hence I shall dwell with thée in that celestial house above and with them sing Honour and Glory to thee who sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore Amen PSAL. XXIV Of Christs Dominion and the Church and his Ascension THE Subject of this Psalm is Christ calld The King of Glory vers 7. And it hath two parts 1. The first that concerns Christs Lordship which is in general over the whole world vers 1 2. But in particular the Church from vers 3. to vers 7. 2. An Exhortation to all men to receive Christ for their King The first part of this Psalm shews that God is King of all the world The first part Christs Dominion but in his Kingdom he hath two kind of Subjects 1. Either all men in general For the earth is the Lords Vers. 1 and all that therein is the compass of the world and they that dwell therein 1 Over all And of it he gives a reason from the Creation of it He ought to have the dominion of it Vers. 2 and all in it For he hath founded it upon the Seas and establish'd it upon the floods 2. But all are not his Subjects in the same way There are a people 2 Over the Church whom he hath call'd to be his Subjects in another manner A Mountain there is which he hath sanctified and chosen above all other Hills to make the Seat of his Kingdom 't is the Church and over them that live in it he is in a more peculiar manner said to be a Lord than of the whole earth And these are more properly call'd his Servants and Subjects And yet among these there is a difference too For some only profess to be his Servants and call him Lord as Hypocrites some other there are that are his Servants really and truly And that this difference be taken notice of the Prophet asks Quis Vers. 3 Who shall ascend into the bill of the Lord And Who shall stand in his holy place In which some of his Subject are hypocrites As if he should say Not Quisquis 'T is not every one for Infidels are not so much as in the Church Hypocrites howsoever in the Church are no true Members of the Mystical Church and some which come to the Hill of the Lord yet stand not in his Holy place For many believe only for a season and few continue faithful to death 3. That then it be truly known 2 Others true Subjects Their Characters who they are over whom he is truly Rex gloriae The King of glory The Prophet gives us their Character and sets down three distinctive Notes by which they may be known 1. Cleanness of hands He that hath clean hands à cade furto c. Vers. 4 is free from all external wicked actions 1 Clean hands For the hand is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Purity of heart For external purity is not enough except the heart 2 A pure heart the Fountain of our actions be clean Hypocrisis est in cor consentiat 3. Truth of the tongue is not guilty of lyes and perjuries 3 A true tongue He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity nor sworne deceitfully After that the Prophet had given the Character by which you may know the man he then assigns his reward and ends with an acclamation 1. Their reward a blessing This is he that shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness i. e. be justified from the God of his Salvation 2. Vers. 5 Vers. 6 This is the generation of them that seek thee i. e. These are the people of God Because these are alone the people of God let other boast themselves and please themselves as they list yet these are the godly party these they that seek thy face O Jacob i.e. O God of Jacob. This part is an Exhortation to all men in the whole world The second part especially Princes Nobles He exhorts all to receive Christ Magistrates that they receive acknowledge and worship Christ as King 1. Life up your heads O ye gates i. e. O you Princes that sit in the gates Vers. 7 lift up your heads and hearts be ye lift up you everlasting doors portae mundi and the King of glory shall come in 2. Vers. 8 To which good counsel the Prophet brings in the Princes asking this Question in scorn and contempt Which they deride Who is the King of glory To which he answers The Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in Battle I tell you who he is To their ruine one able to destroy you and will destroy you if you reject him For he is far beyond all the strength and power of men He is the Lord mighty in Battle Dominus excercituum And that his Exhortation pierce the deeper he ingeminates it with the answer vers 9 10. I know this last part is otherwise interpreted and I dislike it not See Bellarmine The Prayer out of Psalm 24. which was composed to be Sung on the Sabbath O Omnipotent God the Creatour and preserver of the whole Vniverse Vers. 1 who art Lord of the whole earth of whose fulness all partake and to whom all that dwell in the world owe homage and subjection For thou hast created the Globe of this earth upon which we tread Vers. 2 and so immoveably founded and fixed it upon the floods that the violence of the Sea doth not overwhelm it nor the waves thereof ascend above it We acknowledge that the whole stock of men that walk upon this earth and are sustain'd from it as they are thy creatures so they are thy vassals and that thou hast a just dominion over them This is an Argument of thy Power and Majesty But thy love to man-kind hath far more abounded in that out of all