the comfortable support of other of Gods people in affliction that however they may unadvisedly misjudge themselves as exposed of God in a regardless manner to the malice and furie of their enemies when their lives are indangered yet it s far otherwayes The Lord makes more account of the lives of his holy ones which he will suffer no man nor men on earth to have the command and dispose of but onely himself they are too precious to be set so light by and therefore be confident such cannot miscarrie by any policie power or malice of men whatsoever but by special commission from God for special purposes and when they do miscarrie by his ordination they still remain dear to him aswel dead as alive 16 Blessed Lord I now well perceive those words true which sometime I thought to be false how that thou hast indeed ordained me to the honour to be thy servant and that in an eminent manner which truly is my highest title and preferment to be thy servant and the son of thy spouse and handmaid the Church visible and invisible and thus to be delivered by thee from a state of thraldom and miserie to a condition free to serve thee is infinite goodness 17 For which I will magnifie thee and with publick praises and peace-offerings will make my thankful acknowledgements of thy power and goodness to me-ward 18 And what I vowed in my miserie when I prayed for mercie I will accordingly perform it now that thou hast set me free to do it all Israel being witness 19 Openly in the publick convention of all thy people at thy sanctuarie in Jerusalem the place appointed for thy solemn sacrifice-worship there upon thine Altar will I offer my sacrifice of thanks-giving in the view of all Israel and in their hearing praise thee with me praise ye the Lord all his people The cxvii PSALM The Psalmist in Prophecie of the calling of the Gentiles and uniting all in one Church through the head Christ exhorts all to praise the Lord for so great goodness and rich mercie so freely extended 1 O All ye nations and people throughout the world Gentiles as wel as Jews praise the Lord praise him every where without exception 2 For his saving grace and mercie by the redemption of Christ is extended unto both in him we are made one Church that were a divided people and an undeserving the one as well as the other his grace alike free and his goodness great to both of us For for his promise sake once delivered and never to be reversed hath he done this for us and as well all other promises as this will he perform to the end for and concerning his Church his faithfulness cannot fail though our sins deserves it should Therefore in the faith of his faithfulness and love of his goodness that hath made all partake of Christ let all men praise the Lord. The cxviii PSALM David seated in the throne quickens up the people and Priests of the Lord unto thanks-giving for his endless mercies to his Church as himself in the behalf thereof which he personated had experimented whereby his faith was raised to an holy insultation over his enemies for the future Further shews the happiness that God hath brought to his Church by the change of him for Saul and the glorie he hath got to himself which for his part he ingageth himself to celebrate solemnly in his sanctuarie which upon this occasion both he and the rest of the righteous will now they may frequent There he will praise him for making him as in humiliation so in exalâ—ation the type of Christ. Prayes for the Churches happiness upon this wonderful change pronounceth certaintie of blessing to himself and Christ in the office and errand God sets them in and sends them about Concludes with the manifold hearby praises of God both from himself and the people whom he exhorts allwayes to be praise-ful as God is graâ—iously faithful 1 LEt us be mindful of the goodness of God to be thankful for it whose mercie to his Church and faithful people never failed nor never shall 2 Let his adopted people now in this their flourishing condition give him the glorie of those many mercies which ever since they were known by the name of Israel they have successively in all ages partaked of 3 Let the Priests and Levites their adjutants that occupie Aarons place and office in the sanctuarie now that they are reduced into such a form and model as never before of worshipping the Lord acknowledge his mercie and the succession of it to them according to promise from their first progenitors 4 Yea let those that are Gods Priests and people indeed that believe and obey him say now if God be not as good as his word in shewing mercie to his Church those I mean that fear his name 5 I have had my share of sufferings in which I personate the Church and yet I can say and do that his mercie endureth for ever and so shall she in all ages for when ever the Lord put me to it and that I was distressed I put him to it in humble wise I minded him of his promise and this way my constant custom and so it was his ever when I did so to deliver me all along till now that he hath set me quite at libertie from my troubles enlarged my happiness as you see 6 I have had such experience of the Lords being for me against mine enemies that however I look never to be without yet that shall not trouble me neither their power nor their plots for he that could deliver me then can and will much more protect and prosper me now that he hath brought me to this estate 7 I have ever found it and doubt not but I ever shall that God blesseth me and those that side with me many or few with good success which makes me confident that as I have had so I shall ever have the better of mine enemies what or how many soever they be and in stead of ruining me I shall ruine them 8 9 I have found it better and so shall who ever tries it to put confidence in God than men of what number or degree soever and mine enemies have found the contrarie for by that means I a despicable lone man am preserved and exalted and they for all their honour and power above me are destroyed by his Allmighty hand so much above them 10 11 12 I have been as the Church allwayes shall be the mark that all men have shot at I had all the world against me and none for me but God his power was is and ever shall be my sole trust and confidence O with what deadly hatred from time to time have I been hunted and how many times hath my life been endangered that I could see no way to escape and yet I have
PSALM David taketh occasion to ingage God the more to him by how much the more his enemies and dangers increased upon him by secret treacheries and open violences and found God as he hoped his deliverer whereupon he goes a pin higher and strengthens his faith in his ultimate deliverance and establishment promised at which time when it shall come to pass he promises not to be a little thankful to God To him that is most skilfull upon the stringed instrument Neginoth is this Psalm committed of Davids making upon that occasion when the Ziphims came once and again to inform Saul where David had retired himself with his men for him to persecute him Instructing us to draw near to God as dangers draw nearer to us 1 LOrd remember thy gracious ingagements for my preservation and future establishment accordingly in thy grace and faithfulness deliver me out of mine extream difficulties when all humane help fails then for thy righteousness sake who knowest mine innocencie and mine enemies treacherie let thy miraculous and omnipotent power appear for me 2 Lord be mindful of me that flie to thee for succour and make thee my refuge hear my prayer in this my necessitie and grant me the deliverance I so earnestly make suite for 3 For besides the King and his courtiers and his ordinarie souldierie men that never saw my face meerly because I come to safeguard my self amongst them without any harm to any of them The Ziphims are also conspired against me and have betrayed me to Saul and his complices my deadly enemies who are upon their march against me to catch or kill me These Ziphims as they are strangers to me so they are to God and his wayes else they durst never have sought to betray innocent bloud in this sort The Lord remember them for it 4 But though enemies increase and dangers multiply yet by experience I find that God is able to deliver me and doth do so as my late wonderful escapes have made to appear and though I have many against me that seek my life and but few with me or for me yet they that are on my side he is on theirs and preserves them for my sake 5 The Lord shall be meet with these unjust enemies of mine and reward them according to their treacherous dealing and cruel persecution in thine own time and way O Lord ease me of them by destroying them that would destroy me without cause according to thy faithful promises and righteous judgements 6 If so when that time comes whereas now I am exercised in fear dependence then will I be as conversant in faithful thanks-givings when thou shalt set me free I will praise thee with an inlarged heart and offer free-will-offerings peace-offerings to thee in a plentiful and gratuitous manner magnifying thy grace and faithfulness which I have found made good unto me 7 For so it shall come to pass I am as sure of it as if it were already my faith carries me to it beyond and above all intervening difficulties so that I me thinks already enjoy my quietus est and see my bloud-thirsty enemies laid low enough for doing me any more harm The lv PSALM David being greatly oppressed by Saul and in some imminent danger probably that of Keilah plyes God hard by argument in prayer wishing himself any where out of Sauls reach and that God would by some exemplarie judgement both punish and disappoint his enemies declaiming against the base perfidiousness of some old acquaintance and intimates of his wishing such wicked dissemblers to God and man might perish remarkably but for all their crast and hypocrisie towards him doubts not but God will stand by him as he hath done and both preserve him and punish them He sets forth Sauls perfidious hatred against him but strengthens his faith in God who he is assured will put a speedy end to his cruelty and his own miserie To him that is most skilful upon the stringed instrument Neginoth to which this Psalm of instruction to trust in God for deliverance in greatest troubles is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for the care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 O God mine extremitie is thine opportunitie as is my danger such is my prayer the one present the other pressing In thy faithfulness hear me making my piteous moan in this my miserie for grace and mercie to be shewn me and thy power to appear for me in this my necessitie 2 Be not careless of my condition but weigh well what I say and pray being so nearly concerned and grant what I ask for as my grief such is my sorrow both of them very great forcing me bitterly to complain to thee of mine enemies and to lament my self with woful bewailing which for all my strivings I cannot smother but they do break out from me 3 Because of the calumnies and threats of Saul and his complices against me and their cruel and unjust persecution of me for they lay treason and conspiracie to my charge which I was never guiltie of and for this their false accusation they as if it were true bear a deadly hatred to me and with furie and revenge seek to take away my life 4 Their rage and crueltie is such as I am in such continual danger by it that I sustain wonderful trouble of mind and am almost sunk into despair of escaping their hands who at this instant do put my life in peril if thou deliver not 5 I cannot express the miserie that I am in and the anguish of mind I lie under at present my dangers are so imminent and my trouble so insupportable 6 Insomuch that I could wish my self any where far enough off to avoid Sauls causless suspition of me where ever I might enjoy my peace and freedom from this continual fear I am in of him 7 Had I but means he should soon see I would quit his Kingdom where I am such an eye-sore to him and live in the most solitarie place in all the world rather than to be thus in continual trouble and hazard I would to God it were so 8 He should soon be rid of me if I could tell how to get from him before I would lead this life to undergo this continual storm and tempest of such uncessant vexations within and without I would thrust my ship into any creek in the whole world go as far from him as my legs nay wings could carrie me if I had them 9 Thou hast O Lord heretofore admirably manifested thy power in a marveilous manner destroying those that opposed and mutined against thy servants witness Korah and his complices and against thee witness the confusion of Babel Truly now art thou also affronted and I thy servant endangered as Moses was then by a sort of people the Lord divert and frustrate their malice by destroying them and scattering
fact of thine I am accused and condemned as a Traitour and a proud aspiring person which slanders though innocent yet shame me to think that I should be thus thought of when thou Lord knowest its nothing so 8 My nearest kinred mine own flesh and bloud that lay in a belly with me emulate and censure me as bad as others and think it is my pride and rashness that brings this trouble upon me and them for my sake whereupon they avoid me all they can 9 For truly Lord such hath been my zeal for thy Church and people the promoting the good and prosperity thereof according as thou hast promised and designed I should as that I am wholly taken up as shall the Messiah with the desire of it not mine own self-seeking or interest as I am falsely and slanderously reported by those that indeed are in heart thine enemies and wish and speak evil of me onely for thy sake as they shall of Christ who they strike at and wound through my sides as they shall thee through his 10 Let my behaviour be at never such a distance to the designs they fasten upon me let me walk never so unlike to such attempts more saint than either politician or souldier like mourning for the sins and lamenting the judgements of God upon the Kingdom instead of coveting it for my sake why it was all one this humbling my self and fasting before the Lord was judged to be done in hypocrisie and design 11 I could not so demean my self but whatsoever I did it was wrested to misprision if they saw me in sack-cloth they would point at me and say in derision Behold the King 12 It is not some but all of all sorts that are thus bent against me they that should be wiser graver and juster and of better example even the magistrats and men in office and judicature have their invectives and jears at me and much more the deboisheers and rabscalions in their cups and merry-meetings make sport with me and scornfully abuse me 13 After this sort do men demean themselves but as for me I study not to reveng my self or to return like for like no Lord thou knowest mine application and appeal is to thee and however I am so unacceptable to men yet not to God when all men put me from them then can I betake my self to God in prayer and be welcome he never refuses me accordingly O Lord let me find thee now for I am in the midest of a multitude of miseries therefore in my behalf oppose against them the multitude of thy mercies remember thy promises touching me my deliverance and preservation to fulfill them faithfully 14 For though to my sense and outward appearance according to the face of things in humane probability I cannot scape this danger yet my faith is not so extinct but I know all things are possible to God and therefore pray thee even for the greatness sake of my present affliction to deliver me out of it that I fall not into the hands of my cruel enemies nor by them but that thou wilt save me from drowning that am as it were already so near it that I have but this word to speak to thee before I sink quite over head and ears irrecoverably 15 Let not this torrent of afflictions overwhelm me O thou that commandest the raging seas much more land-storms let me not be swallowed up of them like a ship wracked in a Tempest thou knowest into what a depth of miseries I am implunged find a way out for me to escape and let them not bring me to an utter and untimely end 16 Let me not pour out my complaints in vain nor in effectually open my case unto thee but Lord consider what I say hear me to purpose grant me releif let thy loving-kindness which according to thy promise I know thou bearest me manifest it self in gracious beneficence for I am sure thy love is not a vain but a beneficent love thou art a benefactour to whom thou art a wel-willer accordingly good Lord let me find the sweet effects of the earnings of thy bowells and the tenderness of thy compassions towards me which I know to be very great in a happy and powerfull relief and release of me out of these miseries according to my prayers 17 And do not suffer me thus uncomfortably to remain under a cloud without sence of thy favour or experience of thy goodness who am related to thee as near as man can be to God for I am thy servant chosen by thee and devoted to thee and therefore under thy protection as also because of my trouble which as it is for thy sake so it is great and my danger imminent and so therefore must be and I pray thee so it may be thy help and succour 18 Thou seemest to be afar off though thou art not so in reallity for my dangers greaten upon me and the nearer they approach my life the farther seemingly at least art thou from it in compassion and providence but Lord change the scene come thou speedily to my rescue let thine own goodness and mine enemies ungratiousness move thee to work my deliverance 19 For thou Lord hast known mine innocency and their injuries how they have heaped up lies and disgraces upon me the wrong they have done me they are known to thee and so are the doers of them though they are so many I know them not all yet thou dost and both canst and wilt do me justice upon them 20 Who have so wronged and slandered me that knowing mine own innocency it cuts me to the very heart and is a great grief unto me and the more for that I have none to take my part for as some that know me to be innocent do against their own consciences traduce me so others that believe so of me their mouths for all that is stopt and they dare not or will not speak a good word for me but all men are against me or as good for none are for me to shew any compassion to my wronged innocency or to afford me any comfort and support in my misery 21 Nay instead of comforting me those that I had need of and applied my self unto added affliction to affliction in stead of affording me relief when I craved it they fell upon me with all manner of bitterness and soure usage wherein I am as a member mysticall of Christs body the Church militant so also a type of Christ personall that shall be thus befriended on the Cross comforted with no other cordials then gall and vineger in the agonie of his soul. 22 Let the present plenty and prosperity of mine enemies whereupon they bear themselves so high and which makes them so proud and merciless be the cause of thine humbling them low enough let abused mercies turn to curses as shall Christ himself be to his unjust and inhumane persecutours
false gods readily embrace his truth take the Lord for your God and give your selves to him to be his people count it your happiness to be so that you may have the honour and priviledge to be admitted to put up prayer and to offer praises to him as your God that once were aliens and without God in the world now Christ hath taken down the partition-wall and brought God and you together again be much with him in faithfull and gratefull praising of him 3 Learn this lesson well that the Lord is God and that he onely is so you that have been used to Idolize other gods do so no more own him and honour him for the onely Iehovah that hath being and hath it of himself and that is the sole Creatour of all men we made not our selves and then nothing else but he did nay it is he that hath begotten us again he hath of and by his grace made us new creatures this we are sure is as much of him and as little of our selves as the former those that are his people may thank him they are so their souls had never been renued nor saved by any thing they themselves could have done or suffered vocation justification and sanctification are the gifts of God to his Elect as are all the faithfull of what nation soever of whom we Israelites now his peculiar are a type and as he hath done us in the manifestation of grace and administration of providence such singular love will he bear to his Church for ever 4 Seeing we are to be all one Church begin betime joyn fellowship with us in the worship of this one onely true God do as we do now frequent his holy Temple worship him in the Courts and Ordinances thereof whilest they are till they cease and then in holy Christian assemblies worship him in spirit and truth be thankfull to him and magnifie him for the unspeakable goodness and power manifested in so great salvation 5 For though we be evil yet the Lord is good and though our sins provoke his judgements against us yet his long-suffering and mercy is like himself everlasting we have found it so and so shall his Church in all ages his faithfulness according to the covenant of grace shall not fail on his part though it be too often broke on ours it shall be perpetuated in Christ and for Christ to his Church The ci PSALM David drawing nigh towards the possession of the Kingdom so long promised and delaid to forward the accomplishment preingageth himself to God that he will praise him for it when he hath it and serve him faithfully in it both as a King and a pater-familias in walking uprightly and avoiding sin carefully neither countenancing it in himself nor othors whether in Citie or Countrey Church or Common-wealth but on the contrary the good and godly shall be they he will prefer and imploy A Psalm made by David 1 O Lord when thou shalt in favour to thy servant have seated me in the throne I will magnifie thy free grace and mercifull beneficence in bringing me out of such trouble and hazard unto such an honour and dignity as also thy righteousness and justice when thou shalt have executed those judgements upon mine enemies which thou hast threatned 2 When thou hast advanced me to it I hope I shall walk worthy of it my full purpose is with godly wisdom to order all mine affaires and not be as most Kings are wise to their own and their Kingdoms destruction by exercising their policy to advance their tyranny and governing by no rule of reason or justice but by the arbitrary dictates of their own inordinate appetites I purpose to be wise with other manner of wisdom and to tread in quite other steps in obedience to thy Laws and dispensation of Justice and good government to my people when they are mine Lord when shall that day be that thou wilt come in the full accomplishment of thy promises to me I hope I shall not give thee cause to repent thee whensoever it is for my purpose is to be both a good King over my people and a carefull head over my Court and family to breed my successours and rule my servants and officers as well as my subjects in the fear of God giving good example in my place to all under me both of innocency and sincerity 3 I will watch against the temptations incident to that estate condition whereof it is full will therefore purposely avoid occasions of evil whereby I know beforehand I shall miscarry if not carefully shunned specially then when my power is almost equall with my will therefore in a holy fear of sinning I will turn my back upon allurements refuse their offers and walk in a steady resolved course of holiness and righteousness without coveting an evil covetousness abusing my power to gratifie unlawfull desires for I hate warping and back-sliding such defection is extream distastfull to me by Gods help such corrupt thoughts shall never lodge in my breast nor such wickedness hang at my heels to hinder my progress in piety and good government though I know before-hand the baits that will lie in my way but I will not stoop to take them up 4 I hope then to be rid of this heart which now by reason of my bitter afflictions is sore put to it and oft enclines to discontent and untuneableness but I hope then to be free from the temptation and consequently from the distemper and to be never the prouder for mine honour which I come so hardly by and which whensoever I have it it must be of thy free gift but of meek demeanour both towards thee above me and my fellow-brethren though subjects under me And as I will not allow of wickedness in my self so nor in any other no wicked person nor no person in the practise of any wickedness shall have my countenance to credit him 5 I know how incident Princes are to be misled by whisperers and what false reports they hear by giving ear to flatterers and back-biters to the unjust prejudice of the innocent but I will take a course with such men I will watch mine ears as well as mine eyes will severely punish those that I catch doing so nor shall any proud vain-glorious fool draw me from an humble walking with God such shall see that I know humility and Sovereignty are not incompatible but consistent I will neither pride it over my brethren my self nor suffer any else because of his place or office about me to do so 6 My countenance shall be to the good and not to the bad and my care shall be to find out such as are faithfull and sincere-hearted towards God to entertain and imploy such who I know will also be faithfull and uncorrupt in their places the man that is a practiser of piety and honesty and in the course of his life walks
their unthankfull provocations yet would he not take vengeance on them nor let those enemies triumph in their destruction from under whose power he had newly delivered them but for the honour of his own name that was named upon them they being now noted more than ever for his peculiar people and for the further glorifying of his power and grace in their behalves he brought them safe out of that inextricable strait by an Almighty hand for ever to be had in thankfull remembrance 9 For rather than he would there let them perish and dishonour himself though they deserved it he wrought a Miracle beyond any the rest contrary to the course of nature commanded the very Sea to give place and divide it self to make them way and for all its propensity to return into its course God conjured it to abide as a Wall on their right hand and on their left which it did and could do no other untill they were quite passed through the bottom of it upon the dry land as if it had been part of that Wilderness which afterward they travelled 10 And thus with infinite long suffering and glorious power did he save them because they were his chosen people out of the hands of Pharaoh that perfect enemy of theirs that pursued them with a deadly design either to have reduced them into bondage or slain them all upon the place 11 And these waters that thus gave way to preserve our fathers so soon as they were all passed over and God had revoked his word of command they presently returned into their Chanell and closed again upon the whole Host of the Egyptians all which were drowned therewith so that not a man of them escaped 12 The gladsomness of that deliverance by such a Miracle made them for all their hard hearts at present whilest the sense and memory of it was warm which lasted but a while to credit what God spake by Moses touching his good will to them and his safe and certain bringing them into the land of promise and for a flash they were as full of faith as a bladder full of wind and sang the praise of his rich mercy goodness and power manifested in that their so late and great salvation with abundance of joy and delight in God 13 But alas neither this faith nor praise was out of any well grounded principle towards God but out of the present sense which self-love had of the present good-turn he did them for they had not travelled above three dayes from the red-sea to the waters of Pharaoh but there they were at old ward falling into unbelief and discontent against God and Moses and forgat all that was past as if it had never been even all those wonders within and without Egypt that God wrought for them to have gained their hearts to believe in him and relie on him but it would not be all was one they were in cold bloud the self-same men at one time as at another whensoever God tried them and would never in an humble gratuitous belief of him make their addresses to him and enquire of him in this or that strait but streight-way fell foul ready to flie in Moses his face and consequently in Gods so soon as ever they at any time suffered they had not patience nor piety in the faith of his former transactions which they had experimentally seen managed to the best of advantage and opportunity to wait upon such his wise and seasonable dispensations as might accordingly in the issue still most evince his glory and conduce to their spirituall benefit and edification as his precedent acts had done 14 But they were a carnall-minded people nothing spiritualized nor bettered towards God by all heâ— did for them but made their belly their God settting light by Angels food for they saw nothing Angelicall or Divine in it being mere sensualists inordinately lusting after belly-chear and variety of acates in the very Wilderness where they saw and knew that by course of nature nothing could be had they must either be supernaturally maintained or starve yet in that barren place where God notwithstanding had so long and often miraculously supplied them with all needfull things they were not therewith content but murmured for superfluities questioning the power and not submitting to the will of God as if what they wanted and had not as they desired was because he had not power to give it them 15 But the Lord to vindicate his power which they had impeached saying who shall give us flesh to eat or can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness and to let them see the unprofitableness of creature-contentment though in never so great abundance if not sanctified by the word of God and prayer sent them their desire even plenty of Quails-flesh to their bread but they had better have been without it than to have had it given them in anger accompanied with judgement as it was not onely bodily so many perishing at Kibroth Hataavah with meat in their mouthes and so destroying instead of nourishing them for being obtained but not in Gods way though it was his gift yet it wanted his grace was empty of blessing being no act of favour and therefore pleased the sense but edified not the soul the proper tendency of all he bestowes and the best effect even of temporall benefits which else are a shell without a kernell blessings accursed and so was this to them feeding on it a moneth together gluttonously without fear or spirituall descerning till at last it wrought their overthrow by surfetting instead of nourishing for God gave them up to wear it as they won it spend it as they got it to wit lustfully which excess and carnall mindedness he severely plagued both in body and soul. 16 They gave themselves up to studied provocations not onely murmuring upon emergentcases but by combination conspiring among themselves against Moses and Aaron those approved holy men and speciall servants of the Lord one whereof to wit Aaron was his declared High-Priest officiating in speciall before him for their good in expiating their sins and diverting Christ-like Gods judgements yet no relation of them to God nor of advantage to themselves could perswade but these men whom God had substituted in those places of conduct and Priest-hood and set so many seals upon must at their pleasure be removed suspected after so long experience to be Impostors and another government and Preist-hood agitated by other men must be erected and this which God had ordained demolished 17 And it is never to be forgotten what fearfull vengeance God executed upon the chief ringleaders of that conspiracy and with what a fearfull death he visited them causing the earth to open and swallow up Korah Dathan and Abiram those chieftains with all that belonged to them and to close upon them in the sight and to the amazement of all Israel so that with a fearfull cry they
canst give me or do for me shall better please me and more oblige me to praise and thank thee with an honest gratuitous heart and conversation than thy teaching of me by thy word and spirit to know and do thy commandments the onely righteous rule of faith and manners 8 O Lord my purpose of heart is to keep thy commandments and to walk exactly in faith love and obedience as thou enjoynest but alas I know mine own imbecillity and the necessity of thy continuall inablement hereunto by thy spirit and grace which if withdrawn I am at a loss therefore Lord in pitie of my weakness and in prosecution of the good work begun in me that desire to fear thy name leave me not to my self nor lead me not into temptation to buckle with it in mine own strength let no sinne cause separation though correction but remember mercy and renew in me a right spirit when I do go wrong as who doth not Beth. The second letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the second part 9 Young men are aptest to go astray and therefore had need to be inquisitive and circumspect of themselves and their wayes how to avoid the pollutions of mind and manners whereunto their age prompts them with a more than ordinary aptitude and doubtless I speak it knowingly the onely remedy for such distemperature is for them to be conversant in thy word and thence to observe with a child-like disposition what pleaseth and displeaseth thee their heavenly father and in conscience thereunto carefully to regulate their inward and outward man accordingly by believing and obeying 10 O Lord thou knowest my heart to be perfect with thee for thou hast made it so how that I have neither been partiall nor unsincere in mine obedience but entirely endeavoured alwayes in all things to please thee as desirous above all things of thy grace and favour fearing to forfeit it which good Lord grant I may never do by going astray from thy precepts therefore I beseech thee watch over me that no temptation mislead me on the right or left hand out of the way of thy commandments in which I desire to walk from one end of my life to the other without deviating 11 I have Lord stored up thy word in mind and memory especially such and so much of it as I knew was of present and practicall concernment to me in my condition with full purpose of heart to keep close thereunto and not sinfully to suffer my self to be seduced there-from what ever happened 12 Thou Lord art onely blessed in and of thy self from whom as from a fountain flowes forth all derived blessedness unto thy creature which thou art wont to confer most upon them that please thee best as a gracious remuneration of their love and service Lord therefore teach me to know and enable me to do thy will revealed in thy word that I may partake thy blessedness be sharer in thy holiness and happiness here and hereafter 13 As I have found thy law usefull to me by my knowledge of it and framing my course of life according to it so have I endeavoured to make it to be to others and therefore have I according to my measure of light and the duty of my place and office taught it publickly and privately not concealing any truth I knew might make for thy glory and their edifying when I had oportunity of time and occasion 14 My delight and care I bless thee for giving me such an heart hath been more to hear understand and practise those things which in thy word are testified to be thy will and more sweet peace and consolation have I had when I have been so happy as to attain the knowing and doing of them than they that set their hearts to heap up riches when they have their desire of opulency and affluence 15 Therefore whereas worldlings cast in their minds and occupy their thoughts how to enhance their earthly store because their delight is there my meditations shall be otherwayes imploied my care and thoughts shall be how to know more and practise better thy will revealed for therein is my delight and thereto will I bend my mind studying how best to please thee 16 To know and do what pleaseth thee shall be a pleasure unto me yea nothing shall more delight me and therefore am I fully purposed to make thy word the subject of my meditation day and night and the rule of mine obedience in weal and wo. Gimel The third letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the third part 17 Lord thy promises to thy people are comprehensive of all good things as thou hast made them so fulfill them Let me thy servant reap the blessed fruits of thy grace and bounty according to them touching life temporall and spirituall grant me both and what conduces unto both as a faithfull creatour and gracious redeemer that by grace I may live both the life of grace and nature 18 Lord thou knowest what great impediments there are that hinder our knowledge and acquaintance with thee even in those things thou hast revealed of which yet we are ignorant and seeing we see not there being a two-fold vail that interposeth betwixt a right understanding and them the one over our hearts blindly mistaking the mind and meaning of the spirit and stumbling at the stumbling stone the letter The other over thy law and covenant it self exprest in dark and typicall umbrages and dispensations full of wonderous divine excellency in their signification and antitypicall meaning but impossible to be understood but by thy more than litterall revelation Therefore dispense thy spirit who onely knows the mind of God and can onely make it known unto thy servant draw aside thy curtaines of my blindness and thy laws darkness that in thy light I may see light and be made able to behold the mysticall and spirituall tenderness of thy whole law and covenant both in the morall typicall dispensation of it which unfolded to a spirituall eye are admirable and ravishing portraying as in a table the divine history and mistery of mans redemption and salvation with all that heavenly wisdome free-grace and Almighty power that shines therein 19 I am thine and properly belong to another world onely here I must for a time lead a transient life because it is thy will more than mine who though I am in the world yet not of the world but in mind and heart estranged from it therefore seeing it is thy pleasure that I must live mine appointed time to serve thee on earth take it into consideration what divine light and guidance is requisite so to do and vouchsafe me it proportionably least I wander out of thy way the world and flesh with which I here converse being strangers and estranged thereunto and apt to mislead me if thy word and spirit be not alwayes a light and guide unto me 20
sure to do it and no doubt had done it long ere this but that God would not let them but still preserved and wonderfully delivered us from being swept away with a total destruction as was intended and easie else to have been effected by them 6 O let us lay it seriously to heart and heartily bless and praise the Lord our God for so long preserving and so many sundry times delivering us by no less than miraculous power from the crueltie and outrage of such barbarous bloudie enemies and that hath not been provoked by our sinful ingratitude himself to give us for a prey to their destructive malice as in justice he might 7 But hath brought us notwithstanding all their power malice and treacherie wherewith we have been long insnared and indangered on all hands into a state of libertie and freedom not onely given us our lives for a prey but a libertie from them yea a superioritie above them insomuch as now we are asmuch too strong for them as they were wont to be too strong for us and have them asmuch at an under as they had us their strength is become weakness and by his goodness our weakness is become strength too strong for them 8 Let the power and goodness of God have the praise and glorie of what is done and wrought for us both as to our preservation and exaltation and as in time past we have found him so for time to come let us believe in him as ought the Church and people of God to do in all ages of the world Let us and they magnifie his power and goodness in all estates and times not despairing in adversitie nor presuming in prosperitie but in the one hopefully and in the other humbly believe in him as our all-sufficient and onely deliverer and preserver not fearing nor Idolizing an arm of flesh or second causes but rely on and seek to the onely true God that made all things and disposeth all things and is able to help above all power to hurt if we believe and to hurt above all power to help if we presume The cxxv PSALM For the encouragement of the faithful and sincere hearted the Psalmist tells them as what they must meet with so what they may trust in firm protection in their sorest affliction And addeth praier to promise But bids the hypocrites hands off tells them their doom that are in but not of the Church to whom onely blessedness belongs See the title of the 120 Psalm 1 BElieve firmly in the Lord and you shall be established every such an one is as dear to God as mount Sion it self where is his Temple Ark and all his sanctuarie-worship every faithful servant of God being spiritually all these a living Temple Priest and sacrifice a very heaven on earth in whom God is really more than typically present and to whom belongs all the promises made to the Church in general so that though he may be externally assaulted and seemingly indangered with ghostly enemies and manifold temptations and trials as Jerusalem by the Gentile nations round about yet shall the same invincible guard and protection be upon him and them that so believe as upon it so that the gates of hell shall never prevail against them to un-establish or disinterest them as to the rock whereon they and the whole Church of God are built unmoveably by faith Christ Jesus 2 See you the hills that compass this Citie Jerusalem hence let your faith helped by setting your imagination on work raise a suitable Idea of Gods encompassing his faithful Church and people yea every such one by his Almighty power and guard of Angels for their sure defence and preservation against all assaults of the world and divel who also surround them and this is as everlasting as those mountains an infallible truth for all and every faithful servant of the Lord in all ages and places of the world now and ever to trust unto 3 Not that the godly are in this world exempt from oppression and temptation no for they are the great eye-sore of Satan the Prince of the world and all his malignant instruments and natural Subjects the men of the world which with their utmost malice and power shall labour to afflict the faithful as the Gentile nations do Israel and partly for their sins partly for their trial and exercise of their graces which God sets much by they may be permitted to sit sore upon their skirts and put them to it but this be sure of that the siedge shall be raised before the Town be taken no afflictions nor afflictors by what ever wicked practises shall any longer be permitted to oppress the righteous than they have grace to sustain them under it God allwayes gages one by the other afflictions to the faithful are often less never more tempted they may be and sint hey may by their frailtie and strength of temptation but fall away by sinning they never shall for God is faithfull who will not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able but will with the temptation make a way to escape that they may be able to bear it 4 This is thy promise which as in faithfulness it is made so as faithfully shall it be performed to those that are faithful and holy but thou wilt be sought unto by them and for them for thy promise and its performance is of grace not of debt even to the righteous themselves O Lord therefore be intreated in the name and for the sake of all thy people to be ever mindful of it to do according to it in time of need Let mercie and protection be extended seasonably and effectually to those that themselves are good and suffer in a cause that is good by those that are evil Yea bless with all manner of blessings those that in sinceritie of heart believe in thee and are careful to please thee with integritie of soul and universalitie of obedience active and passive 5 But as for those linsy-woolfy professours Israelites after the flesh that have a room in the Church but no firm rooting in religion that serve the Lord in shew and not in substance neither know him perfectly believe in him firmly nor serve him sincerely either with a right heart or by a right rule but are divided in their faith and affections trusting and obeying by halves deviating into by-wayes and carnal confidences of their own to their own self-pleasing such hypocrites counterfeits in pietie how ever commixed with the Godly partakers of their outward priviledges and formal worshippers of the same God in the self-same ordinances yet the all-seeing and heart-searching eye of God knows them notes them and esteems them as bad as the very Gentiles who worship Idols these making an Idol of the true God when they worship him and their reward and portion shall be alike judgement shall be pronounced against them both and they cast out
not mine enemies triumph over me 3 Yea let none that wait on thee be ashamed which transgress without cause 4 Shew me thy wayes O Lord teach me thy paths 5 Lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation on thee do I wait all the day 6 Remember O Lord thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they have been ever of old 7 Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness sake O Lord. 8 Good and upright is the Lord therefore will he teach sinners in the way 9 The meek will he guide in judgement and the meek will he teach his way 10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies 11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity for it is great 12 What man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose 13 His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the land 14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his covenant 15 Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net 16 Turn thee unto me and have mercy upon me for I am desolate and afflicted 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my distresses 18 Look upon mine affliction and my pain and forgive all my sinnes 19 Consider mine enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruel hatred 20 O keep my soul and deliver me let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee 21 Let integrity â— uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee 22 Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles Psalm xxvi A Psalm of David 1 JUdge me O Lord for I have walked in mine innocency I have trusted also in the Lord therefore I shall not slide 2 Examine me O Lord and prove me try my reins and my heart 3 For thy loving kindness is before mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth 4 I have not sat with vain persons neither will I go in with dissemblers 5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers and will not sit with the wicked 6 I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compass thine Altar O Lord. 7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving and tell of all thy wondrous works 8 Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house the place where thine honour dwelleth 9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloudy men 10 In whose hands is mischief and their right hand is full of bribes 11 But as for me I will walk in mine integrity redeem me and be merciful unto me 12 My foot standeth in an even place in the congregations will I bless the Lord. Psalm xxvii A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord is my light and my salvation whoÌ„ shall I fear the Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid 2 When the wicked even mine enemies and my foes came upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell 3 Though an host should enâ—amp against me my heart shall not fear though warre should rise against me in this will I be confident 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the dayes of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord to enquire in his Temple 5 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 up upon a rock 6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yea I will sing praises unto the Lord. 7 Hear O Lord when I cry with my voice have mercy also upon me and answer me 8 When thou saidest seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek 9 Hide not thy face farre from me put not thy servant away in anger thou hast been my help leave me not neither forsake me O God of my salvation 10 When my father and my mother forsake me then the Lord will take me up 11 Teach me thy way O Lord and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies 12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies for false witnesses are risen up against me and such as breath out cruelty 13 I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living 14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Psalm xxviii A Psalm of David 1 UNto thee will I cry O Lord my rock be not silent to me lest if thou be silent to me I become like them that go down into the pit 2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee when I lift up mine hands toward thy holy oracle 3 Draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to their neighbours but mischief is in their hearts 4 Give them according to their deeds according to the wickedness of their endeavours give them after the works of their hands render to them their desert 5 Because they regard not the works of the lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them not build them up 6 Blessed be the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications 7 The Lord is my strength my shield my heart trusted in him and I am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoyceth and with my song will I praise him 8 The Lord is their strength and he is the saving strength of his annointed 9 Save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed them also and lift them up for ever Psalm xxix A Psalm of David 1 GIve unto the Lord O ye mighty give unto the Lord glory and strength 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness 3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters the God of glory thundereth the Lord is upon many waters 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful the voice of the Lord is full of Majestie 5 The voice of the Lord breaketh Cedars yea the Lord breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon 6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn 7 The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire 8 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadâ—sh 9 The voice of the Lord maketh the Hinds to calve and discovereth the forrests and in
