is the propitiatory which is his footstool since he sits on the wings of the Cherubins 1. THe LORD reigneth let the people tremble he sitteth between the cherubims let the earth be moved 1. LET the people fret and be tumultuous if they please it will do them no service for the Lord is the supreme Governour of the world whether they will or no and they had better with a pious fear submit themselves unto Him Though the whole earth should be in an uproar we are safe and secure for the Lord is attended with innumerable heavenly Ministers who are a Guard to his faithfull worshippers 2. The LORD is great in Sion and he is high above all people 2. The Lord whose Palace is in Sion is transcendently great there is no power on earth able to oppose Him who infinitely surpasses the united strength of all people 3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name for it is holy 3. Let them all therefore praise and reverently acknowledge thy mighty and dreadfull Majesty for that alone is every way most excellent and hath no equal and therefore worthy of all veneration 4. The Kings strength also loveth judgment thou dost establish equity thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 4. For though none can resist Him yet He is not a King that uses his power to wrong or oppress his Subjects but to do them right and give them relief in which He delights This is thy character O Lord who hast established most equal Laws among us and hitherto governed the seed of Jacob with exact justice and singular mercy 5. Exalt ye the LORD our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy 5. Do you therefore above all other people extoll the Lord our God both in your thoughts affections and words and turning your faces towards the Ark of his presence prostrate your selves before his Majesty in token of your absolute subjection to Him For He is incomparably above all other Beings and the proper object of your adoration 6. Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among them that call upon his name they called upon the LORD and he answered them 6. Thus did Moses and Aaron two of his principal and most famous Ministers XXXII Exod. 11. XVI Numb 45 46. and thus did Samuel one of his greatest Prophets that were wont to intercede for you 1 Sam. VII 5 8 9. VIII 5. XII 19. These holy men fell down before Him to make their humble supplications to Him and He gave them what they desired 7. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar they kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them 7. He spake to them in a familiar manner telling them his mind out of a pillar of cloud wherein He appeared to them XXXIII Exod. 9 10. XII Numb 5. XVI 42. 1 Sam. III. 10. and they like faithfull servants of his conformed themselves to his precepts by which He testified his will to them and worshipped him after that manner that He appointed them 8. Thou answeredst them O LORD our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions 8. Whereby they obtained great favour with Thee O Lord our God for when they prayed to Thee Thou fulfilledst their petitions passing by for their sakes the sins of those who had highly offended Thee but taking a most severe vengeance on all those who contemned their authority and were contriving how to depose them XII Numb 2 9 10. XVI 3 31 35. 1 Sam. VIII 7 8 9 c. 9. Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy hill for the LORD our God is holy 9. Imitate therefore the piety of those admirable men and raise your thoughts and affections and voices to extoll and magnifie the Lord our God as much as you are able for you can never do it enough And in token of your absolute subjection to Him go and prostrate your selves before Him at his house on the holy hill of Sion for the Lord our God is incomparably above all other Beings and alone worthy of your adoration PSALM C. A Psalm of Praise ARGUMENT There is no other Psalm hath the like Title with this which is called a Psalm of Praise or rather of Thanksgiving and acknowledgment for Divine blessings as the word is translated below Verse 4. and in most other places For which reason I suppose it is that the Hebrews imagin as the Chaldee Paraphrase as well as other of their Authours tells us it was peculiarly appointed to be sung when their sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered mentioned VII Levit. 12 13. The Companies also or Quires of them who gave thanks to God are called by this Name XII Nehem. 31 38. Which makes it probable that the Levites sang this Song upon that occasion which the Greeks think was made by David who invites all the world to join with the Israelites in the service of Him who was kind and gracious to them beyond expression Accordingly we Christians now properly use it in acknowledgment of God's wonderfull love to us in Christ by whom we offer up continually spiritual sacrifices for redeeming us by the sacrifice He made of himself for making the world anew and creating us again unto good works according to his faithfull promises which we may depend upon for ever I do not know but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made Ver. 3. may be used here as it is 1 Sam. XII 6. for advancing raising or preferring them as He is there said to have done Moses and Aaron making them to be what they then were a famous people in a good Land which seems to agree best with the following words and not we our selves and therefore I have not omitted that sense For to deny that we created our selves is altogether needless but that it is not to be ascribed to our industry or wit that we are raised to a happy condition is a proper expression of humility 1. MAKE a joyfull noise unto the LORD all ye lands 1. LET all the people of the earth lift up their voices in triumphant Songs to the honour of the Lord who deserves all our praises 2. Serve the LORD with gladness come before his presence with singing 2. Make the service of the Lord your delight nay greatest pleasure and when you approach into his Tabernacle shout for joy that you are admitted into his blessed presence to praise Him with your chearfull hymns 3. Know ye that the LORD he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture 3. Consider that the Lord whom you worship is the Creatour and the Governour of the world who gave us our Being and all the good things we enjoy His we are and by his power and goodness not our own we are become so great and mighty a Nation whom out of his own mere good will alone He hath made his peculiar people of
