without number some of which astonish us as much with the art Thou hast shewn in their small bodies as others do with the prodigious greatness of their bulk 26. There go the ships there is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein 26. There the Ships sail as swiftly as the Fishes swim fetching us the riches both of Sea and Land and there that great Leviathan in forming whom Thou hast shewn thy mighty power finds room enough to tumble up and down and sport himself in his absolute dominion over all that the Sea contains 27. These wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season 27. O how liberal is thy Goodness which provides convenient sustenance for such a vast world of creatures Every one of which though they know not their Benefactour is duly and seasonably supplied with the food they seek by the care Thou takest of them 28. That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good 28. For they onely gather what Thou without any care of theirs dispensest to them And Thou art not sparing of thy blessings but hast made a most plentifull provision which Thou scatterest every where for them 29. Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust 29. If it fail at any time by the suspense of thy heavenly influences all things look most ruefully they grow weak nay die and are dissolved into the elements out of which they were made 30. Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 30. But then Thou sendest forth again thy quickning power whereby new ones are produced in the room of those that are dead just as the earth after a sharp winter hath made it bare looks fresh and green again at the return of the spring 31. The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever the LORD shall rejoice in his works 31. Thus the world is still as full as ever it was and all future ages shall praise as well as we the same power and wisedom and goodness of the Lord which appears so gloriously in all his works that He himself is still pleased and delighted in the continuance of them as He was at first in their contrivance 1. Gen. 31. 32. He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoke 32. Else they would all soon vanish and come to nothing for at his presence the very earth trembles and the mountains as our Fathers saw at mount Sinai are full of fire and smoke 33. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being 33. I will never cease therefore to sing the praises of the Lord who as He created so supports and maintains the whole fabrick of heaven and earth and all the creatures contained in them And I will never forget his particular kindness to me among the rest but acknowledge to my very last breath the innumerable benefits I have received from his bounty 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the LORD 34. With such affection will I praise Him that all my thankfull meditations and discourses shall be I hope no less pleasing to Him then they shall be to my self who will take the highest satisfaction in thinking and speaking of the Goodness of the Lord from whom I shall still receive more abundant cause to rejoice in Him 35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more bless thou the LORD O my soul Praise ye the LORD 35. But as for them whose onely pleasure it is to satisfie their brutish lusts and abuse the many good things they enjoy either denying or never acknowledging Him who is the donor of them they shall utterly perish and be no longer the care of that Providence to which they are so ungratefull O my Soul never imitate their impiety or negligence but be excited thereby to the greater diligence in
sorest distresses 8. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities 8. And He will at last free them from all those troubles which He hath inflicted on them as a punishment for their iniquities PSALM CXXXI A Song of degrees of David See CXX ARGUMENT Though David could not purge himself from all manner of guilt as he confesses in the foregoing Psalm vers 3. yet in that matter which he was charged withall by his Enemies of affecting the Kingdome he could safely protest he was as innocent as a little Child Which he doth in this Psalm particularly and in several parts of other Psalms 1. LORD my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty neither do I exercise my self in great matters or in things too high for me 1. O Lord I am accused of traiterous designs against my Sovereign and of aspiring to the Throne wherein Thou hast placed him But Thou who searchest the hearts knowest that I harbour no such ambitious thoughts nor hath my behaviour betrayed any such intentions For I never looked upon any man superciliously nor medled with affairs of State or any thing else that is above my place and calling 2. Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child 2. But have levelled my mind else let me perish to an equality with my condition and resolved to acquiesce in the present state of things committing my self unto thy care and depending on thy Providence as a Child that is newly weaned doth upon its Mother just so do I silence my natural desires and am content to be disposed of as Thou pleasest 3. Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever 3. And let all good men in like manner modestly place their confidence and hope in the Lord as long as they live and choose rather to be depressed then by any undue means raise themselves to greatness and honour PSALM CXXXII A Song of degrees See CXX ARGUMENT This Psalm seems to have been composed by some holy man after God had given commandment to David by Gad the Seer to build an Altar in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite where the destroying Angel stood and the Lord had answered him by fire upon that Altar 1 Chron. XXI 18 26. whereby David knew what he had till now been ignorant of that this was the place where God would be worshipped and have his Temple built XXII 1. Accordingly we reade expresly that Solomon therefore built the Temple in this place because God here appeared to David his father and David designed and prepared this place for it 2 Chron. III. 1. that there God's habitation might be fixed and not removed from place to place uncertainly as it had been in former times For the Tabernacle which the Hebrews call Mischkan had been in an unsettled condition except one period of time ever since they came into the Land of Canaan It was first pitched in Gilgal and staid there 24. years Then it was removed to Shiloh where it remained to the death of Eli 369. years After his death Shiloh being laid waste it was translated to Nob where it remained they say 13. years but was now no better then a Cabinet without its Jewel the Ark being in another place and never restored to it after that desolation of Shiloh see Psal LXVIII And then it was carried to Gibeon where Solomon found it and from thence fetcht it when he had finished the Temple Which the Hebrews therefore call Beth Olamim the eternal House because it was fixed to a place and out of it the Ark never departed as it had done out of the Tabernacle but there as the Psalmist here speaks Verse 14. the Lord took up his rest for ever Never to depart that is to any other place till the Messiah came who was the Temple of God in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily There are those that think Solomon penned this Psalm because in the 2 Chron. VI. the two last Verses he concludes his prayer at the consecration of the Temple with some part of it viz. Ver. 8 9 10. And truly since he speaks as if the Priests were just taking up the Ark to carry it into this resting place and there begs that God would not for David's sake turn away the face of his Anointed i.e. refuse to hear his prayer it is not an improbable conjecture which I shall follow in my Paraphrase And connect also this Psalm with the former to which it seems to have respect if we render the last word of the first Verse as the ancient Interpreters doe not affliction but humility meekness or modesty Yet I have not forgot to take notice of the other signification and in like manner have expounded that phrase the mighty God of Jacob two several ways Ver. 2. and 5. 1. LORD remember David and all his afflictions 1. LET it appear O Lord that Thou art not unmindfull of the pious humility of my Father David CXXXI 1. who chose to endure many afflictions rather then by unlawfull means to prefer himself to a Kingdom 2. How he sware unto the LORD and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. 2. Which when he enjoyed his principal care was to provide a settled place for the worship of God for he bound himself with a solemn Oath unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty One who had preserved him as He did Jacob in all his troubles 3. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed 3. Saying I am resolved as I hope to prosper that I will not come into the new Palace which I have built for my self 1 Chron. XIV 1. much less go to dwell and take up my lodging there 4. I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eye-lids 4. Nay I will not lay my self down to rest nor take a wink of sleep 5. Vntill I find out a place for the LORD an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. 5. Untill I have found out a convenient place for the Ark of the Lord 1 Chr. XV. 1. XVI 1 43. an habitation for that mighty One who there makes Himself present to his people the posterity of Jacob. 6. Lo we heard of it at Ephratah we found it in the fields of the wood 6. And now behold the Lord Himself to our great joy hath told us the very place where He will fix his habitation 1 Chron. XXI 18 26. in the territory of Bethlem Ephrata XXXV Gen. 16 19. in the fields of that Forest where the Angel stood and directed David to build an Altar unto the Lord 1 Chron. XXI 18. XXII 7. We will go into his tabernacles we will worship at his footstool 7. Let us go therefore into his Tabernacles and prostrating our selves before his Majesty let us take up the Ark on which his Glory stands 1 Chron. XXVIII 2. with humble reverence and bring it