Nations thou hast cast thy eye upon a select company vouchsafed to call them into thy Church Vers. 3 in which thou hast set thy Seat as sometime in Mount Zion that thou wilt dwell among these be adored by these and give a favourable answer to the petitions that these shall make unto thée Of these thou requirest integrity purity fidelity Clean hands a pure heart Vers. 4 and a faithful tongue These are the generation that séek thée and to these thou hast promised thy blessing thy mercy Grant therefore O Lord. that we may have hands clensed from all impure actions a heart frée from all hypocrisie and base affections a tongue that will never take thy Name in vain either rashly deceitfully or maliciously but that in heart word and déed we may be so sincere that we may be accompted by thée of that number who are worthy to ascend into the Hill of the Lord and dwell remain and continue in thy Holy place O Lord afford us thy grace thus to seek thee and then we shall never despair of thy blessings and
affrighted me nor flattery won upon me to turn to the right hand or unto the lest But I have put my trust in thee thy loving kindness hath been before my eyes and I have been pleased in the way of Truth Be merciful therefore to me Ver. 1 O Lord that I may go on as I have begun and suffer not my féet to slip in this way nor to fall out of the way By the way side there be too too many tempters and temptations the most are destitute of thy fear having one thing in their heart another upon their tongue in whose hands is mischief and their right hand is full of bribes But thou knowest O Lord That I have not sate in counsel with these vain persons neither will I go in and converse with these dissemblers for I have hated with a perfect hatred the Congregation the Assembly the Society of these Malignants and with my whole heart have detested their Covenants and Engagements I have not I will not sit with these wicked and evil doers lest I should be infected by them or countenance and confirm them in mischief and draw on others by my example They Lord have demolished and polluted thy dwelling place but I love the habitation of thy house by their irreverence in that place they dishonour thée but I will come and fall low before thy Foot-stool well knowing that there thine honour dwelleth And when thou shalt again open those doors unto me if I contracted any soil I will wash it off with a flood of tears and being an innocent among thy innocent people and about thy Altar I will adore and with the Quire of those that sing to thy Name I will praise and exalt thy Mercy and Majesty There will I publish with Thanksgiving and tell abroad all thy wondrous works There with Hymns and Psalms composed to that end I will declare to all men that are there present how wonderfully and mercifully thou hast wrought for me and for thy people in delivering us from the hands of our blood-thirsty enemies Since then O Lord I have alwayes detested and declined the counsels and confederacies of evil-doers since I have béen ever studious of Religion and loved the communion of Saints Take not away my soul with sinners and involve not my life in that perdition which here and hereafter is due to these men of blood and oppressors of the innocent As for me I have walked innocently wronging none nor desirous to wrong any though I have séen the wicked prosper in their wickedness and some have judged them happy men yet I am not moved with their multitudes success or example I will yet walk in my integrity therefore good God destroy me not with these evil doers be merciful unto me and redéem my soul from the evils with which I am encompassed and from those evils that hang over their heads My foot hath hitherto béen kept right by thy grace and mercy therefore when thou shalt bring me back again to thy Temple I will not be unthankful but I will sing praises to thy Name in and with the great Congregation Amen PSAL. XXVII To comfort one in Danger and Adversity against Despair THERE be four general parts of it David shews 1. How free he is in danger from fear and the causes ver 1 2 3. 2. He expresses his love to Gods House and Religion ver 4 5 6. 3. He prayes ver 7 c. 4. He exhorts to depend on God ver 14. Possible it is that some Man Friend or Foe might ask David The first part David fears not because God is with him what heart he had in his miseries and persecutions all the time of Saul To whom David might return this Answer That he was never disheartned he never did despair and the Reason was because God was his Light to guide him his Rock to save him his Strength to sustain and uphold him The Lord is my Light and my Salvation of whom then should I fear Ver. 1 The Lord is the Strength of my life of whom then should I be afraid Of which he had experience And this he amplifies in the next two verses first by experience he had already found this true When the wicked Ver. 2 even mine enemies came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell secondly he puts a case Say that an Host of men should encamp against me my heart shall not fear Ver. 3 though War should rise against me in this will I be confident The Arguments of his confidence were Gods goodness ver 1. And was therefore confident and his own experience ver 2. to which he adds three more in the 5 10 13 verses 1. That God would hide him in his Tabernacle ver 5. Ver. 5 2. That when his father and mother forsook him God took him up ver 10. 