ARGUMENT This is a mournfull Song composed by some of the captive Levites in Babylon when he reflected upon their sad parting with their dear Country and the scorn wherewith their insulting Enemies treated them in that strange land Which he foresaw God would severely punish by the hand of some other cruel People who should shew them as little mercy as they had shewed the Israelites The vulgar Latine ascribes this Psalm to Jeremiah upon which Inscription Theodoret who found it also in some Greek Copies in his time passes this censure that the bold Authour of it wanted wit as the Inscription it self openly proclaims for Jeremiah was not carried captive into Babylon but when he had staid some time in Judea was compelled by the disobedient Jews to go down with them into Egypt Yet there are those who to excuse this would have us think that Jeremiah sent this Psalm to the Captives in Babylon and that it is called a Psalm of David for so it is in the vulgar Latine also because made after the example of his Psalms As Virgil said he sung Ascroeum carmen among the Romans when he made his Georgicks in imitation of Hesiod In the Paraphrase of the first Verse I have followed a conjecture of Saint Chrysostom's that the Captives were not suffered at their first coming thither to dwell within any of their Towns or Cities but were dispersed all along several Rivers of the Country where they built Tabernacles or Cottages for themselves and perhaps were forced to drain those moist places to make them wholesome 1. BY the rivers of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Sion 1. WHen we were transported from our own Country into the Land of Babylon and had the sides of Euphrates and several of its Rivers I. Ezek. 1. assigned for our habitation there we sate down in a sorrowfull posture and could not refrain from tears when we called to mind the happy days which we enjoyed in the holy Hill of Sion 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof 2. We brought our harps along with us wherewith we were wont to praise the Lord 1 Chron. XV. 16. But as our fruitfull vines and figtrees under which we formerly sate were turned into barren willows and osiers so all our mirth and joy was turned into such heaviness and sorrow of heart that we let all our Instruments of Musick hang neglected upon the boughs of those dolefull trees 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying Sing us one of the songs of Sion 3. For when our new Masters who had carried us away captive they that had laid Jerusalem on heaps and had power to doe what they pleased with us required us between jest and earnest to entertain them with our Musick and to let them hear one of those Songs which were wont to be sung in the Temple 4. How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land 4. Neither fear nor favour could extort this service from our Levites but they resolutely answered As those Songs were not made for pastime and sport but in honour of the great Lord of the world So how can you imagin that miserable slaves are disposed to sing and to sing those Songs in the Land where we are exiles which recount the mercies of God unto us in our once most flourishing Countrey 5. If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning 5. No said I then within my self if I forget thy desolations O Jerusalem though never so far removed from thee so as to gratifie their desires by prophaning thy Musick and thy Songs then let my right hand be benummed or quite lose its skill of touching the harp any more 6. If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy 6. Let me be struck dumb and never be able to move my tongue if I be not so mindfull of thee as never to sing again till I see Jerusalem and her holy Solemnities restored 7. Remember O LORD the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said Rase it rase it even to the foundation thereof 7. Which joyfull day I hope will come when Thou O Lord wilt call our enemies to an account And first of all reckon with the Edomites XLIX Jer. 10. XXV Ezek. 12. who instead of pitying Jerusalem as became kind neighbours and relations were glad to see the day of its desolations and incouraged our destroyers with their acclamations saying Lay it flat lay it even with the ground upon which it stands 8. O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us 8. And then shall your turns come O ye Babylonians who have laid waste so many Nations but shall one day be made desolate your selves XIII Isa 19 c. And may that Prince and people prosper and be happy L. Jer. 9 41. who shall pay you in your kind and use you as barbarously as you used us LI. Jer. 24 35 49. 9. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones 9. He shall be praised and thought to have done a worthy work who shall snatch your sucking children from their mothers breasts and have no more mercy on them then upon the whelps of wolves or such like creatures but shall dash out their brains against the walls of your houses or stones in the street XIII Isa 16. that there may be no remains of such a cruel generation LI. Jer. 62. PSALM CXXXVIII A Psalm of David ARGUMENT This is one of David's Psalms as the Title assures us wherein he thankfully acknowledges God's Goodness to him in advancing him from a low and afflicted condition to the royal dignity which remarkable change would invite he thought other Kings and Princes to have a very great regard to his Divine Majesty who he hoped therefore would support and defend him in his new-gotten Kingdom by the same Almighty power which raised him unto it 1. I Will praise thee with my whole heart before the gods will I sing praise unto thee 1. I Will make Thee my thankfull acknowledgments O Lord with the devoutest affections of my heart thy holy Angels shall be witnesses of my gratitude which I will express in Psalms and Hymns in the presence of the great Assembly of the Judges XXII Exod. 9. LXXXII Psal 1 6. that they may remember to whom they owe their power and authority 2. I will worship towards thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name 2. I will prostrate my self in the humblest adorations of Thee toward the place where the Monument of thy Divine Presence is and acknowledge how much I am indebted to thy almighty
may well be a warning to all fell Tyrants not to be so fierce and outragious which will onely present Thee with the fairer opportunity to glorifie thy self and raise thy praise to a greater height as Thou hast now done by suppressing the Assyrians fury who if they have any reliques of wrath which may boil up again in their hearts Thou shalt chain it up and not suffer it to break forth to our further disturbance 11. Vow and pay unto the LORD your God let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared 11. And let this excite you all who are thus marvellously delivered to make more liberal promises of gratefull Sacrifices as well as to perform those which you have already vowed to the great Lord your most gracious God who so far excells all others that the Nations round about us who hear the fame of this shall reproach you if you be forgetfull of his benefits by the presents which they shall make to Him 2 Chr. XXXII 23. who ought to be feared by all his Friends and is most terrible to his Enemies 12. He shall cut off the spirit of princes he is terrible to the kings of the earth 12. For he can easily with a sudden stroke not onely take down the proud stomach but take away the life of the fiercest Captains and Commanders 2 Chr. XXXII 21. yea make the greatest Monarchs who keep the world in awe quake and tremble at his dreadfull executions PSALM LXXVII To the chief Musician to Jeduthun A Psalm of Asaph ARGUMENT A Psalm composed by Asaph and sent by him to that Song-Master who