into the Temple which is now built for it 2 Chron. V. 2 3 4 c. 8. Arise O LORD into thy rest thou and the Ark of thy strength 8. And be pleased O Lord together with the Ark the token of thy powerfull presence among us to translate thy Divine Glory thither 2 Chron. V. 13 14. VII 1 2 3. there to settle it self and stir from thence no more for ever 9. Let thy priests be cloathed with righteousness and let thy saints shout for joy 9. Guard also thy Priests who minister unto Thee here and incompass them with thy Goodness 2 Chr. VI. 41. that they may procure thy blessings for others and make all thy pious Worshippers who are dear unto Thee triumph in thy kindness to them 10. For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed 10. I beseech Thee have a respect to the sincere piety of my Father David and thy gracious promise to him 1 Chron. XXII 2 10 14. XXVIII 2 6 c. and upon that account deny me not but grant the petitions of thy servant who by thy special appointment succeeds him in the government of thy people 11. The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David he will not turn from it Of the the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne 11. According to that Oath whereby the Lord secured the Kingdom to his Family that faithfull Oath which He will never break saying One of thy Sons will I advance to sit upon thy Throne when thou shalt leave it 1 Chron. XVII 11. XXVIII 5. 2 Chron. VI. 10. 12. If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them their children also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore 12. Yea I will perpetuate this royal Dignity to thy Children in all succeeding generations and not take it from them as I did from Saul 2 Sam. VII 15 16. if they prove faithfull and constant in their Religion and observe all the Commandments whereby I will teach and instruct them how my pleasure is that they should worship and serve me 1 King II. 4. IX 4 5 6. 13. For the LORD hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his habitation 13. For the Lord hath such a love to Sion the seat of the royal Family 2 Sam. V. 7 9. that He hath chosen to place his own dwelling very near unto it 2 Chron. III. 1. VII 12. 14. This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it 14. Saying this is the place where my Glory shall fix it self for ever 2 Chron. VII 16. I will remove no more but here will I take up my abode for I have pitched on this place and declared that it is acceptable unto me above all other 1 Chron. XXI 26. XXII 2. 15. I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfie her poor with bread 15. From whence I will dispense my blessings so abundantly that Sion which is become the City of God as well as of David shall never be in any want But I will make such liberal provision for it by fruitfull years that the poorest person there shall be satisfied with food 2 Chr. VII 13 14. 16. I will also clothe her priests with salvation and her saints shall shout aloud for joy 16. I will also defend her Priests and they shall be giving continual thanks and praise for the blessings they shall procure for my pious Worshippers who shall exceedingly triumph in my kindness towards them 17. There will I make the horn of David to bud I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed 17. There will I make the Regal Power and Majesty of David to put forth it self afresh in his royal Successours no sooner shall one be extinguished but another shall shine 1 King XI 36. 2 Chron. XXI 7. in such splendour as shall give a lustre to the name of that anointed Servant of mine till the great Prince the Messiah appear 18. His enemies will I clothe with shame but upon himself shall his crown flourish 18. And whosoever they be that go about to destroy this succession they shall be so miserably defeated that they shall not be able to shew their faces while with shame and confusion they behold the regal Dignity in his Family notwithstanding all their attempts against it in an unfading glory PSALM CXXXIII A Song of degrees of David see CXX ARGUMENT When there was no other strife among all the Tribes of Israel then who should be most forward in returning to their allegiance and the Children of Judah also were inclined as one man to bring back David to his Kingdom from which his Son Absalom had driven him 2 Sam. XIX 9 14. he fell into a rapturous admiration of that happy unity and concord which he commended to them afterwards in this Psalm as their best preservative and security in future ages This seems to me more probable to be the occasion of it then the concurrence of all the Tribes to make him King after Saul's death which is the common account that is given of it for then Sion was not in his possession and it is not likely he would then have made such mention of it as he doth here while it remained in the hands of the Jebusites But whatsoever was the first occasion it was aptly applied to their condition after the return of their Captivity from Babylon when as Theodoret notes the Tribes which had been divided by the imprudence of Rehoboam were then again united living under one and the same Government and worshipping God in the same place and the same manner as the Law prescribed It was as fitly used by the first Christians to express their joy for the blessed union of Jews and Gentiles and may now serve the uses of all Christian Societies whose happiness lies in holy peace and concord 1. BEhold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity 1. O Consider how beneficial and delightfull it is beyond all expression for those that come from the same stock and are of the same Religion to have no differences one with another but to live together in such a friendly agreement as if they had but one Soul among them all 2. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garments 2. I cannot resemble it to any thing better then to that excellent ointment compounded of several spices XXX Exod. 21 c. which consecrated the high Priest to the Divine Service VIII Levit. 12. and was poured in such plenty that running over all his face even to the collar of his garment where he did bear the names of all the Tribes of Israel it perfumed all the place with its fragrant odour for just so doth this holy concord make you both dear to God and procure you an excellent fame among men who cannot but be pleased to