strength is in the clouds 35 O God thou art terrible out of thy holy places the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people blessed be God Psalm lxix To the chief musician upon Shoshannim A Psalm of David 1 SAve me O God for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2 I sink in deep mire where there is no standing I am come into deep waters where the flouds overflow me 3 I am weary of my crying my throat is dried mine eyes fail while I wait for my God 4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head they that would destroy me being mine enemies wrongfully are mighty then I restored that which I took not away 5 O God thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee 6 Let not them that wait on thee O Lord God of hosts be ashamed for my sake let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake O God of Israel 7 Because for thy sake I have born reproach shame hath covered my face 8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren and an aliant unto my mothers children 9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up and the reproaches of them that 10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting that was to my reproach 11 I made sack-cloth also my garment and I became a proverb to them 12 They that sit in the gate spake against me and I was the song of the drunkards 13 But as for me my prayer is unto thee O Lord in an acceptable time O God in the multitude of thy mercy hear me in the truth of thy salvation 14 Deliver me out of the mire and let me not sink let me be delivered from them that hate me and out of the deep waters 15 Let not the water â—loud overflow me neither let the deep swallow me up and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me 16 Hear me O Lord for thy loving kindness is good turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies 17 And hide not thy face from thy servant for I am in trouble here me speedily 18 Draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it deliver me because of mine enemies 19 Thou hast known my reproach and my shame and my dishonour mine adversaries are all before thee 20 Reproach hath broken my heart and I am full of heaviness and I looked for some to take pitie but there was none for comforters but I found none 21 They gave me also gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vineger to drink 22 Let their table become a sâ—are before them and that which should have been for their welfare let it become a trap 23 Let their eyes be darkned that they see not and make their Ioiâ—es continually to shake 24 Pour out thine indignation upon them and let thy wrathfull angâ—r take hold of them 25 Let their habitation be desolate and let none dwell in their tents 26 For they pâ—rsecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded 27 Adde iniquitie to their iniquitie and let them not come into righteousness 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous 29 But I am poor and sorrowfull let thy salvation O God set me up on high 30 I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnifie him with thanksgiving 31 This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs 32 The humble shall see this and be glad and your heart shall live that seek God 33 For the Lord heareth the poore and despiseth not his prisoners 34 Let the heaven and earth praise him the seas and every thing that moveth therein 35 For God will save Sion and will build the Cities of Judah that they may dwell there and have it in possession 36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit and they that love his name shall dwell therein Psalm lxx To the chief musician A Psalm made by David to bring to remembrance 1 MAke hast O God to deliver me make hast to help me O Lord. 2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soule let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt 3 Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say Aha Aha 4 Let all those that seek thee rejoyce and be glad in thee and let such as love thy salvation say continually Let God be magnified 5 But I am poor and needy make hast unto me O God thou art my help and my deliverer O Lord make no tarrying Psalm lxxi 1 IN thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be put to confusion 2 Deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape incline thine ear unto me and save me 3 Be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort thou hast given commandment to save me for thou art my rock and my fortress 4 Deliver me O my God out of the hand of the wicked out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man 5 For thou art my hope O Lord God thou art my trust from my youth 6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb thou art he that took me out of my mothers bowels my praise shall be continually of thee 7 I am as a wonder unto many but thou art my strong refuge 8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day 9 Cast me not off in the time of old age forsake me not when my strength faileth 10 For mine enemies speak against me and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together 11 Saying God hath forsaken him persecute and take him for there is none to deliver him 12 O God be not far from me O my God make hast for my help 13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt 14 But I will hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more 15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day for I know not the numbers thereof 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy righteousness even of thine onely 17 O God thou hast taught me from my youth and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works 18 Now also when I am old and gray-headed O God forsake me not until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every one that is to come 19 Thy righteousness also O God is very high who hast done great things O God who is like unto thee 20 Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles shalt quicken me again
Lord a new song sing unto the Lord all the earth 2 Sing unto the Lord bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day 3 Declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people 4 For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods 5 For all the gods of the naâ—ions are idols but the Lord made the heavens 6 Honour and majestie are before him strength and beautie are in his sanctuarie 7 Give unto the Lord O ye kindreds of the people give unto the Lord glorie and strength 8 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts 9 O worship the Lord in the beautie of holiness fear before him all the earth 10 Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved he shall judge the people righteously 11 Let the heavens rejoyce and let the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulness thereof 12 Let the field be joyfull and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoyce 13 Before the Lord for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth Psalm xcvii 1 THe Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof 2 Clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness judgement are the habitations of his throne 3 A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about 4 His lightenings enlightned the world the earth saw and trembled 5 The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth 6 The heavens declare his righteousnes and all the people â—ee his glory 7 Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols worship him all ye gods 8 Sion heard was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoyced because of thy judgements O Lord. 9 For thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all Gods 10 Ye that love the Lord hate evil he preserveth the souls of his Saints he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked 11 Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart 12 Rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous give thanks at the remembrance of his holinesâ— Psalm xcviii A Psalm 1 O sing unto the Lord a new song for he hath done marvellous things his right hand and his holy arm hath gotten himself the victory 2 The Lord hath made known his salvation his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen 3 He hath remembred his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God 4 Make a joyfull noise unto the Lord all the earth make a loud noise and rejoyce and sing praise 5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp with the harp and the voice of a Psalm 6 With trumpets sound of corner make a joyfull noise before the Lord the King 7 Let the sea roar the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein 8 Let the flouds clap their hands let the hils be joyful together 9 Before the Lord for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness shall he judge the world and the people with equitie Psalm xcix 1 THe Lord reigneth let the people tremble he sitteth between the cherubims let the earth be moved 2 The Lord is great in Sion and he is high above all people 3 Let them praise thy great and terrible name for it is holy 4 The Kings strength also loveth judgement thou doest establish equity thou executest judgement and righteousness in Jacob 5 Exalt ye the Lord your God and worship at his foot-stool for he is holy 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 7 He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar they kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them 8 Thou answeredst them O Lord our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions 9 Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy hill for the Lord our God is holy A psalm of praise 1 MAke a joyfull noise unto the Lord all ye lands 2 Serve the Lord with gladness come before his presence with singing 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 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise be thankfull unto him bless his name 5 For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting and his truth endureth to all generations Psalm ci A Psalm of David 1 I will sing of mercy judgement unto thee O Lord will I sing 2 I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way O when wilt thou come unto me 3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes I hate the work of them that turn aside 4 A froward heart shall depart from me I will not know a wicked person 5 Who so privily slandereth his neighbour him will I cut off him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithfull of the land that they may dwell with me he that walketh in a perfect way he shall serve me 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight 8 I will early destroy all the wiâ—ked of the land that I may cut off all wicked doers from the citie of the Lord. Psalm cii A Prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed pourâ—th out his complaints before the Lord. 1 HEar my prayer O Lord and let my cry come unto thee 2 Hide not thy â—ace from me in the day that I am in trouble encline thine ear unto me in the day when I call answer me speedily 3 For my dayes are consumed like smoak my bones are burnt as an hearth 4 My heart is smittâ—â— and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread 5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin 6 I am like a Pelican of the wilderness I am like an Owl of the desert 7 I watch and anâ— as a sparrow alone upon the house top 8 Mine enemies reproch me all the day and they that are mad against me are sworn against me 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down 11 My dayes are like a shadow that declineth
presence of the God of Jacob. 8 Which turned the rock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters Psalm cxv 1 NOt unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake 2 Wherefore should the heathen say where 〈◊〉 now their God 3 But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased 4 Their Idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands 5 They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 6 They have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not 7 They have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat 8 They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 9 O Israel trust thou in the Lord he is thy help and thy shield 10 O house of Aaron trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield 11 Ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield 12 The Lord hath been mindfull of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron 13 He will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great 14 The Lord shall increase you more and more you and your children 15 You are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth 16 The heaven even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he given to the children of men 17 The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence 18 But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore Praise the Lord. 1 I Love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications 2 Because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 3 The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell-gate hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow 4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my Soul 5 Gracious is the Lord and righteousâ— yea our God is merciful 6 The Lord preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me 7 Return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee 8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living 10 I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted 11 I said in my hast All men are liars 12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me 13 I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints 16 Oh Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds 17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanks-giving will call upon the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people 19 In the courts of the Lords house in the middest of thee O Jerusalem praise yâ— the Lord. Psalm cxvii 1 O Praise the Lord all ye nations praise him all ye people 2 For his merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxviii 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good because his mercie endureth for ever 2 Let Israel now say that his mercie endureth for ever 3 Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercie endureth for ever 4 Let them now that fear the Lord say that his mercy endureth for ever 5 I called upon the Lord in distress the Lord answered me and set me in a large place 6 The Lord is on my side I will not fâ—ar what can man do unto me 7 The Lord taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me 8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man 9 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in Princeâ— 10 All nations compassed me about but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them 11 They compassed me about yea they compassed me about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 12 They compassed me about like bees they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them 13 Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me 14 The Lord is my strength and song and is become my saltion 15 The voyce of rejoycing and salvation is in the Tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly 17 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. 18 The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over unto death 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness I will go in to them I will praise the Lord. 20 This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter 21 I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner 23 This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in our eyes 24 This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it 25 Save now I beseech thee O Lord O Lord I beseech thee send now prosperitie 26 Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. 27 God is the Lord which hath shewed us light bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the Altar 28 Thou art my God and I will praise thee thou art my God I will exalt thee 29 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever Aleph 1 BLessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the Law of the Lord. 2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart 3 They also do no iniquity they walk in his wayes 4 Thâ—u hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently 5 O that my wayeâ— were directed to keep thy statutes 6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart when I shall have learned thy righteous judgements 8 I will keep thy statutes O forsake me not utterly Beth. 9 Wherewithall shall a
young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy commandments 11 Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sinne against thee 12 Blessed art thou O Lord teach me thy statutes 13 With my lips have I declared all the judgements of thy mouth 14 I have rejoyced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches 15 I will meditate in thy precepts and have respect unto thy wayes 16 I will delight my self in thy statutes I will not forget thy word Gimel 17 Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word 18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy law 19 I am a stranger in the earth hide not thy commandments from me 20 My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgement at all times 21 Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed which do erre from thy commandments 22 Remove from me reproach and contempt â—or I have kept thy testimonies 23 Princes also did sit and speak against me but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes 24 Thy â—eâ—timonies also are my delight and my counsellours Daleth 25 My soul cleavetâ—â— unto the dust quicken thou me according to thy word I have declared my wayes and thou heardest me teach me thy statutes 27 Make me to unâ—derstand the way of thy precepts so shall I talk of thy wonderous works 28 My soul melteth for heaviness strengthen thou me according unto thy word 29 Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously 30 I have chosen the way of truth thy judgemâ—nts have I laid before me 31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies O Lord put me not to shame 32 I will run the wayes of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart He. 33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end 34 Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law yea I shall observe it with my whole heart 35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments for therein do I delight 36 Encline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness 37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken thou me in thy way 38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear 39 Turn away my reproach which I fear for thy judgements are good 40 Behold I have longed after thy preceptsâ— quicken me in thy righteousness Vau. 41 Let thy mercies come also unto me O Lord even thy salvaâ—tion aâ—cording to thy word 42 So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me for I trust in thy word 43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth for I have hoped in thy judgements 44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever And I will walk at liberty for I seek thy precepts 46 I will speak of thy testimonies also before Kings and will not be ashamed 47 And I will delight my self in thy commandments which I have loved 48 My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments which I have loved and I will meditate in thy statutes Zain 49 Remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope 50 This is my comfort in my affliction for thy word hath quickened me 51 The proud have had me greatly in derision yet have I not declined from thy law 52 I remembred thy judgements of old O Lord and have comforted my self 53 Horrour hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law 54 Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrim age 55 I have remembred thy name O Lord in the night and have kept thy law 56 This I had because I kept thy precepts Cheth 57 Thou art my portion O Lord I have said that I would keep thy words 58 I intreated thy favour with my whole heart be merciful unto me according to thy word 59 I thought on my wayes and turned my feet into thy testimonies 60 I made hast and delayed not to keep thy commandments 61 The bands of the wicked have robbed me but I have not forgot thy Law 62 At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgements 63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts 64 The earth O Lord is full of thy mercie teach me thy statutes Teth. 65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant O Lord according unto thy word 66 Teach me good judgement and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word 68 Thou art good and doest good teach me thy statutes 69 The proud have forged a lie against me but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart 70 Their heart is as fat as grease but I delight in thy Law 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes 72 The Law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver Iod. 73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments 74 They that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word 75 I know O Lord that thy judgements are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me 76 Let I pray thee thy merciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant 77 Let thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live for thy Law is my delight 78 Let the proud be ashamed for they dealt perversly with me without a cause but I will meditate in thy precepts 79 Let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies 80 Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed Caph. 81 My soul fainteth for thy salvation but I hope in thy word 82 Mine eyes fail for thy word saying when wilt thou comfort me 83 For I am become like a bottle in the smoke yet do I not forget thy statutes 84 How many are the dayes of thy servant when wilt thou execute judgement on them that persecute me 85 The proud have digged pits for me which are not after thy Law 86 All thy commandments are faithful they persecute me wrongfully help thou me 87 They had almost consumed me upon earth but I forsook not thy precepts 88 Quicken me after thy loving kindness so shall I keep the testimonie of thy mouth Lamed 89 For ever O Lord thy word is setled in heaven 90 Thy faithfulness is unto all generations thou hast established the earth and it abideth 91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances for all are
O Lord who shall stand 4 But there is forgiveness with thee that thou maiest befeared 5 I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning I say more than they that watch for the morning 7 Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption 8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Psalm cxxxi A song of degrees of David 1 LOrd my heart is not haughtie nor mine eyes loftie neither do I exercise my self in great matters or in things too high for me 2 Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child 3 Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever Psalm cxxxii A song of degrees 1 LOrd remember David and all his afflictions 2 How he sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. 3 Surely I will not come into the Tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to my eye-lids 5 Until I find out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. 6 Lo we heard of it at Ephratah we found it in the fields of the wood 7 We will go into thy Tabernacles we will worship at thy foot-stool 8 Arise O Lord into thy rest thou and the Ark of thy strength 9 Let thy Priests be clothed with righteousnâ—s and let thy saints shout for joy 10 For thy servan Davids sake turn not away the face of thine anointed 11 The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David he will not turn from it of the fruit of thy bodie will I set upon thy throne 12 If thy children will keep my covenant and my testimonie that I shall teach them their children also shall fit on thy throne for evermore 13 For the Lord hath chosen Sion he hath desired it for his habitation 14 This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it 15 I will abundantly bless her provision I will satisfie her poor with bread 16 I will also clothe her Priests with salvation and her saints shall shout aloud for joy 17 There will I make the horn of David to bud I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed 18 His enemies will I clothe with shame but upon himself shall his Crown flourish A song of degrees of David Psalm cxxxiii 1 BEhold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unitie 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his garment 3 As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Sion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore Psalm cxxxiv. A song of degrees 1 BEhold bless ye the Lord all ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the house of the Lord. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuarie and bless the Lord. 3 The Lord that made heaven earth bless thee out of Sion Psalm cxxxv 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise ye the name of the Lord praise him O ye servants of the Lord. 2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord in the courts of the house of our God 3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises unto his name for it is pleasant 4 For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure 5 For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all Gods 6 Whatsoever tâ—e Lord pleased that did â—e in heaven and in earth 7 He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth he maketh lightnâ—ngs for the rain he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries 8 Who smote the first-born of Egypt both of man and beast 9 Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee O Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants 10 Who smote great nations slew mightie Kings 11 Sihon King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan and all the Kingdoms of Canaan 12 And gave their land for an heritage unto Israel his people 13 Thy name O Lord endureth for ever and thy memorial O Lord through all generations 14 For the Lord will judge his people and he will repâ—nt himself concerning his servants 15 The Idols of the heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands 16 They have mouthes but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 17 They have eaâ—s but they heâ—r not neither is there any breath in their mouthes 18 They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 19 Bless the Lord O houâ—e of Israel bless the Lord O house of Aaron 20 Bless the Lord O house of Levi ye that fear the Lord bless the Lord. 21 Blessed be the Lord out of Sion which dwelleth at Jerusalem Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxxxvi 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever 2 O give thanks unto the God of Gods for his mercie endureth for ever 3 O give thanks to the Lord of Lords for his mercie endureth for ever 4 To him who alone doth great wonders for his mercie endureth for ever 5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens for his mercie endureth for ever 6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercie endureth for ever 7 To him that made great lights for his mercie endureth for ever 8 The son to rule by day â—or his mercie endureth for ever 9 The moon and stars to rule by night for his mercie endureth for ever 10 To him that smote Egypt in their first-born for his mercie endureth for-ever 11 And brought out Israel from among them for his mercie endureth for ever 12 With a strong hand and a stretched-out arm for his mercie endureth for ever 13 To him which divided the red-sea into parts for his mercie endureth for ever 14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it for his mercie endureth for ever 15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the red-sea for his mercie endureth for ever 16 To him which led his people through the wilderness for his mercie endureth for ever 17 To him which smote great Kings for his mercie endureth for ever 18 And slew famous Kings for his mercie endureth for ever 19 Sihon King of the Amorites for his mercie endureth for ever 20 And Og the King of Bashan for his mercie endureth for ever 21 And gave their land for an heritage for his mercie endureth for ever 22 Even an heritage unto Israel his servant for his mercie endureth
cannot I so easily yield up my faith and distrust thy promise and goodness But am confident thou that art the Lord Almighty and my good God wilt now deliver me from mine enemies as thou hast ever done and wilt restore me to and maintain me in mine honour which thou hast given me and turn my sorrow into joy 4 Nor do I speak this presumptiously or by guess but am well assured of it by a special answer I received from God in mine earnest prayer which I made towards mount Sion where his Ark resides And this my confidence to find mercy with God I care not who know so sure am I of it 5 Which hath so comfortably secured me in mine own mind as that for all my trouble I can sleep as quietly and wake as chearfully as at any time before The Lord hath given me such a spirit of confidence and assurance that he will be the same God to me that he hath been and will sustain me now as he hath done heretofore maugre mine enemies 6 So that though I must needs confess in outward appearance my condition is very forlorn beeing fain to flie before mine enemies yet I am so comforted in God as that my faith is far above my fear so that though multitudes oppose me and the whole Kingdom as it were on every hand rebel against me and but a very few left to take my part whilest God is for me I care not who or how many be against me 7 And now O Lord let it appear that I speak the truth shew thy self in my behalf put forth thine Almighty power and save me who thou knowest am thine and one that trusts in thee and cause I have to do so for thou hast ever been gracious to me and defeated mine enemies though they have been never so strong and I in never such peril yet hast thou brought me out and set me free from the malicious cruelty of all those ungodly ones that have opposed me for such and none other have ever been mine enemies 8 So that it is neither the power of mine adversaries nor the straits I am in that shall make me doubt of deliverance whilest I have a God to trust in who can and will preserve me as he hath done for to him belongeth the glory of my preservation because he hath firmly purposed and faithfully promised his chief and choisest blessing to his Church and people by me which shall not be frustrated even his Son Christ to rule over them and to be victorious for them of whom he hath made me the Type Oh that Israel would understand this submit to it and praise him for it Fourth PSALM David first speaks to God by prayer and gaining comfort and confidence thereby he then speaks to his enemies by advice to leave off troubling him and themselves in vain for that they should never be able to get his Kingdom from him because God had given it to him and would keep it for him do what they could and therefore admonisheth them not headily to persist in sinning by rebelling but to advise with their pillow in a point of so great concernment and infallibility and to desist and subject themselves to the will of God so should they find pardon and favour with him which would be better to them than all worldly happiness which they were so greedy of and which for his part seeing he had done he feared nothing To him that is most skilful upon the stringed instrument Neginoth to which this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for the care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 O Lord suffer much in thy quarrel am put to many straits in all which I flie to thee therefore good Lord hear my prayer in such cases for though I my self be a sinner yet I trust in thy righteousness and make thee the judge of mine innocencie of whose goodness I have had large experiences for thou hast ever been faithful to deliver me out of all my dangers And therefore I will still believe in thee and pray to thee that thou wilt continue thy mercie as mine enemies continue their malice and hear me still as they give me cause to crie to thee for help 2 O ye that are too weak to resist the Almighty and as weak in understanding heavenly things how long will you perversly refuse to give and acknowledge that honour which God hath designed to me and will certainly fulfil in making me the Kingly type of the promised Messiah and in that relation to submit unto me Will you never be reclaimed But still vainly seek to destroy Christs spiritual Kingdom by indeavouring to dispossess me of mine which you shall never be able to compass though you labour it never so in hope to have it from me but deceive your selves and lose your labour I would you would take warning to seek the heavenly and not the earthly Kingdom which you are so greedie of 3 Indeed be advised and know to save you further trouble that I have not laboured to advance my self to this honour of a King for ambition sake but it was God who had a favour to me for the grace sake he hath wrought in me that hath designed me to this place and office wherein he is pleased to use me and as he hath raised me to it so will he never suffer me to be divested of it but will be sure to relieve me and give me the better of mine enemies whensoever in my need I call upon him 4 O that you would take my counsel to fear God not proudly passionately go on in sinning against him by opposing your selves against me Weigh but with your selves seriously the consequence of mine advice as to your everlasting welfare and in cold bloud consider the strange providences that have thus far carried on the work of mine advancement to the Kingdom maugre mine enemies and judge whether that do not promise as much as I prophecie and whether it were not therefore best for you to give over and be quiet I would you would consider it for your good 5 Come be perswaded to submit and render your selves the righteous and obedient servants and subjects of the Lord as a sacrifice due to him that deserves and expects it from you and in so doing trust in the Lord for mercie and grace which you shall be sure to find and trust not in your own power and policie to frustrate his will and pleasure 6 How many gape after this worldly and outward prosperitie and labour it tooth and nail as if that were their chiefest good But let me tell you the way to be happie indeed is to get the grace and favour of God to belong unto you this I for my part would have above all for me and mine to be happie by 7 For for my own part I am able to speak it to
their hope and desire having heard his prayer and pittied his case and assures them it shall not be long before they see it to their shame and grief To him that is most skilful upon the stringed instrument Neginoth to be sung with a high voice to the eighth tune or instrument of eight strings called Sheminith whereto this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it 1 O Lord thou hast many ways afflicted me for besides my many enemies thou hast now brought upon me a very soar and painful sickness which make me fear thine anger is kindled against me which I humbly knowledge my sins have deserved But good Lord remember mercie and chastize me for them not in thy heavie displeasure but according to thy Fatherly compassion 2 For though sin doth provoke thee to anger yet miserie is wont to move thee to shew mercie and truly O Lord my case is very woful for I am exceeding low brought by my disease therefore have pittie upon me for certainly thou mayest do a great cure and get thee a great deal of honour in recovering me now I am grown to that extremitie that my very bones are tortured with pain and are not of strength to support me 3 Nor am I onely sick in bodie but that which most makes me fear thy displeasure towards me is this That my soul is also soar troubled and as my bodie can find no ease so nor my soul find comfort which indeed is a grievous sadning to me But thou O Lord who I am sure art a God of mercie and compassion as well as of just displeasure how long canst thou behold me in this case and forbear to help me specially with soul-comfort 4 Good Lord change thy mind and now after so great and long affliction become my God again by setting my soul at least at libertie from its comfortless state Look no longer at my sins to punish them but consider and cast an eye upon thine own merciful nature now a while and for its sake restore me to health and inward peace 5 And so shall I live to praise thee whereas if thou pursue me to death what good wilt thou get by that here if thou letst me live I shall remember from time to time this mercie of my recoverie with many other good turns done me to thy glorie and praise but in the grave I shall forget all for both the knowledge of thee and the remembrance of all the mercies thou hast shewed me which I was wont to celebrate with thankfulness in this life must needs vanish when life it self departs and be buried in the grave with me in oblivion and silence 6 Truly Lord I have had a very sad time of it and a heavie burthen have I born a long while which hath cost me much sorrow and grief in so much as my groans have been incessant and without any ease or intermission so that I am now quite spent and wearie ready to give over for want of breath and spirit to express my moanings night nor day have I had any quiet nor taken any rest but instead of sleep I have spent the night in continual weeping and in stead of repose upon my couch in the day time I have done nothing but shed tears 7 In so much as my sight is decaied and mine eyes wasted with incessant sorrowing and sunck into my head as it were with old age because of thy heavie hand and chiefly for the insultations of my many enemies over me because of mine affliction 8 But blessed be thy name me thinks of a sudden upon this my prayer I find my heart much cleared and my spirit well assured of thy favour and future mercie to me so that now I hope mine enemies shall have small cause to rejoyce over me for that I know thou wilt speedily disappoint that malicious and wicked desire they had of my destruction and wilt restore me for though my grief hath cost me many tears yet the Lord I perceive hath taken notice of them and pitied me for them 9 Yea he hath listned to the supplications I made in mine extremitie and will not reject them but according to my prayer will shew me mercie receive me to favour and restore me to health and comfort 10 So that now I am confident it shall be mine enemies turn to hang their heads for shame and vexation and mine to triumph over them when they see such an unexpected and sudden alteration and God to appear so much for me in it who they thought had been quite out of favour and should have now perished in his displeasure Seventh PSALM David being falsely accused to Saul by Cush to have abused his favour and made use of his reconciliation to strengthen himself against him and supplant him in the Kingdom and Saul by this slanderous report being inraged against David prosecutes him with greater hatred than before whereupon David flies to God by prayer for deliverance from Sauls inraged cruelty pleading his innocencie in the thing whereof he was accused whereupon he stirs up God to stand for him against his cruel adversaries for the promise sake which he had made him of the Kingdom and the service he would procure him in Israel thereby and withall prayes him that he will judge him according to his innocencie and the wicked according to their wickedness for that he knew who was in fault he or his enemies And in confidence thereof prophesies his enemies ruin and disappointment and that he shall live to see the day when he shall have cause to praise God for it and when that day comes he promises not to fail to do it A Psalm which David made and set to the tune of Shiggaion whereby he sought the Lord when as he was endangered by false accusation of him to Saul by that pick-thank flatterer Cush the Benjamite 1 MOst Almighty Lord and my most gracious God unto thy power and goodness do I flie for safe-guard relying onely on thee and therefore pray thee undertake my defence against my many adversaries Saul and his partizans who do most wrongfully persecute me from whose hands therefore good Lord deliver me 2 Lest if I fall into his hands he take away my life and put me to death by torments now that he is so inraged by false flatterers and I have none left about him that will or dare stand my friend and speak a good word for me 3 My most righteous Lord and God if this thing be true that Saul is informed off against me and for which he thus persecutes me if I have had any treacherous design upon him or broken Covenant with him as is suggested 4 If under the colour of peace and agreement I have sought to bring to pass any treacherous or treasonable thing or since our capitulation have falsified my word nay I am so far from thinking evil
to Saul that though he be mine utter enemie and hath wrongfully and without any cause at any time given by me laboured my destruction which nature can ill brook yet even then in that time of open hostilitie when I had him at advantage and might have rid my self of him once or twice such was my respect and loyaltie to him and fear of sinning against thee that I delivered him though to the hazard of mine own life thereby 5 If thou Lord who knowest all things know me guilty of this persidious treacherie whereof I am accused then in thy righteous judgement let Saul never cease to seek my life till he have it and then let him put me to as shameful a death as ever any suffered and brand me for a most treacherous ignominious wretch to all posteritie even from my heart I wish it 6 But Lord thou knowest its otherways therefore in thy just displeasure and in the greatness of thy power bestir thee in my behalf to right me on my false accusers and bloudie persecutors because of their unjust violence against me and delay no longer but take this season of their sinning to destroy them and fulfil that righteous decree and judgement which is gone forth of thy mouth concerning the making me the Kingly type of Christ over Israel 7 And I will cause thy sanctuarie to be erected upon Sion so shall all Israel meet solemnly to worship thee therefore for thy peoples sake who do now want the means of serving and seeking thee as they desire seat thy self upon thy Tribunal to do justice which now thou hast long forborn and shew forth thy power from heaven as formerly thou hast done in their behalfs 8 The Lord will right this wrong which his people sustain in having his worship deteined from them and I pray thee consider my case too O Lord to right me also on mine enemies who have deprived me of thine ordinances for that thou knowest me just in my behaviour and in mine heart upright towards Saul and most falsly slandered in those things whereof I am accused and for which I am persecuted 9 O Lord do thou put an end to the wicked practises of mine ungodly enemies but make good thy promise of mine establishment in the throne of Israel who fears thy name and am just in all my dealings for thou that knowest the inward thoughts and desires of mens hearts canst judge whether I or mine enemies be the wrong-doors 10 My trust is wholly in the Lord for my preservation against the furie of mine implacable and malicious adversaries who I know will not let the upright hearted man perish who fears to sin and hath a care to walk honestly 11 God though he seem slack yet will sooner or later judge the righteous mans cause and as well as the wicked seem to prosper yet hath God a continual eye upon them and their evil ways whereby his displeasure is daily increased against them 12 He indeed waits a time to see if the wicked will repent and turn from his evil ways but if after he have waited a while he turn not then will he be the more inraged severe in the execution of justice for which he hath all things in a readiness when the time comes 13 Yea he is preparing all the while he lets him live in sin to bring upon him utter destruction for it at last and the proud persecutors of the poor and godly he means in the end to make them the marks at whom he will discharge all his quiver of plagues and punishments 14 The world shall see that after he hath taken a great deal of pains and been at much trouble to compass his wicked ends by wicked means and hath with much studie contrived mischievous devices against the innocent the end will be that he will be deceived in his expectation both of the righteous mans ruin and his own prospering for he shall be the man that shall perish with all his machinations but the upright man shall be preserved in his innocencie 15 After he hath long set his wits a work and moiled and toiled to compass the godly mans destruction God shall so bring it about that his very design upon the righteous shall turn to his own utter undoing 16 All the ill he meant to others shall light upon himself and his violence against the good shall fall heavie upon him to his utter destruction 17 That day I know and am sure I shall live to see though it seems afar off when I shall have cause to praise the Lord for keeping promise with me and for all his righteous judging me according to mine innocencie in my deliverance and mine enemies downfall and when this is which I am sure will be I promise before hand in the faith of it that I will praise the power and goodness of the Lord God Almightie who rules over all and raiseth and abaseth whom he pleaseth Eighth PSALM David having honoured God with his absolute and relative title of Sovereigntie extols the excellencie of his manifested attributes which appear in his works by way of interrogation as unable otherways to express them to their worth shewing how both great and small yea the smallest things most convincingly set forth the praise of his admirable power and gracious goodness and providence towards mankind even to the confounding and confuting all ungodly and perverse Atheists And shews that for his own part when he seriously considers the workmanship of God in the Heavens and his creating the lights that shine therein for mans use together with his gracious rebestowing the use and dominion of the creature upon him by a new title of Redemption and heaven to boot when as he had lost all by sin and was worthie of none he cannot but with admiration acknowledge his great goodnes to man yea he cannot enough admire both his greatnes and goodnes To him that is most skilful upon Gittith the instrument used by Obed-Edom the Gittite and his family do I David that made this Psalm commit it for his ordering it in the Quire 1 MOst glorious Lord who hast the dominion over all the world and specially over us thy chosen how full of renown is thy power wisdom and greatness all the world over by reason of those admirable creatures and glorious Lights the Sun Moon and Starrs which thou hast created and placed up on high to shine through the ayrie regions to give light and convey heat to all that live upon earth 2 Yea every thing high and low great and small hold forth thy glory and manifest thy prais-worthy power and providence The very instinct and infant oratory that thou puttest into the new born babe to cry after the Mothers breasts making that silly creature so wise as to seek its subsistence so soon as it hath a Beeing and by moving pity therewith to be able also
to procure it when it is utterly of it self helpless and at anothers finding this doth most convincingly testifie to thy praise thy power and providence in despight of all wicked and ungodly Atheists that list not to acknowledg thee and stops the mouth of the most perverse and devillish-minded caviller against thee whilst they must needs see thy great power and as great goodness whereof themselves have shared in putting that instinct into little children to provide for themselves and that power in nature to accommodate their need with food suting their weak estates and that love and pity in parents to understand their meaning by instinct 3 When for my part I take view and seriously consider that wonderfull workmanship of thine the Heavens with their infinite height and vast extent and the world of great and weighty Clouds that pass and repass therein and those foresaid Lights of Moon and Starres which thou hast appointed to move in their courses and appear in their Seasons and to give Light and influence down below 4 It maks me thankfully acknowledg and wonder at that great goodness thou hast shewed to man above all how unsensible soever others are of it whom thou madest out of dust and clay that thou shouldest set so much by him as to create and ordain such things for his use and shouldest further have such continuall regard to him that is of such ill desert by sin and so little worth by nature frail and mortall subject to generation and corruption as to exercise such a daily care and providence over him from first to last and to redeem him out of his lost estate by taking his nature 5 For notwithstanding all these superexcellent and permanent creatures yet hast thou given him and renewed unto him the principal place in the order of creation next the Angels honouring him with a greater dominion and likeness to thy self in heavenly and angelical qualities than any thing but they and made him capable of that celestial and everlasting glory and happiness which they enjoy with thee by the redemption which thou hast afforded him in Christ who himself became lower than the Angels by suffering in our nature that he might invest him with a title to heaven and the glory and happiness that is there which in virtue of his resurrection he is already possessed of for him 6 And restore him again to his dominion over the creature having as at first put the rule of all terrestriall things into his hands though they were made by thee and not by him and hast subordinated every creature to his use and regiment 7 The multitude of sheep and neat that are every where in the world yea both tame and wild beasts are subjugated to his dominion and ordained for his service 8 The fowl that flee above him yet are subjected under him and the fish that inhabit the great vast and deep seas and live and move there invisibly to man are yet ordained for him and subordinated to him 9 O Lord whom we must needs acknowledge to be Lord over us though thou hast made us Lords over all its admirable to consider how many wayes and in how many and sundry things thy wisdom power providence greatness and goodness excels towards mankind by what thou hast provided for him and doest bestow upon him furnishing every place both above and below throughout the whole world with infinite store and variety of all good creatures for his sake Ninth PSALM David breaks out into a joyful and faithful praising of God for his many wonderful deliverances his enemies overthrows and his executing judgement according to the justness of his cause and his enemies wickedness shewing his adversaries by the success the difference between their trust and his and the different judgement that righteousness and unrighteousness shall ever have from God encouraging all Gods people to take notice of what he hath done for him thereby to strengthen their faith for themselves He praiseth the Lord and excites others to it who when the time cometh will punish the oppressor and right the oppressed And after praises given for former victories having further need of his help because of more enemies he praies him still to be his deliverer that still he may have farther matter of praise and rejoycing in him Stirring up all men to take notice of the admirable defeats God hath given to his wicked enemies and that so all the Churches enemies shall be served Concluding with prayer to God not to suffer himself to be wounded in his honour through his sides by his proud enemies To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Muth-labben so called some conceive from the victory he had in the duel fought with Goliah to which this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for the care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 O Lord I have often praied to thee and alwaies sped so well as that now I will praise thee with as good a heart and will as ever I praied unto thee for my preservation in my greatest danger and will let the world know what wonderfull things thou hast done for me from time to time by dedicating a Psalm of praise to thee for them 2 I will wonderfully chear up my heart in the apprehensions of thy favour to me so amply manifested and will with publick praises glorifie thy power and goodness which have appeared in thy marvellous works O God of infinite might and Majesty 3 Mine enemies though they vex me sore and persecute me long yet when the time comes that thou wilt foil them then they shall be able to make no resistance but in thy just displeasure shall certeinly come to nought 4 As hath been already made apparent for maugre their power and malice thou hast still hitherto maintained and manifested my title to the Kingdom to be just my cause to be honest by thy righteous judgements whereby thou hast made it appear more than once that thou art and wilt prove thy self a righteous judge 5 Thou hast punished all that were against me whether they were my heathen and forraign enemies that knew less what they did yet they have smarted for it or my wicked countreymen and domestick foes who should have had more understanding them therefore hast thou quite destroied and divested of all their power and authority and cut of all title to the throne of Israel from them and their posterity for ever 6 O thou mine implacable enemy that wouldest never be reconciled till thou wast ruined which now thou art and all thy destructive plots and practises with thee never to trouble me more Both themselves and the great Cities and Fortresses they builded for to establish their dominion and eternize their name hast thou Lord destroied and caused them and their memorials to perish for ever 7 But the Lord who is my city of refuge abides for