was over the Children of Jeduthun in which I imagined at first sight that he represented the sad condition of Hezekiah and the motions of his heart towards God in his sickness 2 Chron. XXXII 24. XXXVIII Isa 1. But upon further consideration it appears from the latter part of it that he bewails the calamity of all the Nation either when Senacherib over-ran the Country or else in the Captivity of Babylon If we refer it to the latter then it was not Asaph the Seer whom I mentioned before Psalm LXXIII that made this Psalm but some other in after times see Psal LXXIV who laments the long continuance of their Captivity which looked like an utter forsaking by God but he comforts himself at last with the remembrance of what God had done formerly for them when he delivered them out of the Egyptian bondage 1. I Cried unto God with my voice even unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me 1. I Have incessantly made my prayer to God and I will still most earnestly intreat his favour To Him who hath justly afflicted us and can alone relieve us have I again and again renewed my importunate suit which I hope will at last prevail with Him for deliverance 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted 2. I have not negligently discharged this Duty but as the distress is great wherein we are so I have restlesly implored help from the Lord In the night when men are wont to bury their troubles in sleep I have with unwearied diligence spread out my hands unto Him in token that all my dependence is upon His power alone resolving to admit of no consolation till I obtained a gracious Answer from Him 3. I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Selah 3. I remembred indeed how kind God had been unto us in former times but this onely gave me the greater trouble when I compared it with our present miseries and the more I mused on it the more my spirit was disturbed and miserably afflicted 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak 4. Insomuch that I could not close my eyes to take a wink of sleep nor open my mouth such was my perturbation and astonishment to express the heaviness of my grief 5. I have considered the days of old the years of aucient times 5. All that I could doe was to recount thy mercifull Providences over our Forefathers in times past and ponder seriously what wonders Thou didst for them many ages agone 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search 6. I called to mind all the Songs I had indited to celebrate the memory of those ancient benefits and spent whole nights in silent meditations and diligent inquiries which I revolved to and fro in my mind why He who had taken such care of our Ancestours had so long rejected us 7. Will the LORD cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more 7. Will the Lord thought I abandon us for ever Is He so incensed against us that He will never be reconciled nor intend to shew us any more favour 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore 8. Is his infinite mercy which is the fountain of all his benefits quite exhausted and will He never hereafter speak a word of comfort to us 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Selah 9. Hath God whose property it is to shew mercy quite laid aside all thoughts of exercising his clemency towards us or have we so highly provoked Him to anger that He hath no regard at all unto our miseries 10. And I said This is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High 10. But having thus complained and said within my self This is the thing which sorely afflicts me to see such alterations in the proceedings of the most High that the same hand which formerly protected us now severely scourges us 11. I will remember the works of the LORD surely I will remember thy wonders of old 11. I presently considered that there might be a change again and resolved to comfort my self with the remembrance of the former works of the Lord and to go back as far as the Miracle Thou didst for us in bringing us up out of the Land of Egypt when our deserts were as small as in these days 12. I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings 12. Of all the ensuing wonders I will think rather then on our present miseries I will not omit one of them but instead of these complaints make them the constant subject of my discourse 13. Thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a God as our God 13. From which I cannot but conclude that the method of thy Providence O God is not onely perfectly holy and just but quite out of our reach nor is thy Power inferiour but as Thou dost not proceed in the common way of our thoughts so none can resist what thy incomparable Majesty thinks fit to effect 14. Thou art the God that
the Master of Musick to be sung as the VIII Psalm upon Gittith in the beginning of it upon the Feast of Trumpets And he introduces God Himself before whom they were summoned as I said by these Trumpets to appear instructing them in the end of this Solemnity and complaining of their forgetfulness of his benefits in giving them so great a deliverance out of the Egyptian slavery and of their hard heartedness in preferring their own Inventions and the miseries they brought thereby upon themselves before his Counsels and the happiness He intended for them Which happiness is expressed in the last Verse by satisfying them with honey out of the rock concerning which the learned may consult Bochartus de Sacris Animal Part. II. L. IV. c. 12. 1. SIng aloud unto God our strength make a joyfull noise unto the God of Jacob 1. SIng praises aloud unto God to whose mighty power alone we owe the Deliverance which we now Commemorate shout with the voice of triumph in honour of Him who was so good unto your Forefathers 2. Take a psalm and bring hither the timbrel the pleasant harp with the psaltery 2. Offer to Him your chearfull Hymns and to compleat the melody and express the greatness of your joy let some with Timbrils others with the pleasant Harp and others with the Psaltery celebrate the memory of his mercies 3. Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon in the time appointed on our solemn feast-day 3. And let the Priests especially X. Numb 8. take care to blow with the Trumpets at this sacred Solemnity on the first day of the seventh month the principal New Moon in the year that all the people may call to mind the Trump of God XIX Exod. 16 19. which our Fathers heard at his dreadfull appearance on Mount Sinai to give his Law unto them 4. For this was a statute for Israel and a law of the God of Jacob. 4. For thus hath the Lord decreed in that Law where the God of our Father Jacob requires this service of us XXIII Lev. 24 c. 5. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony when he went out through the land of Egypt where I heard a language that I understood not 5. This He appointed unto the Children of Joseph as well as the rest of the Tribes of Israel for a perpetual memorial of his benefits when He going out over all the Land of Egypt XI Exod. 4. XII 23 29. and destroying all their First-born forced them to let us depart into the Wilderness where we heard to our great astonishment for we were never before acquainted with it the voice of God 6. I removed his shoulder from the burthen his hands were delivered from the pots 6. Who considering with Himself what a title He had to our service having taken off the heavy burthens which the Egyptians laid upon our backs and rid our hands of those sordid and dirty Imployments wherein they made us labour 7. Thou calledst in trouble and I delivered thee I answered thee in the secret place of thunder I proved thee at the waters of Meribah Selah 7. Admonished us to this effect saying You cryed to me by reason of your cruel servitude under Pharaoh's Task-masters II. Exodus 23. and I delivered you out of it III. 8. and again answered your prayers when you cried unto me in a new distress at the red Sea XIV Exod. 10 13. but confounded the Egyptians with Thunder and Lightning out of the cloudy Pillar XIV Exo. 24 25. LXXVII Psalm 18. After all which I might well expect you should depend upon me but presently found you full of distrust and infidelity at the waters of strife XVII Exod. 7. where I gave you a new proof of my power 8. Hear O my people and I will testifie unto thee O Israel if thou wilt hearken unto me 8. Of which if you will still enjoy the benefit then give ear O my people and I will solemnly declare my will and give a severe charge unto you O ye Israelites if you resolve to be obedient to my admonitions 9. There shall no strange god be in thee neither shalt thou worship any strange god 9. Then this is the principal thing upon which all the rest depends you shall not suffer any other Gods to be acknowledged among you but onely me XX. Exod. 3. 23. nor shall you worship the Gods of other Nations XXIII Exod. 13 24 32. 10. I am the LORD thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt open thy mouth wide and I will fill it 10. For I and I alone am the living Lord the eternal God who gave a Being to all things and who am your peculiar Benefactour having brought you out of the Egyptian Bondage XIX Exod. 4. XX. 2. And if you will be faithfull and obedient to me inlarge your desires as far as you please and I will satisfie them for all the world is mine XIX Exod. 5. XXIII 25. 11. But my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me 11. But notwithstanding their seeming compliance with Him and the fair promises they made Him XIX Exod. 8. XX. 19. XXIV 3 7. He presently complained XXXII Exod. 7 8 9. as I hear Him still do at this day my people would not be obedient to me and Israel would not rest contented with me a-alone 12. So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust and they walked in their own counsels 12. So provoked by their long stubborness I took no further care of them but left them to do as they pleased saying let them follow their own inventions 13. O that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways 13. But it had been better for them to have adhered to me who out of my tender affection to their good still wished even when they were so refractory that my people Israel had been so wise as to have followed my directions and been led by my advice and not their own foolish imaginations 14. I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries 14. Then I should in a short time have quelled all their enemies and by one Victory after another have quite destroyed those adversaries which since I brought them into Canaan have often miserably afflicted and oppressed them II. Judg. 2 3 14 15 19 20. III. 1 c. IV. 2. 15. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him but their time should have endured for ever 15. All that maligned their prosperity and set themselves against the design of the Lord to make them victorious over their enemies should have been so daunted that they should have dissembled their inward hatred and been forced at least to a counterfeit submission but his people should have seen blessed days and injoyed a substantial and durable happiness without any interruption 16. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of
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
in all generations 1. O Lord who sustainest and governest the whole world Thou hast been the constant Protectour of our Nation for many Ages having afforded all things necessary for the defence and security of our Forefathers Abraham Isaac and Jacob when they had no certain dwelling-place but were strangers in the Land whither we are going and supported us in the Land of Egypt where in a time of dearth Thou madest an ample provision for us as Thou hast also done hitherto in this barren desert 2. Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God 2. Where though we have no Towns nor Houses we ought to think our selves safe and to trust in Thee who art the same mighty God Thou ever wast not onely before we and our Forefathers were made but before the mountains arose out of the waters and Thou commandedst the rest of the earth and this beautifull world to appear and ever wilt be whatever changes there be here without any alteration 3. Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye children of men 3. We have highly offended Thee indeed and so did our first Parents who became thereby most wretched and miserable Creatures and were doomed by Thee to return to the dust out of which they were formed as all their posterity must do whensoever Thou summonest them to obey that sentence Thou hast passed upon them 4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past and as a watch in the night 4. And should we have a reprieve for a longer time then our first Father Adam and some of his successours had who lived near to a thousand years we should be wretched still especially when we compared our selves with Thee in whose account the longest life is as inconsiderable as one day and that when it is spent and gone nay as three or four hours which pass away in sleep 5. Thou carriest them away as with a floud they are as a sleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up 5. But alas in these ages Thou carriest men away suddenly as a violent torrent doth those things it meets withall in its passage they vanish like a dream when we awake and are as grass which in the morning is grown higher and stronger then it was 6. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut down and withereth 6. But how flourishing and fresh soever it then appear is cut down before night and loses all its beauty such is the frailty of man who now is in vigorous health and anon languishes and falls to the earth 7. For we are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled 7. This I am sure is our condition who have so provoked Thee to anger by our sins that we perish in an instant XVI Numb 35 46. and are perpetually disturbed with dreadfull apprehensions of thy heaviest displeasure XVII Numb 12 13. 