Goodness first for promising me out of thy mere grace and favour the royal Dignity and then for performing thy promise most faithfully For Thou hast manifested thy most excellent power and goodness to me in nothing so much as in punctually fulfilling thy promise 1 Sam. XVI 13. nowithstanding all the opposition which was made to it nay in raising me higher then I expected 3. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul 3. I had long ago faln short of this honour to which I am advanced hadst not Thou during all the time of Saul's persecution as readily relieved me as I cried to Thee and mightily supported my spirit by a couragious faith and hope in Thee 4. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee O LORD when they hear the words of thy mouth 4. Which will move sure all our neighbouring Kings who have any knowledge of my affairs 2 Sam. V. 11 12. VIII 10. to join with me in praising Thee O Lord when they shall hear by how many strange providences Thou hast brought to pass that which Thou promisedst to me by thy Prophet 5. Yea they shall sing in the ways of the LORD for great is the glory of the LORD 5. The wonderfull ways whereby the Lord brings things about shall be the subject of their Songs and they shall think it their greatest happiness to be guided and governed by Him for they shall confess that none can doe such glorious things as the Lord hath wrought 6. Though the LORD be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off 6. Whose sublime greatness doth not make Him neglect as they see in me the meanest persons especially when their minds are as humble as their conditions but will not let Him stoop to the loftiest Princes as they may see in Saul whom He despises when they are forgetfull of Him and ungratefull to Him for his benefits 7. Though I walk in the mids of trouble thou wilt revive me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me 7. Which have been so great to me that should I fall again into the same straits wherein I was before and be incompassed with them I should hope that Thou wouldst preserve me and bring me safe out of them all Thy power I am confident will repress the violent assaults of my enemies and by thy almighty Goodness I shall be delivered from their wrath and fury 2 Sam. V. 17 c. VIII 1 c. 8. The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me thy mercy O LORD endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands 8. The Lord who hath begun will go on to finish his gracious intentions towards me not for my merits I know they are none at all but for thy own mercy sake O Lord which as it was the sole motive to what Thou hast done for me so will I hope for it is still the same and ever will be incline Thee to preserve and settle me in that dignity to which not my ambition but thy own good will and pleasure hath promoted me PSALM CXXXIX To the chief Musician A Psalm of David ARGUMENT The two last Verses of this Psalm seem to me a sufficient indication that David to whom the Title ascribes it composed it when he lay under the imputation of having evil designs upon Saul 1. Sam. XXIV 9. which as he protests against in several parts of other Psalms and calls God often to witness his integrity so here he appeals unto Him in a set and solemn meditation composed on purposed to represent before Him the clearness of his intentions which never suffered such designs to enter into his thoughts And who could believe that a man who seriously acknowledged it was impossible to conceal any thing from God's all-seeing eye who formes us in the womb should be so impudent as to make this appeal unto Him if he were conscious to himself of any such guilt And which is more how could he be confident as he declares he was Ver. 19. that God would make his innocence evidently appear by destroying his opposers if he did not know they were calumniatours whose vile aspersions when God had effectually confuted he delivered this Psalm to the Master of the Musick as a lasting testimony of his sincerity all along before he came to the Kingdom and a constant admonishment to himself and others never to promote any designs for the future by sinister arts though managed so secretly that they lay hid from the eyes of all the world since God cannot but be privy to them who loves righteousness and hates all iniquity 1. O LORD thou hast searched me and known me 1. I Am accused O Lord of grievous crimes but my comfort is Thou seest I am not guilty of them For the exactest survey cannot make any thing so well known to us as I am to Thee who art thoroughly acquainted with me 2. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising thou understandest my thought afar off 2. Thou knowest what designs I have when I sit musing at home and what I go about when I stir abroad nay my inclinations are so perfectly understood by Thee that before I have conceived any design it is visible unto Thee 3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways 3. Nothing can be so narrowly sifted as all the motions of my body and mind both by day and by night are scanned by thy all-penetrating eye which comprehends and is intimately privy to all the ends which I pursue 4. For there is not a word in my tongue but lo O LORD thou knowest it altogether 4. When I am about to speak Thou O Lord such is thy most admirable wisedom needest not to be informed what it is but knowest before I open my mouth every thing I intend to utter 5. Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me 5. Whatsoever I have done long ago is as well known to Thee as that which is lately past or which I am about to doe For I am so invironed by Thee and so absolutely in thy power that I cannot possibly escape thy notice nor so much as stir without thy leave 6. Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me it is high I cannot attain unto it 6. O amazing height of understanding It is in vain to think I can hide any thing from it which so far surpasses all I can say or conceive that it excells even my admiration 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence 7. Into what world shall I go where Thou art not as present as Thou art in this It is impossible for me should I make never so much haste to get out of thy sight 8. If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold
One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts 4. For there are none of thy works which we see that we are able to understand but though this Age transmit its observations to the next and that recommend the study of them to posterity yet still we are ignorant and cannot praise them enough no nor sufficiently declare the prodigious acts of thy miraculous Providence for the preservation of thy people which shall be perpetually commemorated 5. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works 5. It shall be my business in this present age to speak of the dazling splendour and beauty of thy Majesty which I want words to express but appears in thy stupendious works 6. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness 6. Which they that come after shall rehearse and from the narratives that I shall make of thy magnificent greatness declare to their posterity what dreadfull things were done by thy irresistable power for the subversion of our enemies 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness 7. And with the same diligence shall they continue the constant memory of thy numerous benefits to us which they shall no more cease to celebrate with their praises then a spring doth to pour out water but publish in their perpetual Hymns how just and faithfull Thou art to thy word 8. The LORD is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy 8. For the Lord this shall be the subject of their and of my Song is exceeding propense to doe us good and very indulgent when we doe amiss which makes Him that He doth not presently punish but rather chuses to bestow new and greater benefits upon us if we repent of our faults 9. The LORD is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works 9. Nor is his goodness confined unto us but extends it self in various acts of bounty to all mankind who need not doubt of his kindness when they see He takes so tender a care of all his Creatures 10. All thy works shall praise thee O LORD and thy saints shall bless thee 10. Who all in their several kinds declare O Lord throughout all generations how great how wise how powerfull and provident Thou art which such as we who are particularly bound unto Thee for special favours bestowed upon us ought most sensibly to acknowledge with thankfull praises 11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power 11. It is their duty to discourse of the incomparable wisedom and goodness and care which Thou exercisest in the government of the whole world especially of us and to recount the memorable acts of thy invincible power among us 12. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom 12. That all mankind who regard not such things so much as they ought may be made sensible how mighty the Lord is and adore the amazing splendour of his illustrious works and the admirable order He observes in his government of all things 13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 13. Which as they are all intirely subject to Him so his Empire over them is immoveable and neither ends nor decays but when earthly Kingdoms fail and are transferred from one to another his dominion is still the same throughout all successions 14. The LORD upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down 14. In which He doth not neglect any of his subjects that depend upon Him as mortal Princes too frequently doe but supports and comforts the meanest of them that are oppressed with grievous afflictions and gives them a seasonable deliverance when they are in danger to sink and perish under the heavy weight of their burthens 15. The eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season 15. He makes a constant provision also for them which every Creature when their necessities call for supply daily receive from Thee O Lord in the proper season for it 16. Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing 16. And Thou art not sparing of thy blessings but dispensest them with such a bountifull hand that there are none of them live without satisfaction but have all their appetites filled by thy liberality to the smallest of them 17. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works 17. And therefore let us not doubt but thankfully acknowledge that the Lord is not onely just in all the dispensations of his Providence to us though perhaps we do not apprehend it but exceeding mercifull and kind in every thing that befalls us 18. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth 18. We need doe no more but piously commend our selves to Him and He will take care of us for He is ready on all occasions to relieve every one that addresses himself unto Him with a sincere heart truly disposed to be faithfull to Him 19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them 19. He that satisfies the appetite of all Creatures Ver. 16. will not fail we may be confident to gratifie in their desires such religious persons as fear to offend Him But though He let them fall into troubles and straits in due time will be moved by their importunate prayers to send them a seasonable deliverance 20. The LORD preserveth all them that love him but all the wicked will he destroy 20. For since they love Him so well that they had rather suffer any thing then disobey Him the Lord undoubtedly will preserve them and destroy all those impious men who have no regard to his Laws nor make any scruple to abuse and oppress such vertuous persons 21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever 21. For which and all the rest of his benefits I will never cease to sing Hymns of praise unto the Lord and let all mankind remembring how weak and frail they are join together with me in this imployment as the greatest support and comfort and security they have to bless his incomparable Goodness and Power and carefull Providence for ever and ever PSALM CXLVI Hallelujah ARGUMENT This Psalm and the other four which follow both begin and conclude with the word Hallelujah i. e. Praise ye the Lord. And therefore might if the Jews had pleased have been called The great Hallelujah being all of them exhortations and incitements to the people to stir up themselves unto that heavenly imployment which this Psalm recommends to them from the consideration of several of the Divine Excellencies which make
another command which as suddenly Ver. 15. makes a thaw and by the warm breath of softer winds loosens the waters which were bound up and causes them to flow again 19. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgments unto Israel 19. In such things as these the whole world see how powerfull and how good He is But we have more peculiar reasons to depend upon Him for a happy return of our Nation whom He doth not teach merely by the snow the hoar frost and the ice but by another sort of word then that which sends them upon the earth Ver. 15. even by His Ten Commandments delivered from heaven XX. Exod. 1. in a most glorious and astonishing manner Ver. 18. and by Laws of all sorts which He hath given us for the government of our life 20. He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgments they have not known them Praise ye the LORD 20. This is a privilege which no other Nation in the world enjoys IV. Deut. 32 33. For though they all receive the showres and snow out of the clouds yet Laws from thence they have no acquaintance withall Therefore let not us dishonour Him so much as to distrust his Providence but continually praise the Lord and acknowledge his bounty to us PSALM CXLVIII Hallelujah See CXLVI ARGUMENT It doth not appear who was the Authour of this Hymn nor upon what occasion it was composed But the last Verse sufficiently shews the Nation was then in a very flourishing condition and therefore probably it was made by David when God had given him rest from all his Enemies which filled his heart with such love to God that it transported him into this rapture Wherein finding how short his own praises were he wishes all Creatures in heaven and earth would conspire in a sweet symphony as Theodoret speaks of singing Hymns unto Him And first he calls upon the world above and all that is therein from the first Verse to the seventh where he descends to the world here below and calls upon all things on the earth to praise the Lord concluding v. 13. that as there is one Maker of both so all that they can say of Him when they have joyned all their powers together in one Quire falls infinitely short of his most excellent Majesty Who hath set forth his most transcendent wisdome power and munificence in such variety of stupendious work that there is not the smallest of them but ministers such matter of praise nay admiration to those that