ever for me to trust in He shews now that he hath not been idle all the while he seemed so but hath been fitting himself to execute judgement when the time shall come as now it is 8 And the wicked of the world shall ever find it so that though they think him remiss and careless how things go yet they shall find that he is not so but with most perfect wisdom righteousness and integrity will judge and punish the wicked all the world over sooner or later 9 And so also on the other side shall the poor and innocent when they are unjustly oppressed however they may likewise think him regardless yet shall they not find him so but if they flee to him trust in him he will be a refuge to them yea then when because of extremity they most need it and can least think or exspect it 10 And truly they that know thy power and goodness and have had triall of it will venture all upon thee For for my part I am able to say it that as I have sought to thee and none but thee so thou hast never failed mine exspectation nor been unfaithful to my trust but according to my praier and dependance have I ever found thee helpful to me and so shall others 11 O ye Ministers of his worship to whom I have recommended this Psalm of praise Lift up your voices in praises to the Lord that hath chosen Sion for the place of his special residence and solemn worship where accordingly you celebrate it let the people that resort thither hear you sing aloud his marveilous doings that they may also learn to praise him and trust in him 12 When the time cometh that mens sins are ripe and that he will call them to accompt and reckon with them for the bloud of the innocent which they have unjustly shed or coveted he will then make it appear that he remembers to right the wrongs of them that trust in him and seek to him and forgets not the cry of the afflicted that in singleness of heart and poverty of spirit makes his humble addresses to him as to his onely refuge 13 Though I have had many deliverances and thou hast given me great cause to praise thee for ridding me of a world of enemies yet I am not without but still have those that hate me and of meer malice vex and trouble me so that I suffer much by them good Lord still continue to be merciful to me and to deliver me thou that many and many a time hast delivered me when mine enemies had brought me to that pass that I knew not which way to turn me but death and destruction waited for me on every side 14 That I may muster up all thy mercies and praisefully proclaim them in the publick assemblies of Sion the place which of all Israel and Jerusalem thou hast chosen for thy publick and solemn worship Yea there I will most joyfully make known thy saving grace and favour to me 15 Thou hast vanquished the heathen and disappointed their plots and designs against me having ensnared them in the ruine they meant to me 16 All men that have eyes may see that thou favorest me and may be convinced that it is onely thy doing that mine enemies are foiled by the manner of thy effecting it and thine executing such wonderful and admirable judgments upon them making their own wicked enterprises against me the means to bring to pass their own destruction I cannot but extraordinarily put men on seriously to mind and muse on this thy remarkable providence Yea again and again I wish they would well consider this thing 17 And mark how my foes perish even so shall all the wicked of the world that rebel against Christ and resist his government and oppress his innocent and righteous people perish eternally in hell even all the nations of the world that know not God to serve him and believe in him like as the heathen people hereabout that take up arms against me come to ruine 18 For though God may defer his judgeing the wicked and his delivering the poor and needy that trust in him very long for so he did me yet will he not ever do so either first or last there will come a time when the poor afflicted ones shall be sure of what they have long praied and looked for 19 Thou O Lord hast long forborn the heathen but truely they are grown now to that greatness and insolency that if thou doest not shew thy self in my behalf they will have the better of me and so of thee whose quarrel I maintain Therefore look thou to it that they which are but men get not the better of thee by vanquishing me but by thy judgements upon them let them plainly see its thou that condemnest them and justifies me 20 O Lord by thy judgements upon them make them afraid to hold on their course of enmity and opposition against me by seeing thee to take part with me and so cause them to know by their ill success that for all their great power and multitudes of people they are too weak by humane strength which yet they trust in as if it were more to resist thee whose cause I maintain and fight for Yea Lord make them know it to purpose Tenth PSALM David represents to God his own and his peoples condition generally in this world under the insolent confidence of the wicked heaping unmeasurable pressures upon the godly by reason of his long-suffering towards them which makes them worse and not better as he finds by experience in his persecutors Saul and his complices And therefore praies the Lord to appear for his people against them that do but abuse his patience and doubts not but he will even destroy the Churches enemies as he did the Cananites for Israels sake being the same God in pittie and power now as ever 1 2 MOst merciful and righteous Lord why art thou contrarie to thy nature and promise a stranger to the trouble of thy people me and others and takest no knowledge of it to help us in it but seemeth to let the wicked afflict the godly without regard who by thy forbearance is heightned exceedingly in wickednes and takes a pride to vex and trample down the poor thinking to make themselves great by oppression but Lord do thou blast and utterly disappoint their wicked designs against them that are good and do thou turn all the evil they unjustly imagine against the innocent upon the nocent 3 And truly its time for thee to shew thy self for men grow shameless in wickednes and are confident by those courses to carrie all before them thinking meanly of all good men and the ways they walk that are not as wicked and worldly minded as themselves esteeming those onely wise and happie that heap up riches and grow great by hook or crook whom
yet the Lord abhors and counts the greatest fools 4 The wicked have had such a time of it against the godly and therewith are grown so high-minded and self-confident that he never cares whether God be with him or against him he thinks least of him or sets least by him of any thing 5 Leading a life as if there were no God for his whole trade and course is composed of nothing else but disobedience to God and injurie to men and because he feels not thy judgements he is therefore fearless and thinks they will never befal him but that he is safe enough not caring a jot but setting at nought both God and all that take Gods part with me against him 6 And hath fully concluded in the pride of his heart and confidence of his present condition that he shall never be worse than he is but shall ever prosper and never taste of misfortune 7 He stands in no aw of God nor scruples no sin but gives libertie of speech to himself to curse swear and forswear lie and dissemble in so much as that he is altogether conversant in mischievous speeches and self confident boastings not any truth or good comes from him 8 He every where fore-laids me lying in wait near high ways and neighbour Towns to catch me and seeks in holes and corners where he thinks I hide my self or may pass by to find me out and murder me without any cause given watching diligently all opportunities and means to take me at unawares who am poor and friendless 9 He is as greedily affected and as cruelly disposed towards me as a Lion to his prey seeking all advantages against me never regarding mine innocencie and the unjust sufferings he exposeth me to studying by all means possible to seduce and to entrap me in my simplicitie that he may circumvent me to destroy me 10 And as proud as he is yet in subtilty he can abase himself and with glavering speeches and fawning behaviour indirectly endeavour the overthrow of the innocent and distressed that by fair pretences he may deceive and bring them under his power and execute his rage upon them by the hands of his privado's desperate Assassinats 11 And in all this is confident of impunitie taking for granted because at present he perceives not God to mind him that therefore he never will but as he thinks what 's past is forgotten so he shall speed no worse for the time to come 12 But Lord let him find it otherways by some manifestation of thy self in judgement good God have a care of thine honour and mine innocence and other thy people who are concerned in me yea of thy whole Church which is resembled by me by executing some remarkable judgement and let not the world have cause to think thee careless of the afflicted that humbly depend upon thee 13 Why shouldest thou by thy forbearance give the wicked such occasion to insult over thee and slight thy judgements confidently promising himself that thou wilt never call him to an account for what he does 14 But its sure enough that thou takest notice of the mischievous and spiteful carriage of the wicked both against God and those that are godly for what ever they think yet I know thou precisely markest them to pay them home with condigne punishment in the faith whereof it is that the poor afflicted man I and others that in this world must look to fare as I do puts himself and his cause over into thine hands to be righted for that thou art the helper of the helpless and distressed against oppressors 15 Weaken thou the power of the wicked wherein he so much trusteth and which he imploys to evil purposes trase him quite through the course and trade of his iniquities even to the uttermost end of them and punish him accordingly 16 The Lord that governs his Church and people hath approved himself and ever wil to be the supream commander and disposer of all and over all for their sakes as appears by his wonderful works for how hath he destroyed the heathen in this land which he promised to bestow upon Israel and made it holy of prophane in so much as they are wasted to just nothing who were potent and numerous and his worship and worshippers planted in it maugre their resistance after that sort shall he do by the enemies of his Church and people destroy them as these 17 For it hath been alwayes Gods manner to trie his peoples faith and patience till they see a need of him and make their humble addresses to him and then to help them Yea when he has a purpose and sees it time to work their deliverance and destroy their enemies then doth he inspire them with a more than ordinarie spirit of prayer and faith to seek and hope for those very things 18 Which shall certainly come to pass for therefore hath God deferred it and always doth until most remarkably for his peoples greater good and his greater glorie he may vindicate their oppressions and enfranchise them from under the tyrannie of their oppressors who when they are at the highest in carnal confidence and the godly at the lowest in worldly diffidence that 's Gods time to rescue these and ruin those The xi PSALM David by protesting his trust in God silences his companions and rejects the advice they gave him to save himself by flight and give over expecting the Kingdom disswades them from disheartning him and shews how he no whit doubteth but by the justice of God his wicked enemies for all their malicious designs upon him should perish in their wickednes and that he should be sustained in his uprightnes To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 IN the Lord whom I know to be a sufficient safeguard do I trust to fulfil his promise How then is it that you my companions dispair and to the grief of my soul counsel me distrustfully to give all for lost abandon the cause and never more to look after it but how to save my self 2 For though its true the power and malice of mine enemies is great yet consider this They are wicked and manage an unrighteous cause maliciously seeking my destruction whom they in their own consciences know to be upright and innocent and therefore I am confident it shall turn to theirs 3 Do not ye tempt me by despair to relinquish a righteous cause and to distrust a righteous God For faith and an upright heart are the onely foundations that a righteous man hath to support himself withall and if you undermine them you quite undoe him 4 Be confident of this therefore that God is neither absent nor idle but is present in his tabernacle here below to hear the prayer of the
the end for on thee only on thy good grace do I trust for preservatiō unto salvatiō 2 My soul hath firmly entred covenant with thee and chosen thee for its Lord to serve thee and to be saved by thee of thy free mercie abandoning all worth or goodnes of mine own as any ways meritorious or beneficial to thee that needeth nothing but hast all fulnes and cause of full contentednes in th◠self alone 3 Onely to thy children and sanctified ones here on earth do I labour to express my gratitude by what offices of love and respect I can shew for thy sake as they that to me are most excellent of all men in the world be their outward condition never so mean being happy to be a fellow servant and true worshipper of thee amongst them 4 Discomfort and destruction insted of peace and salvation shall be heaped upon them that forsaking thee have their hearts set upon any other God For my part I renounce all but thee and will serve and sacrifice to thee alone and will have nothing to do with their false worship nor once open my lips to any God but thee to swear by him or to pray to him 5 With the Lord alone am I well satisfied a singular portion rich inheritance do I account my knowledge of him interest in him thou art full content to me in thee and by thee shall I be ever happie blessed when other men of other confidences shall be miserable 6 In having thee for my God I have my hearts desire and think my self enriched beyond all earthly pleasures and profits which many in the world have which have not thee 7 I will ever bless and praise the Lord for revealing to me in his word the way of life and salvation when others sit in darknes and in the shadow of death and also teaching me effectually by the inward and secret inspiration and whisperings of his spirit consciously to walk in it when as others that know it externally for want of inspiration do wander from it 8 In what condition soever I have been I have still kept the eye of my faith full upon God and not suffered it to take to other things and because I make God my support and lean so wholly upon him I know he will not deceive my confidence but will sustain me in his favour and support me with his power and grace for ever till he bring me to glorie 9 And in the faith hereof my heart is comforted above all worldly sorrows even to the causing my tongue to break out in holy boastings and praises that instrument of speech wherein man transcends other creatures Yea in this confidence I dare die as well as live and by virtue of it cheerfully bequeath my body to the grave in certain expectation of a blessed resurrection thence 10 For as thou wilt enable Christ whose type I am and who shall spring from me to overcome all his sufferings and preserve him who is thy beloved son and solely without sin from the putrefaction which all men else that are sinners must sustain in the grave making him to triumph over death who is the resurrection and the life So by Christ shall I be set free in soul and body from wrath and mortality by a glorious resurrection to immortality and life 11 Yea thou wilt teach me the way of life and salvation and lead me in it until thou bring me into thy heavenly presence to partake and be possessed of those soul-satisfying and substantial joyes that are there and of those everlasting and immortal pleasures which Christ the head of his Church at thy right hand hath to bestow on all his glorified members The xvii PSALM David probably when he was in the cave encompassed by Saul makes his prayer and appeal to God impartially pleading his innocency against his enemies Further testifies that in conscience to God he durst never do as he was done by nor praies he never may but commits his matter over to God in prayer to be righted by him and delivered from the violence of his proud outragious enemies in his extream straights And again presseth hard upon the Lord to shew himself for him against them that have no interest in his special and saving favour onely share in his common mercies which he hath and prizeth as an happiness above all A Psalm of David in way of prayer 1 THou that art a righteous God hear the prayer of the righteous and innocent person heed my humble and vehement supplication let my prayer have audience which speaks nothing but truth of my self and enemies 2 Judge thou my cause against mine adversaries by clearing mine innocency behold the wrong I sustain and by thy just judgements do me right upon them according to my righteousness 3 Mine integrity is not unknown to thee for thou hast searched mine heart as well as seen mine actions thou hast put me upon the scrutiny and discovery of my self in my most retired thoughts yea in thought word and deed hast thou tried me and sifted me through great and many afflictions and neither hast nor shalt find unrighteousness in me for I am by thy blessed assistance fully purposed as to think so to speak the truth in all uprightness and not to seek mine advantage by lying and dissembling as do mine enemies 4 Concerning the wrongs they have done me I have been careful for all their unjust provocations to walk by the rule of thy word not rendring evil for evil nor requiting their injurious cruelty with the like though it lay in my power 5 And so Lord inable me ever to do to walk after thy word that I may never erre from thy truth nor by sinning forfeit my well doing and good success in the end which by thy promise in the way of obedience I am sure of 6 I have made thee my confidence and ever addressed me to thee for I know and believe according to thy promise thou wilt hear and do for me now Lord is a fit time and a needful I pray thee therefore withdraw not thy self but be intreated to take notice of me and to hear mine instant prayer 7 Shew thy love to me in marvellously delivering me and fulfilling the wonderful things thou hast promised me O Lord that usest to imploy thy power for their preservation that trust in thee for deliverance from them that unjustly oppress them 8 Do thou Lord watch carefully over me that am dear to thee and in tender compassion preserve thy weak and innocent one 9 From them that unjustly seek my ruine and pursue me to the death with mighty ods of power and strength 10 They bear themselves high in confidence of their own greatness and power wallowing in abundance and give out great swelling words in disdain and contempt of me an abject 11 They have hunted
and power of God to all parts and people thereof In them may all men see how wonderfully God hath ordained the sun to reside and shine 5 Which at its first arising and mornings beautiful appearance is most welcome to all mens sight bringing light and as it were life with it from under the dark curtain of the sable night and with a free and natural motion fit for such an undertaking without difficulty sets upon the course it is to run and finish in the appointed time from one end of the heaven to the other 6 His setting forth is from the East and in a day he makes his progress to the West diffusing also his light and influence North and South whose penetrating heat in this his motion reacheth the very lowermost parts of the earth concocting minerals and quickening vegetables 7 Glorious is God in his works which declare his power and wisdom to all men but much more glorious is he in his word and doctrine delivered peculiarly to his people which holds forth to them his covenant of saving grace Those things by a natural propensity convey to men many common and bodily benefits But the word of God is far beyond them all restoring both our title to them lost by our fall and which is infinitely more supernaturally revealing to us the perfect and infallible way of life turning again to God and powerfully bringing it to pass upon us The truth delivered in it by the Lord touching our salvation is unquestionable and may be trusted to which understood and imbraced enriches us who foolishly lost our first estate of holines and happines with understanding how to get it again 8 The saving principles and ordinances which God gives us in his word to walk by are holy and righteous and such as being observed and obeyed in faith and conscience to the Law-giver brings joy and hearts ease in the comfortable sense of our sinceritie and assurance of Gods favour to us and acceptance of us The whole will of God revealed is it self pure void of errour or corruption and makes them so that walk according to it enlightning them with understanding to tread in the way of truth and life when others wander in by-paths of death and errour 9 The holy law of God which he hath ordained his people to fear and serve him by is free from corruption and makes them like it that observe it holy and pure and is everlastingly the same like God the giver of it not to be varied by us at no time nor occasion bringing with it the reward of everlasting happines The ordinances and commandments of the Lord by which he expects to be obeyed and purposes to judge the world are compleatly perfect free from all errour and injustice and onely makes men so 10 They are of more worth and yield a man more profit than all the riches of the world better are they to be prized and more to be desired than the most refined gold And more true pleasure and content do they bring to the soul and conscience by faithful observance than the sweetest honey does to the taste 11 After a special manner they are and ever have been useful to me and to all that fear thee shewing us how to stear a right course in every condition by chusing the good and refusing the evil And well worthie are they to be obeyed for they bring a blessed reward with them even peace of conscience and everlasting life 12 So holy are all thy foresaid laws and commandments and so binding both to the inward and outward man as who lives that can know how oft he offends against them Lord pardon me therefore my unknown sins and sanctifie my heart and spirit conformably to thy law which is spiritual 13 Protect me also who am thy servant and desire to yield thee universal obedience from outward and grosser iniquities committed against knowledge let not such prevail over me by strength of temptation And so being thus pardoned and sanctified notwithstanding my many frailties and daily infirmities I shall be uprightly righteous in thy sight and shall be though not innocent and free from all sin yet from known and presumptuous ones any of which lived in may justly stagger my sinceritie and covenant-peace which without thy special preventing grace I shall notwithstanding fall into 14 Yea cleanse me throughout Let my very words and thoughts as well as deeds be such as sute with thy law and will Thus Lord grant me grace and pardon who onely art my sanctifier and redeemer The xx PSALM David as a prophet instructs his people in a pattern and form of prayer to pray for him their King and to seek their own welfare in him as the Churches in Christ whereof he and they were respective types And to look at God for all the good they expected by his means and withal to be confident of it by saith grounded upon pregnant experiences of his grace and favour to him And how ever God might make them strong in outward things yet not to change their trust but to keep it firm in God by example both of their enemies miscarriages through their misgrounded confidence and of their own experienced success by trusting in the Lord. Closing up the prayer with a brief of all Praying God to preserve both them and their King and to make him able to govern and defend them in equitie and tranquillitie as Christ his Church To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 WE the people of God and thee whom God hath set over us pray for thee That the Lord would hear thy prayers against thine enemies in time of need the grace and providence of God which he shewed to our father Jacob and promised to us his seed who are his peculiar people evermore accompany and preserve thee our King 2 Yea the good Lord answer thee succesfully from that place which he hath specially appointed to hear and for us to offer prayers in even his holy Tabernacle And grant thee his Almighty aid according to the daily prayers of his priests and people which they put up unto him in his holy mountain in thy behalf 3 The Lord keep in mind thy pious offerings of praise and thanksgivings for mercies past to give thee further cause to do the like and the Lord accept the propitiation for thy sins to pardon them and shew forth the gratious fruits and effects of his reconciled favour to thee All this we humbly and heartily pray for 4 God grant thee answers and issues according to thine own desire and bless all thy advice and undertakings for God and his people with sutable success 5 We are confident that God is and ever will be with thee and therefore rejoyce before hand in that
happines and preservation we promise our selves under thee as the Church shall have under the Messiah and with much assurance and boldnes in our God and thine will we triumphantly and in confidence of victorie march against thine and our enemies And to that purpose the Lord hear and effectually answer all thy petitions 6 We have had good experience and sufficient proof of Gods great good will towards thee and that ever since thy first anointing by Samuel the Lord hath so preserved and kept thee and spite of all thine enemies placed thee in the throne as that we doubt not but that still God will be the same in grace and good will to thee hearing thy further requests which thou shalt put up against thine and our enemies and answering thee from heaven with preservation and victorie 7 Our enemies according to their national accommodations and militarie provisions so is their confidence some in one thing some in another But we will strengthen our selves in the Lord and repose our trust in him alone by virtue of his many gracious promises made to us and his former mightie works wrought for us 8 And cause we have to do so if we consider How helpless they have found them whose trust was in other things and how notwithstanding their pride and power it hath brought them to ruin Whilest we by trusting in the Lord are through his power and goodness attained to great felicitie and superioritie above them from a low and despicable condition 9 Good Lord be still our preserver and our Kings and so strengthen him with power and endow him with clemency and justice That he may be both able to keep us in peace from our enemies that seek to annoy us and in righteousness preserve us from civil oppression amongst our selves As Christ can and will his Church and people when they crie to him The xxi PSALM David in the name of Israel foretels much happiness to him and to themselves in him their King answerable to the Churches happiness in her head Christ the onely Saviour of his people and they ground it upon experience of Gods former extraordinarie favours to him which makes them in him confidently boast themselves on the Lord for that he still trusts in God who therefore will preserve him and with fierce wrath destroy his enemies as rebels and traitors against God himself for so are all the enemies of Christ whom David typifies Having thus declared their faith they end with prayer and promise praise To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 DAvid whom thou hast made head and King over us thy people as Christ is over his Church shall we are confident find thee a never failing God unto him and that thou wilt give him continual cause of rejoycing in that gracious assistance thou wilt ever afford him against his enemies Yea it s not to be expressed how great things thou hast done for him and what further favours thou wilt shew him in the preservation of him and his people to his and their unspeakable joy 2 Thou hast brought all things to pass after a mervellous manner which long since thou promisedst him and which accordingly he hath long expected nor hast thou disappointed his faithful waiting and fervent praying but hast fulfilled them to the uttermost as thou shalt the Messiahs To thy praise be it spoken 3 Thou hast done more for him and shown more bounteous goodnes to him than ever he could have asked for himself for of thine own good pleasure unthought of and undesired hast thou advanced him from a mean estate and brought him out of a turbulent condition to be the King of thy people Israel in much glorie and rest 4 He did but beg deliverance of thee out of his troubles that he might not be destroyed in them and so frustrate thy promise of the Kingdom to him and thou gavest him his desire and more for thou hast entailed the crown upon him and his heirs for ever nay and moreover hast advanced him to be a type and progenitor of Christ whose Kingdom shall last for ever and ever 5 His faith and ours emboldens both him and us in him to glorie and boast our selves on thee in assurance of preservation and deliverance which we ground upon that that thou hast done already for him in fulfilling the promise of the Kingdom to him 6 For thou hast wonderfully blessed him both realy in his own person and promissorily in his seed which shall also inherit the Kingdom after him And that which yields him and us most content in all his worldly felicitie is that it is the gift of thy grace and a token of thy love and favour to him which is more worth than all besides 7 And as thou hast done so he and we make sure account thou wilt do for though thou hast advanced him to great authority and furnished him with strength and power Yet as heretofore so still now he is King his trust is never the less in thee and in nothing else and therefore he and we are confident that as thou hast raised him to this condition so of thy good grace thou wilt establish him in it and us under him in happiness 8 We verily believe that as thou hast already done by thine and his enemies so still thou wilt continue to hunt them down and by thy power to root them out that in him make opposition to thee and thy Christ. 9 Thou wilt bitterly enrage thy self against them and execute fierce destruction upon them even as thou wilt upon the enemies of Christ at the day of judgement whom everlasting burnings shall devour 10 Root and branch of them shalt thou cut off that refuse to come under thy scepter and seek to destroy thy Kingdom as not worthie to live upon the earth 11 For they are rebels and traitors not so much against him as thee whose annointed he is to typifie Christ notwithstanding they have attempted to unthrone him and to take Israel out of his hands and so out of thine which though they have strongly endeavored yet all in vain for they cannot bring it to pass no more than the world shall Christs people out of his 12 Therefore though thou mayest suffer much and be loth to do execution upon them yet when they put thee to it that thou must shew thy self on thy King and peoples behalf thou wilt make them know to their conviction whom they fight against by the woful destruction thou wilt bring upon them 13 Lord do thou answer our faith and confidence in thee for our King and us by putting forth thy glorious strength in his and our behalves against our enemies that we may exalt thee To whose power and goodness we promise with all self-denying
to compassion and pardon of all those my sins that may have caused thy displeasure that so I may find favour and receive some ease 19 My state is very forlorn and perillous if thou consider as I pray thee do and send help accordingly mine enemies for their number which is great and for their hatred of me which is to the death and their pursuit is accordingly with extream violence 20 They do all they can to take away my life O therefore do thou undertake to protect it from their rage and deliver me out of their hands Let me not miscarry by their power or policy and so I and my faith be rendred scornful and scandalous to them for I put my trust in thee thy truth and goodness therefore fail me not 21 Let the innocency of my cause and my just behaviour in it move thee to preserve me from the injustice of mine adversaries for on thee in respect of thy righteous promises do I trust and wait to be righted against their wrongs 22 O God that in thy faithfulness didest deliver Israel our Father out of all his troubles do the like by his seed and bring them into a state of peace and rest by and under me as shall the Church and faithful have one day by Christ. The xxvi PSALM David being slaundered by his enemies appeals to God to judge if he have done or thought as they say of him and whether to God and man his behaviour hath not been such as it should be which he is sure it hath the love of God constraining him Yea he hath declined all temptations to the contrary and is fully resolved to keep faith and a good conscience to the end And then praies That since he is and hath been studious of piety and innocency he may not be exposed to wicked mens cruelty nor his end be like theirs promising when God shall advance him to be as incorrupt and innocent in prosperity as in adversity And concludes with confidence of supportation and good success in Gods way which is the way he is in A Psalm made by David 1 MIne enemies condemn and censure me but Lord I appeal to thee who judgest with righteous judgement of whom I am sure I shall be acquit of all their slaunderous accusations for thou knowest that all I have done hath been with an honest heart in obedience to thee and without wrong-doing to any man nor have I so much as stepped out of the way by indirect and unlawful means to compass the fulfilling of thy promises but have both waited and believed in the Lord to do it in his own way and time Therefore I am confident that God in his grace and righteousness will uphold and prosper me and mine innocency against mine enemies 2 Having a clear conscience I freely expose and put my self into thine hands where I am sure of justice and truth to be examined and tried of those things whereof mine enemies unjustly accuse me both within and without as well touching the uprightness of mine heart in respect of pride or malice as the honesty and warrantableness of mine actions 3 For indeed I have such a tie upon me by reason of thy love and goodness to me which I alwayes with such thankful admiration and faithful dependance bear in mind as that it awes me from offending thee in any kind and makes me in return of love to thee to be most precise in my walking strictly observing to answer my duty to thy word and will in all things 4 Besides I have ever shunned occasions of evil not so much as taking counsel of men void of grace and conscience to do as they would have me nor will I ever consent to use or practise any crafty or hipocritical dealing like men that live and move more by policy than faith and honesty 5 I have ever detested both the company and counsels of wicked men nor will I be infected with them or adviced by them to go out of the way of faith and uprightness 6 My purpose is alwayes to tread an innocent path and to keep my self from doing unjust or unlawful things for such I know O Lord by those many legal cleansings thou hast instituted thou wilt onely accept of to worship thee and therefore will I be careful principally to maintain a pure conscience and conversation and then will I in comfort and confidence of thine acceptance of me and mine offering frequent thy tabernacle and there perform my ceremonial services of sacrifices and peace-offerings to thee 7 That so I may let all men know that do resort thither and declare to them both by those tokens of my thankfulness appointed in thy law for that purpose and by Psalms of praise the wonderful things thou shalt have wrought for me according to my trust in thee and thy promises which are my onely stay and thereby move them also to faithful thanksgiving 8 O Lord thou knowest my wayes have not been wayes of wickedness but of piety and holiness I have dearly loved and devoutly frequented thy holy ordinances in thy holy tabernacle and have been a diligent worshipper and honourer of thee there which thou hast ordained for that purpose and where thou art specially present 9 In thy goodness and mercy therefore remember me as such an one that desires and endeavours to serve thee in holiness and righteousness and expose me not to the wicked and bloudy hands of mine enemies nor bring that wrathful destruction upon me thou intendest unto them as the punishment of their iniquity and cruelty 10 Who plot and practise nothing but mischievous things and regard neither truth nor honesty but abuse their authority and pervert justice through corruption of bribes 11 But as for me if thou pleasest to set me in place of justice and authority then as I have carried my self in mine affliction so thou shalt find I will still keep a good conscience and walk in incorrupt and sincere wayes therefore O Lord think on me to deliver me out of my great affliction and misery and in mercy make good thy gracious promises to me 12 The unjust and unequitable wayes that mine enemies walk I am sure will bring them to ruine but as for me as I have troden the path of piety and equity so I am sure to find the reward of grace and mercy and to be upheld and made to stand when they shall stumble and fall This I know shall be my portion and for this before hand I vow praises and thanksgivings to God even in the publick congregations of Israel The xxvii PSALM David rowseth up his faith to overtop his fear by many arguments taken from former preservations and confidence that as God hath stirred up an earnest desire in him to worship him in his Tabernacle so he shall be preserved thereunto He further backs his faith with prayer pressing upon God the
and difference made between him and his wicked enemies whom he accurses as the wilful withstanders of the will of God touching him a type of Christ And therefore promises and prophesies their destruction and his own assured establishment over Israel whom he prayes for that they may be blessed under him as the Church shall be under the Messiah A Psalm made by David 1 UNto thee will I as I have ever done make my moan in my misery and cry for help for on thee O Lord depends all my trust and hope of safety therefore deny not to hear and help me who have no other helper for if thou doest I am utterly helpless and must unavoidably perish 2 Stop not thine ears nor with-hold not thy favour from me for it is as bitter as death to have my prayers unheard when in anguish of my spirit I pour them forth before thee and when according to thine ordinance I lift up mine eyes and hands in supplication towards the sanctuary which thou hast appointed as a type of heaven to vouchsafe thy presence and to hear and answer prayer in 3 Let me not perish as an evil doer by evil doers nor be untimely taken away in thy wrath as a male-factour and wicked worker amongst those that are so who with hipocritical dissembling make shew of peace and friendship to them that really mean no ill but intend nothing but mischievous deceit against them 4 Such as are so and do so which are mine enemies let them feel and find thy just displeasure according to their demerits and answerable to their sinful practises against the innocent let them have the wages they have wrought for and in thy justice pay them their just deserved punishment 5 And because they regard so little and slight so much the Lord in his remarkable judgements upon themselves and his no less remarkable grace and favour unto me so clearly manifested by extraordinary testimonies and singular providences confirming mine election to the Kingdom as a type of Christ he will and shall therefore at last I am sure do himself and me right upon them and make them understand it by their utter extirpation and overthrow and my establishment in their steads as he shall do by Christ and his enemies 6 Now blessed be the Lord who enables me in full assurance of faith and by an infallible spirit of of prophecy to foresee the issue of my prayers to be according to my desires and his gracious promise and decree touching me 7 So that I can say in the assurance of the event that the Lord is and shall be to the end my all-sufficient preserver and defendor against mine enemies Yea in full perswasion of faith I can say as if I had already taken a farewel of all my troubles That I am for so I shall be be fully delivered and gratiously established in a good estate according to the trust I have put in him therefore my heart at present rejoyceth as if all were done and past and with a Psalm of thanksgiving do I now promise publickly to praise the Lord when it shall be so 8 The Lord is a faithful and powerful deliverer and rescuer of his people from out their oppressions and from under their enemies and for their sakes he is and will be the undoubted Saviour and preserver of me whom he hath annointed and decreed to set over them for their good and welfare as a type of Christ over his Church 9 Therefore remember thy people to bring them out of the tyrannie of their enemies and the present distempers they lie under and bless them whom thou hast peculiarly chosen out of all the world to be thine by setting me over them as a type of Christ and feed them under me as Christ the shepheard shall feed his flock with plenty of grace and peace and bring them to a lasting and settled condition of tranquillity giving them the victory and dominion over all their enemies by and under me as the Church shall have by and under him The xxix PSALM David to awe all men to be respective of Gods Church people specially Kings from whom they then did ever should receive most opposition hardship He first seeks to awe them by a due respect of God himself and of his ordinances exhorting them to give him honour worship And therefore sets before their considerations the terriblest of his words to convince them of his glorious greatness to wit the thunder shewing the marvellous effects it hath upon things both sensible and unsensible the better to move with man and specially with great men to reverence the greatness of Almighty God And besides that he also preaches to them his glorious goodness manifested in his word and ordinances to excite them to partake therein together with his people But in case they refuse and obstinately oppose themselves against him and them He incourageth the Israelites and in them the faithful assuring them that God will subdue their enemies and make them prosperous under him as Christ shall his Church spite of all the world A Psalm made by David 1 O ye mighty potentates of the world suffer a word of exhortation be not high in your own conceits to which you are most subject be warned not to swell with the pride of your honour and power but set the Lord above you and pay the homage of both to God least he lay your honour in the dust and bring your strength to weakness 2 Do by God as you exspect others should do by you that are your subjects and inferiours Give him the honour that is due to his greatness and leave off your superstition and come and worship him and bring your gifts in token of service and subjection to his beautiful sanctuary for no where else will he receive them it being the sole appointed place of his glorious and solemn worship and special presence 3 Your power is here below but Gods is up above which loudly declares it self to us on earth from out those watery clouds that are in the firmament over us whence God who is the Lord of supream glory dreadfully thunders and shews his greatness by that terrible noise multiplied out of sundry clouds by sundry thunder-claps at once and by the infinite inundation of rain that immediately follows thereupon by sundry thunderclaps at once and by the infinit inundation of rain that immedaitly follows thereupon 4 This voice of the Lords thunder is in it self very dreadful and declares him to be of mighty power and of exceeding great Majestie and glorie far above all earthly potentates 5 When the Lord thunders it is so mightie and forcible that it overthrows the strongest trees even the great and tall Cedars of Lebanon are broken and turned up by the roots by the violence of thunder-storms 6 Yea of such affrightment is that terrible voice of his and
which wrought me this trouble and miserie 8 And hereupon I betook me to my never failing refuge of fervent and faithful prayer which I put up to the Lord again and again 9 Reasoning the matter thus in an humble boldness what satisfaction can my bloud make thee for my sin or how can my death glorifie thee comparably to my life and restorement what an opportunitie of praise wilt thou lose if thou takest away my life though I confess in justice I have forfeited it but consider if according to thy mercie and faithfulness thou so far beyond my merits shalt pardon and spare me what praise it will bring thee and how I and others for my sake shall be set on work to admire and magnifie the omnipotencie of thy grace and infallibilitie of thy promise 10 Therefore make not my life a prey to mine enemies but hear my prayer and in mercie pardon my sin and grant me deliverance be thou Lord my helper and saviour from my sin and danger 11 And upon my prayer the Lord hath helped me yea to thine everlasting praise be it spoken thou Lord hast been merciful to me and hast done away both my sin and thine anger quit me of mine enemies and restored me out of my sorrowful estate to a joyful condition and out of my humiliation and abasement into an established tranquillitie and happiness 12 And this thou hast done for me To the end I may by this merciful occasion have my tongue oiled from a heart enlarged to exalt thee in thy never to be forgotten praises by Psalms of thanks-giving and accordingly O Lord that art the God of all my happiness I will never forget this thy mercie but with everlasting thankfulness according to my dutie and thy desert will I celebrate the praise thereof unto thee The xxxi PSALM David by many circumstances in this Psalm does doubtless intend his sufferings and the great straits he was brought into under Absaloms rebellion against which he prayes and comforts himself by and from Gods former mercies shewn in his deliverance under Sauls persecution and in prayer urgeth hard upon God his great extremities under the burden of his sin and sufferings together with his injurious usage solitarie friendlesness and extream hazard of his life In all which afflictions he yet animates himself by his saith in God and earnestly persists in prayer to him even until he be fully heard and answered in his own preservation and his enemies overthrow And then blames his faith for sailing him upon the suddenness and greatness of his temptation but magnifies the goodness of God that yet was merciful and faithful to him And exhorts all the Godly never in no case to disbelieve the power and grace of God assuring the faithful that they shall ever find God so To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 THee O Lord do I make mine onely refuge in all mine adversities trusting in nothing but thy help and grace therefore at no time no more now then heretofore let me miscarrie nor my faith nor self be rendred a scorn to mine adversaries but do thou keep promise with me and deliver me 2 Lend an hearing ear to the prayer I put up unto thee and delay not to deliver me in mine extremitie which is urgent and requires speedy relief as my faith makes thee so let it find thee an all-sufficient support and safetie to me in all adverse fortune 3 For truly thou art all in all to me I have not any thing to trust unto nor do I trust in any thing but thee for defence and preservation therefore for the honour of thy faithfulness whereupon I solely depend take me into thy tuition and trase out my way for me by thy gracious and wise providence that I be not ensnared by mine enemies 4 Prevent their craftie counsels and subtile practises against me not suffering me to be entrap'd but so directing me in all my ways as to shun their deceits or if I by thine appointment and permitting providence fall into their snares deliver me out of them for there are none too wise or too strong for thee who art of wisdom and power sufficient either to prevent or to rescue me 5 I betrust my life and safetie to nothing but thy custodie there I deposit it now and for ever and good cause have I for thou hast given good testimonie of thy tender care and love to it and me thou hast rescued my life from temporal danger and my soul from spiritual and eternal O Lord thou hast hitherto made good thy word of grace and so I trust wilt still 6 I have been tempted and perswaded in my necessities to leave off depending on thee and to take other courses like other men but I have ever expressed my dislike of such counsels and reproved such counsellours that would have drawn me to seek mine advantages against mine enemies as they do against me by sinful and unjustifiable proceedings and have always both in word and deed declared my self to relie on the Lord for deliverance in his own way and time 7 And whilest I take this course I know I shall rejoyce in the issue yea I promise and assure my self before-hand that I shall ever have cause of gladness and joy in thy goodness and mercie for thou wilt still have as thou hast ever had a tender regard of me in my troubles testifying thy mindfulness of me by my manifold extraordinarie preservations and deliverances 8 Which thou hast given me from mine arch-enemie Saul who thought me his and that I could not escape him many a time when yet I did Yea thou hast set me free out of all those troubles with advantage of honour and happines 9 And now O Lord do as thou hast done shew me mercie in delivering me out of my present distress for my trouble is very great so that my sight is become dim with continual weeping and my spirits and vitals are wasted and decayd within me by my pensivenes 10 For my very life draws nigh to death with extream grieving and my time is cut off and shortened by the exhausting of my spirits with incessant sighings and lamentations Yea my natural strenght decays and wasteth by reason of my sin and thy displeasure so that my very bones are sensibly enfeebled with it 11 Mine old inveterate enemies and Sauls friends were all glad in heart to see mine affliction insulting thereupon but especially was I most injuriously and reprochfully used by my neer allies and friends Absalom and Ancitophel being forced to flie and shift for my self in a poor condition in so much as that those that wished me well and were mine entire friends and acquaintance durst not owne me or take part with me almost all that