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee our secret sins in the light of thy countenance 8. After many threatnings Thou hast proceeded as a righteous Judge to call us to a severe account for all our foul crimes though never so secretly committed and makest it appear by our punishments to all the world XIV Numb 20 c. that we are a perverse generation though we pretend to thy service 9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath we spend our years as a tale that is told 9. For we constantly feel some effects or other of thine anger whereby our lives decline exceeding fast and many times before we can say what 's this is at an end 10. The days of our year are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flie away 10. We fall short of the days of our Forefathers being now all doomed to perish in the Wilderness and not to exceed commonly the age of LXX or if men be of a vigorous constitution at most of LXXX years the best part of which also is spent in toilsome travels XX. Num. 14. XXI 4. XXXI 11. II. Deut. 1 3 c. and much sorrow and vexation to see the strongest among us cut down like grass in a moment or at least making great haste unto their graves 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger even according to thy fear so is thy wrath 11. And yet alas who is there that seriously considers and lays to heart the dreadfull effects of thy displeasure which irresistibly falls upon us XXV Num. 1 2 3 c. or with such a pious fear as it ought to excite takes any care to prevent more terrible punishments then those we have felt already 12. So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisedom 12. Lord do Thou touch us with a sense of thy judgments that we may not presume thus foolishly to offend Thee as our Fathers have done but making a just account of the shortness and uncertainty of our lives may wisely apply our selves to make the best use we can of them in repenting of our sins 13. Return O LORD how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants 13. And then be pleased to turn thy severity into kindness towards us Let it suffice good Lord that we have indured so many and long punishments and now at last revoke or mitigate the sentence Thou hast past upon us who though very disobedient are thy servants 14. O satisfie us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days 14. O let us see some appearance of thy love to us which may satisfie and chear our languishing souls like the morning light after a tedious night and instead of sighs and groans fill us with shouts of joy all the remainder of our days 15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us and the years wherein we have seen evil 15. Compensate our past troubles with future comforts and make our happiness to equal if not exceed the misery we have suffered 16. Let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children 16. Declare to all the world that Thou hast not quite forsaken us thy servants but wilt still work wonders for us and doe more glorious and magnificent things for our Children though we have sinned against Thee XX. Numb 17 18 c. XXXI 2. II. Deut. 25. III. 24. 17. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us yea the work of our hands establish thou it 17. Let them inherit by the special favour of the Lord our God that lovely and pleasant Land XLIX Gen. 15. VIII Deut. 7 8 c. which He hath promised to give us and for that end direct
and the King of Gerar XX. 3 c. to prevent the mischief which they were designing to them 15. Saying Touch not mine anointed and doe my prophets no harm 15. For He told them these were sacred persons whom He designed to make greater men then themselves and therefore charged them not to burt them but to honour them not merely as Princes XXIII Gen. 6. but as Prophets XX. 7. by whose prayers they should receive great blessings if they were kind to them 16. Moreover he called for a famine upon the land he brake the whole staff of bread 16. And when in the days of Jacob He punished the Land of Canaan as well as other Countries with such a dearth XLI Gen. 54 c. that the earth brought forth no kind of grain for the support of humane life 17. He sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a servant 17. He took a special care in a most wonderfull way to provide both for him and for his family for Joseph whom his Brethren first conspired to destroy but afterward were diverted from their purpose and onely sold for a slave was brought into Egypt by the secret Counsel of God XLV Gen. 5 7 c. to be the instrument of their preservation 18. Whose feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in iron 18. He was oppressed indeed for a long time by a most grievous calumny which was a sorer affliction to him then the chains and fetters that were at first laid upon him in prison 19. Vntill the time that his word came the word of the LORD tried him 19. Till mention at last was made of him to Pharaoh by one of his Officers who related how exactly Joseph predicted what had befaln him and another of his Fellow-servants as if he were a man inspired XL. Gen. 21 22. XLI 12 13. 20. The king sent and loosed him even the ruler of the people and let him go free 20. Whereupon the King presently sent for him XLI Gen. 14. that great Prince whose Dominion extended over many Provinces commanded him to be set at liberty 21. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance 21. And received such satisfaction from him about his dream which none of his Wise men could interpret that he not onely wholly discharged him from his imprisonment but made him the chief Officer in the Court and under himself the supreme Governour of his whole Kingdom XLI Gen. 40 41. 22. To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his senatours wisedom 22. Yea intrusted him with an absolute power to command all the Rulers of his several Provinces what he pleased and to punish their disobedience according to his discretion The most ancient and wisest Counsellours in the Realm were ordered to repair to him and to doe nothing without his Instructions XLI Gen. 44. 23. Israel also came into Egypt and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 23. By which great Authority he procured not onely the leave but the invitation of Pharaoh XLV Gen. 16 17 c. to his Father to come and bring all his Family with him into Egypt and accordingly he came and dwelt in the best part of all the Country XLVI Gen. 26 28. 24. And he increased his people greatly and made them stronger then their enemies 24. Where according to his promise when He bad Jacob accept that invitation XLVI Gen. 3 4. the Lord multiplied them exceedingly I. Exod. 7. and made them mightier then the Egyptians I. Exod. 9. who of Friends were now become their Enemies 25. He turned their heart to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants 25. For the kinder God was to the Israelites and the more He increased their Numbers the greater jealousie it begat in the heart of the Egyptians which turned at last into an absolute hatred of them and provoked their malice to invent the cruellest ways first to diminish I. Exod. 10 11 c. and then to destroy them Ver. 15 16. 26. He sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen 26. This moved the Divine compassion when He saw their oppression grew intolerable to give commission to Moses whom He had in an extraordinary manner preserved from perishing III. Exod. 10. and to Aaron whom He chose to be his Assistant IV. Exod. 15. to go and demand their liberty of Pharaoh IV. Exod. 23. V. 1. 