3. That he should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living ver 13. He expresseth his great love and desire to the Tabernacle and House of God The second part His love to Gods house One thing I have desired this one before all other things and he was constant in it That emphatically I will seek after that I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the dayes of my life and that for three ends Ver. 4 1. To behold the beauty of the Lord to taste how good and gracious the Lord is 2. To enquire in his Temple there to search the mind of God 3. To offer in his Tabernacle sacrifices of joy Ver. 6 and to sing praises to the Lord. And this was another Argument of his security For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his Tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me upon a Rock and now shall mine head be lifted up above all my enemies round about me In the last part he falls to prayer The third part 1. He prayes For Audience and an Answer Hear O Lord when I cry with my voyee have mercy upon me Ver. 7 and answer me 2. 1 The ground of his prayer obedience The ground of his prayer his obedience to Gods Command Thou hast said seek ye my face Thy face Lord will I seek 3. Ver. 8 The matter of his prayer in general Hide not thy face from me put not thy servant away in anger Ver. 9 in which he hath good hope to speed even upon former experience 2 The matter of his prayer in general that God desert him not Thou hast been my help be not now worse to me than thou hast been therefore leave me not now nor forsake me O God of my salvation when father and mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up 4. Ver. 10 The matter of his prayer in particular Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path In particular to he taught a way to escape his enemies i. e. Teach me
and derision to them that are round about us and this he amplifies Ver. 14 1. From the circumstances 1. That they were a Proverb of reproach The Aggravation by an excellent incrementum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen 2. That in scorn any one that would used a scornful gesture toward them We are become a shaking of the head among the people 3. That this insultation is continual My confusion is daily before me Ver. 15 4. It is superlative shame so great that he had not what to say to it The shame of my face hath covered me Ver. 16 5. It is publick their words and gestures are not concealed they speak out what they please Asham'd I am for the voyce of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth for the enemy and avenger Thirdly And yet he useth a third Argument The third Argument from the constancy of the Church under the Cross that the Petition may be the more grateful and more easily granted drawn it is from the constancy and perseverance of Gods people in the profession of the Truth notwithstanding this heavy cross persecution and affliction All this is come upon us Thus we are oppressed devoured banished sold Ver. 17 derided Yet we continue to be thy servants still we retain our faith hope service 1. We have not forgotten thee not forgotten that thou art our God 2. We have not dealt falsly in thy Covenant we have not bogled and jugled in thy Service daubing with any side for our advantage renouncing our integrity Ver. 18 3. Our heart is not turned back our heart is upright not turned back to the Idols our Fathers worshipped 4. Our steps are not gone out of thy way Slip we may but not revolt no not though great calamities are come upon us 1. Broken 2. Ver. 19 Broken in the place of Dragons i. e. enemies fierce as Dragons 3. Their appeal Though covered with the shadow of death Now that all this is true we call thee our God to witness Ver. 20 who knowest the very secrets of the heart and art able to revenge it If we have forgotten the Name of our God or stretched out our hands to c. Ver. 21 Shall not God search it out for he knows the very secret of the heart Fourthly But the last Argument is more pressing than the other three The fourth Argument from their profession of truth it is not for any wrong we have done those who thus oppress us that we are thus persecuted by them it is for thee it is because we profess thy Name and rise up in defence of thy Truth Yea for thy sake are we killed all the day long Ver. 22 for thy sake are we counted as sheep for the slaughter The sum then is since thou hast been a good God to our Fathers since we suffer so great things under bitter Tyrants since notwithstanding all our sufferings we are constant to thy Truth since these our sufferings are for thee for thy sake His Petition thy truth therefore awake arise help us for upon these grounds he commenceth his Petition The second part This is the second part of the Psalm which begins ver 23. and continues to the end in which Petition there be these degrees 1. That God Ver. 23 who to flesh and blood in the calamities of his Church seems to sleep would awake and set a stop to their trouble Awake why sleepest thou O Lord ver 23. 2. That he would arise and judge their cause and not seem to neglect them as abjects Arise cast us not off for ever ver 23. 