happy is that man whom in mercie God freely justifies and acquits from the guilt and punishment of his sin and seals it to him by the never-failing testimonie of his sanctifying spirit bestowed upon him creating him anew towards God in sinceritie and holiness 3 I can speak by experience for when as I loved my sin and lived in it and was loth to confess and forsake it not seeking pardon for it nor grace against it how bitter and burdensome at last did the Lord make it to me tormenting me within with most insupportable horrours to the sensible decay of nature by reason of his heavy displeasure and the want of his favour so that it made me restlesly to roar and crie 4 Yea incessantly without intermission was I tormented with fear and terrour so that I was even scorched and my natural moisture dried up with inward anguish like unto leaves and grass by a summers drought I speak it freelingly 5 This made me come off and glad I was to acknowledge my sin unto thee and ask forgiveness which I did not daring to conceal it any longer but spread it before thee with confession and deprecation And truly when once I did but feel my self throughly and sincerely resolved in my spirit no longer to hide and harbour it in my bosom but humbly in self-judging to lay it open before the Lord presently hereupon I felt my heart eased of mine inward pressures and cleared with the comfortable apprehension of the pardon of the guilt and punishment of my sin and thine acceptance of me into grace and favour again I speak it joyfully 6 This testimonie of mine touching thy ready mercie to humble penitents shall incite by the faith thereof all that are or desire to be Godly to make their addresses to thee in their trouble for sin in hope and full assurance to find the like mercie from thee in their miserie which is a time indeed wherein thou art readiest to afford help and comfort Surely in the greatest of outward troubles or inward perplexities such an one as flies to thee for refuge shall find as I have done that though like waves they may threaten and affright him yet they shall not overwhelm him but being in faith by prayer sought unto thou wilt command a calm in his soul as thou didst in mine 7 Thou art the refuge that my soul still flies unto for succour in all distresses and so thou hast approved thy self and so wilt ever do in time of need I am confident thou wilt never but shew me mercie in my miserie and so wilt ever give me cause to praise thee and rejoyce in thee still as I have need of thee by my manifold and seasonable deliverances To thy glorie I speak it 8 As I have learned of the Lord the way of wel-doing so will I as is my dutie teach it unto thee who ever thou art for thy welfare out of a care and and desire of thy good I will shew thee the readie and certain way of gaining the favour of God as I have found it and seen the experience of it so will I declare it to thee 9 Which is this walk humbly with thy God and be tractable to his will and pleasure not rebelliously persisting in sin and so foolishly provoking him against thee to reduce thee by extremities as we are fain to do brute beasts or plague thee with his judgements to keep thee within compass 10 For the wicked by their wickedness do but kick against pricks and heap up judgement to themselves But he that is the Lords by faith and obedience the sails of his soul shall be filled with the comfortable sense of Gods mercie and favour to him and he shall find the good effects thereof in the whole course of his life 11 Therefore if the wicked will still be so at their peril But as for the Godly they have chosen the better part for the Lord is their portion in whom they may and ought to be glad and rejoyce even all that believe in him for the pardon of their sins and are sanctified by his holy spirit such whatsoever the world think of them that are thus sincere and truly Godly which all are not that make profession and shew of religion have infinit cause of joy in their blessed and happie condition which they shall do well to put in practise and make conscience of by an answerable actual rejoycing and comfortable course of life to the conviction of the world and the honour of God The xxxiii PSALM In this Psalm the Godly are incited exceedingly to praise the Lord because of their faithful experience of his word and works his holy nature goodness and power manifested all the world over for which all men also ought to reverence him But principally his people Israel whose happiness he hath decreed and will bring to pass maugre all opposition of contrarie counsels and attempts in case they walk with him and hope in him he will be with them He underrates for Israel in the name of all the faithful that they will and do effectually hope in the Lord and promiseth in so doing they shall speed accordingly and lastly prayes it may be so 1 O all ye chosen Israel who are or should be Saints and servants of the Lord rejoyce and be exceeding glad all those that are so in that you have him for your portion and truly better and more seemly service they cannot do him that are partakers of his grace and spirit than to render him praise for his love and benefits towards them 2 Never think you can give too many or too much praise to God but learn to be skilful in it and every way in the very best manner and with the most raised affections look you perform it to him that so highly deserves it at your hands 3 As he vouchsafes new mercies so still do you indite new praises to him with thankful hearts set all your skill and might on work to magnifie him 4 For the word of promise which he hath made to the righteous is firm to be trusted and will not deceive the believing soul but is and ever shall be true to him and all his works of power and providence towards them and against their enemies are the fruits of his mercy and faithfulness 5 The Lord is righteous and holy hates the wayes of the world injury and oppression and contrarily loves justice and equity and such as practise them he is bountiful also and out of his goodness fills the earth with abundance of good things for the use of man 6 And as his goodness so his power wonderfully appears in the world for at his meer command the heavens and all those lightsome glorious ornaments therein were made and other way of Being they had none saving his command to Be. 7 And as the heavens above so the earth beneath sheweth his
infinite power for thereto hath he given a surface above the waters which he hath notwithstanding they were once uppermost and would be so again confined to their concave or the pit he digged for them for all their fluid and spreading nature there he keeps them safe from breaking out and overwhelming the earth again 8 And as the faithfully righteous have cause to praise the Lord for his word and works as being happy in him for their God that is of such power and truth so also from that light and power which is imparted to them out of the creation should all the world one and other submit to his authority and know it to be their duty to honour and obey him reverencing his commandments and fearing his powerfull judgements 9 For all things that they see how great and wonderfull soever above and beneath them were made meerly by his fâ—at or word of command yea the great and weighty globe of the earth was established for ever by its sole and onely center without any other prop or pillar through the Almighty command of God for it so to be 10 And the Lord is as wise as powerfull defeating in his peoples behalf all the machinations that their enemies device against them frustrating and making ineffectual all the plots of the Gentils round about against his chosen 11 For the gracious purposes of the Almighty towards his shall stand good spite of all opposing power and policy yea they shall never be frustrated but ever be effectual and succesfull in the behalf of those that trust in him to the worlds end 12 O therefore blessed are we above all the world who have the knowledge and worship of the true God and so have him in a special manner gracious to us and Lord over us Yea happy are the people whom he hath picked out from amongst all people unto the adoption of sons and servants as we are 13 This God who is our God is in heaven and from thence he beholds and governs all men and all their actions 14 Yea from heaven the place of his most glorious and special residence doth he all-knowingly see and dispose of all men and all things here below 15 The Lord knows all men within and without for he made all and therefore knows all no man made himself but he alike made all as any and therefore knows all as well as any even the subtilest and wisest devices of the deepest politicians he is privy to and considers the events ordering them after his mind and not after theirs 16 So that be mans confidence never so great though he be a King and have never such authority and power or if for bodily strength he be equal to a Giant yet can it neither conquer nor keep himself from being conquered if God be not purposed to favour him 17 If God help not nothing can an Horse which men trust much in be he never so swift or strong will deceive and can neither safeguard his rider nor harm his opposer if God forbid it 18 The gracious favour and good providence of God is worth all which they are sure of that in fear obey him and by faith trust in his goodness and mercy over whom he keeps a carefull and watchful eye 19 To deliver them from the deadly plots of their enemies and other dangerous perils and to sustain and provide for them in times of scarcity and want when he lets other men starve 20 We therefore that are the Lords people ought and I hope we do with one heart and mind faithfully and affectionately seek to him and trust in him as our onely preserver and defendor as do and ever will the faithful 21 And this we may be sure of that we shall find him faithfull he will not fail us but we shall have cause of joy and thanksgiving in the manifestation of his grace and favour to us if so be that we fail not to put our trust stedfastly in his power and goodness which for his holiness sake can never deceive them that trust therein as do the faithful 22 Let Lord accordingly thy merciful loving-kindness and gratious providence be for ever vouchsafed unto thy people who make thee their stay and strength alone xxxiv PSALM For his deliverance mentioned in the title David in the ravishing apprehension thereof excites himself and others to praise the Lord greatly and to believe in him so too promising as he sped so should they in so doing be their danger never so great and their help humanely never so small He would have them that doubt it but try him by trusting and assureth them they shall experimentally find all true that he sayes touching Gods goodness And out of his duty to God and love to the godly he instructs them as a prophet and from his own experience how to out-live temptations and afflictions and be happy and blessed to wit by eschewing evil and doing good for to such and such onely the Lord is good and gracious for the wicked shall certainly smart for their wickedness it shall cost them their undoing A Psalm made by David when as being forced to flie from Saul and not knowing where to be safe in Israel he betook himself to Gath of the Philistins where being known by reason of his late conquest of Goliah and hated for the destruction that befel their Host thereby he was therefore in great danger and put to his shifts to feign himself mad for which being contemned of the King he was dismissed his presence and so escaped again to Judea 1 SO great hath been the goodness and power of God in my behalf as that I will never forget to magnifie him for it but will ever bear it in remembrance and continually be speaking of his praise-worthy mercies to me in my deliverance 2 Yea from my very soul and inmost affections will I praise him and confidently tell both what he hath done and what thereupon I believe he will do for me whereby I shall I am sure incourage all self-denying believers to the worlds end to hope in him in trouble and adversity and for present shall have such as fear God and wish me well partakers of my joy 3 And such I call upon to help me in exalting the Lord and with heart and voice to joyn with me in magnifying his loving-kindness and power the better to amplifie his praises 4 For I in mine extremity put up my prayers faithfully and fervently to the Lord and was presently answered and freed from my dangers by his good providence 5 And as it was with me so shall it be for certain with other his people that from mine example humbly rely upon him and in extremity not knowing which way to turn them with fervency of spirit by faithful prayer and ejaculation cast their eyes towards heaven they shall find favour and have a
way shewed them to escape in the greatest and doubtfullest dangers nor shall they have cause to hide their heads because of their miscarrying for God will deliver them and they shall praise him 6 They shall make me their instance and incouragement of their faith how that as I in my poor and hazardous condition cried to the Lord for mercy and was graciously heard and delivered so they shall take heart to do the like in a like estate in confidence of like success from God who is graciously pittiful to all that in affliction faithfully seek to him as I did 7 Nor matters it how humanely helpless and desolate any such seem to be for God hath given his faithful and obedient people in charge to Christ and his ministering spirits the holy Angels to yield them divine assistance who accordingly have a watchful eye over them to prevent their hurt and procure their good maugre all their enemies 8 Make but proof of God as I have done by believing in him and relying on him and you shall find him no worse but by faith and experience shall be able to affirm him as I do to be sensibly gracious and good to such as seek to him for it is as true and undeniable as any thing can be that he certainly and he alone is blessed and shall be happy that makes him and him onely his trust and confidence 9 O therefore stick close to the Lord you that are his people and depart not from him be your temptation what it will be by mistrust or misdoing for be sure of it you shall not want the Lords gracious presence with you and providence for you if you so do 10 Faithfully relying upon and seeking to the Lord is the most effectual and prosperous way any man can take all else is fallible wisdom strength whatsoever is relied upon Though a man had the force and courage of the stoutest lion yet as they notwithstanding theirs go without their prey till providence supply it them so shall he notwithstanding his of what he stands in need if he seek it not of God who onely is to be confided in and sought to for whatsoever we need or desire for to such hath he engaged himself as farre as is desireable even to give them what is good for them whatever else they want God and his goodness shall be theirs to their hearts contentment 11 Come all ye that are the children of the most High and as dear to me as mine and that in love and meekness desire to walk well-pleasingly towards God Give ear to what I say as an experienced man and true Prophet And it shall shew you your hearts desire even how to walk acceptably with him 12 What man is he that doth desire to out-live his enemies and the miseries he sustains by them and would be blessed of God with a long and happy life which though all would have yet all men take not the way to get but by their sin procure themselves misery and destruction therefore hearken thou to such instructions as will effect it 13 Do what God commands thee in word and deed refrain thy tongue and lips from revengeful slaunders or deceivable lies to or against any 14 Be not tempted or enticed either by the provocations of thy nature or the worlds corruptions to wrong or deceit and on the contrary study and endeavour to walk holily and righteously in all things towards God and men in all manner of well-doing seek the favour of God carefully maintain peace with men and pursue it earnestly with the uttermost self-denial in meek holy and righteous walking 15 For onely they are in favour with God and have the eyes of the Lord watchful over them for good that are good and he is very inclinable to hear the cries of such in affliction and to send them relief accordingly 16 But on the contrary in stead of a long and happy life the anger of the Lord is against them that are evil whom by his judgements he shall in justice cut off both them and theirs 17 The good its true may be afflicted as well as the bad but with this difference that they have the Lord to go and bewail themselves unto and the Lord hath promised to hear them and hath approved himself manifoldly as good as his word and so will still to such for if they call he will answer and ease them of their troubles 18 For the Lord is apt to pitty them that he sees humbled under his afflicting hand and very ready to relieve them in their extremities and doth deliver them that self-judgeingly in the sense of their unworthiness in time of misery seek to him for mercy 19 Those that are righteous and live godly have many enemies and suffer as many if not more trials and afflictions than do the wicked but still as I say with this difference the Lord that brings them in leads them out 20 And spite of all the power and malice of their enemies who if they could would grind them to powder yet shall they not be able to fasten the least evil upon them which the wise providence of God not appointed for their good for he keeps them so safe that not so much as their little finger shall take hurt or a hair of their head perish by any will or power of man 21 But now contrary-wise the malicious evil wayes of the wicked shall be their utter ruine and they that wickedly persecute the godly shall in stead of compassing their destruction procure their own and their posterities for ever 22 Whereas for the comfort of the godly let the lives of his people that faithfully trust in him and dutifully serve him be it never such hazard and danger by the power of their enemies yet he that redeemed their souls from everlasting destruction can and will preserve and deliver them I can put a probatum est unto it and none of all those that depend upon him and trust in him shall be destroyed by the wrath of man as shall the wicked by the wrath of God for he will preserve them I know by experience The xxxv PSALM David in the name of Christs and the Churches enemies prayes for the confusion of his own because of their unjust and inhumane dealing promising exceedingly to praise God when he shall be delivered from their violence and wrong making God the judge betwixt him and them and praying him to maintain his innocency against their unrighteousness by making them examples of his justice and him of his mercy so shall he purchase to himself much praise from the whole Church but specially from himself which he shall be sure of A Psalm made by David 1 O Lord oppose mine opposers be thou the defendor of mine innocency and the preserver of my life against my slanderous back-biters and persecuting enemies to whom be thou an enemy
the righteous whose confidence is in God and can find in his heart in obedience to him to be charitable with that he hath is blessed of God with enough for his own comfortable subsistence and the relief of the needie 22 For he hath temporal blessings in store for them on whom he hath bestowed his favour and grace and they shall have a comfortable subsistence when as others far greater and of more account in the world living in sin and being in hatred with God shall unexspectedly be undone and destroyed 23 God prospers him that is good and gives a good issue to his undertakings because he takes pleasure in and receives honour from his conscionable and serviceable walking 24 He may be low brought and hard set but he shall never be quite forsaken of God nor rendred to the will of his enemies to his utter undoing For the Lord hath an eye to him and an hand on him to keep him from drowning though he let him sink they may be cast down but not destroyed 25 All my life long which is no short one I have ever taken notice of Gods dealing with his people and have always observed his faithfulness to the faithful how that they that have trusted in him and walked with him have never been quite forsaken of him though they have oft and many a time been put soar to it yet hath he never falsified his word of promise and providence but whereas I have seen the wicked turned naked out of all and glad to be beholden to to the righteous as Esau was to Jacob for a mess of pottage the Lord on the contrarie hath always provided so competently and contentedly for them that they have never needed to crave relief from the ungodly 26 The righteous mans propertie is still to be doing good trusting in the Lord more than in riches and therefore whereas others hoard up all they can get he lends gives as there is cause to them that want and hopes to be never the poorer for it counting it his riches to lay out not to lay up nor is he for God rewards his good deeds upon his posteritie after him and blesseth them for his sake 27 Wouldst thou then have a blessing upon thy self and derive it to thy posteritie take the course the godly do forsake sin and serve God and thou shalt find that that 's the onely way for thee and thine to be happie from generation to generation 28 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness and will bless them that love and practise it they that are holy and practise holiness hee l stick as close to them as they do to him and will never fail them of his promises that he hath made to them and theirs but the wicked shall find he as much hates them as he loves the godly either they or their posteritie shall smart for their wickedness and be rooted out by it 29 The righteous liver shall by the blessing of God subsist and derive a subsistence from himself to his children of peace and happiness and the favour of God generation after generation 30 The righteous man as he himself is good so he loves to be doing good and to instruct others as oportunitie serves specially his own like as God hath instructed him with the knowledge of his wayes of holiness and righteousness wherein he is conversant both in walking and talking 31 The Law of God whom he loves and who he knows loves him is written in his heart and naturalized therein which shall keep him from sin and for which God will prosper and preserve him from evil maugre Satan and the World 32 Yea though the wicked watch him never so narrowly by power or policie to ruine him 33 For the Lord will not forget his promise nor withdraw his providence so as to expose him without support or supply nor will God judge him as they do nor condemn him upon their accusations but will defend him acquit his innocencie and revenge his wrong 34 Trust stedfastly in the Lord patiently waiting upon him in his own time to fulfil his own promise and shew forth his mercie to thee in thy trouble and keep a good conscience by walking unweariedly and with a constant course in and after his commandments and he will at last do great things for thee thou shalt certainly be a top of the wheel and shall see the wicked under thee how ever they at present over-top thee 35 I speak what I have seen and what others shall see if they wait and observe to wit The wicked most formidably powerful and priding themselves in great prosperitie flourishing like a bay-tree in earthly felicitie 36 Yet have I lived to see him quite blasted and withered so as if he never had been such a man and all this in my time 37 So likewise have I marked the righteous man and so I would have others to do to prevent rash judgement and that they may see what I say to be true to wit That though he that is faithful and sincere towards God may have a time of sadness and suffering yet it s most certain his end shall be most comfortable for either he shall out-live his miseries here as oft they do or leave them behind him with a peaceable and joyful departure out of this life from them to the Lord his God who will receive him into everlasting happiness 38 Whereas on the contrarie well may the wicked fare for a while but in the end judgement shall devour them and as they have been brethren in evil so shall they be fellows in punishment none shall escape The end of the wicked shall not be death but destruction wrath shall slay them happines forsake them and confusion receive them 39 So it is with them but so shall it not be with the righteous whose salvation is not placed in false refuges as is wicked mens but in the power and faithfulness of the Lord he is their strength and trust in time of trouble 40 Who will not deceive them but will certainly relieve and release them he both must and will do it for he is bound by his grace and truth to save them that trust in him and destroy the wicked enemies of his Church and that bond hee 'l never break The xxxviii PSALM David lying soar oppressed at once both under some bodily distemper and many enemies humbly repairs to God in prayer Wherein first he bewaileth his sin and Gods displeasure and then his sufferings both in bodie which were very grievous and also in mind But yet comforts himself in this that the groans and prayers which those miseries forced from him were heard and regarded of God though he had not present relief but continued worse and worse And still holds out praying and ripping up his whole estate to God how it fared with him on the one side and with
his enemies on the other A Psalm made by David in soar affliction both to mind God of his pitious state to gain relief and himself of sin and the fruit thereof to humble him under it 1 O Lord I confess my self a sinner and to deserve thy punishment but remember thou art good and merciful therefore let thy chastisements be fatherly not in rigour void of compassion and forgivenes 2 Which me thinks thou art for thou hast wounded me deep in body and mind thy punishing hand is exceeding heavie upon me 3 My diseased body is all over tormented with extream pain which in thy displeasure thou hast cast me into My sin hath brought me into a miserable condition my very bones feel the smart of it 4 For mine iniquities have overwhelmed me with a deluge of wrath and like a thick cloud have intercepted thy favour from me They and their sad effects lie so heavie upon me that my spirit is almost overwhelmed by them and my very life endangered 5 My disease is very grievous painful and loathsome for which I condemn my self and acquit thee for I may thank mine own folly my sin hath caused my suffering 6 Yea it hath brought me into a heavie case for my trouble is great by reason of it the weight thereof presseth me soar I have no ease but continual sorrow for it and by it 7 For I lie under a grievous maladie noisomly diseased all my body over tormented so that by reason thereof my loins fail me that should support me and my strength every where else is decayed 8 Through the length and nature of my distemper I am extreamly weakned in nature and constitution my bones are as if they were broken And my mind is as much out of order as my bodie through the extream anguish of my sins guilt and Gods heavie displeasure which hath forced upon out-cries from me 9 But yet this comforts me that thou O Lord takest notice and art privie to my cries which in faithfulness I put up unto thee though thou doest not seem to do so and my groans are known to thee though hitherto they bring no relief from thee 10 For yet it s worse with me and no better for still mine heart languisheth with sorrow more and more and my strength it decayes and my sight through sorrowful mournings is grown dim and mine eyes almost quite benighted 11 I am very forlorn and destitute of help and comfort for my disease is so dangerous and lothsome that my very friends are forced from me who in their hearts entirely love me and would not forgo me could they safely accompanie me and possibly endure me yea all men not onely my friends and acquaintance but my nearest kindred and allies are so too 12 And at once both thus my friends forsake me and mine enemies endanger me endeavouring mine utter destruction by all possible means secret or open any way by word or deed to do me mischief which they terribly threaten is their desire and continual endeavour 13 But I sustained my self in faith and patience not rendring evil for evil in the sense of mine unworthines and faith of thy goodnes I was silent commending my self and them respectively unto thee for mercie and justice 14 I refrained both from impatience and revengeful retributions of any kind committing my cause to thee in meekness and humilitie 15 I gave place to wrath for that in thee O Lord is my hope and confidence that in thy good time thou wilt do me right on them that injure me and will hear the crie of my wronged innocencie and my prayer for deliverance O Lord my God in whose faithfulness I trust and whose servant I am 16 For to thee have I and do I make my prayer for support and deliverance least if mine enemies should procure mine undoing it would be thy dishonouring and the shame of my faith and profession I know that would be the issue by those experiences I have had of their behaviour for upon all advantages they have disparaged me and my cause and been raised in self-confidence above me and my hopes 17 I crie unto thee for support and deliverance for God knows of my self without it I am readie every foot to perish and to be utterly depressed with the greatness of my calamitie such and so uncessant is my grief that I must needs else sinke under it 18 Yea I have prayd unto thee for mercie and that with promise and full purpose of heart to repent of my sin that caused my suffering I have promised humbly to confess it and heartily to lament it and have done it accordingly 19 This Lord hath been my manner to confess my sin pray thy pardon submit to thy punishment wait for thy mercie and yet still I remain sick and weak in miserie and distress whilest my wicked and graceless enemies are notwithstanding in health and strength feel nothing of that I doâ— yea I every way decrease and they increase my friends grow less and mine enemies more the combination of such as mortally and injuriously hate me greatens exceedingly 20 And such and so ill-natured men are my adversaries that as I render not them evil for evil so contrarily they render me evil for good and hate me for no other cause but because I am good and do good 21 Now Lord consider what I have said and the arguments I have used both touching my self and mine enemies and do accordingly Let me that am thus destitute of all help but thine and that walk close with thee and depend firmly on thee not be forsaken but find thee faithful and gracious to uphold and deliver me 22 Vouchsafe me thine helping hand before I perish which I am in imminent danger to do O Lord that by thy promise and my faith art my onely preserver and deliverer The xxxix PSALM David for his sin suffering as is most probable under Absaloms rebellion resolves patiently to bear the opprobries that were cast upon him by his adversaries and so did onely makes his address to God by prayerful expostulation desiring to know an end of his miseries though it were with the end of his life shewing the vanitie of him every man and everything and that happiness is onely to be had in the grace and favour of God Praying him to pardon his sins for which he justly suffered and in mercie to mitigate his displeasure which had almost quite consumed him and so is able to do the whole world And lastly with cries and tears intreats for pitie in this short sojourning state of mortallitie and that he may tast and see the favour of God in his restorement before he die To Jeduthun one of the prime musicians and the principal of all his linage do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung
wrought for thy children and servants from time to time and the thoughts of mercy and goodness which thou hast had towards us and shewed upon us that have believed in thee they are so many that we cannot count them nor orderly declare them should I go about particularly to praise thee for them or to tell the world of them my memory would yea could not but deceive me they are so numberless 6 Sacrifices and offerings though they be by the appointment of thy Law yet as they are commonly used or rather abused by formal and outward devotion thou carest not for them it is the kernel and not the shell comparatively that thou regardest to wit a bored pliable ear and yielding heart to do thy will in faith and obedience which blessed be thy name thou hast bestowed upon me whom herein thou hast made a type of thy sonne and servant Christ the onely acceptable sacrifice and substance of all shadows and which I know thou valuest in me above never so many burnt and sinne-offerings wherein others for most part put their religion 7 For by thy bestowing on me this spiritual ear and regenerate heart I am made apt and ready to offer and consecrate my self in all filial alacrity a sacrifice to thy service as it is written and prophesied of me in resemblance of Christ of whose son-like love and perfect obedience the whole Scripture foretells 8 I do as he much more shall delight to please and obey thee in all things O my God and his thy holy and righteous law is not to me as it is to the world untoothsome and harsh but pleasing and connatural as it shall be to Christ. 9 And what I have learned and known to be thy righteous will as a Prophet and faithfull servant of the Lord I have as Christ shall taken occasion to declare and teach it to thy people in the most solemn feasts and greatest concourse as might make most for thy glory and their edifying I have not ceased to do my duty to thee and them but have informed and instructed them O Lord I know thou knowst this and takest notice of my poor weak but sincere service herein 10 I have kept back nothing which I knew and whereof I ought to have informed them touching thee and thy good grace but both by mine example in praising thee and also by doctrine have I declared to them the faithfulness that is in thee and that thou hast and ever wilt shew to them that believe in thy promises for grace and salvation I have not smothered mine own experimented knowledg of thy mercifull loving kindness to such and thy truth in fulfilling what thou hast promised them but have taken the best opportunity to make it known most to thy praise and thy peoples edification 11 And as I have done so I will do still as thou givest me occasion therefore be as gracious and merciful as thou hast been let me find thy love and faithfulness ever at hand to preserve me 12 For I am now in as great need as ever I was being surrounded with manifold miseries and great dangers deserved punishments for mine iniquities which have arrested me and keep me prisoner under the burden of thy heavy displeasure which makes me of a dejected heart and countenance ashamed and afeard to make mine addresses to a God so displeased with a sinner so exceeding sinful as I am doubting my success and thy favour 13 Nor yet can I be silent my dangers on the other hand press so soar upon me therefore of thine own good grace O Lord deliver me from the burden of my sin and misery O Lord consider my great straits and delay not to relieve me for thou art gracious and pitiful 14 Let the shame and confusion which mine enemies would bring upon me fall upon themselves let them as they sin together so perish together that seek my life let them be defeated of their expectation and desire and come to a shameful end themselves that seek mine undoing 15 Let them be utterly ruinated and made desolate for a just reward and punishment of their shameful and sinful behaviour towards me that rejoyce unjustly and undeservedly at my misery 16 But contrariwise let all those that love me for Christs sake whose type I am and that trust in thee and religiously pray unto thee in their own and my behalf let both me and they have cause of joy and gladness in thy mercy towards us let such as love thy saving grace to trust in it and be happy by it ever have cause to speak and sing the praises of thee and it 17 But as yet it s otherwayes with me I am poor and desolate distressed both without and within yet I know I am not forgotten nor forsaken of God but that he is mindful of me at the worst and purposeth to do me good at the last My faith makes him all in all to me mine onely helper and deliverer and my condition presseth hard upon him to be so out of hand which is very desperate and therefore I beseech thee that art the God of all my faith and hope delay not to deliver me speedily least I perish utterly The xli PSALM Though this Psalm by the proprietie of its language is applicable in time of sickness yet the Scripture no where in the historical part of it mentioning any such bodily distemperature as the Psalmist here insists on it is conceived by interpretors and yet Psalms the sixth and thirtie eight import otherwayes rather to be spoken allegoricallie by David than reallie in allusion to his condition under Absaloms rebellion whereby being brought low and in a desperate state he was sorelie censured by his enemies and shamefully deserted by reason of his affliction which he here reproves commending the contrarie virtue of charitie and pittie which he knows is in God though it fail in men and accordinglie makes his prayer to find it from him his enemies and false friends so deceiving and traducinglie judgeing him which he prayes he may live to punish and hopes he shall upon probable signs of favour from God for which he blesseth him and for the assured confidence he hath that God will be as good as his word to his Israel and to him in Israels behalf To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 HOw rash are most mens judgements of men in affliction and thereupon how apt are they to abandon them But blessed is and shall be the man that judgeth with righteous judgement and not according to appearance knowing that God is both gracious and faithful and though he do cast down yet he can and will raise up again the afflicted that repent towards him and trust in him 2 Yea for all his dangers the Lord will and
thoughtful desire towards the place of thy worship where thou art more especially present 7 Thou hast brought an inundation of misery upon me troubles come so thick successively one in the neck of another like waters falling from the clouds which rise higher and higher and implunge me lower and lower as a ship in a storm in extremity of weather ready to sink so am I wave upon wave endlesly assailing me to the continual hazard of my life Yea the waters both above and below the firmament the windows of heaven are as it were opened and give the watch-word to the fountains of the deep to be broken up as at the deluge and both of them seem to threaten to overwhelm and devour me at once as then they did the world by thine appointment 8 Yet I am not left without inward support in the midst of mine outward troubles I am confident I shall see the sunne of righteousness shine through the clouds with healing in his wings and by the power and grace of God I doubt not but a happy day will succeed this uncomfortable night to the chearing of mine heart nor in the interim shall I be destitute of mercy and goodness but shall ever and anon by particular providences before I arrive at my full establishment have cause of thanksgiving and praise and incouragement to offer up my prayers in faith of him for my preserver at present and deliverer at last 9 I will humbly and faithfully mind him of my condition and his obligation to me and praying say thou that by thy promise and my faith art my great and sole support how is it then that thou hast thus left me why go I mourning and find no relief from under the heavy oppressions and wrongs of mine enemies 10 Whose reproachful and scornful blasphemies against thy word and my faith in it taunting me as one deluded by trusting in thee and rejected by thee wound me to the very heart and torment me exceedingly 11 Yet such is my faith in thee notwithstanding the opposition it receives and all the heavy burdens that lie upon me as that I cannot but rebuke my soul for being dejected at these things and rouse it up to trust and hope still in thee that one day I shall have my mourning turned into rejoycing and my prayers into praises for the good success and gracious favour thou wilt shew me in delivering me as thou hast promised and as I believe The xliii PSALM David under Sauls persecution appeals to God to judge his cause and prâ—yâ—s to be delivered according to his gracious promise that so he may worship him in Sion which he promises to do joyfully and thankfully and quickens up his drooping spirit by the hopes thereof 1 JUdge for me and in my behalf O righteous God and maintain my just and honest cause against an unjust and wicked people that set themselves against me and in me oppose the Lord himself O deliver me thou that art righteous and onely all-sufficient from them and their cheiftane that dealeth deceitfully and injuriously with me 2 For thou and thy promise is all the strength I have and that I trust in why doest thou seem then to neglect me and doest thus expose me to my malignant adversaries Why go I continually mourning because of the intollerable oppressions and injuries of mine enemies 3 O Lord shew forth thy favour and grace and fulfill thy word of promise to me Let them spite of mine enemies bring me into that estate thou hast promised me wherein I may enjoy thy publick worship and frequent thine Ark and Tabernacle in Sion for there shall that be the place thereof 4 Then will I go with a merry heart and carry my peace-offerings and thankfully sacrifice them to God upon his altar even to God who shall at that time by reason of his favour and grace be unspeakable joy and consolation to me I am ravished with the very thoughts of that day when I shall have such exceeding cause of joy and praise which I will abundantly offer up unto him and in the skilfullest and chearfullest manner I can devise upon the Harp which of all instruments I can best finger will I praise thee O Almighty and my most gracious God 5 And seeing these sorrows shall have an end and such an end accompanied with so much happiness be not dejected at thy present sufferings O my soul but chear up thy self in faith and hope for thou shalt praise the Lord in stead of praying to him for thy great and his gracious deliverance xliv PSALM The people of Israel being in grievous captivity The Author of this Psalm accosts God with his Covenant-mercies shewn of old to their forefathers whose seed they are and whose God he also is and so they are confident will in his good time approve himself But in the mean time their extremities are very great and his favour quite eclipsed And yet they are faithful to him chosing rather to die than forsake him and therefore prayes him to pity their case and hear their prayers joined with fasting and deep humiliation for help and succour A Psalm made for the instruction of the Church in afflictions shewing the use of them and carriage in them and committed to Heman the chief musician of the familie of the Korathites for him and them to sing 1 WE have heard it both by word and writing from thy servants and our forefathers O gratious God the grace and goodness thou shewdst to thy people Israel then in their times long ago at their first coming into a Canan 2 How then thou wroughtest for them and shewdst forth thy mighty power against the many heathenish nations and their great strength which notwithstanding thou didst subdue and vanquish in thy peoples behalf driving out them to make way for these whom thou according to promise didst plant in their steads by a marvellous out-stretched arm wherewith thou didst oppress the Cananites destroying some and expelling others from out that land 3 For it was not their own power and might that possessed them of the promised land nor was it their own strength that either preserved them from their enemies or subdued them but it was thy power and strength and thy gracious goodness and presence with them that did it for them because they were the people whom thou hadst chosen and to whom thou hadst promised thy grace and assistance 4 Thou Lord art still the God and King of thy people whom they serve and in whom they trust remember therefore the Covenant of protection and mercy thou madest with Jacob and his seed and as thou fulfillest it to him in his own person so now make it good also to him in his posterity by setting them free from their enemies as thou didst him from his 5 That so by thy powerfull assistance we may now do by our enemies as our forefathers did
friend promises to trust in him worst come that can come hoping his enemies shall not always escape punishment nor he always be oppressed magnifieth God for his great deliverance out of Gath and concludes thence Gods future protection of him To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Jonath-elem-rechokim signifying the dumb dove in a far Countrey a denomination significant and proper to Davids behaviour and condition at Gath of the Philistines where he was in imminent danger and a remarkable deliverance 1 Sam. 21.10 c. by counterfeiting himself mad and speechless which is the occasion and subject matter of this Psalm being chiefly set to it and committed to him by David that made it to be sung to the special tune of Michtam played on that instrument 1 O Lord God be thou my helper and vouchsafe me mercie or else I am in a miserable condition and sure to be undone for I have no friends nor can find no favour on earth but on all hands am beset readie to be devoured and praid upon by cruel-minded men I am forced to flie to my very enemies for refuge and to use my wits to get from them as soon as I am come to them being driven into those inextricable straits by Saul and his complices my bloudy enemies who will let me rest no where seeking my life and with open war and professed enmitie persecuting me continually 2 So bitterly enraged are mine enemies against me that they think every day a year till they have destroyed me greedily affecting it and they are a numerous company of them all set by might and main to mischief me that am a poor innocent lonely man thus pursued and persecuted by Saul and his men of war But my confidence and hope is in thee that art of power and might above them to whom onely I make my moan 3 And in assurance of thy power and good will to help me whensoever I am in extream danger and in never such fear and perplexitie of mind by reason thereof yet such hath been my experience of thee at all times as that when I can flie no whither nor be safe no where I will yet then flie to thee by faith and hope 4 And my confidence is that I shall allwayes find that word and promise of thine which thou hast made concerning me to be faithfully performed by thee thy grace and power shall answerably appear for me and that I shall never have other cause but to praise thee for thy truth and to thank thee for thy goodness notwithstanding all my dangers and therefore as I have hitherto believed on thee so I will still and whilest I have thee that art God on my side and they be but men that are mine enemies I will never so fear them nor the harm they can do me as not to trust and hope in thee for preservation and deliverance from them 5 What I say or do be it never so well meant and be I never so innocent I am sure to be belied and perverted by them as if I plotted and practised nothing but treason when as I do nor think nothing less and as they falsly surmise so they wickedly conspire and complot my ruin 6 They both secretly advise and openly associate themselves together against me a single friendless man they have stratagems and designs against me which they carrie covertly least I should discover and avoid them as by thy goodness to me I have strangely done hitherto and they have spies upon me to pick all advantages against me that they may have whereof to accuse me and a fit opportunitie to cut me off and murder me which notwithstanding they could never yet compass 7 Lord how long shall these wicked wretches practise iniquitie and not be punished nay prosper in such courses O God manifest at last in thine own good time thy just displeasure upon such vile reprobate people as these are by bringing them and their wicked devices to nought 8 How ever I am hated by mine enemies and persecuted from place to place yet am I regarded and preserved by thee that hast pitie on mine unquiet condition and by thy special providence and secret guidance goest along with me to protect me Let my manifold tears which I shed in my manifold miseries when no eyes sees me but thine be heedfully taken notice of by thee to remember me according to them yea Lord I know and find they are so 9 Though my peril be imminent and seemingly inavoidable yet I have found and doubt not still to find it so that if I put up a faithful and fervent prayer unto thee thou wilt in instanti some way or other disappoint and defeat mine enemies and shew me a way to escape them this I know to be true by former experience and shall find it so always for thou O Lord art every whit as careful and vigilant over me to preserve me as mine enemies are to destroy me 10 11. See the fourth verse of this Psalm which specially the former part of it is here repeated to shew the strength of Davids faith in the truth of God and his promises and that it rather increaseth than diminisheth by his dangers 12 Such and so great have been my deliverances that they have drawn solemn vows from me of solemn praise and thanks to be given thee in most exact manner of performance according to thy Law in such cases which though at present I cannot perform in the ceremonies and formalities thereof being banished from the place of thy worship yet I hope and promise to bear them in mind till the time that thou shalt restore and inable me so to do and in the mean time mine heart and lips shall not be wanting to give thee praise in spirit and truth 13 For though thou hast vouchsafed me many a deliverance from many a danger yet none was ever more imminent nor thy goodness and power more conspicuous than in this at Gath where I was discovered and my life endangered very near and shall not I gather from this surely I will and do that thou wilt never let me be a prey to mine enemies nor worship any other God but thee which I was in danger to have done amongst the Philistines hadst not thou speedily brought me thence but wilt still preserve my life and give me to enjoy the happiness of serviving thee the onely true and living God amongst thine own people who onely of all the world that every where lies in darkness and in the shadow of death have the light and knowledge to worship thee aright The lvii PSALM David being driven into a narrow compass and being in great straits by his enemy Saul and his complices surrounding him in the cave flies by prayer and faith to God and promises himself deliverance by miracle rather than not at all He sets forth the cruell and proud nature of his enemies to