27. They shewed his signs among them and wonders in the land of Ham. 27. And he disputing their Commission and refusing to let Israel go they proved it and perswaded him to obey it by many miraculous works which God commanded them to doe as tokens that He had sent them 28. He sent darkness and made it dark and they rebelled not against his word 28. Among which the pitchy darkness which overspread the whole Land three days except onely where the Israelites dwelt was a very remarkable punishment of Pharaoh's blindness who would not see the hand of God in all those other plagues which Moses and Aaron not fearing his displeasure but pursuing their orders had inflicted on him 29. He turned their waters into bloud and slew their fish 29. As first of all the Lord commanded them to stretch their hand upon all the waters of Egypt which He turned into bloud and made them so putrid that the fish which was in the river died VII Exod. 20 21. 30. Their land brought forth frogs in abundance in the chambers of their kings 30. And at the next stroke produced such a vast number of frogs out of the stinking waters and mudd that not onely the whole earth was covered with them but no house no room in their houses no not the Cabinets of their King and his Princes were free from their annoyance VIII Exod. 3 6. 31. He spake and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts 31. And then followed an infinite swarm of the most pestilent sort of flies see Psal LXXVIII 45. after a troublesome and filthy plague of lice which had infested all the Country VIII Exod. 17 24. 32. He gave them hail for rain and flaming fire in their land 32. Which was succeeded after a murrain upon their Cattel and a fiery ulcer on their own bodies by a dreadfull storm of hail when fruitfull showrs of rain were most desirable together with such lightning as was never seen for it ran upon the ground and burnt up all that was not destroyed by the hail IX Exod. 23 24 c. 33. He smote their vines also and their fig-trees and brake the trees of their coasts 33. Which not onely struck down the grapes and the figgs but shattered the vines and fig-trees themselves together with many other fruit-trees in the Land 34. He spake and the locusts came and caterpillers and that without number 34. And whatsoever escaped this tempestuous storm for some things were not then grown up IX Exod. 31. was not long after devoured by an innumerable army
the service of Devils but offered their bloud the bloud of innocent babes even of their own sons and daughters as I said upon the Altars of the Idols of Canaan prophaning thereby the holy Land with the most impious and unnatural Murthers 39. Thus were they defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions 39. Besides other abominable works wherewith they defiled themselves such as Whoredom and all manner of beastly lusts which were the filthy vices of those Nations whom God cast out before them XVIII Lev. 24 25 27 28 c. 40. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance 40. And so contrary to nature as well as his Law that the Lord was exceeding angry with them II. Judg. 14 20. and the more because He had made them his people whom He now abominated as impure and unclean though once they had been very dear unto Him 41. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen and they that hated them ruled over them 41. And thereupon delivered them up to the power of those impious Nations with whom they contracted friendship when they should have destroyed them III. Judg. 3 5. IV. 2. XIII 1. who retaining still their ancient hatred exercised a rigorous tyranny over them IV. Judg. 3. 42. Their enemies also oppressed them and they were brought into subjection under their hand 42. And so did many other of their neighbouring enemies the Mesopotamians and Moabites III. Judg. 8 12. the Midianites and Amalekites VI. 2 3 c. and such like X. 7 8. who not onely grievously afflicted them but deservedly made those their subjects nay slaves who would not serve their gracious God 43. Many times did he deliver them but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity 43. Who still continued so kind to them that upon the first sign of their repentance He constantly raised up the spirit of some great Man or other to rescue them from every one of these Oppressours though they as constantly provoked Him again by relapsing to their former Idolatry which in the issue brought them exceeding low X. Judg. 8 9. 44. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry 44. And yet such was his tender compassion towards them He did not absolutely refuse to help even these base revolters X. Judg. 14 15 16. when in their distress they made a lamentable moan and promised amendment 45. And he remembred for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies 45. For He was not unmindfull of the Covenant He had made with their Forefathers XXVI Levit. 42 44 45. XXX Deut. 1 2 3. but let them reap the benefit of it in ceasing to punish them and when they deserved to be utterly destroyed bestowing many and exceeding great blessings on them 46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives 46. For He inclined the hearts even of those who had subdued and implacably hated them unto some compassion towards them so that they did not indeavour their total extirpation XIII Judg. 1. XIV 2. XV. 9 10 c. 47. Save us O LORD our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise 47. And therefore we humbly hope still in the same great mercies and beseech Thee O most mighty Lord who hast been wont to doe our Nation good to deliver us how unworthy soever from all our present enemies and to restore such of us as are faln into their hands unto their own Country that they may join with us in giving thanks to thy incomparable goodness and setting forth thy praises with the greatest joy and triumph saying 48. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise ye the LORD 48. Let the great Lord of all the world who hath been so gracious unto Israel as to chuse them for his own peculiar people be most heartily blessed and praised Let all generations bless Him as long as the world shall last and unto all eternity and let all his people concur in these desires and wish it may be so let them all praise the Lord and desire He may be ever praised The End of the FOVRTH Book of Psalms The Fifth BOOK OF PSALMS PSALM CVII ARGUMENT The Fifth Book of Psalms which consists most of Praises and Thanksgivings begins here with an exhortation to those whom God according to the Prayer foregoing CVI. 47. had delivered from Pagan servitude to acknowledge that singular benefit with their hearty Thanksgivings and thence to take occasion to magnifie his mercifull Providence over all other men not onely of that but of all Nations when they addressed themselves unto Him in their distresses For instance Travellers in the desart who have lost their way Prisoners Sick people Mariners Husbandmen even whole Countries the Psalmist shews are made strangely