3. That he would shew them some favour Ver. 24 and not seem to forget their miseries Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and oppression 4. Lastly That he would be their Helper and actually deliver them Arise for our help Ver. 26 and redeem us for thy mercies sake Which Petition that it might be the sooner and easier granted he briefly repeats the second Argument Ver. 25 ver 25. For our soul is bowed down to the dust our belly cleaveth to the Earth brought we are as low as low may be even to the dust to death to the grave The Prayer collected out of the forty fourth Psalm O God the Father of mercy Ver. 1 Thou hast called those thy people which were not a people and chosen them to be thy children who were aliens and strangers to thy Covenant Ver. 2 We have heard with our ears and our Fathers have declared unto us That thou hast gathered thy Church out of all Nations that thou hast driven out thine own people the Jewes and planted us Gentiles in their room Thou hast called us by thy Gospel redéemed us by thy Blood purified us by thy Spirit and that not for any merit that was in us or goodness or power Ver. 3 to which we could lay claim For we got not a possession in thy Church by our own Sword neither was it out own arm that could save us but it was thy right hand and thy arm and the light and favour of thy countenance no other reason can be given of this wonderful kindness but because thou hadst a favour and borest a good will unto us But now O Lord Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame Thou hast not gone forth with our Armies Ver. 9 Thou hast made us turn our backs upon our enemies and they that hate us spoile us our habitations our goods and thy Temples at their pleasure deslined we are like simple and harmless shéep to be slaughtered and devoured by these gréedy woldes scattered and dispersed whether they please and forced out of our Countrey to dwell among another people As slaves they have made merchandize of us and sold us at so base a rate as if we were of no value as if the most contemptible thing were price good enough for us To our neighbours we are become a reproach to those round about us a scorn a derision a proverb our misery is their mirth and at the sight of us in a scoff they shake their heads every day we méet with what doth amaze and confound us and for shame in every place we come we hide and cover our faces for our enemies lift up their voyces and revile us petulant they are and take their revenge by reproaches and blasphemies Thou Lord knowest the secret of the heart Thou Lord knowest that 't is for thy sake we are killed all day long and accounted no better than sheep appointed to be slain Ver. 21 All this is come upon us for thee these scorns and calamities we suffer for the profession of thy Truth and yet we are patient under the Cross Yet we have not forgotten thee thy Worship thy Service nor dealt falsly and hypocritically in thy Covenant our heart is yet sincere and upright we have not turned our backs upon thee Ver. 17 neither have our steps gone out of
every man according to his works call these tyrants to an account for the male-administration of thy Laws Render them O Lord seven-fold into their bosomes So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture shall give thee thanks for ever PSAL. LXXXIII 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 TO resolve this Psalm there is no difficulty For it branches it self into These parts 1. A short Ejaculation or Prayer vers 1. 2. A Complaint of the enemies of Gods Church which is the reason of his Prayer from vers 2. to 11. 3. A fearful Imprecation against them from vers 11. to the end 1. The first part An ardent Ejaculation The Prophet out of a holy impatience at the patience and long-suffering of God calls ardently and earnestly upon him as appears by the ingemination of the words that he would be no longer patient at the affronts and insultations of the Churches enemies The cause was his own not to be endured then longer Keep not thou silence Vers. 1 O God hold not thy peace be not still O God 2. The second part His complaint of enemies And next he begins to Complain which was the reason of his Petition These were enemies 1. To the people of God 2. To God himself vers 5. And then he tells us who they were from vers 6. to 9. 1. Vers. 2 He describes the enemies of the Church The Characters of which are Their Characters 1. They were Souldiers They make a tumult Their warlike fierceness is signified by it As Lions Bears 2. They were arrogant and proud They that hate thee life up their head And wilt thou then be silent 3. They are subtle men They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones those whom thou hidest under the shadow of thy wings Thy peculâ—â—r Exod. 19.5 4. Their intent Their counsel broke out into action and they encouraged one another in mischief even to the total and final destruction of the Church Come say they let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance 2. Which Confederacy and Conspiracy was not only against the people of God but against God himself For they have consulted together with one consent nemine dissentiente The Conspirators and are confederate against thee 