have so staggered and astonished us by reason of thy manifold promises of grace and felicity that we have been put quite besides all faith and hope and have not known what to think of thee or of our selves nor what to do to gain thy favour and recover our selves again into it 4 But of thine own grace hast thou in this juncture of time and desperate condition of ours set up thy standard to rally thy people and their hopes again unto thee even all that know and fear thee thou hast given me to be the King over Israel and by and under me wilt give them halcyon days a flourishing state victory over their enemies witness this against the Syrians besides many others which is not for our deservings but for thy truth and promise sake Let it have the glory 5 Lord go on to do me and thy people good whom thou hast always professed speciall love to that they may get heart again and under me as thy Church under Christ be delivered from their enemies to this end put forth thy power give us victory and hear the prayer of me thy servant in mine own and thy peoples behalfes still as there is cause 6 The holy God hath passed his promise and pawned his faithfulness upon it that I shall be King over all Israel compleat and have it peaceably in my possession so that I am sure enough of it for all mine undermining enemies and though I have come hardly by it yet I have it at last fulfilled which was promised me What cause have I to rejoyce in this goodness and faithfulness of God to me thus to give me full dominion and absolute possession and dispose of those very places and people which stood it out so pertinaciously against me and stuck so close to Ishbosheth as well as of them that voluntarily submitted to me 7 Yea of all the tribes and countries belonging to them as well those afar off as Gilead and Manasseh as nearer hand so that now I can pronounce them mine own as well as any other the greatest and best peopled are as much mine as the least Ephraim that is so populous God hath brought it into mine obedience which hath added much to me and both it and all the rest are content to take Laws and to be Governed by me that am of the tribe of Judah principall for Government out of which Christ the King and Law-giver of his Church must come even out of my loyns 8 Yea both of domesticks and forreigners both of Israel and all her bordering heathenish neighbours and nations that have been as thorns in her sides hath God given me the dominion The Moabites whom I have absolutely subdued those that I have left alive of them I have destined to do the drudgery and basest offices of me and my people and will make them glad to do so and Edom I have and will bring under my feet and subjection that have so proudly trampled upon the Israel of God And as for Palestine those accursed Philistins let them if they can glory in my destruction and triumph over me as they did over Saul and his sons whom they overcame and insultingly abused their dead bodies 1 Sam. 31. 9 The Edomites think their Metropolitan Citie Bozra an impregnable place and it is a place of great strength indeed nor easily taken by meer humane force but I doubt not to get it for all that if no earthly power can do it 10 God from heaven that hath given me these victories over the Syrians and Edomites in the field shall open the gates of that and all such places to me for all things shall go on our side now we shall carry all before us as heretofore we were born down on all hands because God was against us 11 Let us seek to him who is both able and willing if we do so to make us a free and happy people and be convinced of our sin and folly in trusting to any power but Gods to deliver or establish us by what this Kingdom hath suffered under Saul who was of your own chusing and in whom you promised your selves such felicity 12 Let us arm our selves therefore hence-forward principally with faith trusting in Gods power and faithfulness and going under his conduct when we go against our enemies so shall we be sure of good success and come off conquerous for as he hath promised so will he perform if we trust in him and relie upon him even the vanquishing and triumphing over all our enemies under me as the Church shall under Christ over hers The lxi PSALM David by Absalons rebellion and his Kingdoms revolt being driven from Ierusalem beyond Iordan to Nahanaim 2 Sam. 17.24 prayes earnestly in this distress in confidence of deliverance by God in whom he promises to trust because of former experience and Gods engagement by promise touching the Kingdom to him for his days and his seed after him thereupon grounds and iterates his prayer and upon restauration promiseth praise To him that is most skilfull upon the stringed instrument Neginoth to which this Psalm is chiefly set do I David that made it recommend it for the care and ordering of it in the Quire 1 AS it ever hath been my custom in all my former distresses to flie to thee so now in this and as it hath been thy constant usage to hear and deliver me when I have done so so now O God vouchsafe me the like grace and mercy to hear me in this mine extremity which presseth hard upon me and so do I upon thee by prayer and supplication 2 Though I am driven far from thy sanctuary and am banished from mine own house and thine in Jerusalem to the uttermost skirts of mine own Kingdom yea though it were to the end of the world yet will I be the same man as to my faithfull seeking unto thee that I know is the same God to hear and help me when and wheresoever I call upon thee in the anguish and trouble of mine heart and greater cause I never had to be troubled for I never was in greater extremity nor had less outward probability to escape the whole Kingdom in effect being revolted from me therefore Lord thou in this my low condition raise up my faith to thee and establish mine heart in thee and thine all-sufficiency 3 For hitherto thou hast never failed me of deliverance but hast allwaies stepped 'twixt me and mine undoing and how strong soever mine enemy hath been against me thou hast still appeared stronger for me and in my behalf 4 And as I have found thee faithfull so shalt thou find me for I am resolved in what distress soever I am and whithersoever I am driven though from thine Ark and Tabernacle now at Jerusalem yet shall my faith carry it about with me and give me spiritual residence in it knowing that thy presence though typed
that office whereof he shall give me possession as far remote as I seem to be from it now and that not onely to my joy but to the rejoycing of all his faithfull people who in sincerity of heart profess and serve him they shall joy and glory in me as the type of the Messiah his rule and governance over his Church who shall come as hardly by it and in the eyes of the world shall seem as unlike for it as I to be King of Israel And when it s their turn and mine to rejoyce on the contrary those that now make no conscience of any thing they do or say shall hang their heads and not have a word to speak in excuse or justification of themselves because of despondencie of spirit and their self-accusing consciencies as also shall Christs enemies at last The lxiv. PSALM David having some advertisement of great desigâ—s upon him by his â—â—â—mies prays God to preserve him from them who are so wickedly and mischievously bent against him and accordingly is confident of his deliverance and that Gods just and remarkable judgements shall beâ—al his adversaries to the aâ—â—esting of some with fear and others with joy To him that is the chief and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 O Lord my present calamitie puts me upon great and earnest importunity hear me I pray thee that am sore put to it and therefore both with heart and voice press hard upon thee for the rescue of my life out of mine enemies hands that endanger it greatly 2 Let thy protection equal mine enemies projects who turn every stone to compass mine undoing They have their private plottings conspirings to surprize or betray me but Lord do thou hide me that these hidden stratagems may never find me as also from their open violence for such is their malice and so cruelly are they bent that nothing shall be unattempted upon me 3 Incensing all they can against me with false and slanderous reports to the wounding of mine innocencie and set me up as a mark to discharge all their callumnies and falshoods upon 4 They know they believe me and yet though conscious to their own wickedness and mine innocencie they spare not to backbite me and privily to inform all manner of untruths against me to Saul they suggest and let flie any thing against me that they either hear or imagine never caring to wrong me nor fearing to offend God and provoke his justice 5 They animate one another with hopes to prevail against me at last and that I shall not scape them they consult to ensnare me at unawares by fraud and treaherie any way so it be done and think to carry the matter so privately and to cloak it so cunningly as that none shall suspect them nor nothing can prevent them of their hopes 6 They contrive exceeding subtilly and cast about in their thoughts and imaginations with a great deal of studie and diligence how and which way they may likeliest deceive and destroy me and many times make sure of it and indeed so close and dissembling they are that it is impossible for me to know or avoid them by any skill or power of mine 7 But though I miss the mark and shoot far short of finding out their devices and may be deceived by their dissemblings I am sure God he knows them they cannot scape him for all they lye at a close ward he knows how when and where to hit them even when they are most confident and least fear any ill to befall them shall his judgements overtake them 8 This shall be the want of all their lying reports and slanderous back-bitings instead of bringing evil upon me upon whom they design it they shall bring sin and that sin shall bring judgement upon themselves yea so remarkable shall the hand of God be upon them that men shall shun them as they did Korah and his complices 9 The justice and terrour of the Lord shall astonish men and make them both fear themselves and caveat others to beware of the judgements of God from this example for it shall awaken the minds of men and put them all that have any eyes in their heads to consider the justice power and terrour that accompanies this judgement in bringing their wickedness thus upon themselves and delivering me an innocent person 10 A wonderfull confirmation shall it be to all that are upright and cause of rejoycing to see the care that God hath over such to vindicate their integrities against evil doers and to deliver them out of their sufferings by executing apparent judgemens upon their enemies for their sakes how shall this make them trust God and trust in God what ever betide them Yea it shall make all that are sincerely Godly from this example of my deliverance and mine enemies overthrow with confidence to bear up themselves in God and despise the power and malice of all wicked men be they never so potent and politick The lxv PSALM David tells God with what saithfull expectations his people wait upon him for mercies to the end they might have new occasions to praise him and though for their sins they deserve no good from God yet shall be of Free-grace do them good which is a point of special comfort to the faithfull to whom God is a sure friend and ever will be and an enemie to their enemies and accordingly will keep and protect them all the world over for whose sake it is that mankind and all creatures enjoy such temporal blessings and needfull mercies as they do To him that is the first and principal of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be both sung and plaid by voices and instruments 1 O God we desire to be mindfull of thy mercies and still as thou givest occasion of praise not to fail to return it we are ready O Lord if thou wilt administer fresh mercies to render thee the thanks of them and to worship thee for them as thou hast appointed not onely inwardly in spirit but also in thine Ordinances with Sacrifices and Free-will-offerings according to thy law will we do it 2 Thou Lord art the onely God of thy peoples prayers Let it more and more appear that thou hearest us and that our prayers are powerfull with thee for the good of this poor Church and thy servants and people under this administration that it may be upon Scripture-record for thy Church in after-ages to encourage their faith and to invite them all the world over to seek unto thee in hope and confidence of like audience grace and success from thee 3 Mine own and my peoples sins are they that stand in the way of our prayers and hinder good things from us so that I
there to this day maugre all their enemies Thou hast provided for and protected of thy meer grace this thy little poor handful of people maliced and opposed by all the world 11 The Lord in exigencies gave his people many wonderful deliverances and victories and so administred occasion of praise ever and anon to them which in an instant was rumored over all the land and in every ones mouth the good news of thine almighty assistance still as thou didst vouchsafe it passed from one to another like the word in an armie with joyful acclamations and praises 12 Many potent Princes with powerful armies that came against Israel were by miracle defeated and made both they and their armies to flie for their lives leaving behind them rich bootie and such plentie of it that the very women who with fearful mindes abode at home doubting the issue when they heard the news with joy made hast to congratulate the victorie and share in the spoil 13 Though in Aegypt your fathers were in woful slavish condition conversant in brick and pot-kils doing all the base work and being as basely used and though since their deliverance thence you their posteritie have even in this good land for your evil wayes endured much affliction and undergone great hardship by tyrannous usages of insulting enemies yet be confident of this the time is come wherein God will be as propitious to you for his grace sake as ever he hath been severe against you for your sins you shall now be a rich and flourishing nation blessed with grace and peace and admired for your glorie and beautie 14 You know when first God brought his people into this land which then lay wholly in the darkness of Idolatrie and destroyed the Kings thereof one after another for their sake how famous was this nation then upon that glorious change and how resplendent in the eyes of God and men by the establishment of Gods pure worship and the admirable and clear wonders wrought by God here why such now shall be again though it hath been long in infelicitie and deformitie since those dayes by our sins and Gods just judgements 15 Sion the mount whereon God hath chosen now to pitch his tabernacle and in it the Ark of his presence and there and there onely to be worshipped in solemn and more than ordinarie manner it is by this become more famous for this Soul-fatning and spiritual repast that is there in such plentie to be had than that ledge of hills called the hill of Bashan scituate beyond Jordan is for its extraordinarie fruitfulness and fatning of cattel it is raised by this divine prerogative to a height of eminencie and note equal and beyond the height and greatness of Bashans hills exceeding it both in profit and pleasure 16 Why do you the tall and fruitful hills in several parts of the World seem to carrie it so high to joy and pride your selves in your priviledges of nature so far above this of Sion whereas this one supernatural priviledge of Gods residence and worship here is more worth than you and all yours put together for all your priviledges of nature richness of soil and high towring tops yet hath God past you by and chosen this to be his place of residence on earth and the very type of heaven nor will he change it or alter his mind to transplant himself and his worship from thence unto any of you but hath set down his staff here his promise is passed to it which he will not revoke And what is true of Sion above all other hills is as true of the spiritual Kingdom of Christ typified in me and my Government which for that reason is transcendent to all the Kingdoms nay the empires of the whole world â—7 And let not this residence and presence of God we so much magnifie our selves in be judged of by carnal apprehensions nor the strength of Sion by outward appearance as if the one nor the other afforded no more protection and help to Gods people than we see with our eyes Our faith is it that must instruct us in this matter to which onely God appears aright in his power and majestie excelling all earthly might The potentates of the World esteem their strength by the number of men horses and chariots that they can arm and muster But what say you to Angels one whereof is able to destroy thousands whole armies of such nay what say you to thousands and millions of such Angels these are they though invisible wherewith God appears in the behalf of his Church fights for and defends the Kingdom of Christ and so shall mine and yet if we doubt that men may be too hard for Angels know that God even the irresistable Almighty God is commander in chief over and amongst these his heavenly host who alone is sufficient without auxiliaries either of men or Angels to safe-guard his people and place of worship and presence where he is as really though not so visibly and in as great majestie strength and grace as he appeared on mount Sinai in power and terrour I hope we remember that and so should our faith represent him to us now when we come thither to worship him and seek unto him in any strait 18 As I am raised from a low estate to this height of dignitie and office to be King over Israel and so made able to overcome those that overcame them and to enrich them with the spoils of their enemies and the presents of forrain nations that seek to me for friendship which I am readie for thou hast put me into a capacitie to stand mine enemies in steed to extend to friend and so be they never so opposit thereby to make way for and hold forth in type thy willingness O blessed Saviour to do the like to Jew and Gentil who shalt draw all men to thee when as thou art lifted up and raised from thy low estate of humiliation and death by a glorious resurrection and ascention which is as sure to be as if it were and indeed virtually and energetically as also typically and in figure is already done for so even now as I upon the throne so dost thou sit at Gods right hand having conquered all spirituall powers and enemies to thy Kingdom as the world flesh sin death and Sathan who but for thy conquest of them whom by thine ascension thou art victorious over had absolute dominion over thy people who thereby are set at liberty to serve thee that art enriched in thy humane nature with all the glorious graces and excellencies that heaven and the divine nature can afford thee that thou maiest be the bounteous and gracious dispenser of them to thy body mysticall thy spirituall Israel that are a willing people to thee as also empowered and put into capacity to vanquish and over-power the most ignorant and gainsaying that the power of thy spirit and grace may be glorified
us or presence with us are now remaining all such signs have quite left us neither know we whither to go nor how to do to enquire of thee as formerly our predecessours were wont to do in straits never age nor miserie was like to this since thy people were a people for we have not so much as one prophet that were wont to have whole schools of them nor prophetess in all the whole land who can either instruct us what to do to reconcile our selves to thee nor how long it will be before thou beest reconciled and thy favour renewed to us as it was ever heretofore wont to be after some short space 10 O God find out a way to let us know the end of our miseries and the rather for the disgrace thou sufferest the whilest for thine honour lies in the dust as well as we through our sides thou art wounded and divided as if thou also wert conquered and that thou canst not deliver nor restore us now as heretofore though thou hast been too hard for our enemies yet now they are too hard for thee thus thine omnipotencie is impeached and thou scorned as a God that art not able to succour and befriend thy people Let the consideration hereof move thee 11 Lord why doest thou suffer thy self thus to be dishonoured and thy people thus to be destroyed heretofore thou wast alwayes wont to appear for them upon less occasions and powerfully to preserve them and to be jealous for thy worship and Lord why art thou not so now why doest thou not put forth thy power and magnifie thy grace now as then Good Lord be intreated to do so who canst if thou wilt 12 For Lord thou knowest how thou hast ever been related to us and we to thee above all the World as King and people and what remarkable protection and great deliverances both before and since we were planted in Canaan thou hast vouchsafed us answerable to such relations in the sight and to the admiration of all both far and near upholding us thus long a people to thee in the navel of the earth in despight of all the enmitie and combinations that have been against us round about We have not forgotten and we pray thee also to remember it what thou didst for us when thou broughtest us thitherward out of Egypt how thou miraculously made the sea drie-land for us to pass through and by thine Almightie power madest the water to stand like walls on our right hand and on our left till we were safely landed on the other side and till the whole Host of the Egyptians in pursuit of us was ingaged and ensnared in the deep and then thou causedst the waters to come together again and so destroyedst that bloud-thirstie and mightie armie in their own element even the Egyptians by inundation of water that are a nation above all the World blessed and preserved by it and as it were bred and born in it like the Crocodile in Nilus 14 Even Pharaoh himself and all his armie utterly perished there whose countrey of Egypt by the mightie over-flowings of that famous river is as it were a Sea and he the whale and master-fish therein even he with all his host was drowned in the red-sea where whale-like he purposed to have devoured the whole Host of Israel and cast up on that side towards the wilderness where thy people were safe on shore to be a prey to them and provision for them of many necessaries in that their journey towards Canaan through the wilderness chiefly for their faith to feed upon in all their after-straits and necessities and their carcasses to be devoured by wild beasts and ravenous birds 15 Thou then wast pleased to work wonders every way for us as well for our preservation against extremities of nature hunger and cold as from our enemies Insomuch as when thy people Israel extreamly provoked thee yet wast thou gracious to them and in their distress didst cleave the rock in Horeb and after that too and madest thence to flow sweet and plentiful streams for their refreshing and supply of them and their cattel and when they were to possess the promised land thou didst make way through Jordan even then when it overflowed all its banks for their entering into Canaan as thou didst before at the red-sea for their comming out of Aegypt that is madest it drie land for them to pass 16 17 Thou canst do but what thou wilt there are no bounds to thy power but thy will Thou that rulest all times and in all places ordeining and ordering day and night sun and moon and stars in the heavens above and hath scituated the earth and the several climates thereof so as they are accommodating it and the inhabitants thereof with meet and fruitful seasons of summer and winter 18 Thou art the God whom we worship above all the World thou that art thus Almightie whilst our enemies worship stocks and stones and yet they triumphing in their success reproch us with thee even with thee O Lord and this heathenish Idolatrous nation magnifie their Gods above thee because they are now above us saying thou didst not because thou couldest not deliver us and so blaspheme thine omnipotencie and nullifie thy very essence and being Now O Lord as thou art severe to punish us so forget not we pray thee to vindicate thine honour and to plague them answerably to the greatness of their provocations 19 Resume thy goodness toward us Thou hast but one spouse one nation and people in all the World that by contract are married to thee do not thou O Lord so far obdurate thy self against this wife of thy bosom thine helpless and harmless Israel to expose her to a barbarous prophane nation to be preyed upon and devoured as a Turtle by a Hawk or a Lamb by a Wolf but work their deliverance and restauration and forget not thy poor distressed and captived people to leave them in that estate for ever 20 But remember and fulfill the obligations of grace thou boundest thy self in to our forefathers thy friends and servants how thou wouldest be their God and the God of their seed after them to bless them which we are even we that are now led captive out of the land of the living God into the dark corners of the world amongst a people that know not the Lord and that have as little true humanity as divinity for for thy sake because we belong to thee and worship thee whom they neither know nor serve are we used with all manner of barbarism and cruelty by them 21 O let not no more now then heretofore in Egypt the pressures of thy people go unpunished but magnifie thy power in our wonderfull deliverances and our enemies confusion that for thy sake have reproached us Let us find thou art a God that hearest prayer and fulfillest the desire of thy poor necessitated people
as well now as then that as they so we for our remarkable return to Canaan may praise and magnifie thy power and greatness 22 So much vilified by these heathenish wretches if not for our sufferings yet for thine own which we cannot chuse but lay to heart however thou doest by us O God be intreated to vindicate thy self upon this prophane nation that foolishly judging by success magnifie themselves and their Gods above us and ours dayly hitting us in the teeth with thee 23 We must needs put thee in mind again and again and ease our minds in opening our hearts and uttering our complaints unto thee concerning what to our unsupportable grief we dayly see and hear from our enemies how they roar it out against thee the uncontrolable outragious carriage of those that have invaded and conquered us and thee also as they think by thy forbearance to punish them and thy severitie to us grows continually worse and worse Lord take notice of it to plague them for it The lxxv PSALM The Psalmist thankful for past and confident of future good success minds God of the dangerous condition Israel is in by intestine broils betwixt Davids house and that of Saul bandied between Judah and the rest of the Tribes and the destructive event that is like to come of it But is confident it shall not last long but that as he hath been so he will still be Davids God and theirs aad under his government will shortly sâ—ttle them in peace religion and righteousness Admonishes the enemies of their opposition both from the folly and danger of it for as David hath done alwayes hitherto against Saul so shall he do still prevail at last and those that remain shall fall as he did A Psalm either made by Asaph himself prophetically personating David and Christ or by David and by him committed to Asaph for him together with the President of the Quire to order it to be sung and plaid by voices and instruments The sum or substance whereof is comprised in this one word Al-taschith signifying destroy not upon occasion of the difference that was long depending betwixt the house of David and the house of Saul and the bloud-shed of the people of Israel that was thereupon which therefore the prophet would have to have a speedie end and that the people may not longer be so destroyed 1 IT is thou O Lord that art our praise-worthie God to thee will we that are thy faithful people give special and peculiar thanks yea to thee onely will we give them and thy power and goodness toward us will we certainly celebrate for that thou hast been a benigne and beneficent God to us and specially to me the things thou hast done and the wonders thou hast wrought for us in general and for me in particular in the midst of so many enemies and great oppositions do sufficiently declare it out of all which and in all which thou hast still delivered and preserved us and brought us to the dawnings of happier times than ever yet the Godly saw which bode the near approch of the full complement thereof long since promised to thy people and that shortly thou wilt be known by thy name Jehovah that givest being to all predictions and promises recorded in thy word touching thy Churches well-being 2 And therefore I am confident the time is at hand that I shall be King over all Israel which already is begun in part and when I am so it is my purpose and promise to walk worthie mine office and the place I hold in thy Church in upright and just dispensations to thy people in resemblance of that righteousness which Christ the Judge of all the World and King of his Church shall in behalf thereof administer 3 Lord thou seest what a dissolution is like to befal us by these civil dissentions and destructions that ensue thereupon if they should continue it would bring to ruine by consequence the whole World for both this Church and Common-wealth Land and People all would perish for whom and by whom the world subsists and be utterly spoiled and wasted by themselves or forreigners that will take advantage thereof if this disorder should last long but I know it s otherways determined by thee for as the world subsists by them so they and it by me I am appointed to reduce this people into a better condition I am he that must establish Religion and Justice amongst them in better times and speedily reconcile in one Judah and Israel though now at so great difference by a peaceable and happy reign over both as Christ the mediatorian King of his people at his coming when things shall be at worst as now they are shall Jews and Gentils by a peaceable Government of his Church made up of both in the whole world the partition-wall being broken down This is certainly true 4 I would fain have advised those that so unwisely go about to frustrate thy decrees concerning me by opposing my rise to have desisted and saved both bloud and labour and such as out of pride and perversness of spirit are confident to prevail against me notwithstanding they see what a progress thou hast already made towards it I being actuall King of Judah so considerable a Tribe because they have all the rest to side with them these I would gladly have rectified and perswaded them to a peaceable submission to thy determination and not with such pride and confidence in sublunary power to wage war against thee 5 And in such a manner to scorn and set light by me as never likely to have any more than this single Tribe nor that neither long I have been thought meanly of heretofore and was in an unlikely case as mine enemies thought then ever to come to good but you know what is come of them and you see what a step I have made in despight of that great and general opposition towards the Kingdom and for all your high words and proud speeches I am sure to have the rest as well as this and the proudest of you all shall submit to me and be subjected under my government as reluctant and renitant as you are to it 6 For no advancement of any man upon earth comes by meer chance nor by humane power or policie least of all this of mine that I should become King over Israel in stead of Saul this is not of man nor therefore to be hindred by man his power or policie 7 But it is God that in his righteous judgement punished his sin and rewarded mine innocencie and who hath the sovereign imperial dispensation of all honours and preferments in his power whereupon it is that this man is preferred and not that and that one man is abased and another advanced even that Saul and his house must grow weaker and weaker and I and my house must grow stronger and stronger do you what you can to
them throughout their travel in the wilderness as Christ is to his Church and people all along their life The lxxviii PSALM The Prophet after an attractive insinuating preamble to gain attention for edification and caution from what shall be delivered falleth to depaint as in a table and in a compendious map to set forth the world of gracious priviledges which peculiarly God hath bestowed and conferred on Israel and the wonderfull unspeakable things he did for them and the many miraculous mercies that he had vouchsafed to them from time to time all along from Egypt to their establishment under David and Solomon Together with their monstrous ingratitudes of gross unbelief and rebellious provocations endlesly persisted in by all their forefathers throughout so many ages as expired betwixt their coming out of Egypt to those dayes Also interweaves the just and terrible judgements of God acted upon them though with much long-suffering and unwillingness for those their unfaithfull and disobedient ingratitudes with their feigned repentances and constant backslidings and notwithstanding all records Gods gracious perseverance towards them and faithfull performance of his promise in bringing that Church and Kingdom unto so flourishing a condition as it enjoyed under David and Solomon A Psalm advertising the people of Israel of Gods mighty works and singular favours to their forefathers and their ill requitals of them made probably by Asaph the seer or some other holy man of God and committed to his successours that bare his name 1 THus saith the Lord by me his Prophet hearken diligently to the doctrine that I am about to teach you give good attention to what I shall speak for it is of concernment to you 2 Though it was acted long before your time For that I am about to deliver doctrinall truths couched in historicall examples transacted and recorded of old but of good use for ever 3 It is what hath been inculcated continually by our fathers and their fore-fathers successively from age to age have these things been taught and pressed the godly in every generation have been carefull to derive the knowledge of them to their posterity for their benefit and the glory of God 4 And as it hath been transmitted to us by them with intention to pass it down throughout all the generations of Israel accordingly let us also that are their children hand it still down-ward to our posterity and theirs even the doctrin of the prais-worthy acts of God those powerfull deliverances that he wrought and miraculous mercies he vouchsafed his people in times past 5 For this was not done as a bare arbitrary act of care by our parents but as a duty also laid upon them by God who gave them in charge to do so as also to transfer his holy covenant made up of commandments and promises both by doctrine and exemplary observation of faith and obedience down to their children 6 That so the next generation following might learn what to know and how to do by the early teaching and good example of the next fore-going that so they also being well instructed and timely trained up in their tender years might grow so ripe and perfect as also in like sort to convey them to their children as they received them from their fathers 7 To the end that all of us from first to last might learn to fix our hope and confidence upon the Lord alone and believe in him as a gracious and al-sufficient God unto us throughout all ages and in all conditions considering and ever bearing in mind what he had don for our fore-fathers what wonders he had wrought for them to be standing presidents and pledges to posteritie that so they might be well acquainted both with his works and word by the one to learn to believe in him and by the other to reverence and obey him 8 Thus the godly Patriarks Prophets and teachers of old were wont to do take pains to indoctrinate youth in the works and waies of God to keep still alive a godly seed a spiritual people to the Lord that might not be as was for most part their fore-fathers for all their good instructions an untractable stiff-necked unbelieving people as lived upon the earth refusing their own mercies murmuring and rebelling against God his magistrates ministers and oppugning all that would have done them good and made them happy who for all that God did or could do for them which were admirable things and marvelous mercies he could not gain them heartily and sincerely to be his so as to believe in him stedfastly love him cordially and obey him uprightly but were with every temptation drawn away from him to distrust him and to imbrace sin and Idolatrie rather than his worship and service 9 In so much as the children of Ephraim though strong enough in men and arms furnished with those kind of weapons and skill to use them wherewith they were able to gall and beat back the enemy at a distance and never come to handle blows yet how cowardly being degenerated in faith and good conscience did they by the just judgement of God turn their backs and flie before their enemies the Philistines and caused the rest to do so too even to the loosing of the Ark chiefly intrusted in their Tribe and after for their sinfull revolting from the true worship of God to Jeroboams Idolotrous calves how did they and their partizans the ten Tribes fall before the enemie and wast away until they were led captive and extinct Let us beware 10 They totally fell off from God to whom they were tyed by all manner of bonds even by special contract and covenant mutually stipulated betwixt God and them he promising to be their protector and deliverer and they to believe in him as such than which they did nothing less and no wonder when as they had quite forsaken him his Tabernacle-worship at Shiloh and his Temple at Jerusalem and took to high places Jeroboams calves nor would they be reclaimed by any thing God could do or his Prophets say 11 Most ungratefully turning their back upon and forsaking that God that had done such wonders for his people whereof they were both eye and ear-witnesses for they were not ignorant of what he did of old as well as of late the wonders and the great things that were done by him they knew well enough but they set light by them let them slip out of memory and note though well enough instructed in them by our godly forefathers 12 Who ever were carefull to derive the memory and notice of such mercies down to posteritie though for the generalitie Israel as well in the twelve as in the ten Tribes hath ever been of a degenerate revolting disposition from God which should caution us to be careful for we have heard of the marvellous miracles God wrought before their faces and for their sakes the wonderfull plagues he brought upon the
his word or suffer them to perish for want of sustenance he did supernaturally supply them and whereas he could have done it with materials of nature terrestrial corn or bread he chose rather to do it with the bread of heaven such food as nature never did produce extraordinary provision as well as in an extraordinary way descended from the heavenly mansion of the blessed angels to shew in what a degree of honour and amity God admits his chosen people that are on earth fellow-servants and of the same houshould with the angels whereof God is the Lord as really by faith feeding them with Christ the son of God that spiritual soul-sustaining bread of life Mediator of angels and men figured by Manna as the angels do feed their eyes and desires in continually beholding him in heaven and are there sustained by him in that their blessed and unchangeable state nay he gave them not onely bread but flesh too in abundance 26 27 28 For in regard they tempted him and mis-doubted his power to do it therefore to vindicate his omnipotencie not in favour and respect to them he by a South-west wind which he then raised and caused to blow full upon the place where they pitched from the sea-ward brought home to their doors infinite of Quails which fell as thick as rain and lay for a days journey like sea sand round about their camp at Kibroth-hattaavah two cubits high upon the face of the earth 29 30 So that they both saw and felt by experience that God could do what they thought he could not even furnish a table in the wilderness with dainties far fetched upon the wings of the wind such as they fed not on in Egypt whereof they had plenty and eat their fill for God stinted them not but gave them enough to glut themselves and so they did of that they so inordinately desired not to sustain or suffice nature but to palliate their lusts wherein God gave them the full length of teather abridged them not but withall this sweet meat had sowre sauce even whilest these unbelievers were greedily feeding upon these dainties without confessing their sin and giving the glory to God 31 The wrath of the Lord was kindled against them and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague which God so disposed as that it chiefly swept away the more insolent carnal-minded ringleaders in this mutiny they that having been used to dainties in in Egypt could not be without them in the wilderness but whether God would or not must have them or murmur and quarrel for want of them and set the rest to do so too these chief mutiners principal men in the camp of Israel did God chiefly slay by the plague to affright the rest 32 But nothing could reclaim this stubborn people nothing that God could do for them or against them no blessings though miraculous no punishments though never so formidable and capital could do good upon them to make them leave their murmuring and live by faith 33 Therefore whereas he promised them Canaan if they had believed in him and been obedient to him contrarily he adjudged them to wander out their days in that wilderness where they so murmured and misbelieved even all in effect that came out of Egypt wasted out their lives in a vain unprofitable pilgrimage there to their exceeding great trouble and in Gods disfavour for forty years space after they were arrived at the skirts of Canaan in which time they were all destroyed by their sins and Gods just judgements 34 They were a people that God could do no good on by mercies and benefits but the better he was the worse they were onely when for their rebelliousness God was forced to fall heavy upon them and to destroy them sometimes by one judgement sometimes by another then upon the same principles that before they murmured against him would they then seek unto him the one for self-pleasing the other for self-saving when the fire was burning and the plague consuming then down on their knees and up with their hands promising any thing to be spared Oh what a reformed and changed people they will be then they post as fast as they can to Moses to pray for them and save their carcasses and desiring but to know their sin Oh how would they then repent of it and their duty how they might but please God for the time to come and they would never fail to perform it 35 Then there was none but God with them they could then remember all the great deliverances he had wrought for them and recount them one by one how this time and the other time God saved them from being destroyed by their enemies and his own judgements then they could give him his titles and acknowledge his attributes of Sovereignty and Omnipotencie he that they never thought well of nor could afford a good word now is becom their onely saviour they cannot say too much of him nor give too much to him 36 But all this was but to deceive God to carry fair towards him to work their ends upon him pretending sorrow for sin and resolution of amendment when as all that was spoken by them was but from teeth outward so long as the blow smarted never meant as they spake nor made good any thing they said 37 For all was but pretences to serve their own turns there was no true inward remorse for all their shew of sorrow nor no sincere change for all their fair promises their hearts were as wicked as ever and as bad principled towards God breaking promises as fast as they made them yea the grand charter the covenant it self so solemnly contracted and so often renewed between God their fore-fathers and themselves that God would be their God and that they would be his people and walk thereafter this they made not good but notwithstanding all Gods promises to them and theirs to him they sinned against him deviated from him and falsified with him 38 But the Lord having chosen them for his people and remembring the ancient league of amity and friendship that was betwixt him and their fore-fathers could not find in his heart to do to them as their sins deserved but being a people that for his names sake he would be good unto and preserve himself a Church and holy seed amongst he from time to time with patience and pitie overcame their provocations and his own hot displeasure that justice called to destroy them but mercie staid his hands and moderated his furie so that his punishments were rather examplary than otherwise never destroying all that offended which yet justice called upon his wrath to do again and again 39 For the Lord knew if he should give way to his anger according to the instigation of his justice and their demerit they that were mortal and short lived by nature would quickly perish
after time preserved and defended them from one enemy after another till he brought them safe to the very skirts of Canaan the type of heaven a land long before promised them and designed for the special place of his worship and residence of his Church where when they were ready to enter and he to give them possession how did they then also murmur and disbelieve so that that generation was not permitted to enter but wandered in the wilderness till they perished there but their posteritie lived to enjoy it God brought them into possession of this promised land by as great victories and miracles as their fore-fathers had seen in Egypt and the wilderness casting out the inhabitants from before them in every place where they came yea the scornfull self-confident Jebusites by the hands of his servant David whom he made able to dislodge them from of mount Sion that strong fort so long detained and possess it for his special use and service placing his Sanctuary there 55 As great and gyant-like as the natives of Canaan were and as high and strong as were the walls yet God made way for his people to pass through the land as conquerours where ever they came no enemy could stand before them but were either put to flight or taken and killed So that they were enriched with the spoils of the land which they became Lords and masters of the heathen-native Canaanites by Gods just judgements and mighty power being ejected the whole countrie was apportioned amongst them as they thought good each tribe being possessed of those cities towns and houses that fell to their lot which were built to their hands 56 Yet these Israelites to whom God gave possession of this promised land notwithstanding all the wondrous works he wrought for them and the terrible judgements they saw executed before their faces and by their very hands upon their Idolatrous enemies yet did they from time to time even in the land of Canaan do as did their fore-fathers in the way thither provoke the Lord to anger even the God of whom they had had such experience for his power to punish them in case they sinned and faithfulness to fulfil his promise in case they believed and obeyed which they did neither 57 Never cared for God further than to serve their turns upon him when they had need of him then they could flatter and dissemble with fair promises and pretended good affections just as did their forefathers and made good nothing they said but fell off presently from God both disbelieved and disobeyed as did their perfidious ancestours before them whom therefore God destroyed in the wilderness and would not suffer to enter Canaan which yet he gave to these their posteritie in hope they would take example from their predecessours sins and his punishments to walk more closely and believe more firmly But they utterly deceived his expectation and warped from the rule he gave them to walk by both in faith and manners as an arrow deviates from the mark when shot by an unsteadie hand or out of a crooked wrycast bow 58 For in stead of frequenting his tabernacle to worship him there as he appointed they built altars in high places an invention of their own not commanded of God and so provoked God to anger by worshipping not onely the true God in a false manner but even other Gods graven images strange things for the chosen people of the living and great God to worship especially after such and so wonderful declarations of himself and his power whereby they grievously incensed him to see them go a whoring in this sort to whom he bare such conjugal affections being his onely spouse and of whose reciprocal respect and love to him he was so jealous 59 When the Lord saw this and heard the crie of their ungrateful back-sliding in this manner come up to heaven he could not hold but grew extream angrie at such base abuse and rejection of him and the more he had loved them the more now upon this occasion he hated and abhorred his own chosen Israel 60 So that having cast off his people that would not worship him he cast off the place too where he was to be worshipped afforded no protection to Shiloh nor presence there where the Ark and Tabernacle had been so long the pledge of his presence where he hath vouchsafed to dwell and onely there of all the earth in his Tabernacle as in a tent whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain 61 But in anger and discontent at such ingratitude and neglect from a people that he had done so much for and took such delight in he at last even gave up his Ark that pledge of his presence and consequently of his gracious and powerful assistance by which and for which he had given them so many deliverances from and victories over their enemies into their enemies hand whom he then made absolute victors over them and the Ark too suffering the Philistines to take it prisoner and carrie it away captive into their own countrey and so left Israel naked and destitute of divine power and protection and stript off the visible sign of the presence of the invisible God amongst them and for them a most glorious priviledge afforded them above and beyond all the whole World which they lost and the Philistines in punishment of their sins and to the everlasting shame and reproch of their cowardise specially Ephraims took and carried from them 62 And to shew their strength was gone when God had left them and suffered his Ark the token both of him and it to be taken by the uncircumcised Philistines and how little he cared for them that cared not for him he utterly forsook his people that day and let the enemie kill and slay as they would themselves so that there fell that day at Eben-Ezer thirtie thousand foot-men they cowardly deserting the battel and fled every man to his tent and this was the issue of their provoking God to anger they lost him and themselves too 63 For the jealousie of the Lord which was kindled against them suddenly consumed them in his fierce displeasure did he expose them to the merciless sword of the Philistines which hewed down so many thousands of the choice young men of Israel that day which so unpeopled them that the maids could not have husbands there not being men enow to marrie them nor if there had would those times the saddest that ever befel Israel have been oportune for bride-feasts when all eyes were full of tears and hearts full of sorrow at so great disaster upon such a slaughter and the loss of the Ark of God their strength and glorie 64 At which time also Hophni and Phinehas the two sons of Eli that waited upon the Ark were likewise slain wose widows were so transported with the loss of the Ark as the loss of their husbands was swallowed up in it
is not to be expressed the outrages of the enemie and the miseries of thy poor people they torture them to death that adhere to thee and will not apostatize and desert thy Laws and ordinances to profess and practise their Idolatrie and superstition and after death will not afford them burial but expose them above ground as not worthie the common curtesie of nature to have so much as a burying place on earth whose souls are with thee in heaven but lie like common carrion and are suffered to rot and stink and be torn in pieces and devoured by ravenous beasts and birds 3 They have made havock of all thy faithful people that for pietie sake resorted to and inhabited in and about thy holy Citie Jerusalem shedding there the bloud of such holy Martyrs unmeasurably and by strict watch and barbarous edicts kept the bodies of such precious souls unburied nor would suffer without imminent peril of their lives nay certain ruine any of their brethren that were left alive to do that office of charitie and humanitie for them nor indeed could they if they would the dead were so many and the living so few 4 We O Lord that through thy grace and powerful assistance were wont to be the terrour of the heathen round about us and by thy presence and worship amongst us were heretofore the glorie of all the World now they that were our slaves and subjects are our Lords and masters and use us not onely cruelly but abuse us scornfully reproching and deriding us together with thee and thy worship because of our present condition and theirs none pitie us no not our next neighbour-nations but scornfully taunt us 5 O Lord take notice of it and be moved to vindicate thine own dishonour and have some compassion also upon thy distreâ—sed people for Lord we know well enough that this could not befal us if our sins and thine anger were not the causes But Lord remember thou hast been angrie heretofore but never after this sort thou wast wont to commix mercie with displeasure Lord be not less good to us than to our forefathers let there be an end of our miserie and thy furie and let not our whoredoms and thine enraged jealousie quite consume us as fire doth straw 6 Lord such furie would better become thee towards thine enemies than thy chosen people these indeed for their sins may deserve punishments but let utter destruction be the portion of them that neither know nor worship thee that have neither relation to thee nor commerce with thee nor thou knowest never will but in their pride and ignorance contemne thee and serve other Gods 7 And such are they that have thus cruelly butchered us thine onely Israel thy friends Jacobs posteritie and by slaughter captivitie and devastations have unpeopled and ruinated the whole land where we have dwelt so long and which thou promisedst to him and his posteritie after him which yet now are cast out of it by these prophane heathen 8 O for mercie sake muster not up the provocations of old those murmurings against thee mistrusts of thee apostatizings from thee that we have ever been guiltie of from the very first to make war upon us for them now but forgive and forget them for we shall never be able to stand under them And instead of remembring them call to mind thy tender mercies and bowels of compassion which thou hast ever professed to be in thee in thy peoples behalf when they have been in miserie and greater never befel them than these we now are in for we are at the very last gasp to so low and miserable an estate are we brought as thy people have scarce a beeing but certainly will have none at all shortly such sorrows and sufferings will make a final end of them if thou in mercie speedily prevent it not by some redress 9 Which good Lord vouchsafe us Help us out of this miserable destructive condition thou that onely canst do it and who we cannot chuse but hope wilt do it because thy glorie is so much concerned in it and thou as well as we sufferest so much by it Though we confess we can not scarce hope by reason of our sins which are greater than our sufferings but Lord as our benefit will be great so thy glorie will not be small if thou wilt do away sins and sufferings by thy pardon and power which therefore we beg of thee 10 For as things now stand thou hast no honour we are punished but the heathen are not converted Thy justice and terrour upon us hath no other operation upon them to drive them into contempt and insultation not onely over us but thee for they stick not to say where is the God of the Hebrews he that was wont he could deliver them This Lord they say in derision of thee and thou sufferest it to go unpunished though thou thus punishest us But Lord let us few that are left alive of the many thousands of Israel though in captivitie yet be remembered and pitied by thee let our enemies know and us see that thou art a God still and the same God too as able as heretofore by some remarkable and just vindication of that deluge of bloud of thine own people and precious servants that hath been shed and cries for vengeance against them 11 Yea Lord let both the innocent bloud already shed as also the unjust sufferings and miserable calamities of those of thy people that are yet alive the imprisonments and cruelties practised upon them and the heavie sighs and direful groans which in those pressures are forced from them come all before thee to move with thee as to revenge the one so to preserve the other which thou hast power enough to do though they and death are not far asunder 12 Put forth thy power accordingly in our behalfs but chiefly in thine own let them not escape thee for their cruelties but Lord pay them home for their blasphemies these wicked Idolatrous heathens and those pitieless neighbouring nations that notwithstanding all they have heard and seen of thee since thou broughtest us among them are no more knowing of thee nor bear no more reverence to thee than to scorn and reproch thee because of our miserie Good Lord let them smart for it 13 Who are none of thy people and we that are thine onely peculiar shall thereby have cause given us for ever to remember thy power and goodness when thou shalt thus revenge the dead preserve the living and right thy self and will never forget so great a mercie but will be for ever thankfull to thee and praise thee for it yea our children and childrens children through all generations will we instruct and engage to do the like The lxxx PSALM The Psalmist upon the captivitie of Judah and those of the rest of the tribes that adhered to her and were led captive with her indites this prayer