prosperous if they have a regard to God and on the other side fall into great misery if they neglect Him It had been endless to enumerate all other cases but by these any man may understand if he please as he observes in the conclusion how good the Lord is and ready to help those who fly unto Him for succour whatsoever their condition be The Authour of the Psalm is unknown but if I have guessed aright at the connexion of this with the foregoing Psalm it is most probable it was composed by David who having in the CV put them in mind as Theodoret observes of the promises made to the Patriarchs and of the blessings bestowed on their posterity and in the CVI. of their horrid ingratitude for such benefits and the punishments for that cause inflicted upon them declares in this Psalm the inexplicable kindness of God in their freedom from slavery and in his carefull Providence as I said over all mankind which might give them the greater incouragement to hope in Him if they served Him faithfully who had taken them for his peculiar people 1. O Give thanks unto the LORD for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 1. O Make your gratefull acknowledgments to the great Lord of the world of whose Goodness you and your Forefathers have had such long experience that you may conclude his loving kindness will extend it self to all succeeding ages 2. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy 2. Let them especially call upon one another to give thanks unto his Goodness whom the Lord hath graciously redeemed from a sad Captivity into which they were reduced by their prevailing enemies 3. And gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south 3. And hath brought them back to their own Country again from all the Lands on every side into
words sufficiently declare the sense but I have added more to explain the phrase which is borrowed from the custom of those days about which the Reader may consult Mr. Mede p. 483. last Edit In this resolution he was so serious that he repeats it again in the conclusion and saith he will pay his vows in the midst of Jerusalem from whence the History tells us he was forced to fly in great haste to save his life 2 Sam. XV. 14 c. This seems to be the occasion of the Psalm which may very well befit any other persons that receive any great deliverance from God and accordingly I will order the Paraphrase and fit it for the expressing of their devout affections 1. I Love the LORD because he hath heard my veice and my supplications 1. O How I love the Lord He knows that I love Him exceedingly and there is the greatest reason for it because He hath so graciously heard my prayer when in my distress I cried unto Him 2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 2. I cannot chuse but mention again this love of his in granting so readily my desires which incourages and ingages me on all such occasions to address my self with thankfull acknowledgments unto Him and to the last breath of my life to expect deliverance from Him 3. The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow 3. Great was my misery exceeding great Death it self and the grave were ready to seize on me and I saw no way to escape nay I my self in the anguish of my Soul inconsiderately cast my self into danger 4. Then called I upon the name of the LORD O LORD I beseech thee deliver my soul 4. Yet I did not despond in these straits but made the mighty wise and good Providence of God my refuge to whom I cryed saying O Lord who wast before all things and commandest them as Thou pleasest rescue me I most humbly beseech Thee from those dangers which threaten my destruction 5. Gracious is the LORD and righteous yea our God is mercifull 5. And it was not in vain that I cryed unto Him for the Lord hath shewn me how ready He is to doe good and how faithfull in his promises and withall how gentle in his punishments and inclinable to pardon our faults which demonstrates that no people serve such a gracious Master as our mercifull God 6. The LORD preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me 6. I had perished I am sure if I had relied onely on my own Wisedom or the skill and policy of others But the Lord was my hope who preserves the most simple and incautious Souls when they commit themselves to Him and wholly depend on his Providence I ought to say so who was reduced to a most forlorn estate and then by his assistance in a wonderfull manner delivered 7. Return unto thy rest O my soul for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee 7. What hast Thou then to doe O my Soul who hast been so tempestuously tossed but to settle thy self again in peace and tranquillity loving and praising the Lord who hath very many ways expressed his bounty most liberally to thee 8. For thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling 8. For when the dangers of death surrounded me Thou O my God didst deliver me when ever any sadness seized on me Thou hast been my Comforter and when I have been in danger of hurts maims or bruises or of falling into the hands of my enemies Thou still hast been my Protectour 9. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living 9. I ought therefore and I am resolved to imploy all that health and chearfulness that soundness of body and mind that peace and safety which Thou hast thus graciously bestowed on me in doing Thee to whom as my Sovereign Lord I owe all faithfull service as long as I stay in this world 10. I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted 10. I had nothing I will thankfully remember to depend upon but onely thy kind Providence In this I placed my trust in this I placed my trust in this I gloried to others when I was in my greatest straits for the truth is I was extreamly miserable 11. I said in my haste All men are liars 11. Pressed on all sides with dangers from which when I fled as fast as I was able 2 Sam. XV. 14. XVII 16. 22. I concluded it was vain to rely on the friendship and help of men For they in whom I trusted proved so false and treacherous 2 Sam. XV. 31. that I had reason to think the rest would deceive and fail my expectation when I was in the greatest need of them 12. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits towards me 12. O the greatness of thy love who even then didst interpose and deliver me by the assistance of some faithfull Friends who still stuck to me 2 Sam. XVII 13 c. What shall I render unto the Lord who heard my prayer 2 Sam. XV. 31. How shall I shew my self gratefull to Him for this and for all other his benefits which He hath heaped upon me 13. I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD 13. All that I can doe cannot make Him more happy But as my duty binds me I will praise the Lord and speak good of his Name and give Him thanks in the best and most solemn manner I am able I will call all my Friends together to rejoice with me and taking the Cup which we call the Cup of Deliverance because when blessed and set apart we are wont to commemorate the blessings we have received I will magnifie the Power Goodness and Faithfulness of God my Saviour before all the company and will drink my self and then give it to them that they may praise his Name together with me 14. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people 14. And whatsoever I have promised Thee O Lord in the time of my distress I will faithfully ingage my self to perform before them all They shall see I am not forgetfull of Thee who wast so mindfull of me in my trouble 15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints 15. As indeed Thou art of all good men whose lives Thou preservest as a precious Jewel and wilt not give them up to the pleasure of their enemies nor suffer them to be lost but by thy special Providence 16. Oh LORD truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds 16. Accept good Lord of these my resolutions for I am sensible that I am thy servant every way thy servant and intirely obliged to be faithfull to Thee