attentively consider them that they cannot but wish with the Psalmish here that every one of them were able to tell us how much skill and kindness He hath shown in their contrivance or that we were able to find it out and comprehend it Thus He is to be understood when he calls upon all Creatures to praise the Lord or it is as if he had said The Lord is to be praised by or in all these things as long as the world lasts This I take to be the true account of this Psalm which I refer to the times of David because the two following seem to have been then made and there is no other we can so well fix upon unless we will conceive that it was a Meditation when they were perfectly settled in a peaceable enjoyment of their Religion after the Captivity of which there is not the least intimation in the Psalm 1. PRaise ye the LORD praise ye the LORD from the heavens praise him in the heights 1. LET all Creatures praise the Lord. First let the Celestial Quire begin and sing their thankfull Hymns to Him who hath raised them so high above us in power and might as well as in dignity and place 2. Praise ye him all his Angels praise ye him all his hosts 2. Praise Him all ye Angels who have the honour to be the prime Ministers of his most excellent Majesty O let their several Hosts and Companies in whatsoever rank or order they stand praise Him whose Sovereign Authority commands them all 3. Praise ye him Sun and Moon praise him all ye stars of light 3. Praise Him ye Sun and Moon who are his greatest visible Ministers and unwearied in his service Praise Him all the rest of the shining Stars and declare to all future generations as ye have done for so many Ages past how glorious He is 4. Praise him ye heavens of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens 4. Let all the heavenly Regions praise Him particularly the Clouds which hang in the Aire and disstill in fruitfull showres to inrich the Earth 5. Let them praise the Name of the LORD for he commanded and they were created 5. Let all these set forth the adorable wisdome and power and goodness of the Lord For by his omnipotent word these whom the mistaken world calls Gods were created not to be worshipped but perpetually to proclaim his praise 6. He hath also established them for ever and ever he hath made a decree which shall not pass 6. who hath made them not onely illustrious but everlasting monuments of his splendour and glory having fixt and settled them in an admirable order which they constantly observe and prescribed them Laws which they never transgress 7. Praise the LORD from the earth ye dragons and all deeps 7. O Let all Creatures here below accompany those celestial hosts in their praises of the Lord whose power the vast Whales in their several kinds and all that moves in the profound depth of the Sea abundantly declare 8. Fire and hail snow and vapour stormy wind fulfilling his word 8. Let the Lightnings Thunder and Hail the Snow hoary Frost and Ice the Winds Storms and Tempests all make a part of this Song for they constantly execute his Sovereign Will and serve his wise Designs 9. Mountains and all hills fruitfull trees and all cedars 9. The lofty Mountains also and the lesser Hills the Fruit-bearing Trees with the stately Cedars the Pines the firrs and all the rest which He hath created for several ends and uses let them all be called upon to tell how great and how bountiful He is 10. Beasts and all cattel creeping things and flying fowl 10. The wild Beasts also of the Forest and all the Cattel that feed in the Fields whatsoever creeps upon the Earth or swims in the Sea or flies in the Aire let it joyn in this Hymn of praise to Him who hath shown his manifold wisdome and diffusive goodness in them all 11. Kings of the earth and all people Princes and all Judges of the earth 11. But especially let Mankind praise Him who after He had made these things brought them into the world last of all to contemplate his wonderfull works And first let Kings who here on Earth resemble the Angels or the Sun in Heaven and then let their Ministers of State and Lieutenants in their several Provinces and next all the Judges of the Earth who are
enemies that invade us not that we may grow more famous no we have no thoughts of the glory that will accrue to our selves thereby but that thy Divine Majesty may be honoured and thy goodness and faithfulness to thy promises be made the more illustrious 2. Wherefore should the heathen say Where is now their God 2. What a sad thing will it be to hear the Nations that surround us insult not so much over us as over Thee saying what is become of their God in whom they trusted If He be so powerfull as they boast why doth He not deliver them 3. But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased 3. Let them know that Thou art infinitely superiour to them and all their gods being the possessour of the heavens as well as the earth 2 Chron. XX. 6. whom no power of theirs can hurt or so much as restrain but art able to doe whatsoever Thou pleasest for their confusion and for our deliverance 4. Their idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands 4. Their Idols cannot hinder it in the least who are of no more value then the silver and gold of which they are