wherein he minds God of his tender care of his people when they were in Egypt and praies for the like now that he will appear for a few in which his Church is as much concerned as in those many which are in great calamitie this prayer he enforceth with an elegant Metaphor of their being as a choice vine to him and the enemie as a wild boar to them Promiseth if this single tribe so many wayes considerable may be re-instated and revived that they will live to him and to his praise A Psalm either prophetically made by Asaph himself or some other man of God upon the captivitie and committed to Asaphs successours principally to him that is most skilful upon the sweet instrument of six strings Shoshannim whereunto it is set for his ordering of it 1 O God of our fathers that leddest the posteritie of Jacob and Joseph out of their Egyptian bondage through the Red sea and wilderness as a shepheard leads his flock yielding them powerful protection and gracious provision give ear to us now in our Babylonish captivitie pitie us and do for us now as then who are the remainder all that is left of those progenitors And thou that wast wont also to be intreated by thy people in thy sanctuarie and to evidence thy presence there in thy mercie-seat between the wings of the Cherubims vouchsafing them many a gracious answer and deliverance when they prayed for it in their extremitie thou that art the same God now as then hear us the same people though not in the same place in Babylon appear for us calling on thee in this our banishment and captivation 2 At the apostacie of the ten tribes thou knowest how that many well-affected of the tribe of Ephraim Benjamin and Manasseh forsook their habitations and transplanted themselves into Judea to be partakers of thy worship and now the posteritie of these that did cleave so close to thee then at the defection of their brethren are held captive here in Babylon Lord remember it unto them for good and now stick close to them as then they did to thee and powerfully transplant them back again into their own countrey and deliver them out of this captivitie whereinto thou hast brought them that when time was were voluntarie exiles for thy sake 3 Lord how ever our condition is very desperate and miserable yet art thou able to change it to what it was and to carrie us into our own land and give us the enjoyment and practice of thy worship again if thou wilt but turn thy frowns into favour and thy face upon us in stead of thy back-parts pardoning our sins and receiving us again into grace we shall be a happie people and see good days for all this 4 O Lord God of alsufficient and Almigtie power how long wilt thou that hast the command of all and art able to help us suffer us to remain helpless and be angrie at us now in our miserie for sins committed in our prosperitie so that our prayers are of no power but thou rejected them and us that are thy people and suffer as well for thee as for our sins 5 Thou makest us altogether miserable our sighs and tears are the best repast we have the uttering of our grief is the sustaining of our nature which we are forced to do with bitter lamentation 6 Thou hast made us an absolute prey to our neighbour nations that have long looked for this day insomuch that they are ready to fall out among themselves for the dividing the spoil of us and our countrey the whilest we are here captives in a strange nation amongst our mortal enemies that have no better pastime than to deride our miserable condition 7 See the third verse of this Psalm which is the same with this 8 With no small cost and care didst thou when time was transplant Israel as a vine of great account out of Egypt where it was stocked and thrive not unto a land where thou undertookest it should take root and grow even Canaan which thou emptiedst of its heathenish inhabitants to make way for thy people where thou didst implant whereof thou didst possess them 9 Thou miraculously madest way for their implantation by destroying and expulsing the natives thereof and making thy people victors still as they went on from one end of the land to the other insomuch as that they were settled in it by thy special gift and grace and enjoyed it both by right of conquest and long prescription of peaceable possession and peopled it from corner to corner successively one generation after another for many ages 10 They multiplied by thy blessing in such sort as that the hills and valleys were all full of them both best and worst of the countrey was inhabited and improved so mightily did they encrease and not onely in number but in stature also they were tall and goodly people such as hewed down Giants before them 11 So far as ever thou didst ordain the limits of that land to stretch even from the Mediterranean sea to the river Euphrates of old appointed by thee to be her boundaries did thy people inhabit her in a flourishing condition both of Church and State 12 Lord since thou wast pleased to do so much for a people and to husband and bless this vine of thine in this sort why hast thou thus utterly withdrawn thy protection from them as if they had never belonged unto thee nor had been cared for by thee exposing them and their land to all the outrages and obloquies that any that have a mind will inflict upon them and make bootie both of their persons and estates which at pleasure they share amongst them 13 Look as a savage boar breaking into a well formed garden would demean himself by turning all things upside down so hath this Heathenish Babylonish tyrant the land we possessed and the people in it making havock and destruction of all old and young root and branch in so ruinous a manner as if his armie had been so many wild beasts in stead of men 14 O Lord think it long enough to have estranged thy self thus from thy people resume thy grace of old towards us we humbly pray thee thou that hast command over all things whose dominion is in heaven far above all earthly powers look propitiously from thence upon us and own this vine of thine once again to replant it 15 Both vine and vineyard people countrey Lord look graciously upon them to reunite them repossess them of that which once by a strong hand outstretched arm thou gavest them the tribe of Judah O Lord remēber in which as it were alone thou didst uphold maintain the Church and Kingdom of Christ when all besides fell from thee 16 This single branch all that 's left of the florishing vine the onely Tribe in effect of all the
in a Metaphoricall figurative sence so let me tell you also what you are and what you shall find your selves really to be without any figure that is mortall men such as no Titles nor distances can exempt or priviledge from the common fate of all men to die and rise to judgement for you have not laid aside your nature by taking up your Title but shall certainly come down from that degree you are advanced unto and stoop to death as every man of what ranck soever though equall with you or superiour to you have done before you 8 And though you have been gods on earth yet shall you be judged by the God of heaven who onely is God indeed and Sovereign Judge of all the world and it s well he is so such miserable disorder have you brought and will bring all things unto if you may be suffered in your Tyrannicall and unjust ways for nothing will reclaim you no doctrine though from God himself whether exhortation or commination so that my prayer shall be that God would by his power judge you for thus misjudging and misgoverning and do the inhabitants of the earth right upon such Princes and Judges as do them wrong and let them know that the earth yea every Kingdom and Countrey in it is the Lords and not theirs though they Lord it in their severall dominions as if right of inheritance and not thy donation were their chief investiture they pay thee no homage therefore distrein for thy glory as Lord Paramount and proprietor of what they count theirs and not thine as one day thou wilt be sure to do The lxxxiii PSALM When Senacherib instigated by his own ambition and others solicitation was preparing with all the power he could make to fall upon Iudah some men of God either good Hezekiah or some Prophet composed this Psalm relating the whole design and consederation by way of complain to God praying him to lay it to heart and to do for his Church and judge his enemies as he was wont and thereby get himself glory amongst those that are not his people as well as amongst those that are A Psalm probably committed to Asaphs successours rather than made by himself by the penman of it to be sung and plaid by them 1 O God do not thou sit still in silence neither be careless of the condition that both thou and we are about to fall into it is high time for thee to be-think thee O God concerning it 2 Considering the vast preparations that are making of a tumultuary army consisting of diverse confederate nations instigated by our pestilent neighbors and inveterate enemies the Ammonites and Moabites who grow sure and confident upon it to have a day and to subjugate and do by us as thou for our sakes hast heretofore done by them 3 They have negotiated this league with much subtility and solicitation against us the remainder of thy holy seed and chosen people and combined their heads and hands with the Assyrian and others to ruin and utterly root out those few Israelites that are left and do possess a narrow room in this great Kingdom which once was such and that have no other hope nor help but thy sanctuary and thine own residence in it amongst us under the wings whereof we shelter and secure our selves hoping by it for defence and protection against this mighty combination and deluge that is flowing down upon us 4 Promising themselves an absolute issue in this their undertaking utterly to destroy us as they have done the ten Tribes and so to put a finall end to the name of Israel who is brought at this day very low 5 And indeed to speak humanely it is no hard thing for them to do such an army as this is made up of so many nations unanimously agreed all of them to war upon thee for so thou knowest it is for though it be against us yet it is for thy sake because we belong to thee and profess thee and thy worship 6 Our near kinsmen born originally together with us of godly parents are chieftains and ringleaders in this confederacy against thy Church but that is no news for when were they other or how can other be expected from such a degenerate generation as Esau hated Jacob though his brother so do the Edomites his posterity hate us those Arabians with their Tents and military provision are coming against us with them the Ishmaelites the sons of Ishmael that old enemy of Isack his brother who because he could not be coheir with him his seed are at open enmity with us and so are the Moabites Lots incestuous brood and all them that came of Hagar the Egyptian bond-woman who have ever hated us free-men her Masters legitimate of-spring sole heirs of Abraham and his promise 7 With these kinred of ours are conjoyned forrainers of strange names and nations as the Gibbits borderers upon Sidon yea both far and near have they commixed their forces for with them are the Ammonites our near neighbour that incestuous generation and the Amalekites Esaus posterity also our old enemies the Philistines that brood of cursed Ham with the Citizens of Tyre that famous place and rich people 8 All these have combined their forces and the better to effect their design have joyned themselves to the King of Assyria and he with them and all against us that great nation is confederate with our enemies the Ammonites and Moabites who are backed by them and upon whom they bear themselves so high being confident by their means to ruine us 9 But Lord how easie a matter is it for thee to defeat the hopes of our adversaries and overthrow this mighty confederate army and deliver thy people as thou hast done heretofore magnifie thy self therefore O Lord put forth thy power do by these as we well remember thou didst by the Midianites though they were like Graslioppers for multitude yet with the noise of broken Pitchards in the hands of Gideons handfull of men didst thou rout them and set their swords one against another to their own destruction likewise as thou didst to Sisera the Generall of Jabins mighty Host when they encamped with nine hundred Chariots and a strong army at the river Kishon to fight against a small force of the children of Israel gathered onely out of the Tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali under the conduct of Barak and Deborah who yet utterly subdued them 10 Even that great army with all the confederate forces of the Kings of Canaan which then so freely unhired aided Jabin when all Israel shamefully declined Barak save those few perished at En-dor near to Taanack by the waters of Megiddo where they sought to rally and re-enforce the battell there were they hewed down and slain by Barak and his men hot in actuall pursuit of his victory gotten at Kison so that their carcases lay spread there like compost upon soil
should not me if my life did not lie at stake but though their way to the Tabernacle lie through the dry and desart valley of Mulberry trees yet they can comfortably go it and undergo with holy resolution the hardship of it yea pass it with pleasure and esteem it a happiness they have the liberty to purchase such a benefit as the worship and spirituall enjoyment of God in his ordinances which yields them such refreshing of mind all the way they travell as that their very bodies fare the better and are refreshed therewith as it were with springs of water and showers of rain 7 Yea the nearer they draw to the end of their journey like the faithfull towards heaven instead of being more they are less faint and tired gathering strength every step they take by their near approaches to and the comfortable expectation of what all the way they hoped and travelled for even the glorious priviledge of appearing in the presence of God as the saints and angels do in heaven resident upon his holy hill mount Sion where the Ark the faithfull pledge of his presence is there to enjoy soul-ravishing communions gracious audience sweet and sensible supplies of spirit and consolation a very heaven upon earth for so it signifies 8 O God that hast an almighty power and that I am sure art the great commander in chief of heaven and earth and therefore canst restore me to this happiness and satisfie my longing which is infinitely enkeened by these considerations so that I beseech thee gratifie thy poor petitioner with a gracious answer that I may be no longer debarred and hear me a poor branch of the root of Jacob though sore against my will removed from the soil where thou hast appointed him to grow Lord re-plant me 9 Behold me O God an exile and afflicted man the emblem of thy militant Church whereof I am a member as well as a type whose defence and protection nevertheless thou art even of all the faithfull whereof I am one consider me also in an other capacity as the type of Christ anointed by thy special appointment to be King over thy people as he shall be over thy Church Let these considerations move thee to own pitie and restore me to my spiritual priviledges and comfortable exercise of thine ordinances in thy sanctuary 10 For for my part if I might have my choice I speak it unfainedly I had rather have one days comfortable enjoyment of thee in thy sanctuary and prize it higher than to live a thousand years in the very best condition this life can afford and be as I am debarred from thy worship so that I might but have the happiness to wait upon thee there I should think the meanest office in thy service even a porters place to be an honour and preferment far beyond the condition I am in whilest I am forced thus to inhabit among the prophane and Idolatrous heathen though in never so good esteem 11 And truly Lord I will not despair one day to have all that thou hast promised me and more than I desire though rather than none at all I should be glad of a little either time or place in thy sanctuary for I know thou art a God that wilt shine forth to the comfort and reviving of thine afflicted people who in the interim thou wilt protect I shall see better days and doubt not yet to be made happy by thy grace and favour and to be advanced to that glorious condition of being the Kingly type of Christ for had not I a special promise yet thy general promise would engage thee and encourage me to believe for certain it is that thou wilt be gracious and faithfull to give all needfull and requisit blessings and such Lord I desire to those that are thine as I am and walk thereafter in faithfull dependance and sincere obedience which I do 12 What ever my condition be though I am far from present possession of what thou hast promised or enjoyment of what I desire banished both out of the Church and kingdom of Israel yet I dare pronounce it of all faithfull ones that patiently wait and believingly depend upon thee that it shall go well with them one day and so it shall with me because of thine Almighty power which shall make good thy faithfulness The lxxxv PSALM Either at the end of the Babilonish captivitie or under Antiochus tyrannie was this Psalm composed minding God of his former pardoning and restoring-grace to his people to intreat the same again The Psalmist in the name of the Church promising himself a glorious deliverance proportionable in some degree and representative of that happie enfranchisment the Church shall have by the Messiah at his coming To the president of the Quire is this Psalm committed for his ordering of it to be sung by the Korathites 1 LOrd thou hast offered very great and gracious deliverances unto this nation thy people by re-estating it heretofore in a good condition after sad desolations and un-captivating Jacobs posteritie by an Almighty hand 2 Mercifully commiserating their sufferings and pardoning their iniquities because they were thy chosen Israel a people peculiarly belonging to thee though ill deserving from thee yet though their sins were then very great and provoking thou wast pleased after a while to put them out of thy sight and receive thy people again into thy favour we have not forgot it 3 As thou wast pleased grievously to afflict thy people so thou didst as graciously relieve and release them for what thy provoked anger took from them thy free-grace restored it again unto them and wouldest neither quite consume nor everlastingly embondage them but became as much theirs and for them as ever thou wast against them 4 Lord thine anger is again miserably broken out against us by reason of our sins we are fallen under heavy pressures we are now as void of all humane helps as then Thou onely heretofore wroughtest deliverance and so thou must still Turn us therefore we pray thee by unfained repentance and deliver us out of this miserable condition thou that hast been and we hope still wilt be a Saviour to us yea both turn us to thee and do thou also turn towards us the face and not the back-parts let the clouds of thine indignation be dispelled and the sun-shine of thy saving grace break forth upon us 5 Wilt thou do by us as thou never diddest with any before us wilt thou be unexorable and are our sins unpardonable more than theirs shall thine anger never cease and those heavy judgements thou hast laid upon us shall they never be taken off us but must they be an everlasting inderitance to us and our posterity after us God forbid 6 Thou hast raised thy people by thine Almighty power when they were as it were dead and buried and shall the name of Israel now die in us
never to live again Lord think other thoughts towards us bring us again into a comfortable condition and raise us up in joy as much as thou hast cast us down in sorrow by the return of thy reconciled favour to us which will infinitely rejoyce us 7 Let us be so happy as to see and feel the sweet effects of thy pardoning grace O good God by granting us a powerfull deliverance from under this misery and bondage 8 As pray so I will also expect an answer my faith shall listen diligently to the promise of God what it sayes as also to his providence what it will speak effectually by way of performance for his promises are then words he will do as he sayes and therefore I am confident how ever Gods time is now of punishing us so it will be of pardoning us his people shall have rest from these their troubles for his Saints the invisible Church sake that are amongst them but let them take heed of abusing such goodness by provoking the Lord again to wrath with back-sliding ingratitude lest he never take their words more 9 Surely deliverance from the Lord will make haste for the enfranchizing of all those that faithfully wait for it and will heartily imbrace it when it comes to the promoting and re-establishing his worship and service again in that land of his and ours though we are wrongfully disseiz'd of it and restoring it to its former glorie and splendour 10 Our return as it shall doubtless be so it shall be exceeding happie the very embleme of the salvation that comes by the Messiah to the Church and the glorious effects thereof for in our restauration there shall be an admirable commixtion of the mercie and truth of God thereby graciously fulfilling his promise touching the well-fare of his Church and freedom from her enemies together with a righteous obediential walking of his people with him in peace and tranquillitie Like as in Christ and in the restauration that he shall make of poor distressed sinners to a spiritual Libertie from their ghostly enemies sin and Satan there shall be a glorious reconciliation of those cross pleading attributes and properties in Gods divine nature and in the soul of every justified regenerate member of the Church for according to truth and righteousness Man that sinned hath died Christ being made a sacrifice and according to mercie and peace Man that hath sinned is saved and God he are reconciled and at one in the propitiation of his son so that in him the Laws threatnings and Gospels promises are agreed the rigour of Gods justice is fully satisfied all things in God peaceably accorded and God and man sweetly reconciled and man in his own conscience by the faith of all these comfortably quieted 11 We shall serve and obey God in truth and uprightness such sweet fruit shall Judea yield upon our restitution and God shall take pleasure in us and from heaven pour forth his righteous blessings upon us in grace and favour to us as it shall be with the Church when the Messiah that Truth of God shall be born in our nature of earthly parents with what satisfactorie content shall God then behold him and those justified sanctified members of his here below aswell as those glorified ones in heaven above and how shall he bless them 12 Yea the Lord shall be so reconciled to us that our evils shall be turned into their contrarie blessings he shall be our friend and make every thing else befriend us for good the creature shall be reconciled aswell as the creator and the land that our sins have made barren and fruitless shall by the blessing of God upon it be restored to that fertilitie it had heretofore when God was better served and it was better blessed and made to resemble the plenteous spiritual blessings that Christs enfranchized Church shall abound with here 13 God himself shall plentifully vouchsafe his graces and make us walk to his well-pleasing in holiness and righteousness as Christ shall his Church and set us in the right way which we have so miserably strayed from and enable us to walk it even the path of his precepts The lxxxvi PSALM David in this Psalm made probably either during Sauls persecution of him or after in mindfulness of that his estate personating himself as then it was with him praies for audience and deliverance because of his incessant intercessions and Gods innate goodness and promises himself what he praies for he extols God and prophesies all the World shall do so too prayeth for direction and establishment under his pressures promiseth praise for what God hath done for him and relates what manner of enemies his are as bad as bad can be but comforts himself in Gods opposit grace and goodness which he praies for a sensible sight and taste of by some remarkable act of providence and power for him against them to their shame and confusion and to his corroboration and consolation A praier that David made in the time of his grievous affliction recorded as a pattern and for the use of every faithful afflicted member of the Church 1 THou Lord that hast an ear for men in my case and heart too Let me I pray thee prevail for a gracious audience and though thou beest of so immense greatness and inhabitest heavens in unaccessable glorie yet Lord have regard to a poor worm on earth in this my deplorable helpless condition 2 That my life Lord is in danger thou knowest it and that my heart is upright towards thee and innocent towards man even to my very enemies thou Lord art not ignorant of it Therefore in righteousness deliver me out of their hands and save my life which they would destroy O Lord that art my God both in near relation and dear affection save me that thou knowest am entirely thine in loving obedience and faithful dependance and reliance 3 Let thy goodness and my miserie move thee to have mercie on me O Almightie Lord and to vouchsafe me deliverance for as I have cause my pressures being exceeding great and incessant so are my cries unto thee vehement and quotidian because my faith and hope is in thee 4 Set me free from my troubles and these despondencies of spirit that accompany them that I may with a joyful and thankful heart apprehend thy grace and mercie to me for Lord thou knowest my trust and confidence is in none besides thee as thou mayest perceive by my faithful and fervent addresses 5 For I know both from thine own word which I believe and mine own experience that thou art of a gracious compassionate nature to poor distressed suppliants and though just to punish sinners yet as ready to pardon penitents and to shew mercie of every kind both of forgiveness to humbled sinners and of deliverance to distressed innocents that in the faith thereof pray earnestly unto thee 6 And
Lord I am one of those be thou therefore so to me in thy goodness and mercie hear me calling and crying unto thee for relief in this my distressed estate 7 And truly Lord that goodness of thine and my confidence in it prompts me what ever and whensoever I am in affliction to flie to thee by prayer and supplication not doubting of a gracious answer and issue 8 There are many gods worshipped in the world besides thee but for my part I know none but thee nor will pray or seek to any else for I am sure it is but lost labour Thine onely is the Kingdom power and glorie Thy works are worthy of thee but they as they are no Gods so there is nothing they can do neither god nor man besides thy self no creature whatsoever can do any thing worthy a mans trust for all that is done is either of thee or from thee and those things wherein thou art pleased to appear and to put forth thy power how transcendent are they 9 Yea though it be a thing almost incredible and seemingly impossible considering that ignorance and enmity that is all the world over yet shalt thou that by thine infinit Almighty power hast made all nations make to thy self a Church of every people in the whole earth aswel Gentiles as Jews and they shall yield thee not constrained but voluntarie obedience and acknowledgement under the Kingdom of Christ whereof my Kingdom no less powerfully brought about by thee shall be some resemblance for then shall the heathen nations do thee homage and dread thy power I shall convince them but Christ shall convert them whose people and servants they shall then be as we now are 10 For there is nothing impossible to God who is able to do whatsoever he will his power is infinit and omnipotent as his wondrous works declare and the strange transcendent things he hath done for his Church in all ages and will do still even make the whole world his Church and himself to be worshipped and acknowledged of the very heathen they that now are Idolaters and serve many Gods yea every thing for God but God shall serve him and none besides him as we do 11 O Lord in the hour of temptation and time of trouble which is now upon me thou knowest how apt we are to step aside partly by ignorance partly by frailty my suit therefore is that thou wouldest instruct me how to demean my self so that I sin not against thee and to that end mind me of my dutie in every emergencie Let me hear a voice behind me saying this is the way and my purpose is not to deviat from it but my power must be from thee to make good this purpose therefore Lord give me such grace and courage and such seasonable supplement thereof that I may be resolved to believe firmly in thee and to walk exactly with thee at all essayes not staggering either in faith or a good conscience 12 As I have found thee mindful of me in trouble so shalt thou find me no less mindful of thee and my dutie to thee out of it I will not forget nor fail to give thee praises and that unfeigned ones uttered from my heart in the faith of thy power and grace O Lord my good God yea it shall be my constant practise to praise thee and to magnifie thee in and for them whilest I have any being 13 For greatly have they been manifested in thy mercie towards me and in so wonderfully preserving me from death and destruction that so unavoidably assailed me and had certainly devoured me hadst not thou mightily preserved me 14 And indeed I had need of no less power than thine to preserve me considering my humane help how weak it is and mine enemies insolencie and rage how great they are for multitudes of such as care neither for God nor man that disdain to walk by any rules but their own dictates without regard either to mine innocencie or thy severitie and justice resolve to persecute me to death 15 But thou O Lord art as gracious and merciful as they are cruel as pitiful as they are pitiless pardoning the sins and sensible of the sufferings of thy servant bearing with my frailties and passing by my infirmities in these my trials and failest me not as I have need of thee but hast abundantly approved thy goodness to be as large as thy truth and promise and thy self to be every jot as good as thy word 16 And so let me still find thee thy favour and grace O Lord vouchsafe me and in a time of need have mercie upon me to deliver me as I am thy servant so Lord inable me to persevere give inward strength of faith and courage to uphold me in and under these outward calamities and power to wade through them so as that I perish not in them have a gracious regard to me who thou knowest am a child not onely of thy visible but of thine invisible Church an heir of the promise born and bred under thy roof of thine own family neerly related to thee and therefore pray and hope for protection from thee 17 As I stand in need of more than ordinarie supportation so also of extraordinarie consolation and mine enemies of extraordinarie conviction by reason of their arrogance and malignitie Therefore Lord vouchsafe some notable act of providence in the behalf of my preservation and of power in their confusion that they which so extreamly hate me may know thou lovest me and hatest them for hating me and be ashamed at their hating and persecuting one whom they see thou lovest and preservest and for whose sake thou discomfits them to be a help and comfort unto me The lxxxvii PSALM For as much as 〈◊〉 the captivity upon their return the Iewâ— wâ—re or might bâ— dâ—jâ—cted with the paâ—citie of their people and povertie of their condition the holy Ghost by the Psalmist animates them and diverts the thoughts and apprehensions of the godly by setting forth the glorious priviledges of Sion prophâ—sted of old but not yet fulfilled saving in their shâ—dows which shortly would be accomplished in substance when all nations should be ambitious to be Sionists for the Church it selfe should bear that name which shall abound both in a numerous issue and heavenly qualifications A Psalm made to be both sung and played by the Korathites 1 THe holy Lord God from out all the world hath chosen Canaan a hilly countrey Jerusalem a mountainous place and in Jerusalem mount Sion and Moriah to scituate his Temple and to rest his Ark and establish his worship in There had his Church the pillar and ground of truth the first setling and truth it self the first firm footing upon which foundation laid among these hils was to be built and reared that great famous structure of the Gentil-Church Christ himself the principal corner-stone digged out of those mountains
judgement portending thy everlasting displeasure and disregard as well of their souls as bodies 6 Thou Lord hast brought me into such an estate as I can scare tell how to express it or find fit tearms to parallel the condition and dimensions of my miserie I am as it were shut up under ground excluded the societie of mankind in an Abiss void of the suns comfortable light a very dungeon of darkness in the bottom of the bottomless sea with all the waters a top of me so extream uncomfortable is this my condition so full of horrour and perturbation of spirit and so overwhelmed with grief and withall so remediless 7 For thou hast afflicted me with such a weight of wrath and so loaden me with judgements that I am even pressed to death all comforts are gone and life it self is going after thou as it were hast let in the sea upon my soul thy terrours and affrightments come so thick one in the neck of another that they bear down all before them no hope nor comfort can stand in their way My grief is very great 8 Thou hast made me so uncomfortable a companion that my old friends and acquaintance seperate from me they have abandoned all societie and converse with me for indeed I am like no man nor fit companie for any being miserably inclaved in this forlorn comfortless condition whence I cannot extricate my self nor none for me but am as without comfort so without hope and help 9 I have almost wept my self blind by reason of the long duration and heavie oppression of this mine affliction Lord thou knowest with what uncessant prayers and hands lifted up to heaven I have importuned thy favour and mitigation of this my terrour 10 Lord how long shall it be before thy mercie and truth relieve me if it be whilest I live it must not be much longer deferred if thou hast a purpose to do me good thou must either do it suddenly before the breath go out of my bodie which truly is expiring or else miraculously when I am quite departed but that is not likely it is not thy manner to shew mercie to men dead but living as yet I am I expect not to be raised out of my grave to live again after I am dead to praise thee on earth no therefore I hope to do it ere I die for all this 11 Thy love and faithfulness will certainly be better manifested and fulfill'd in preservation and deliverance than in death and destruction and thy people can better magnifie thee for them living than dead 12 Is it under-ground that thou wilt manifest thy power where none shall see it and fulfil thy promise in the gravem when we are in an incapacitie for it where nothing is taken notice of but thy power grace and faithfulness will die and be buried with us 13 But Lord as I have not deferred my prayers to the grave so I hope nor wilt thou thine answers and whilest I live that the evening of death do not close up mine eyes and shut my mouth I will not cease to importune thee and hope to prevent so sad a farewel by obtaining mercie before I die 14 Lord what is the cause of this grievous desertion and seeming rejection of my soul why am I thus benighted thy face over-clouded no beam of divine favour shining into me nor no spark of renewing grace glowing in me 15 Lord thou knowest I am sure I for my part remember well that ever since I could remember I have scarce had a good day my trials and troubles have been so grievous they have brought me I know not how often to deaths door so tedious and comfortless a life have I led being almost alwayes exercised either under the present sence or future expectation and fear of their return to my no small torment and distraction 16 Lord it is no small matter that I complain of thou knowest I have cause for my burden is greater than I can bear or any man alive that had the feeling of it as I have Thy fierce wrath who can stand under it and yet I am made to bear it and to undergo the surges and waves thereof which are raised like storms and tempests in my soul readie to overwhelm it my terrours and perplexities of mind are such that they have cut me off of all comfort in my self and almost of all hope in thee 17 They brake in upon me like a fierce torrent dayly they do so I have seldom any ease or quiet they fill every crannie of my soul and so begirt me round that I can come at no comfort by no means I can use with complicate evils on all sides am I besiedged so that comfort can enter in at no door 18 Mine intimates avoid me and mine old acquaintance will not now know me I am as a man dead and buried out of their sight having no companion but grief and sorrow not any to make my moan to besides thy self or that can or will comfort me The lxxxix PSALM Expositours differ upon the occasion of this Psalm some make it to be in reference to the salling of the ten tribes from Rehoboam others to Absalons rebellion others to the Babylonish captivitie to which I encline conceiving it prophetically to be composed by Ethan for them to use in that estate It contains matter of praise to God for his covenant for his power to make it good which he both hath done and will do But expostulates how that captivitie and the matter of that covenant can be reconciled and puts God in mind of dangerous inconvenience that must needs insue upon breach of covenant and abolition of Davids Kingdom as also of the enemies reprochful blasphemies And concludes with faithful praises notwithstanding all seeming discouragements An instruction for the people of God how to demean themselves in publick calamities and concussions of Church or Common-wealth by sad complaining humble expostulating and earnest prayer to God penned by Ethan one of the sons of Zerah of the posteritie of Judah famous for his wisdom 1 Kings 4.31 1 WHat ever befal I will be confident of the mercies God hath promised that they shall be fulfilled I will set them forth and sing their praises whilest I live and leave them upon record to thy Church for ever to do the like Thy faithfulness to thy people according to thy promises I will publish and assert it to this age and all that are to come 2 For upon a deliberate well-grounded faith I believe and therefore do and dare affirm and have ever done so in the midst of the greatest concussions that ever befel us that mercie shall be built up from one age of the Church to another like so many stories untill it come in the end like a building perfected to its full accomplishment the Churches perfection in her glorified condition to all eternitie
to know we are mortall Lord therefore pitie our stupidity teacheth us even what we know already for common truths that are of greatest use though they be most known yet they are oft-times least understood for we live as if we should never die though we know nothing is more sure nor more uncertain than death such fools are we and void of true wisdom till thou inspire us with it make us then so to know the momentanies of our loves as thereby to be instigated to make it our first and chiefest care to seek and secure to our selves a blessed eternity after them especially we that are under thy heavy displeasure and consumed by it day by day let the loss of this earthly incite us to look after a heavenly Canaan 13 O Lord call to mind that ancient love wherewith thou lovedst our fore-fathers and those many acts of grace which we their children have participated from thee formerly to perswade with thee to reassume that temper towards us and to be again gracious to us We Lord think it long till we be received into favour again do thou think so too we humbly pray thee and put an end to this thy displeasure that hath so long lain heavy upon us Yea let what thou hast already done seem too much at least Lord do no more so but cease to destroy us and take us into grace again whom thou hast honoured above all the world with the title of thy people and servants 14 O satisfie our longing desires after mercy and do it betime whilest some of us are yet left alive before the sun be set upon us all Lord spare that remnant that are not yet consumed and let us see some token for good that may again revive us and perswade us of thy reconciled favour towards us which would make us quite forget all our sorrow passed for the joy we should conceive thereat and be happy men for time to come 15 Lord let thy mercies hold some proportion with thy judgements especially towards us thy people against whom though thou hast denounced some threats yet hast thou made us many more promises therefore call to mind the number nature and long continuance of our afflictions both in Egypt and since we came thence especially this long peregrination of ours ever since thou swarest we should not enter into thy rest now at last to have some commiseration and another while to let us tast of mercy as we have done of misery and to have a surviving joy to succeed our long-lived sorrow 16 Lord thou hast ingaged thy self in a great undertaking even to give this thy people the land of Canaan in full possession and dominion some progress its true thou hast made towards it by our deliverance out of Egypt and conduct through the wilderness to the skirts thereof but the complement of it we would fain see which we had seen ere this but for our own default which we pray thee at last obliterate and make good thy promise of possession in our sight and time and of that glorious state and condition which shall be to thy Church and Kingdom in succeeding ages let after-generations see it in its full splendour 17 And let the blessing and favour of the Almighty and our good God be with his people for ever to make them beautifull and glorious in the eyes of all nations who in the absence thereof are the abject despondent people living And make succesfull all their great undertakings in enterprising Canaan driving out and destroying those many Kings and great people the enlarging their borders and dominion into remote countries and building of the Temple whatsoever Lord thou hast promised to do for them give them hearts faithfully to believe it and in the faith thereof couragiously to undertake it and indefatigably to persist in it and succesfully to prosper in all things unto an establishment in a full fruition absolute dominion and glorious condition of Church and Kingdome The xci PSALM The Psalmist prophetically declares Gods great care for the welfare of the faithfull commends it by his own testimony and example and therefore exhorts them to walk with a holy carelesness in midst of dangers upon assurance of his deâ—ence Brings in God himself promising to the faithfull deliverance temporall and salvation eternall 1 HE that by faith is firmly fixed upon God making him his never-failing refuge and wholly confiding in his sure though invisible protection at all essayes shall be as secure and safely preserved as the Almighty power of God can tell how to protect him which he need neither fear nor doubt of 2 I believe and therefore I will and dare with boldness affirm as much of the Lord by mine own experience of him as I recommend unto others to make triall of how that he is the onely refuge and fortress even this my God that I have ever in all straits and concussions fled unto and never found him falsifie his word or fail my trust therefore I both have and will trust in him and relie upon him and him onely fall back fall edge 3 Let me and mine example perswade with thee to do so too surely thou shalt not repent thee but find the happy fruits of it in his gracious and powerfull preservation of thee neither men nor divels by power or policy shall be able to do thee any hurt they may endanger thee but thine extremity shall be his oportunity no nothing though in its own nature never so destructive and inavoidable the plague it self that uncomfortable all-devouring disease shall not annoy thee 4 He shall take care of thee and by his Almighty power secure thee from danger as a Hen doth her Chickins wherein the more thou trusts the more thou may such experience shalt thou have of him and of his faithfulness cast but thy care on him and trust firmly in him and thou shalt find him true of his word and true to thy trust and thy self better safeguarded by thy faith in his faithfulness than by any humane helps or warlike accommodations whatsoever 5 Thou shalt therein apprehend such safety and thy mind find such recumbency as that nothing shall disquiet thy peace no time place person nor thing shall be cause of fear to thee for day and night shalt thou have sweet repose in his protection both against naturall evils and supernaturall extraordinary judgements which as they come immediately from him so are they ordered by him how mortall and sudden soever they seem to be 6 Thou shalt be antidoted and fearless of the plague of pestilence that infecteth secretly and spreadeth here and there uncertainly and insensibly and where it rageth leaves sad spectacles of natures frailty sinners mortality and Gods heavy displeasure to be seen and lamented by all in all places in streets and houses frequently and openly dying night and day 7 And though by Gods just judgement and secret
it and will for as he raiseth sea-tempests and therefore can lay them so he by his providence and appointment sends land-storms therefore can order quit them in like sort 5 And as thou art powerfull so art thou faithfull we need no more doubt of the one than of the other what thou hast promised as thou hast power so likewise hast thou will to perform it Thy grace of protection is as certain and infallible as thy power is omnipotent The obediential faith of thy holy performance of all that thou hast promised becomes thy Church the house of the living God which O Lord ought to be fixed and established by it and in it for ever what ever befall her The xciv PSALM In some very heavie pressure that lay upon the people of God in generall by by the heathens or else upon the faithfull under the wicked Kings and Iudges of Israel this Psalm seems to be made wherein God is earnestly called upon to take off the yoke which lay so heavily upon them by the tyrannie and persecution of bloudie and 〈◊〉 hemous wretches whom be counsells to do better and from their abuse of Gods own clemencie to their own perdition shews the blessed estate of Gods own people because of Gods fatherly chastisements He acknowledgeth God for his sole support which is his comfort when he is at a loss and is confident God will not always suffer tyrants to sit in his seat and rule over his Church but that he will find a time to judge them and deliver her out of their hands 1 2 O Almightie and righteous Lord God who hast power and to whom of right it belongs to revenge the injuries oppressions of thy Church appear in her behalf so that both she and her oppressours may see thou doest so Let her proud insulting enemies feellingly find that thou that art judge of all the earth favourest her cause and doest her right upon them 3 4 Lord it is not without cause that we crie to thee for as our pressures have been very great so they have been very long The wicked have had a long reign and lorded it with a witness over the good and by reason of thy delay they glory in their doings as if either thou couldst not or wouldst not punish them And what they think they stick not to speak even blasphemies against thee and cruelties against us and the more wickedness they commit the more they give themselves content boasting one to another and vying one with another who can do most mischief thy impunitie being their immunitie 5 6 They make pot-sheards of thy people O Lord loading them with such merciless oppressions and afflictions even thine own chosen and peculiar heritage and that because they are so as they break their very hearts and leave them not the name or face of a people scarce upon earth destroying all before them mercilesly breaking all laws humane and divine respecting neither age nor sex pitying none in any kind or condition though never such objects of compassion 7 And so hardened are they in their wicked courses and so presumptious by thy forbearance that they are confident thou regardest not what they do to thy people nor never will call them to account for it making a very aw-word of the God of Jacob. 8 Be men of more understanding than to harbour such vain thoughts of so great a God ye that though ye be heads and chief among the vulgar yet are as void of understanding and true judgement as the common people themselves be not still so foolish to persist in wickedness provoking the Lord but consider that the end must needs be bad and that you will repent when it is too late 9 For weigh with your selves whether it be reasonable to think that you can either act such things or speak such words and God not see nor hear them that gives ears and eyes to all men living shall the authour of those senses be senseless 10 He that is Judge of all the earth and punisheth the very heathens for their exorbitancies and unjust oppressions among themselves shall not he much more be righteous to revenge the wrongs done to his own people and have you such mean thoughts of God as to judge him any thing less than omniscient think you to escape or deceive him that gives you your selves the knowledge you have and all men else 11 The Lord very well knows what vain and wicked thoughts men naturally have of him how they abuse his clemencie as if he neither saw heard regarded nor will judge them for their wickedness because he delays to do it 12 Therefore what ever the world think of the godly under afflictions yet blessed is the man that is so much favoured of God as to be chastised for his faults and admonished of his dutie to Gods commandments whilst he suffers others to run riot without check or control 13 That he may make him meet for the inheritance of the saints prepare him for heaven which shall be the end of his course which is accompanied with sorrows as hell shall be of the wicked when they are prepared for it by a consummation of the number and measure of their sins by their libertie of sinning 14 For whatever we through shortness of spirit and impatience under afflictions may think of God as if he had disregarded his people yet it s nothing so God may cast them into afflictions but not because he rejects them but because he loves them he will find a time to make it appear so that for all that nay that therefore he is their God and they his dearly beloved because he doth afflict them when as he saves them by it suffering others to go to hell for want of it 15 But how ever things seem to be topsi-turvie the wicked a top of the wheel and the good under it yet there is a time when the world shall be set right again each man shall be paid his wages God shall take the government into his hands whereas now the reins seem to be let loose and in righteousness judge the good and the bad which is the time that all upright-hearted sincere Godly-ones long for and in hope of it shall notwithstanding all obstructions follow it in the way of pietie 16 Who is there beside thee O Lord willing or able to deliver me from under this tyrannicall oppression of wicked workers surely none in all the world If thou doest not save me I perish 17 Yea hadst not thou when time was been a present help so near was I to destruction I had certainly died and been silent in the grave instead of being now speaking to thee and praising of thee 18 When I concluded with my self there was no way but death then of a sudden beyond expectation in so eminent a danger did thy mercie appear to