heart and representing the inextricable straits and difficulties wherein I am expose my self unto Him as an object of his pity 3. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path in the may wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me 3. Now that I am utterly at a loss and ready to faint away in a confusion of thoughts Thou knowest very well a way for my escape though by the intelligence they hold with my Enemies 1 Sam. XXIV 1. they have blockt up all the Passages which I am acquainted withall and laid Ambushes for me in every Rode 4. I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me refuge failed me no man cared for my soul 4. Look about thee O my Soul and see if thou canst spy any hope of relief from thy best and most powerfull Friends there are none of them that dare own thee nor do I know whither to fly for safety if any of them would be so kind as to invent a means and open a way for my deliverance from the present danger 5. I cried unto thee O LORD I said Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living 5. All that I can doe is to recommend my self to Thee O Lord by fervent Prayers saying I trust my self with thy Almighty Goodness as in a sure Sanctuary I have nothing else in the world to depend upon but Thee alone by whom I will hope to be protected and provided for as long as I live 6. Attend unto my cry for I am brought very low deliver me from my persecutors for they are stronger then I. 6. O let my importunate cry prevail for some relief which will come most seasonably in this exceeding great necessity rescue me now that I may not fall into the hands of my Persecutours who are every way except in these cries unto and confidence in Thee much too strong for me 7. Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy Name the righteous shall compass me about for thou shalt deal bountifully with me 7. Bring me with life and liberty out of this dismal cave wherein I am pent up that I may make my thankfull acknowledgments to thy Almighty Goodness which shall attract the admiration of all good men and provoke them unanimously to joyn together with me in praising Thee when they see that Thou art the most righteous Judge and bountifull Benefactour of those that commit themselves unto Thee PSALM CXLIII A Psalm of David ARGUMENT To the Title of A Psalm of David Theodoret says he found in some Greek Copies these words added to explain the time of its composition when Absalom his Son persecuted him Which he confesses was not then in the Hebrew no more then it is now nor in other Interpreters of the Psalms but agrees well enough he thinks with the truth of the story So he that was the Authour of the vulgar Latine thought also though there are some passages in the Psalm which sound as if it had been made during the persecution of Saul at some time when he was in the like distress with that described in the foregoing For v. 3 4. he uses some of the same expressions which we find there and represents himself as in danger to be buried in some such Cave as that mentioned in the last verse of Psalm CVLII where he begs as he doth here for a speedy deliverance Yet for all this there are other passages which will incline us to adhere to the forenamed Addition and apply the Psalm to his flight from Absalom For then it was he had most reason to fear lest God should deal with him according to his sins which he deprecates v. 2. with such a deep sense of his unworthiness that it hath made this to be numbred among the penitential Psalms and is the last of them The memory of also of God's former deliverances of him a great while before v. 5. may well refer to what He had done for him not onely against Saul but before he knew him which as he doth not forget so he hoped the Lord would now remember and grant him the like again when he was in the like distresses 1. HEar my prayer O LORD give ear to my supplications in thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness 1. I Renew my requests and my earnest supplications unto Thee O Lord for some relief in these new straits and difficulties into which I am faln hoping though I am very unworthy yet in thy abundant mercy Thou wilt faithfully fulfil the promises Thou hast made to me 2. And enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified 2. My sins indeed 2 Sam. XII 9 10 11. have justly brought these troubles upon me but I humbly beseech Thee to own me still for thy Servant and not to call me unto a severe account for what I have done amiss but to deal favourably with me For if thou shouldest proceed according to the rigour of the Law the best man living much less so great a Sinner as I will not be acquitted at thy Tribunal 3. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul he hath smitten my life down to the ground he hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead 3. And I am not so bad but my Enemy that persecutes me is far worse who without any provocation seeks my life and hath already utterly despoiled me of all the comforts of it 2 Sam. XV. 30. and forced me to seek my safety in holes and obscure places in the Wilderness XVII 16. where I seem to be buried alive without any hope of a resurrection 4. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me my heart within me is desolate 4. Which as it calls to mind the distress wherein I was when in my flight from Saul I hid my self in Caves see CXLII 3. so it hath the same effect upon me for I am ready to swoun away in this great perplexity which hath struck me with such astonishment that I have no strength remaining in me 5. I remember the days of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the work of thy hands 5. Till I call to mind withall not onely what Thou didst for me in that former persecution but long before in my younger days when I was delivered by Thee from the greatest dangers 1 Sam. XVII 34 c. on these wonderfull works I meditate and consider with my self that not by my own strength but by thy stupendious power I was then preserved 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land Selah 6. And then I feel my fainting Spirits return again and though I despair of humane help I make my prayer unto Thee with a cherefull confidence for thy relief which I long for and expect with as eager desire as the parched ground gasps for