made and are so far from being the makers of things that they themselves are the work of those that adore them 5. They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 5. They are mere lifeless Images that have mouths but cannot give a word of advice or of incouragement and comfort to their supplicants and eyes also but cannot see the devotion wherewith they look up unto them or prostrate themselves before them 6. They have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not 6. Let their worshippers cry to them never so loudly they cannot hear a word All the Frankincense and sweet Odours which they burn to them are merely lost for they cannot smell them 7. They have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat 7. Though they have thunderbolts in their hands they feel them not nor are able to doe either good or harm They cannot stir a foot from the place where they stand unless they be carried nor make so much noise as a fly being utterly void of breath as well as of sense and reason 8. They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 8. To what then but to those Idols shall we compare the makers of them and such as confide in them who are mere Images of men having eyes but do not see that the brutes are more excellent then such gods and that the least help is not to be expected from them 9. O Israel trust thou in the LORD he is their help and their shield 9. O ye Israelites who by the Divine Favour are better instructed repose that confidence in the eternal Lord which they do in those Vanities And He will not onely protect and defend you against all the assaults of your enemies but help you to overcome them 2 Chron. XX. 9. 10. O house of Aaron trust in the LORD he is their help and their shield 10. O ye Priests and Levites do you above all others rely upon that eternal Lord whose praise you sing and to whom you offer continual Sacrifice For He will never fail not onely to protect but to assist all such as piously confide in Him 11. Ye that fear the LORD trust in the LORD he is their help and their shield 11. And let all that fear the Lord and devoutly worship Him of whatsoever Nation they be place the like confidence in his Almighty Goodness For He will never forsake those that depend on Him alone though they be not of the seed of Abraham but defend them also in all dangers and aid them against all their enemies 12. The LORD hath been mindfull of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron 12. We have had abundant experience of his care over us in all ages and therefore though now for the present our enemies afflict us yet let us believe that the Lord will doe us good and bless us with a glorious deliverance All the house of Israel shall see how kind He is especially they that minister unto Him in his holy Temple 13. He will bless them that fear the LORD both small and great 13. And He will not forget those pious Proselytes that are come to worship Him there as the onely God but without any respect of persons give them his blessing also which shall not be denied either to old or young to rich or poor 14. The LORD shall increase you more and more you and your children 14. Nor will He grant you onely a single blessing by sending a present deliverance but heap his benefits and multiply his mercies upon you and upon all those that shall succeed you 15. You are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth 15. Ye are a happy people who live under the care and love and benediction of that mighty Lord whose power nothing can confine for He is not made like the Gentile gods but Himself created both the Heaven and the Earth 16. The heaven even the heavens are the LORD's but the earth hath he given to the children of men 16. In which He cannot be comprehended neither for his Empire extends further then you can see to the heavens which are above these visible heavens from whence his Providence reaches down even to us the children of men whom He hath placed upon this earth to admire and praise his infinite Majesty 17. The dead praise not the LORD neither any that go down into silence 17. And therefore will not suffer us to be rooted out as our enemies design 2 Chron. XX. 11. for then the earth would have none in it to sing his praises which the dead who dwell in the silent grave cannot celebrate 18. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore Praise the LORD 18. But will continue us still alive that we may praise the Lord and speak good of his Name as we do at this time 2 Chron. XX. 21 22. and leave those to succeed us who shall continue his praises in all future generations to the worlds end Hallelujah Praise the Lord. PSALM CXVI ARGUMENT I do not understand the reason why Theodoret applies this Psalm to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes when it agrees so exactly to the condition of David in his flight from his Son Absalom which seems to be mentioned Ver. 11. when Ahitophel and others proved very false to him and he had little or nothing to depend upon but onely the Goodness of the Almighty who was pleased to plead his cause and deliver him For which he resolved to be very thankfull and to call all his Friends to rejoice with him as I have expressed it Ver. 13. where the first