joyfull praises of his coming from heaven to earth to redeem his Church Yea all that is within you praise his holy name for so great salvation wrought not onely by the power as all the rest were but also by the person of God himself whom you ought therefore with studied thankfulness and elaborate expressions of joy and honour entertain and usher into the world worthy his greatness and best expressing your high esteem of such unvaluable grace 7 8 9 These three last verses being the same in sence and almost in letter with the 11 12 13 being also the three last verses of the 96 Psalm see the Paraphrase upon them for the explanation of these Saving that those words in the eighth verse of this Psalm let the hills be joyfull together signifie that as all people are admitted into the same priviledge with the Jews by Christ so all places have the same fellowship in propriety and title to God and his worship as hath the hill of Sion once his peculiar Iohn 4.21 The xcix PSALM The Psalmist probably upon some deliverance magnifies the Lord in relation to his people the Iews and their happy condition above all people exciting them to praise God answerably to his mercies and righteousness even that God which hath ever been their God and done great things for them by his servants of old 1 THe Amighty God whose throne is in the heavens is pleased in behalf of his Church and chosen people to make it appear that he also hath dominion upon earth by their powerfull preservation and their enemies destruction therefore let the heathen people our neighbour nations that so malign us take it into serious consideration and tremble to think of provoking him by injuring his Church Let them rather and all the rest of the Gentiles with a reverentiall fear submit themselves to his regiment and be gathered into the number of his people worshipping him not after their own imaginations but in the manner and place that he hath appointed the Temple where onely he hath fixed his presence upon the mercy-seat between the Cherubims which condescention of the great God of heaven full of incomprehensible majesty and holiness to reside on earth ought to make even the whole creation sensible of it by way of Allegiance and subjection to him and honour of the place where and the people amongst whom he is pleased to erect his throne 2 Wonderfull great hath the power of God appeared in the preservation of his people and the defence of his holy Temple in the behalf whereof he hath mightily approved his wisdom and power infinitely to exceed all humane policy and strength of the great Sages and confederate forces of the world which sundry times he hath dissipated and strangely defeated 3 O therefore let thy people who have been so extraordinarily blessed by thee return answerable thanks unto thee and praise thee for those righteous and terrible judgements executed upon their enemies wherein thou hast manifested such Almighty power and gracious providence and hast thereby approved thy self a holy God faithfull of thy word and promise 4 And as well righteous as holy not exercising a Tyrannicall absolute Arbitrary power over the creature yea though thou canst yet thou wilt not but affectest to subject thy proceedings to the rules of righteousnese ordering thy power by thy justice and putting it forth by way of judgement which thou both justly and severely executest upon sinners and enemies to thee and thy people unto whom both by thy works and word president and precept thou holdest forth and recommendedst equity and righteousness for them to walk thereafter yea thou art not partiall to thine owne people the seed of Jacob no more than to the heathen but if they sin they smart for it in righteousness thou punishest them as well as others 5 Magnifie and praise O ye his people this your God the onely Lord come frequent his Temple the onely place on earth where he that sits in heaven is pleased to be present there bow down with adoration and reverence before him as at the foot-stool of the great and glorious Majesty of heaven worshipping him in spirit with holiness of heart abasing your selves and exalting the Lord who onely is holy and his worship holy all other Gods throughout the world being vain Idols and their worship sin and superstition 6 That God that hath made himself known to you as by eminent Miracles so by eminent Messengers such as the memory of them is famous and honourable amongst you how much more ought God to be so Moses and Aaron those chosen worthies that in the beginning were prime Rulers and Peers of his Church and Samuel an honourable Prophet in the after-ages of it what gracious answers did he vouchsafe to their prayers These holy men powerfull intercessours Types of the Messiah the great Mediatour of his Church how ever and anon were they heard when they prayed for the people and what salvation was vouchsafed still at their request 7 These Saints and servants of God had familiar communication with him as Moses and Aaron all the way in the wilderness they had God present with them ordering and advising their course in that great charge that lay upon them whose command and covenant they faithfully delivered over to the people and observed themselves 8 These holy men were beloved and honoured by the holy Lord God who for us his peoples sake put them into office made them intercessours yea effectuall prevailing-ones such as Christ shall be many a time passing by the sins of Israel for their sakes whom thou didst not nor wouldest not have punished but forgiven and forgotten too had not iterated provocations and back-slidings from thee and thy commandments to Idolatry and wil-worship forced thee to take vengeance and minded thee of the abuse of former long-suffering which then thou also reckonedst with them for when once thine anger did break forth 9 See the fifth verse of this Psalm onely the word holy-hill here instead of foot-stool there means the same thing viz. The Temple built upon his holy hill mount Sion The c. PSALM The Psalmist excites the Church and people of God among the Gentiles as well as Iews to praise the Lord and imbrace his salvation so freely bestowed upon them who are so dear to him whom therefore he would have turn proselites apace and lose no time but glorifie him both now and hereafter for his grace to his Church in all ages A Psalm penned to stir up the people to praise the Lord. O give thanks sing forth the praises of the Lord and of his great gracious salvation in Christ all ye people of the earth not Jews onely but Gentiles also every where where the glad tidings of it come to entertain it joyfully and praise him for it thankfully 2 Cast off all old superstitious and vain worship of
they were in Egypt insomuch that the Egyptians grew to be afraid of their numerousness least they should be able in time to over-master them in their own land which fear turned into enmity against them 25 Insomuch that as well as at first they were received amongst the Egyptians and for all the good offices Joseph had done to that nation yet the Lord so ordered it according to his predictions that Egypt soon after grew ungratefull and unmindfull of all that was past and so hated Israel as they laid plots to suppress them and keep them so at an under that they should not multiply after that sort and to imbase and enervate their spirits that so by base drudgeries imposed upon them they should never have the courage to attempt their liberty and departure thence but should serve the Egyptians everlastingly for slaves and labourers 26 Which they were a long time till the appointed period came and that they cried to the Lord by reason of their insupportable pressures And then did the Lord miraculously preserve Moses and sent him as his great Embassabour to Pharaoh he and Aaron these two onely he chose to carry on and perfect that great work of Israels deliverance out of Egypt the one of them his extraordinary Prophet and servant and the other afterwards his High-Priest 27 Which deliverance was marvellously compassed by strange and miraculous wonders wrought by these men through the power of the Almighty to let those Egyptians the posterity of Cham that cursed progenitour see what a God of power the God of Israel was 28 The Lord therefore at Moses his stretching forth his hand towards heaven when Pharaoh would not let Israel go sent strange and extraordinary darkness both for its nature and continuance upon the whole land of Egypt Yea what ever the Lord commanded those two faithfull servants of his to do or say in the whole transaction of this great business betwixt Pharaoh and him for the deliverance of his people they failed not either in their messages or commands but though with never so much perill to themselves did whatsoever they were appointed of God continually and all creatures obeyed as readily 29 By their Ministery when Pharaoh would not yet let Israel go God also turned the waters into bloud throughout all the land of Egypt every where both in their rivers pooles and houshold-cisternes so that neither they could drink it nor the fish live in it but were killed 30 Also by Aarons stretching out his hand over the waters of Egypt upon Pharaohs further hardening God brought infinite of frogs upon the land like grass that grows upon the ground which dispersed themselves into all places so that Pharaoh and his Princes even their very bed-chambers were full of those crawling creatures no place free 31 Furthermore Aaron stretched out his rod upon the dust of Egypt and the dust became lice all the land over which crept upon man and beast also God commanded and there was likewise grievous swarms of severall sorts of uncouth flies in all the land thus with base vermin did the Lord plague the proud Egyptians for lording it over his people 32 There where useth to be no hail nor rain the Lord at Pharaohs refusall to let his people go sent by the hand of Moses stretched forth to heaven a grievous storm of hail mixt with fire and accompanied with terrible thunder-claps which fell as thick as rain from the clouds the hail and fire killing and consuming all without doores that was in the field 33 Yea so forcible was the storm and so extraordinary the hail that it spoiled their vines fig-trees and brake all other sorts of trees also throughout the coasts and quarters of Egypt 34 35 After this the Lord commanded an East-wind to blow which brought strange kinds of locusts and cater-pillars in such an infinite number that they darkened the land which every where throughout all Egypt devoured every thing that was green hearb or tree which the hail had not consumed 36 When nothing else would do he smote all the first-born in Egypt both of men and beast King and people so that in one night the flour of all Egypt perished because of Pharaohs hardened heart that would not let Israel go 37 38 Whereupon according as God had foretold Pharaoh let Israel go and glad he and his people were to be rid of them for whose sake God had so destroied his countrey and by the conduct of Moses the Lord led them thence when first he had given them favour in the sight of the Egyptians to depart to them their Jewels of silver and gold and raiment all which they carried away with them to the spoil of the Egyptians and their own exceeding enriching and though they were so many hundred thousands yet of all that number in none of all the twelve Tribes was there any one that for all the plagues that had befallen the Egyptians amongst whom they lived was a hair the worse nor that either by their cruell usage hard burdens old age or sickness was creepled or enfeebled unfit for travel but every man woman and child was lusty and strong to undertake their journey 39 Nor did God leave them when he had thus delivered them but provided for them in and along their journey through the wilderness ordained supernaturally a cool refreshing cloud in the day-time to wait upon them and travell along with them which like a Canopie covered them from the scorchings of the Sun in that hot desart as also in the night-time for light to travell by he gave them a pillar of fire in both which he himself conducted them 40 41 And as he provided for them light and shade for their well-being and better travelling so did he above the course of nature which could not then and there supply them give them livelihood and things necessary for their strength and being as meat and drink and both by extraordinary and miraculous means Manna that memorable bread and dew-fall of heaven they had it in abundance enough to serve that huge Host during all the time of their travell in the wilderness besides which when they asked though not in that manner they ought he gave them further provision and by a wind which he caused to blow brought Quails that fell round about the Camp enow to serve that numerous people also when they were thirstie he caused the rock of Horeb upon Moses his smiting it to open and the waters to flow forth of it which ran in that desart wilderness along as they travelled as it had been a river that there had its naturall course for the sustenance of them and their cattell 42 For though our fathers in that their journey did often sin grievously against God and tempted him to have destroied them rather than thus miraculously to provide for them yet was he still mindfull of
his sacred and gracious engagement which he had promised and sworn concerning the people he had made choice of how he would be their God and possess them of the land of Canaan and therefore would he not for his own holiness sake break his word as also for his faithfull servant Abrahams sake to whom he made that promise and whose seed by promise they were 43 Thus from first to last was the Lord propitious to and protectour of his Church and people whom he brought out of Egypt with an Almighty hand after so long and cruell an embondagement delivering them and at the red-sea destroying all those their cruell taskmasters and mortall enemies the Egyptians in their sight and there setting them for ever free from them to the infinite joy of those his people and chosen ones when they thus saw themselves so dear to God and regarded by him and so freed from their adversaries and hardship 44 And so at last as well as at first was he faithfull to his promise and powerfull for his people bringing them to the land of Canaan which he wholly bestowed upon them and estated them in it where they possessed Houses and Cities that they built not and Vineyards that they planted not he destroying and driving out before them the heathenish inhabitants and nations that possessed it made them Lords of it which we hold and possess at this day and have done ever since by that tenure of the gift of God 45 All which benefits the Lord bestowed upon them to the end he might win their love gain their hearts and engage them in dutifull and obedient walking towards him according to those laws and commandments which he had given them especially to be observed in this very land for as they were his speciall people so he chose this for the place of his speciall worship before all the world and to that end gave it them Be you therefore for your parts now and hereafter O ye Israelites mindfull of these his mercies to praise him for them and of your duties to walk worthy of them The cvi PSALM In some great and generall affliction and dispersion of the Iewish nation probably that under Antiochus The Psalmist exhorts for all that the Israelites to believe in and praise the Lord for his goodness of old to that nation and which remains in him still to it if they walk holily He confesseth God just in punishing as well them as their forefathers for their sins and prayes that he will hold on in the vicissitude of his mercies and deliverances as well as of his punishments Confesseth that they have alwayes been shamefull sinners and great provokers of him from Egypt all along throughout the wilderness as also in Canaan it self nevertheless he let them perish though often made them smart as they well deserved his covenant and mercy were ever prevailing motives and so prayes they may be still to effect their present deliverance and restauration and promises thanks and praise for it exhorting all Gods people in what ever condition alwayes to give the Lord his due praise by remembring his past and believing his future and infallible grace and goodness to his Church 1 LEt not our sins and misdeservings though they have been great and our sufferings for them manifold any white detract from what is due to God of praise and thanks for those great and gracious mercies which he hath expressed to and bestowed on us his people in the dayes of old and that goodness that still remains with him in our behalves as bad as we are by virtue of his covenant which makes that neither his mercies shall determine nor we be destroyed but that we shall ever reap the benefit of his gracious ingagement till all be fulfilled that is promised concerning us and his Chruch to the end of the world 2 Who is able to tell what wonderfull things the Lord hath done and what Almighty power he hath shewed in his Churches behalf since he was first pleased to select and own a people for himself out of the rest of the world no tongue can reckon his praise-worthy mercies and miracles since then 3 And as God hath been so he will never fail to be they that be faithfull to him he will be so to them so that who ever they are that in conscience to God walk closely to the rules of Justice and Pietie prescribed by him to do thereafter and what man soever makes it his constant course to do righteously without being drawn or tempted into wayes of impiety and iniquity that man or nation of men shall be blessed of God 4 Lord order my wayes so as that I may share in that blessing bless me with the sight and sense of thy gracious favour towards me such as thou bearest unto those that are thy chosen people and faithfull obedient servants Let me O Lord have the comfortable inward feeling and assurance of thy saving grace and good will towards me freely bestowed let it often affect my heart as so many sweet visits and gracious Messages sent from God into it 5 That I may enjoy the happiness appropriated to thy chosen and rejoyce with those saving joyes thy faithfull and adopted ones are and shall be made partakers of whereof the often deliverances and manifold joyfull preservations of this nation of thine sometimes from fear of imminent destruction and sometimes from under reall imbondagements hath been lively figures that I may boast of thee and mine interest in thee such as all thy people have and we though unworthy have found it so 6 For notwithstanding all our priviledges and speciall favours which thou hast shewed us from time to to time both we and our forefathers have ill requited thee being rebellious ungratefull and very perverse 7 Our fathers made not application and benefit of those admirable Miracles thou for their sakes wrought in Egypt to the ends thou didst them for the strengthening of their faith in thee and the assuring of thy love to them they had but carnall considerations of them valued them as transient things without any result or improvement either of thee to them or of themselves to thee thereby supinely forgot them even all those many miraculous wonders thou shewedst upon the Egyptians in mercy to them whereby thou so powerfully compassed their deliverance for so soon as ever thou broughtest them out of Egypt the very next triall thou madest of them at the red sea that remarkable place where thou didst so wonderfully preserve them they instead of addressing themselves in humble and thankfull sort to seek deliverance from thee of whose power they had had such foregoing immediate experiments fell into misbelief hard and unworthy thoughts of thee and thy servant Moses even for their very deliverance out of Egypt as if thou hadst done all for them to no other end but to bring them thither to be destroyed 8 Notwithstanding
being yet alive went down into the grave by Gods extraordinary judgement like as men do that being dead are by course of nature buried 18 Besides which there came out a fire from the Lord that wonderfully and dreadfully consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense chief Partizans with Korah and his complices in this wicked combination 19 Also that shamefull apostacy of theirs that after they had been witnesses of so much power in so many miracles and upon mount Sinai had seen such evident tokens of an unexpressible God yet that then immediately upon that in Horeb they should go about as they did to represent him in the similitude of a calfe and think to serve him that made them by doing honour to it that they themselves had newly made 20 And so they exchanged that glorious priviledge they had above all the world in worshipping the onely true and living God the Honour of Israel into the sordidness of base bruitish Idolatry heathen-like worshipping for the Creatour of heaven and earth a creature and that none of Gods neither but their own even the senceless similitude of a living ox the highest perfection and chiefest good of which imaginary deity is but to maintain alive a sensitive soul one degree above vegetives the grass it feeds on which both man and beast tread under their feet 21 And this must be their God that brought them out of Egypt forgetting him that did so indeed that so mightily saved them and delivered them from thence which was the Lord Almighty as his works right well made manifest which he wrought there for them 22 In that land of their enemies the posterity of Cham the accursed whom the Lord so extraordinarily plagued for their sakes as also after at the red sea when he compleated their deliverance by the Egyptians fearfull end and sudden destruction of their whole host 23 This stupid sordidness and ungratefull mindlesness made the Lord exceeding wroth insomuch as he would have bribed Moses by promise of raising himself a people out of his loines to have let him destroyed them that had so mishapen him and shamefully denudated themselves but Moses chosen to represent Christ in the conduct and Mediatorship of his people by an effectuall intercession prevailed to stay his hand when he was ready to strike and to beg their pardon at least their reprieve so that God was intreated by him and did at that time spare them for his sake 24 And as if all the way had been too little from Egypt to Canaan to provoke God they to approve themselves no changelings when they arrived at the skirts of the promised land and were to take possession fell a mutining against God as a deluder of them vilifying Canaan that Type of heaven and heaven on earth where God had chosen to fix his gracious presence and to be worshipped there of all the places in the world and of them before all other people and had promised him in that place so many blessings both spirituall and temporall and which it self was a good land and so reported by the faithfull spies though misrelated of the rest which spread like a Gangreen among that corrupt multitude crediting their false Alarm of the penury of the land and their impossibility to master it for all that God had said to the contrary of the one and promised concerning the other 25 And murmured against God and Moses Caleb and Josua weeping and mourning for their misfortune in leaving Egypt and being beguiled with fair promises of just nothing for no better esteem had they of Canaan neither believing it worth the fighting for nor possible to be gained and therefore sate discontented in their Tents and would never attempt it for all that either Gods promises and miracles which as signs and previous pledges spake unto them or that Moses and those faithful spies his servants said to the contrarie in way of incouragement could do 26 27 Whereupon the Lord was so enraged that he was even as it were fetching his full blow at them to have destroyed them root and branch from ever being a people more in the wilderness where they had so extreamly misbelieved tempted and provoked him so many several times against the clear light of so many wonderful and gracious miracles and utterly to disinherit them Canaan offering to make Moses a greater and mightier nation and to scatter them like vagabonds and for bondmen amongst those heathenish borderers and to let them kill and conquer them at their pleasure but for Moses who prevailed now also with God to spare their lives and mitigate his displeasure 28 After all this in stead of repenting and confessing their sins they continue and increase their provocations divorcing themselves from God and his worship and took them another husband even the abomination of the heathen turned worshippers of Baal-peor the Idol of the Moabites first committing carnal fornication with the daughters of Moab and then at their perswasion spiritual whoredom with their Idol imitating their manners throughout for in stead of eating the sacrifices offered to the living God as they were wont they gave themselves to sacrifice and to feast with the sacrifices o that senseless liveless Idol as the Moabites did and in all points turned perfect Idolaters like them 29 Thus from time to time and especially at this time by this grand apostacie worshipping other Gods of their own chusing and rejecting him that had chosen them did they extreamly provoke him to anger insomuch as he sent a sore destroying plague among them that soon dispatched twenty four thousand of that rebellious Idolatrous crew it cost so many of them their lives before it ceased 30 But the Lord would not destroy them all therefore so soon as Phinehas grand-child to Aaron had in zeal to God in the face of the congregation executed justice upon Zimri a man of Israel and Cozbi a Midianitish woman by running them both through with a javelin in the act of uncleanness the Lord upon that stayed the plague that it went no further 31 Which act of zeal and justice was by God graciously accepted as a price of singular service and well rewarded with the covenant of the everlasting Priesthood to him and his seed perpetuated in Jesus Christ himself the son of God the atonement-maker and appeaser of his fathers wrath 32 33 Also at Meribah those waters of strife where the children of Israel our predecessours chode with Moses and consequently strove with the Lord whereat he was angrie yet made not the least semblance of it to Moses as at other times in like provocations but without once mentioning their sin or his displeasure bid Moses not smite the rock for the Lord who hath mercie on whom and when he will have mercie was then at that time purposed to shew no signs of bitterness by word or deed but with an absolute
preterition to sanctifie himself amongst them and magnifie his patience and free grace even after so many apostacies and therefore though he bid Moses take the rod yet but speak to the rock sending that meek man upon as meek an errand but he contrarie to his nature and office of Mediatour and to God his present frame and disposition being himself in passion rendred God so and in diffidence of his grace miscarried in his message and misrepresented him angerly smiting the rock and that twice in stead of but onely giving the word of command to it as God bad him and also falling fowl upon the people having no such commission with imbittered tearms distrustful interrogations and misimplications in stead of declaring to the glorie of God his admirable grace and patience that without uttering an angrie word sent him to command the rock to give them and their cattel water So that God was now displeased at Moses whom they had caused to miscarrie so far as to discharge him from conducting the people into the land of promise 34 Nor yet when God had brought them into Canaan were they better minded but still followed their own inventions in stead of his commandments and therefore did not execute Gods just indignation and judgements upon those sinful heathenish nations the inhabitants whose sins were then ripe and of whom the Lord would have had the land wholly purged that it might be pure and compleatly consecrated to him as are his regenerate people his Church that land of uprightness and so they rendred free to serve him there from their temptations to the contrarie 35 36 But by a foolish sinful pietie together with a spirit of contradiction they spared them made compacts yea marriages with them and so lived neighbour-like with those whom God hated to the death and commanded them to do so to figure out that mortal and irreconcileable enmitie that the regenerate part ought to maintain against the remainder of corruption in the people of God And what followed of this their indulgence why their own corrupting with their heathenish manners and worship and consequently Gods alienation and their undoing For they degenerated thereby so far as to forsake the true God of whom they had had experience and worshipped the idols of those heathenish nations with whom they cohabited and mixed themselves as God foretold them so it fell out that if they did not root out the people they would be caught in those Idolatrous traps and so incur the vengeance and wrath of God and so they did 37 Yea they proceeded so far as to worship strange unheard of idols indeed devils for they that worship not God worship him and after as strange a manner most barbarously quite contrarie to the Law either of God or nature offering their own very children in sacrifice to those idol-devils and made their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech the abomination of the Ammonites 38 And so made that land which God allotted for to be a type of heaven and sanctified to himself out of all the earth an Aceldama defiling it with most unnatural parricide shedding the bloud of poor innocent infants even their own very children whom in stead of bringing them up in the knowledge of God and dedicating them to him they as if he had had no title to them offered them in sacrifice to the idols of that countrey whereas they should have destroyed both them and their gods that it might have been a pure place for the holy God to have resided in but they polluted it more than ever with the murderous bloudshed of their children his chosen 39 Thus in stead of being a people holy to the Lord they became abominable in his sight as bad as the heathen themselves and worse by forsaking the Commandments and service of God yea that conjugal union that was betwixt God and them by mutual choice and covenant in stead thereof doing what ever their own corrupt minds suggested walking by no rule but the dictates of their own deceived hearts which led them to commit all manner of folly with all sorts of idols 40 The jealous God could not see himself thus dishonored by a disloyal people and not be angrie wherefore he gave way to his wrath to wax hot against them and though he had chosen them with a purpose to set his delight upon them yet now his mind was changed and he lothed them as much as ever he had loved them 41 And in stead of subduing their enemies under them he subjugated them to their enemies even the heathen those whose countrey they possessed who therefore hated them those did he make to have dominion and Lordship over them 42 Those mortal enemies of theirs tirannized over them they being tributaries and in vile vassalage to the nations that they themselves had in part and should in whole have subdued but that their sins turned the scales 43 Nor did he quite cast them off but had still an affection towards them and ever and anon took pitie on them and delivered them by such men and means as he appointed out of their thraldom and vassalage but nothing would serve to reclaim them when they were out of miserie they again fell to their apostacie with deliberate and voluntarie election deserting God and his worship whom therefore still he corrected as they back-slided and made them stoop to their enemies that would not stoop to him 44 Nevertheless his compassion was such towards them that whensoever in their affliction they cried to him and owned him for their God whom out of it they would not he would still hear them and grant them deliverance out of their miserie 45 For the Lord was still mindful of his Covenant to do them good because of it though they of themselves were so exceeding ill deserving and having chosen them for his people he could not quite reject them but though their provocations were endless and he made them smart for them yet their afflictions no sooner appeared to have wrought some change in them for the better but straightway he changed towards them pardoning their sin and removing their punishment because his mercies were like himself infinite 46 Nay the Lord was so tender towards them as to over-rule the hard hearts of their imperious enemies to shew them favour that of themselves hated them to the death death insomuch as they were highly advanced under some and strangly discharged and set at libertie by others that led them captive 47 O Lord as we remember thy mercies of old so be thou pleased to do so too act for us now as then save us out of this trouble and gather us again out of this dispersion from among the heathen into a communitie settle us in our proper inheritance and thine there to return thee thanks as ouâ— fore-fathers were wont to do in all such cases and magnifie thy power
Apostleship shall be transferred upon Matthias and the Jewish priviledges translated to the Gentiles for crucifying Christ. 9 As the sin of my persecutour and Christs crucifiers is communicative and tendeth to the destruction not of me onely but of Christ his Church and Spouse also so let their punishment be derivative let their wives and children become widows and fatherless by their untimely ends pitied and relieved of none for that they oppress and are merciless to the innocent and afflicted 10 Let my persecutours prosperity be hatefull as shall the Jews amongst all nations let them that have made me an exile out of my own Countrey among the heathen Idolaters be themselves and their children after them no better but be like the wandering Jews that when they have crucifyed the Lord of glorie shall not be restored into Canaan as aforetime out of their captivities but be continual vagabonds a dispersed people in all countries glad to beg an abiding place any where being hatefull every where and driven so from place to place that very necessitie shall inforce them to take up and seek relief in the most abject desolate places of the world such as will scarce yield them to keep life and soul and glad they may 11 12 Let them become a prey to all manner of men let the griping usurious extortioner so entangle their estates in bonds and bils and use upon use that they may never be able to come out of debt till the creditor seize on all they have and turn them out of doors a begging let them find no manner of mercy but be esteemed as enemies of mankind every where where they are let them be made a prey counted for intruders and exposed to the spoil and rapine of the inhabitants and natives of all countries where they come as a people not fit to be entertained any where into scocietie and protection both they and their children though never so fatherless and destitute let them be relict and deserted of all according to the curse of guiltless bloud which they brought upon them and theirs so let it be with them and upon them 13 Let my persecutours by the sword of thy justice weilded in the hands of their enemies be quite cut off let them be destroyed root and branch so that after a while no succession or name of them may remain though in yet not over Israel but the rule thereof be utterly and for ever trans-ferred from them to another as shall befall the rebellious Jews Christs persecutours by the Romans no name nor place of any such nation once so famous shall remain but be quite blotted out a Lo-ammi or vagabond people they shall be at best and Christian written in the room of it in the next age of thy Church which shall be among the Gentiles to whom thou wilt trans-fer thy grace and favour for ever 14 Let the persisting in the same sin of abrenunciation and blaspheming Christ by their scattered progeny bring to remembrance the guilt of all their stiff-necked predecessours transgressions and rebellions ever since they were a Church espoused to thee their Lord and husband the punishment whereof was then sparingly inflicted by thee but now upon divorce and putting away let justice and judgement run down like a torrent upon them without any mixture and stop of mercie 15 As the bloud of Christ shall alwaies appear before God so let the sins of them do that murtherously shed it that as they would have destroyed the Messiah whom yet God raised again so his vengeance may root out them either to have no being or to be hatefull and odious where ever they are 16 Let such things befall mine enemies whose mercilesness to me doth in a figure pourtray out the usage of Christ himself for as they shew me no more mercie in miserie but are the more cruel and pitiless by how much I am the more miserable and the more they see me implunged into distress and insupportable grief of bodie and mind by so much the more eagerly lust they after my life to take it away thus shall it be with him and so as aforesaid let it be with them 17 Let the cursed calumnies and balsphemies of mine and his enemies wherein they are so conversant bring like evil upon their own heads as they intend to others let their curses light upon themselves that refuse salvation and blessing and put it far from them when God graciously visites them with it renouncing me for their King and Christ when he comes for their Saviour 18 Let such as take the curse and bring the guilt of mine and Christs guiltless bloud upon themselves have enough for it as they are ambitious to be known to be his crucifiers and my persecutours and voluntarily involve themselves into so great a sin and the deadly consequences that attend it by acting the one and labouring the other so let it be unto them let hardness of heart blindness of mind and seared consciences be the cursed product of such wicked bloud-suckers 19 Let the guilt and curse they so sinfully bring upn themselves never depart from them but stick by them and accompanie them in all places and throughout all ages 20 Let these foresaid maledictions be the judgement and reward of mine and my Lord Christs adversaries who can right himself and me though all men joyn together to wrong us and devise to take away both good name and life it self as mine enemies and his do endeavour and shall in great measure effect but wo be to them by whom such offences do come 21 But Lord as much as others are against me and mine Anti-type the Lord Christ so thou that art his God and father and in him mine be thou as much for me and him for thy covenant and righteousness sake wherein and whereby thy grace and faithfulness is engaged to approve thy self a mercifull good God protector of the innocent and deliverer of the oppressed be thou so to me let my preservation and deliverance from mine enemies by thine Almighty power adumbrate Christs powerfull resurrection out of the grave whence thou shalt raise him and the Churches final deliverance out of all her terrestial miseries by thy mercie both whom I personate 22 Let both thy mercie and my misery move thee who am low brought by reason of outward afflictions inward fears and terrours which affect me deeply and distress me sore as Christ himself shall be with complicate evils within and without in soul and body-sufferings 23 My life seemeth to me by reason of mine imminent dangers that threaten death every moment to be but as a shadow when the sun is setting ready to extinguish and whilest I do live I have no setlement but am harrowed hither and thither from place to place by the incessant persecutions and various contrivances of mine enemies to take away my life even as the grashopper
their minds in the practical contemplation of him in them that they may affect their hearts toward him with suitable frame of thankfulness and praise for the greatness and goodness they are sensible of thereby 3 All that he hath done declares him to be for honour and power incomprehensible nor shall one word fail of all that he hath spoken concerning what he will do his Prophesies and promises yea and his threatenings too are as sure to be fulfilled as those which are already 4 The Lord hath done such memorable and admirable things for his Church in all ages as are never to be forgotten but with praise and thanksgiving to be had in everlasting remembrance his grace in choosing and compassion in relieving and pardoning his people is worthy our best observation and memory 5 He hath provided for his Church all along the Series of their successions and in all their peregrinations so that when in humble and faithfull addresses they that feared him at any time sought unto him they had supply of needfull mercies both for themselves and others that though they were of the visible Church yet did not so well deserve at his hands their sinnes and murmurings being enough to have made God unchurch them but that he was mindfull of his covenant made with our forefathers Patriarchs and Prophets Types of Christ not to do it of which as then he was so still he is and ever will be mindfull to be as good as his word in sparing and pardoning his people and blessing and preserving them when in fear of him and in the faith of his covenant they in humble-wise seek his favour towards them 6 He made manifest enough his exceeding great power in those miraculous victories he gave his people Israel over the Cananites when they entered the promised land which had been long possessed and inhabited by those heathenish Idolaters whom the Lord rooted out to establish them in it 7 The things he hath wrought have not onely been Acts of power but also of Truth and Justice his promises as well as his power have been written in legible Caracters in those his wonderfull dispensations to and for his Church as also his righteous judgements long before threatened to such wicked wretches and as his works have approved the faithfulness and infallibility of his promises and comminations so that other part of his word the Law of Commandments a safe rule to walk by is likewise as firm God looks they shall be obeyed by his people as certainly and undispensably as he gives them leave to expect his promises and threats to be fullfilled by him for them 8 Both the one and the other his word and works commands and providences as to his Churches preserving and governing are built upon a firm foundation the good pleasure and free grace of God according to his word and covenant and as inseperable companions go together God is good and doth good to those that are good and keep his commandments and ever will be so his truth and faithfulness binds him to be so and to do so to such as in truth and uprightness serve him 9 The Lord from time to time when his people were in jeopardy or the thraldom for their sinns if they cried unto him and humbled themselves before him he delivered them he hath established his covenant of free-grace as firm as any Law and hath bound himself by the one as firmly as us by the other so that his people shall ever find him to be the same unchangeable God for their good alwayes provided they walk worthy of him and becomingly towards him in reverence of his Majesty and obedience to his holiness 10 A man that hath never so much worldly wisdom and lives in sinne is for all that all that while but a fool till in the faithfull application of Gods saving goodness he be an altered man and fearing to offend him is carefull in all things to please him then and never till then he begins to be wise with that which is true wisdom for onely they have a right understanding both of the chiefest good and their chiefest end what 's best for themselves and why they were made that fulfill the will of God their Creatour living thereafter for therein is great reward As his mercy and faithfulness is and ever shall be firm to his faithfull and obedient people and Church in her preservation and her enemies confusion so ought to be his praises as long and large as his benefits which shall have no end The cxii PSALM The Psalmist stirrs up the people of the Lord in works to praise him the benefit whereof will be theirs their persons and posterities will be blessed by it in wo as well as in weal will God graciously visit such He sheweth a charitable minded man is much set by of God and by faith and a good conscience in the worst of times enjoys himself happily spite of those that malign him his liberall giving to the poor shall enrich him when as the covetous wretch for all his carking and caring shall suffer want and envy his abundance 1 LEt the Lord have his due praises for his great deservings and admirable excellencies that appear to be in him by what we see done by him and that not onely vocall but reall for he principally praiseth him and is certainly blessed of him that with a filiall fear dares not offend him and with a faith working by love is carefull in all things to please and obey him whose happiness is holiness and sinne his greatest affliction 2 Nor will God determine his blessings upon himself but extend them further even to his posterity walking in his wayes witness our forefather Abraham how did the Lord multiply his seed according as he promised and like blessings hath he in store for faithfull Abrahams faithfull off-spring who walking as he did with an upright heart before God in perfect obedience shall be as he was blessed in their own persons and posterities 3 God will both increase his family and provide well for it whereof our times and the times of our forefathers and Scripture-records have given good testimony He and his shall reap the benefit of his and their righteousness by a Series of blessings successively transferred by virtue of the covenant made to him and them for many generations 4 And though God doth not alwayes bless him that is of an upright heart and righteous conversation with externall affluence for his dispensations though agreeable to wisdom and justice are various yet this such an one may be sure of that he shall find God most trusty in his greatest trialls and no such cloud of tribulation shall ever over-shadow him but the sunne of righteousness shall shine through it upon his soul with healing consolations in his wings for God whatsoever he may seem to be by his outward dispensations is in his native disposition
their neck serves meerly to hold their heads on their shoulders but is of no Organicall use at all for speech c. 8 And they that make them are as void of true understanding as they of sence that can so against the light of reason think such things fit to be worshipped which they make and which made not them and that when they are made are but inanimate statues short of all living creatures even the meanest and what must they then be that put confidence of good or evil in such but irrational senceless people and as little able to do good or hurt as they saving thou the onely living God orders and appoints them 9 O ye sonns of Israel your fathers with whom and his seed God made an everlasting covenant whatever befall you let not an evil heart of unbelief to depart from the living God to dumb and deaf Idols possess you as he hath peculiarly chosen and adopted you for his people from out all the world so do you him for your God from all other Gods trust in him relie upon him for your sole helper and defendour against these Idols and Idol worshippers which can do you just so much hurt as he for your sinns permits them and no more 10 O ye Preists and Levites that are the successours and assistants of faithfull Aaron in that high office of Preist-hood and more immediate worshippers of the high God within his holy Temple do you exemplarily declare your faith of and in the Lord alone that hath so highly honoured you above your brethren that he is of power al-sufficient and faithfull of his word and promise to protect and restore his people and you to their places and your imployments 11 But chiefly you that are nearer and dearer to God than any externall adoption or office can make men you that are Israelites indeed spirituall Priests and Levites the adopted and called of the Lord that have the spirit of reverence and godly fear in you do you as I hope you will not fail to do trust assuredly in God for he is your help and shield against worse enemies than these that can but destroy the body and that do but serve to typifie the power that our ghostly enemies have over us by sinne as these for sinne and Gods greater power to deliver us from them as from these which he will certainly do 12 No doubt is to be made of it but that as God hath done so he will do exercise mercy in deliverance as well as justice in afflicting us if we seek to him and that he see us mindfull of him he will be so of us as ever heretofore in like case to ours now he was wont to be Israel and the Priest-hood is still dear to him for old love to our forefathers and the covenant he made with them and for Aaron his servants sake that Preistly type of our powerfull Mediatour and therefore will he certainly bless us with joyfull deliverance and restauration 13 Yea for his covenant sake he will bless Israel and Aaron according to the letter but thank them for it that amongst you are so in the spirit with whom properly and principally that covenant is made these of what outward condition soever high or low are dear to God whom he will certainly bless and the rest for their sakes 14 You are the men that have the promise of this life and of a better as you are the blessed seed of blessed Abraham in whom his name is upheld because his faith is inherited by you so shall the Lord raise you up faithfull successours a more numerous off-spring than ever yet his Church produced from generation to generation shall the faithfull your heirs and successours flourish and multiply 15 As you are the promised seed so are you heirs of the blessed promise He that by his Almighty power made the heavens and the earth is your God and for your sakes made he them and with both heavenly and earthly blessings will he bless you 16 The Lord made both and governs both but so that heaven the heaven of heavens which is superlative to all the rest is the more immediate place of his glorious residence and inhabitancy and the earth of mans which he hath bountifully furnished with all needfull things for his sustentation and existence there 17 And why hath the Lord done so lent me life and livelihood here below but that they should imploy their time and improve those blessings to the praises of him in the highest for its true that God made the earth and all things in it for man but he made man for himself for his praise and glory who yet praise him not but serve other Gods all the world but we so that if we should perish that are his onely Church on earth the praises of the Lord would cease upon it which must not be whilest it is to have a being he is to have a people that shall glorifie him 18 Therefore O Israel O house of Aaron and especially ye that fear the Lord trust in the Lord that he will be your help and shield for the Lord will not unchurch himself no nor us neither we are the people though unworthy that his name is and shall be named upon chosen out of all the earth so that how ever we are at the graves mouth yet deliverance will come and we shall be restored else nature must be dissolved which cannot be considering what promises are yet to be fulfilled Therefore be confident in hope and in the faith hereof ingage our selves for future when God shall so bless us that we will answerably bless and praise him yea in full assurance let us begin at present and be doing in that dutie now aswel as hereafter that the Lord may see the useful existence of a Church for ever on earth for that they alwayes and they onely praise him What ever your condition be then though it were worse than it is which at present is bad enough be sure to praise the Lord for which you live and have your Beings and in you all the world which else should cease The cxvi PSALM David being possessed of the Kingdom according to promise looks behind him to see the difficulties God carried him through to mind himself to his mercies and his own ingagements for them And in the first place offers the Lord his affections promiseth him his faith for future because of what is past and therefore excites his soul to comfortable confidence and peaceable acquiescence together with a gratuitous walking with God recalling his offs and on s he is in an extasie how to return to God that brought him out of them and resolves to celebrate his praises in the most publick and solemn manner according to the prescript of the Law Assuring all Gods people from his example that in their greatest danger God hath the greatest care Magnifies the Lord that