3. He gives us in a Catalogue of these Conspirators All the world against God and his Church The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ismaelites of Moab Vers. 6 and the Hagarens Gebal and Ammon and Amalek the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tire Ashur also is join'd with them they have holpen the children of Lor. Selah 3. And having discovered the men and their attempts The third part He prayes to God to take revenge on them he prayes to God for revenge which consisted in four particulars 1. Their fall and ruine 2. Their persecution 3. Their terrour 4. And their disgrace Which he illustrates by divers similitudes 1. Of a wheel that easily runs down a hill 2. Of stubble driven away by the wind 3. As wood burnt up by the fire 4. Of a flame that consumes the Mountains 5. Of a tempest that throws down all things before it 1. Their ruine and fall he would have it total and exemplary That their ruine be total Do unto them as unto the Medianites as to Sisera as to Jabin at the brook of Kison Which perished at Endor and became as the dung of the earth Make them and their Princes like Oreb and Zeb yea all their Princes as Zeba and as Zalmunna Of which he interserts a reason Who have said Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession 2. And this their ruine he would have sudden and violent 2 Sudden and violent as appears by the similitudes 1. Precipitate them whirl them down O my God make them like a wheel or unquiet in mind 2. Remove them as light things are blown away by the wind Make them as stubble before the wind 3 Terrible and shameful 3. Burn them as speedily as the fire burns the wood Or as the flame sets furs on fire on the Mountains 3. Persecute them with thy tempest 4. Make them afraid with thy storm 5. Fill their faces with shame These three parts of their punishment 1. Flight 2. Fear Terrour 3. Shame and Ignominy The ends of his prayer And that the Prophet might not seem uncharitable in this bitter imprecation he now shews the ends why he thus prayed These were two 1. The first That they might seek after God in effect be converted 1 That converted Do this to them that they may seek thy name O Lord. 2 Or confounded Or as others conceive Seek thy name meerly out of a servile fear of Gods vengeance and contain their fury not daring any further to attempt any thing against the Church Which the next verse confirms Let them be confounded and troubled for ever yea let them be put to shame and perish i. e. brought to utter destruction or at least so enfeebled that they may be said to perish 2. The second That thereby Gods glory may be the more exalted 3 And Gods name glorified viz. That men may know that thou whose name is Jehovah art the most High over all the earth i. e. not Lord of the Jews only but the Gentiles also Vt cognoscatur Junius That thy Eternity Majesty Power may be acknowledg'd by all men The Prayer collected out of the eighty third Psalm O Omnipotent God Vers. 2 so great is the hatred so many the conspiracies so secret and malicious are the counsels of our enemies against thee and thy people that were it not for the promises which thou hast made unto thy people we should despair and faint They have appeared in Arms and headed the iumultnous many against us They who by their impiety shew they hate thee have lift up in pride their head they have taken crafty counsel against they people and consulted against those whom thou hast taken under the shadow of thy wings So great is their malice and hatred to us that they have said in their hearts and encouraged each other in this mischief Come say they let us cut them off from being a Nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance yea their consultations and confederacies their Leagues and Covenant is not so much against us as against thy honour thy service thy truth which we endeavour to maintain They have consulted together with one consent and are confederate against thee yea so far they have prevailed that they have taken to themselves and their own use all the houses of God in possession Wherefore Vers. 1 O Lord we beseech thee keep no longer silence hold not thy peace be not still since thy enemies lift up their heads against thee awake and lift up thy head against them and thou who for thy people Israels safety didst shew thy
delivered over our souls to death this encourageth us yet to rely upon thée Ver. 8 and to trust to thée and we know It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord than to put any confidence in Princes Ver. 14 For some would but cannot some can but will not help but thou art a God of power and if thou wilt Thou canst become our salvation and we believe thou wilt because thou hast spared us hitherto and hast not given us over to death Save now we beseech thee O Lord O Lord we beseech thee send us now prosperity Be our strength that we may resist and be our salvation that in thy Name we may destroy them that compass us about Let the voyce of rejoycing and salvation be once more in the Tabernacles of the righteous and let this be their song The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly The right hand of the Lord is exalted The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly We have béen froward and stubborn children and for this the doors of thy house have béen shut against us in mercy O Lord open unto us once more the gates of righteousness Ver. 19 that we may go into them and praise the Lord That hath befallen to us Ver. 22 which befel our Head thy dear Son our Lord and Saviour He was the Head-stone of the corner and yet the chief builders refused him and cast him aside but thou didst not forsake him in this contempt and low condition Thou call'ost for him again and gavest him a Name above every name This was the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Look down now O Lord from thy Mercy-seat behold how the living stones in thy building are refused and cast aside call for them again and set them in their places and do it in such a way that the whole World may say This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give the praise In the day of thy power thy people shall offer thée free-will offerings they shall appear in the beauty of holiness and sing This is the day that the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it God is the Lord that hath shewed us light The Priests then shall bless thy people as they ought out of thy house Ver. 1 and every one of thy people shall sing with a loud voyce and with his whole â—eart Thou art my God and I will praise thee Thou art my God and I will exalt thee How joyful will be the melody of the whole Assembly as the Seraphims crying one to another O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth for ever Let them all now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever It is his mercy that we were not consumed and his méer mercy that hath brought us together again into his house to offer unto him this Sacrifice of Thanksgiving in the Name of Iesus Christ our Lord Amen PSAL. CXIX Est mixti generis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 AS this Psalm is the longest of all the rest so it is of most use because it teacheth us in what true happiness doth consist and by what means it may be obtained to wit in the keeping of Gods Commandments 1. To these David shewes a singular affection because there is not any one verse except the 122. in which he makes not mention of Gods Word under some of these names Law Statutes Precepts Testimonies Commandments Promises Wayes Word Judgments Name Righteousness Trâ—th 2. What he writes of them he desires no doubt to be committed to memory and to help us in that he hath divided the whole into twenty two Sections and comprized every Section in eight verses and every verse in the Hebrew of each Section begins with that letter with whith the Section is intituled as if it begins with Aleph then Aleph begins every verse if with Beth with Beth and so in all the rest for which this Psalm may be called the A. B. C. of godliness 3. Any other method of this Psalm cannot well be laid only we may say that every verse in it either contains 1. A Commendation of Gods Word from some excellent quality in it 2. Promises to those that keep it 3. Threatnings against them that keep it not 4. A prayer of David for grace to confirm him in the observation of it 5. Protestations of his unfeigned affection toward it The meaning of those Synonyma'es used in this Psalm under which the Commandments of God are signified which are ten 1. The Law because it is the Rule of our actions Torah Gods Doctrine 2. Statutes because in them is set down what God would have us do 3. Precepts because God as the great Law-giver prescribes the Rule for us 4. Commandments because God layes his Commands upon us for their observation 5. Testimonies because they witness his Will to us and his Good-will if observed by us 6. Judgments because they pronounce Gods judgment of our words works thoughts 7. His Word because they proceeded from his mouth 8. The wayes of God because they shew the way that God would have us walk 9. His Righteousness because they contain an exact righteousness and justice in them 10. Promises because they have the promises of life if kept PSAL. CXIX ALEPH. IN this first Octonary The Contents the Prophet commends to us the Law of God and perswades to the practice of it by two Arguments The first is happiness ver 1 2. The second is the excellency of the Law-giver ver 4. 2. He shewes his affection to this Law desiring grace to keep it ver 5. upon which he knew there would follow a double effect 1. Peace in Conscience He should not be ashamed and confounded ver 6. David perswades to obedience 2. Thankfulness to God for his teaching ver 7. 3. He acquaints us with his Resolution if God should assist him ver 8. Blessed are they who are undefiled in the way Ver. 1 who walk in the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies Ver. 2 and seek him with their whole heart They also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes 1. The first argument Blessedness The first Argument the Prophet useth to perswade men to obedience is Blessedness which is so true that godliness hath the promise of this life and that which is to come eternal and temporal felicity depend upon it He then that would be happy must be obedient and his obedience if true may be thus discerned 1. Ver. 1 He must be undefiled in the way Via is vita and he must keep himself as much as may be from the dirt and filth of sin To