hath made him his servant and freeman for which he will publickly praise him 1 I Cannot express how much the Lord is endeared to me for the grace he hath vouchsafed me my heart is glued to him in affection such love hath he shewed to me and such care over me in all mine extremities whensoever I minded him of me and craved his help that I am bound to love him as long as I live and from my very heart I do so 2 The Lord hath got my custom I have had such faithful and good dealing from him as if my condition were never so bad I would seek no where else for allwayes when necessitie wrung me I cried and when ever I cried the Lord heard and helped and this course I am resolved still to take whensoever I have occasion and doubt not of the same success 3 I cannot but recount my by-gone difficulties how that many a time I gave my self unavoidably for a dead man so near have I been to mine end in mine own apprehension that I made full account of my grave the very pangs of death have seized on my soul and it was seldom other with me 4 Yet though my danger and fear was never so great so that in all humane probability and visibilitie of means I was as good as gone yet my faith would still have a saying to God pray I must and did and I no sooner gave the word but God took the Alarm if I but named my Soul it was enough and oft-times my surprises were so sudden and danger so emergent that I had scarce time to do that which though they made my prayer short yet sharp they helped to put an edge upon mine affections and when I prayed for my soul it was with my soul which in an ejaculation was quickly in heaven and had as quick dispatch there 5 For there had I the attributes of God presently to speak for me his grace justice and mercie and had an answer accordingly Let others be incouraged by mine example to trust in the Lord and seek to him for they shall find as I did that God is freely good and free of his goodness faithful of his promise yea though objections lie in the way thy sins and his judgements flash in thy face yet be not daunted if thou beest one of us belongest to God for he is merciful to pardon and pitie thee and in an instant will break through all to do the good 6 Those that suffer being innocent although they be shiftless and have not worldly wisdom to do withall like other men yet if with honest hearts they bequeath themselves to God and unfainedly trust in him he will find wayes to befool their enemies and make good their confidence I am sure none can be in greater danger nor have less hope of help but from him than I a poor innocent man and more than once or twice and he alone served my turn I never miscarried but was ever delivered though many times strangely yea miraculously from time to time till he brought me to this I am come to 7 Be thou therefore at peace within thy self and recumbent upon God O my soul that hath by his means gone through so many difficulties and through him thy benefactour art arrived at so great happiness out of all the storm that have blown over thee 8 For the Lord hath as it were raised me out of the grave so near death was I many a time when thou delivered me and hath now made me a livesman again in the full accomplishment of thy promise whereby I am comforted beyond all my fore-past sorrows which are as it were forgotten and set me free from all those deadly traps and gins that were laid for me by my mortal enemies 9 Now that God by his power and mercie hath raised me to this estate and brought me through those many perplexities to possess his promise I doubt not of his further favour and protection but in confidence thereof I will comfortably and conscionably labour to discharge my place high office as in the presence and to the well-pleasing of the Lord that hath set me over his people compared to whom all the world is in darkness and shadow of death 10 11 O the several frames of heart and tempers of soul that I have passed through in my trials sometimes chearing up my self with the faith of Gods promises that they should certainly be fulfilled and then could I hopefully address my self to God and comfortably bespeak and incourage my soul to wait upon the Lord at another time I have been as much dejected and cast down and upon a surprize when my fear hath been great because my danger was imminent I have not stuck in that perplexitie of mind to think and say within my self all that the Prophets had foretold concerning my succession to the Kingdom was a meer delusion and that I must needs perish before that day could come that they and their predictions would certainly deceive me and come to nought and that they speak not of God but of themselves 12 Now when I look back and consider what a world of dangers nay deaths I have past what dismal apprehensions and perplexities of mind I have waded through what admirable deliverances the Lord hath wrought and how oft and how strangely I have been preserved and now what an absolute complement he hath given to all those promises which I thought never to have seen fulfilled and conclusion to my miseries which many time I thought would have made an end of me before I should thus have seen an end of them I am at a stand and in an extasie how and what to return to this good God I am now in perplexitie by a plenitude of happiness for the Lord hath so loaden me with benefits that I know not what to say nor do to or for him in any proportion to them 13 14 I may fancie many wayes and things to my self to gratifie God with all and when I have done I am never the near for imaginarie retributions and will-worship he will not accept Therefore I will content my self to do what he hath bid me for when I have all done I must live and die his debtor I will therefore make a feast to all Israel which he did at the bringing up of the Ark and then and there offer my peace-offerings and in the sight and hearing of all the Lords people with the cup of blessing and gratulation in mine hand will joyfully and thankfully publish the praises of my God and make open acknowledgement of the manifold benefits and deliverances from first to last that I have been partaker of The mercies I gained by prayers and vows in mine extremitie I will wear them by praise and sacrifice now in my prosperitie all Israel shall be witness 15 I have found it by experience and speak it knowingly for
escaped God hath alwayes preserved me and in stead of mine enemies destroying me he hath destroyed them I am confident I must and shall ever do so God inabling me as he hath done I have been as hard beset as a man that hath a swarm of bees about his ears not knowing 'i th world how to avoid them ready to fall upon me on every hand with deadly devouring hatred which though it was very terrible for the time yet the Lord put an end to it made their malice to me the destruction of themselves like thorns consumed in their own flame and so shall he ever inable me against all mine enemies I am confident and that they shall never have better success 13 Mine utter ruin as an obstruction to this preferment hath been strongly endeavoured by him that had no small power in his hands nor small malice towards me but God hath both preserved me and advanced me maugre all that Saul could do and all his complices 14 The Lord alone was my defence and the ruiner of mine enemies who else had ruined me a thousand times over the glorie and praise belongs to him and he shall have it who hath perfected his promise given me final deliverance from all those troubles and seated me above the reach of those mine enemies 15 What cause of rejoycing hath God given to the families in Israel that fear the Lord how glad are they to see this day and such a change of things I and they so preserved and delivered from the malice of those that hated and sought the ruin of goodness and good-men and now to see them conquered and quite subdued and that by so apparent providence and Almighty power must needs rejoyce them greatly 16 It is he that deserves and I hope shall accordingly have the honour of it who by his sole power and victorious providence hath mightily effected it 17 As near as I have been to destruction many and many a time and as hopeful as mine enemies were of it so that both they and I my self have given me for a gone man yet God hath purposed otherwayes die I must not and therefore die I did not but am alive at this day and in a good condition preserved purposely of God by example and acknowledgement to manifest and magnifie what he hath done for me and what he can and will do for his Church whose person I bare and represented in all my troubles and enfranchisements 18 The Lord gave mine enemies much power over me so that I under-went sore trials and sad chastisements to teach me to know my self and sin but though he gave them liberty to afflict me yet not to destroy me as they hoped to have done but maugre their malice hath preserved my life though often endangered 19 O ye that are the porters and door-keepers of the Lords holy sanctuarie a place of late years disfrequented and sequestred from good and righteous men that properly have onely right and title to it Now by Gods good providence the case is well altered I and other such as I am that with upright hearts desire to serve the Lord have liberty and opportunity to do it therefore set the doors of the courts of the Tabernacle wide open for us that I and they may comfortably come and worship the righteous Lord there specially present and give him the due praises of all his faithful performances of those his gracious promises touching me and his Church in my time 20 I mean I say the gate of the Lords own Tabernacle where he is so peculiarly resident and will therefore there be especially worshipped set that open for me and all my fellow-saints and servants of God who as of right they ought so now I have power they shall have free access unto it having been too long secluded 21 Lord my heart is full and there I am purposed to empty it upon thee in most affectionate thanks and praises for thine often audiences gracious and effectual answers and principally for this complement of all thy promises in saving me from mine enemies and advancing me to the Kingdom so far above their power to hurt me 22 Insomuch as now I who heretofore was by Saul and his Grandees those great Artificers of State hatefully persecuted and disdainfully rejected as unworthy and unfit for this preferment like a refuse stone that is broken and cast out of the way by master-workmen as altogether useless and unserviceable for building and as the Messiah whom I prefigure shall be by Cajaphas with his confederates the chief Priests and Scribes those ring-leaders of the Jews who shall despightfully use him and cruelly crucifie him I say I that was thus refused am advanced from this my despicable condition to fit in the throne and wield the Scepter of Israel upon whom under God the Government and wellfare of Church and Common-wealth principally depends even as it shall be with Christ whom both in weal and woe I typifie he shall rise again from the dead and be gloriously advanced even in his humane nature so much contemned and hardly used to be Saviour Mediatour and King of and over the Church consisting then of Jews and Gentiles united in him and supported by him maugre her enemies as the sides and weight of a building are by a principal binding corner stone against all blasts 23 This strange transversion of a persecuted abject to become a King and a contemned condemned crucified man to be the sole Saviour and Monarch of the world is by the holy and wise ordination and effectual operation of God brought to pass both which are worth our wonder and admiration to see persecution produce dignitie and death life and glorie 24 This day of mine inthronization resembling that of Christs resurrection and glorious exaltation at his fathers right hand is the time and means whereby God hath and will make good all his promises of grace and happiness to his Church who lives therefore that hath the faith and acknowledge of these things and joyes not that he hath lived to so happie an hour as to see them thus fulfilled 25 O Lord it s a day indeed that thy Church hath cause to be glad of and so she is and prayes thee to add to her joyes and that now from henceforth all those blessed promises of happiness to thy King and people may be effectual and they prosperous 26 As Christ himself who is the Messiah and sent of God for the good and salvation of his people is blessed and diffuseth blessings to his people whom they again that are his Priests and the living Temples of the living God do gratifie with the return of blessings in behalf of his Kingdom praying the increase and consummation of it and offering the sacrifice of praise to him that by Gods gracious emission came to offer himself in sacrifice for them So let David the anointed of the Lord
Lord my soul is as the broken and chawned earth in time of drought labouring alwayes in unsatiable desire after the soul-nourishing and refreshing knowledge of the divine excellencies comprehended in thy righteous precepts and covenant-dispensations as it doth incessantly after rain that so I may alwayes live the life of faith and fear love and obedience 21 That 's my desire to understand the fear of the Lord that I may walk humbly with my God for the proud disobedient gain-sayers of his will that have taken cursed and displeasing curses the Lord hath sooner or later met with them as they are hatefull to him so he hath made it appear upon them by heavy judgements 22 Which I am confident shall still be their portion even the portion of my proud disdainfull enemies who think scorn of me and basely asperse me because of my faith in and obedience unto God but Lord I hope that both I and they are accepted at thine hands and that thou takest notice of mine Ismaelitish persecution by mine arrogant foes and wilt find a time to quit me of them who thou knowest hath not been ashamed of thee nor deserted either my faith or fear of thee for fear of men 23 I have been the by-word of high and low those that should have been by their places men of more integrity and good example yet did not they stick to abuse their authority and me by casting scorn upon me in the audience of others but I patiently bear it and my thoughts the while were upon thy word and my duty in such cases that so I might approve my self to thee not caring to be judged by mans day 24 And though I had cause enough of sorrow and trouble yet my comfort is they made me not break covenant nor falsifie my faith but still I kept a good conscience and followed my rule and had the comfort of it in mine own spirit not consulting with flesh and bloud what to do at such times when temptations were sore upon me but with thy word which I knew was the will and wisdom of God the mighty Counsellour and Prince of Princes Daleth The fourth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fourth part 25 I am exceeding low brought by thine afflicting hand my discomfitures make my life a very death oh do thou raise me restore comfort and thereby life unto me according as thou hast graciously promised 26 For I have not hid mine offences but confessed and declared them to thee as I have done every thing else in the whole course of my life I have alwayes acquainted thee how it was with me in my temptations and troubles and I have ever found thee gracious and so doubt not still to do speak peace and holiness therefore now to my soul that I may sinne no more but learn to love and serve thee 27 Lord instruct me and over-power my naturall pravity and corrupt disposition to walk holily and steadily in the fear of thy name and obedience of thy commandments by thy renewing of my joyes and strengthening of my graces so shall I magnifie thy power in my weakness and animate the faith of others 28 The sense of my sinne and thy displeasure for it lies so heavy upon my spirit that I sensibly decay and wast under it speak reconciliation and absolution to me that may revive and restore me according to thy promise of grace and mercy to poor penitents and suppliants such as I am 29 The sinne that hath brought me into this distemper is my want of faith to carry me through and my making now and then in extremity of temptation lies my refuge which repents me that ever I did so the Lord forgive it and remove that spirit of fear and diffidence that caused it that I may no more tread in such by-paths of thine own free goodness grant me the mercy and grace promised in thy word and exhibited in the typicall ordinances of thy law 30 Lord how ever I have slipt through frailty yet thou knowest the bent and bias of my heart is to love truth and not falshood it is the way I have chosen to walk in and have used the means that might aw me to it and direct me in it by serious pondering thy righteous commandments penally inhibiting such sinfull aversations though my grace being weak my endeavours through temptation have sometimes been ineffectuall 31 I have not ordinarily no nor willingly at any time given the reins to my corruption though otherwhiles they have been too strong for me but have carefully and conscionably in the main and course of my life though troublous and temptatious walked exactly and kept me closely to thy will testified in thy word O Lord therefore compassionate me in this my sinne and trouble for it and so order my wayes that I sinne no more to provoke thee against me to the loss of thy favour and the forfeiting my self to mine enemies 32 I have been faithfull though with some failings which if thou wilt but please to pass by and renew thy favour to me and grace in me whereby my heart may again be comforted and consequently enlarged and enabled for thy joy is my strength then do I promise for my self being confident in the power of thy grace to yield universall and chearfull obedience to thy commandments maugre impediments He. The fifth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fifth part 33 I know my whole life throughout is to be expended in thy service but how to persevere with unwearied and unvaried constancy I see not but by thy speciall and spirituall guidance who canst either order mine affaires to be free from temptation or teach and enable me to wade through them without warping from the rule and way of thy commandments pitie therefore my weakness and humane frailty and by thy spirit supply and prompt me continually so shall I do what else I cannot avoid sinne and persevere in holiness all my life in all the various alterations of it 34 How many are befooled with worldly wisdom and carnall reason Lord thou knowest and truly so shall I amongst the rest if thou beest not more mercifull unto me to teach me better yea contrary to such things as those principles dictate even the wholesome rudiments of thy law and covenant dispensation which if thou wilt of thy good grace vouchsafe to do I shall gladlier serve thee than sinne yea if thou wilt effectually lead me I will gladly and cordially follow and obey thee in whatsoever thou commandest for to will is present with me but how else to perform I see not 35 Both the will and the deed is thine and of thee now therefore as thou hast enabled me in the one for through thy grace my heart is byassed to obedience so that my desire is to it and my delight is in it so do thou no less graciously and
powerfully enable me in the other let me through thine assistance be as able as willing to do thy will alwayes in all things 36 I know O Lord naturally I have the same corrupt and inordinate affections in me as others have as ready upon temptation to warp world-ward as another man but I know thou hast my heart in thy hands and though I cannot rule it thou canst so that I pray thee have an eye to it and keep an hand over it to dispose and bend it the way of thy will and from the worlds allurements of pleasure or profit let grace supersead me from corruption specially of covetousness the root of all evil 37 Let not my outward sences be caught and sinfully transported with the baits of the flesh or of the world but give me a sanctified understanding to believe truly and not seemingly of sublunary things and to know them to be as in their own natures they are vain and transitory that can convey no permanent nor substantiall good or content to a man but delude him with the shews thereof by a false medium carnall concupiscence and that serves to steal the heart from God but Lord avert both eyes and heart from them give me such active graces and lively affections that may have continuall influence into all the parts of body and soul and so dispose them in love to thee and desire of heavenly things that as dead to the world they may comparatively be indisposed to all things else 38 Lord fulfill those promises of grace and goodness wherein thou standest engaged unto thy servant Thou that art Jehovah in thy Being be so in thy word by giving it a being in all those gracious promises it comprehends and exhibits and wherein thou hast caused me to trust in confidence whereof I have wholly cast my self upon thy grace and providence minding alwayes to serve thee more than how to provide and shift for my self as men of the world do 39 Let not thy servant sinne against thee thereby to provoke thee against him to the loss of thy favour the forfeiting of thy protection and the exposing me to mine enemies scorn and insultation which I exceedingly fear as well for thy sake who art so deeply concerned in me as for mine own If at any time I do fall Lord let not that be my punishment be thou and not they my Judge for that thy judgements are like thy self righteous and good but theirs are like themselves merciless and wicked 40 Thou knowest my heart is perfect towards thee take notice of it O Lord how my desires and affections are upright and sincere to the knowing and doing of thy will according to thy word give me a spirit of power and enablement as well as of will and desire according to thy righteous as well as gracious engagements for thou art as just to fulfill promises as to inflict punishments Vau. The sixth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the sixth part 41 And as I desire that thou wilt enable me with a spirit of holiness to walk uprightly in the way so also that in mercy thou wilt remember me concerning the promised end that it may effect that for me even my preservation in and my deliverance out of my sad condition and many dangers as thou hast engaged thy self to do 42 By this means I that now onely live by promises unpossessed of the thing promised and therefore cannot at present effectually convince men of carnall understandings and void of faith shall then be able demonstratively to stop their mouthes that now flout me for mine improbable hopes and forreign expectations and because I bear my self upon thy word which they think will never be fulfilled but I am otherwise perswaded therefore O Lord let not my trust be deceived and they in their presumptuous impiety confirmed 43 And let me never so sinne against thee as thereby to have mine own mouth stopped and despoil my self of what thou hast promised me whereof in faith of thy truth and goodness I have openly declared my confidence according to thy word which Lord let me never have cause to retract nor to speak less in praise of thy faithfulness but more by thy turning promises into performances according to the hope I have had in thy just fullfilling what thou hast promised me and threatened mine enemies 44 So shalt thou oblige me when I am delivered out of these heavy pressures which lie upon me as so many clogs and hinderances which I shall never forget without making bawks in mine obedience which through temptation I have been forced to do and fear I shall still do without thy powerfull prevention in love and thankfulness to serve and please thee the utmost hour of my life if set at liberty 45 Yea when thou hast enfranchized me out of these incumbrances of fear and care and made me a man of liberty and authority in Israel I will as thy free-man and servant carry and demean my self in all manner well-pleasing walking in the way of thy service and keeping all thy commandments which never shall be a burden or bondage to me for to be at liberty and to have ability and opportunity to learn and do thy will according to thy word is that I beg above any thing and which I should esteem as my greatest felicity 46 When thou hast advanced me I also will advance thee and execute the office of a Prophet as well as of a King and think it no shame to do so by declaring to others as occasion is offered what thy will and word is even to Kings and mighty men of the earth with whom I shall then be of equall levell and so have opportunity in that condition to converse more with them than now I have and I promise to improve it when I have it 47 And then will I as a man set at liberty from restraint run the wayes of thy commandments by dayly and frequent doing them my delight shall be to be conversant in thine ordinances which I have longed for and heartily loved and desired to be an actour in but hitherto have been an exile from them which hath set a vehement edge upon mine appetite which then I will satiate 48 For then both heart and hand shall act for thee my whole man with my whole might shall be set on work to know and do thy whole will in thy law revealed which I have dearly loved and longed to do and will perform them in spirit as well as in letter for when my mind is free from these distractions it shall move in a higher sphear and be active in and about the Gospel-sence of thy laws and ordinances Zain The seventh letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the seventh part 49 Be mindfull of thy word of promise and voluntary ingagements made to me thy chosen though unworthy servant touching grace preservation and deliverance upon
not found thy grace or truth to fail me but as I have endeavoured to approve my self a good servant so O Lord have I found thee a good master true of thy promise and as good as thy word 66 Lord give me a right understanding of things that differ let me not mistake falshood for truth nor evil for good but teach me to know the thing that good is and dispose mine heart and affections practically thereunto for so far as I have been taught by thy spirit I have gladly imbraced and conscionably obeyed and not refused either belief or subjection to any thy commandments 67 My very afflictions through thy grace and faithfulness are become wholsom physick and good documents to me for I was apt to wander out of thy way until I smarted for my folly but now I have learned another lesson and have ever since run another course kept close to thy will revealed in thy word without hearkening to the dictates of corrupt reason tending to self-pleasing or self-saving which before were too prevailing 68 Goodness of all kinds O Lord is natural to thee so it is not to us in any kind for there is none good but God and flows plentifully from thee as all creatures but man especially can witness of whose bountie they have their beings and those beings their subsistencies all the world over but Lord it is thy saving goodness that I pray to partake of my soul is more to me than my bodie and grace than nature therefore do I beg special and supernatural grace and wisdom to know and do thy will which I prefer before common and natural benefits the pleasing of thee before either profit or pleasure to my self of thy goodness grant me this which is part of the divine nature and onely makes man like to God in being and doing good which I would both be and do 69 My proud disdainful enemies that fear not God nor care not what wickedness they commit in word or deed to discredit me have falsly aspersed me for a traiterous conspiratour and that it is my ambition not thy determination that puts me upon expectancie of the Kingdom but I am resolved this slaunder shall not stagger me but in confidence of thy truth and mine own integritie I will persist to serve thee in sinceritie of heart who I know wilt vindicate mine innocencie and make appear their forgerie 70 Their worldly pomp and plentie hath made their hearts so gross and carnal as that their consciences are benummed and sensless and their minds puft up with pride and arrogance they sin without restraint and scoffe at pietie as pusillanimitie but thy Law is my delight though not theirs I am troubled when I break it and glad at heart when I do and can keep it through thy gracious enablement 71 Yea such is my love to holiness that I never think it a dear purchase whatsoever it cost me and therefore value mine afflictions which in mercie thou sentest to beget in me a teachable and tractable heart to thy commandments above their prosperitie that hardeneth their hearts in ignorance and carnallitie 72 Thy word and Law written in my heart effectually taught and wrought there by thy spirit however it is counter to my corruptions yet because as it is thine so pliable hast thou made my will to thy will even therefore do I praise it and apprehend my self more enriched with my knowledge of it and love to it than if I had the wealth the world so dotes on in never so great abundance Iod. The tenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the tenth part 73 Thou Lord that madest me was pleased to difference me from other creatures by endowing me with natural capacities above them so that though I have lost my created perfections of righteousness and holiness yet not my created and passive capacities of thy renewing them again in me my soul hath the same faculties and my bodie the same parts and Organs thou gavest me at the first in and upon which thou art able to re-imprint thine image vouchsafe me I pray thee thy renewing grace more and more powerfully enlighten my dark understanding encline my whole man O Lord to the loving and obeying of thy whole will I am still thy creature renew thy likeness 74 If Lord thou wilt strengthen thy graces in me and enable me to hold out stedfast in faith and holy obedience to the end and then reward thine own graces in me with a happie issue and close of things how will it rejoyce the hearts of thy servants that fear thee and hope in thee when they shall see me have overcome all my miseries and be possessed of my hopes and thy promises because of thy gracious enabling me to hold out in affiance of thy word it will affect them greatly 75 I know O Lord that thou art righteous in what thou sayest and doest thy word and thy works are consentaneous thy faithfulness is fulfilled in my very afflictions though seemingly otherwayes thy judgements and mercies and shall conduce to bring about thy promises made to me 76 Let I pray thee thy mercie of favour and grace long since promised me be in the faith of it a continual comfort to me yea Lord comfort me thy servant chosen and called with the accomplishment of it according to thy word 77 Make me inwardly sensible of those tender affections which thou bearest me that they may help to revive me in this comfortless condition whilest it lasts and express them also in outward manifestations let me see thy pitie and compassion in a comfortable deliverance and conclusion that I may live free from these troubles which makes my life a very death for how ever by frailtie I have and cannot but offend thee yet thou knowest thou hast mine heart and good will in all things to serve and obey thee that is my desire and in that I delight 78 Let not me therefore miscarrie by the hands of proud men and evil doers that are lawless and scorn subjection Lord let them miscarrie in their designs and evil purposes for thou knowest how contrarie to their consciences they have persecuted me as nocent when as they know me to be an innocent person but their dealing shall not make me forget my dutie I will keep mine eye still fixed upon that and walk stedfastly in the way of thy precepts in confidence of my reward and their punishment 79 Give me such remarkable deliverance and so change the scene that those of thy people that truly fear thee and have been savingly enlightened by thee whom my afflictions have staggered or that have been misled by delusions and false reports may see convincing signs of thy special favour to me and purposes concerning me and thereby be encouraged and invited in the faith of thy promises and my innocent cause to take part and joyn with me against mine
have them in mind at every turn 110 I have been attempted upon and my life laid for by wicked dissemblers that rather than their lives would have had mine and cared not how nor which way yet I have not revenged my self nor taken indirect wayes against them as they do against me but have committed my cause to thee and kept thy commandments 111 I have abandoned all confidence and contentment in every thing saving thy precious promises and covenant-ingagements the testimonies of thy love wherewith alone I am sufficiently enriched and as well by voluntarie election as outward necessitie have chosen thy free grace testified in thy word as my chief and onely portion to be happie by for ever for my heart can take felitie in nothing else comparatively to them they rejoyce me above my sorrows 112 And as I have chosen thy free grace for ever to be happie by so in like sort have I given my self a free-will-offering unto thee again for ever to be thine in love and thankful obedience to thy commandments Samech The fifteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the fifteenth part 113 Temptations have wrought upon my corruptions and suggested this thing and that to me tending to misbelieving and misdoing but though I could not hinder my mind from entertaining the thoughts of them yet I allwayes set my will on work to dismiss and oppose them they had no room in my heart though they intruded into my head for there thy Law kept them out which hath anticipated mine affections and sequestred them to it self from all Heterodox suggestions to the contrarie 114 I abhor all sinful shifts and carnal securities thou onely art my securitie and defence what ever my danger be Thy word of truth and goodness do I flie to and confide in and in no earthly refuge whatsoever 115 This is the full and final purpose of mine heart therefore all that are not thus minded I renounce them as no friends nor counsellours of mine they that do evil and would have me do so avant for I am resolved what ever others think say or do to stick to my principles and to my God to be saved in the way of faith and Godliness or to perish 116 This is my purpose but Lord the power of performance is from thee and truly therefore do I purpose it because thou hast promised it thou hast said I shall and therefore is it that I say I will fail me not then I beseech thee neither of grace nor protection but grant me both that neither by my sin nor thy desertion I perish but may live holily and hopefully to thy glorie and my comfort and never have cause by my miscarriage either in sin or success to be ashamed of my confidence or frustrated of my expectation 117 Do thou Lord support and preserve me and then I am sure not to fall as on the other hand if thou do not uphold me I am sure not to stand whereby I shall be confirmed in well-doing for thy grace can onely establish me and thy gracious performances will strengthen and ingage me more and more in faith and obedience to the end 118 Thou hast made examples good store in several ages of the world of thy dislike of wicked workers worldly wise and carnal confident men by executing vengeance and bringing fierce destruction upon them and made it appear plain enough how vain and deceiveable such wayes and confidences are which thy word doth not warrant and that truth and safety are onely there to be had 119 I well know of what value and esteem wicked men how ever the world thinks of them are of with thee and what ends they make compared to the godly they are to thee as refuse dross to refined silver and so shall be differenced and distinguished by thee in thy wrath they shall be consumed with all their earthly confidences and go out like a snuff whilest those that serve thee and were as dross in the worlds eye are notwithstanding highly esteemed of thee and safely preserved by thee both living and dead they are precious to thee therefore do I stick to what thy word warrants and testifies to be thy will that I obey love and delight in spite of the wicked of the world their hatred and contempt of me and it 120 I see such effects of sin and so well know the doom of sinners that I fear more to offend thee and incurre thy displeasure than any evil that can else befal me from which I chiefly pray to be delivered Ain The sixteenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the sixteenth part 121 Thou Lord knowest mine innocencie and the uprightness of mine heart and conversation to my very enemies in this very cause wherein I am so wrongfully and injuriously prosecuted and persecuted neither thinking nor doing them evil no not evil for evil therefore in thy righteousness take part with the righteous and leave me not to the mercie or rather expose me not to the crueltie of mine oppressours that seek my life 122 Do thou in grace and faithfulness own thy servant and his innocent cause for thine to protect him and it from the violence of his clamorous bloud-thirsty adversaries let them not by their potencie which makes them proud wrongfully ruin me as they desire to do I have waited long and dreely looked even to the weakning of my sight and impairing of my senses for thee to deliver me and fulfil the word of grace thy promise of salvation which thou the righteous God hast made unto me and will undoubtedly fulfil in righteousness 124 Lord thou knowest the hardship I undergo the temptations wherewith my faith and holiness is assaulted and endangered Good Lord have compassion upon me that am and desire to be thy faithful and obedient servant and in tender mercie deal gently with me lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil I know my frailty therefore in self-diffidence I pray thee at every turn stand by me to instruct and inable me what to do that I erre not 125 Thou hast honoured me to be thy servant both by effectual calling and special designment to extraordinarie imployment in thy Church therefore furnish me with such a measure of illumination and sanctification that I may walk worthy my high calling and evermore to the end approve my self that which I am by a proportionable measure of grace enabling and assisting me to know and do thy will constantly 126 It is high time O Lord for thee to shew thy self in some remarkeable manner against my proud enemies and to execute judgement upon them nor so much for my sake as thine own for such is their presumption that they care as little for thee as me slighting thy Law and scorning obedience to it as if it were a thing of nought to no purpose and of no authority 127
in the condition I am in I draw hardly in it through very rough and un-even wayes I am not mercenary earthly felicitie is not it that moves me to nor shall infelicitie remove me from my dutie and allegiance to thy precepts 142 No Lord it is the perfection of thy righteous will in thy word that draws me to it so that nothing can seperate me from it because it is ever was and shall be the onely unchangeable certain standard for holiness and happiness life and salvation and of that absolute truth and infallibility is thy Law and the rudiments thereof that all else are living destructive vanities that differ from it and conform not to it 143 I am under arrest never at libertie but a perpetual prisoner to outward trouble and inward grief and yet faith and a good conscience comfort me for I am sure if I be faithful to thee in obedience thou wilt be so to me in gracious recompence thy word is my warrant 144 The righteousness which thou prescribest in thy Law to be observed and obeyed is the onely absolutely unchangeable infallible rule to be holy and happie by teach me and guide me in the knowledge and practise of it and I doubt not the consequence because of thy faithfulness preservation temporal and salvation eternal how deadly and desperate soever my condition seem will certainly be the issue Koph The ninetenth letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the nineteenth part 145 Thou Lord knowest the faithful and affectionate addresses I have made to thee in this my distress not as men naturally do by instinct of fear and grief but of faith and hope Lord therefore hear me praying in spirit and grant my groans and what thou hast or shalt command me I will gratuitously observe and by thy grace make good my word 146 It was thou alone that I put my confidence and hope in in this my need do not therefore deceive thy servant nor frustrate my expectations but according to thy promise and my dependance preserve and deliver me into a free and comfortable condition wherein I may be able as well as willing to do those things which are held forth in thy word to be thy will and pleasure 147 Night nor day have I ceased to solicit thee my first thoughts are upon thee I no sooner wake but my heart fals to work and before I can see I am bespeaking thee in prayer for delay does not abate but sharpen the edge of my hope in thy promise and faithfulness 148 Yea early and late do I give my self to meditation and faithful consideration of thy word for to strengthen and direct me consulting it at all times about all things to be ruled by it 149 Let me prevail not Lord for my merits but for thy grace sake which I have ever in mine eye both as thy word specifies it and thy works have allwayes manifested it to the faithful Let my soul be evermore upheld in lively hope and expectation by the faith of thy respective righteousness of justice and mercie to me and mine enemies and let me effectually be delivered by it 150 I am sharply assaulted and sorely pursued by mischievous minded men void of all conscience to mine exceeding great hazard such as greedily covet to do evil but are far from the thoughts or care of well-doing diametrically opposite in their wayes to thy word have no fear of God before their eyes 151 Blessed be thy name though they persecute me and seemingly indanger me yet art thou as near to help as they to hurt and thou wouldest not have commanded me thy faithful people so often in thy word to believe in thee wait for thee and not to turn aside from thee to false refuges and unjustifiable courses but that in faithfulness thou wilt protect and preserve them that do so not let them be disappointed by so doing 152 For thine injunctions of that nature they are as true and stable many as firmly be believed in as thou thy self have been in all ages experimentally approved so to thy Church are so to be to thy people for ever grace salvation shall allwayes be their portion Resh The 20 letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the 20 part 153 Lord consider mine affliction according to the nature and pressure of it which thou knowest is grievous and let it move thee in compassion and mercie to deliver me out of it as thou hast promised For for all my distemperature I carefully and conscionably bear in mind both for my supportation and direction what thy word the rule of my life and foundation of my faith exhibites to walk thereafter not fearing God the less for fear of men 154 Thou knowest the goodness of my cause mine innocencie and the solitarie helplesness of my condition how all is against me and none for me doing me all manner of wrong in word and deed so that I have none to flie but thee and accordingly do I make mine humble address to thy justice and mercie to undertake and ingage for me against mine enemies maintain defend and deliver me and it from my wrong doers chear up my heart in thy promises concerning it and set me free from this impendent death and destruction as thou hast promised 155 I know thee too righteous to patronize mine enemies and their cause against me or mine thou wilt not let me perish and them prosper but contrarily I know and am confident such wicked wretches are so far from being saved and preserved by thee as that they shall be destroyed for they are under no promise judgement belongs to them who neither care to know nor do what thou hast commanded 156 Though mine afflictions be great and sorrows manifold yet thy mercies are so too wherewith thou tenderly compassionates thy people under wrongful sufferance O Lord therefore chear up my heart in the hopeful expectation of thy righteous power and goodness and faithfully fulfil it in my actual deliverance 157 I have had asmuch provocation to sin and temptation to diffidence as can well be imagined considering my manifold dangers by open and secret enemies and my wrongful injurious usages by word and deed of my many slanderous bloudy-minded persecutours Yet do I keep faith and a good conscience obey thy word and will for all that 158 Mine enemies and wrong-doers did not onely trouble me as to my self but it sadded me exceedingly for thee to see thee so contemned and thy word which should be a Law to them so despised by them walking quite contrarie 159 Hereby thou mayest perceive the dear affection I bear to thy word and will revealed in it I beseech thee take notice of it in way of gracious remuneration and Lord encourage me to hope and do thou fulfill all that in thy loving kindness and grace thou hast promised to those that do so
160 Thy promises have lost nothing of their virtue and vigour by their long standing but are as thou thy self art in goodness and faithfulness to thy people the same that ever they were and so shall all thy righteous ingagements be to the end no one word shall fall to the ground that thou hast spoken in way of promise to be believed in or of reward to be hoped for but shall certainly be fulfilled to thy people and Church in one age as well as another hereafter as heretofore and now as well as either Schin The 21 letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the 21 part 161 Mine enemies as they have not been few so nor mean for the chief have been chiefly against me men of might and greatness that should yield protection and right to the innocent and oppressed contrarily they have turned their power upon me to oppress wrong me to whom I never gave cause of offence but I am I bles thee for it not so transported with the fear of man as to forget God thy word the dutie and reverence I ow to it hath taken such rooting in my heart that no earthly powers can extirpate it 162 Whensoever I have been hard beset by temptation and thy word through grace hath seasonably minded me of my faith and dutie it hath joyed mine heart beyond expression no victor hath joyed more in the unexpected spoils of a conquered enemy 163 All false wayes and refuges are an abomination to me my mind and affections can entertain no treatie nor agreement with them they are utterly against the hair with me but thy Law is as consentaneous and connatural as they are contrarie and heterogenial I love it at my heart 164 Continually does my heart ejaculate thy praises every foot am I lifting up my soul in way of thankful acknowledgement of thy grace vouchsafed me in seasonable and effectual revealing thy righteous truths unto me for my support and guidance dayly as I have need which draws forth praises proportionably 165 What outward troubles soever happen unto thy people yet in the sincere filial affection they bear to thy word and will to live up and walk according to it herein do they enjoy transcendent peace and happiness surmounting all miserie for so they know they please thee and are accepted of thee and having God and a good conscience on their side what can trouble them And for my part what thy Law requires that have I constantly and diligently endeavoured to perform both by firm believing and exact walking Thou Lord knowest my hope of salvation has been in thee and thee onely in all my troubles and my wayes and works have been ordered by thy precepts not by mine own corrupt suggestions 167 Nor have I served thee either formally or hypocritically with outward shews or for base ends in the wayes and works of obedience but with an honest sincere heart have I done thy commandments in love to thy righteous will testified in thy word which hath my heart above all things 168 Thy whole covenant and dispensation of thy will as well in one thing as another have I in faith and obedience carefully observed without willfull swerving Thou knowest what I say to be true who from heaven hast beheld me every step I have gone in this my troublesome pilgrimage of persecution and as thine eye hath been upon me so hath mine eye been upon thee all the while as upon an all-seeing righteous judge and gracious rewarder to aw and incourage me Tau The 22 letter of the Hebrew Alphabet signifying the 22 part 169 Lord let me find favour in thine eyes and my earnest prayer have audience at thy throne of grace in a thing so reasonable and consonant to thy mind as is this my request to wit that thou wouldest give me a good and perfect understanding of thy will effectually to be taught me by thy spirit at all times and in all things as occasion requires and thy word dictates and which is no more than thy word promises 170 And as I pray to be heard concerning a good understanding to guid me in the way so also that I may have a gracious audience and comfortable answer concerning the end and determination of these my troubles Lord deliver me from them as well as order me in them for so also is thy promise 171 If thou wilt be the guid of my life and powerfully instruct me how to walk well-pleasingly all along this hour of temptation and time of trial in the end thereof when thou shalt have done so I will pour forth praise to thee in solemn wise at thy sanctuarie 172 Then will I magnifie the faithfulness and righteousness of thy word and teach others to trust in it and walk by it for that they shall be sure to find in the end as I have done that all it sayes is yea and Amen certain and infallible materially righteous it is in it self and effectually so to all that keep and observe it 173 Lord take my part who have taken thine strengthen me against and deliver me from mine enemies and out of this my perillous state fight for me for I fight for thee against the world and the flesh and have chosen to imbrace thy precepts before their allurements and preferred thy will in all things before their suggestions to the contrarie 174 I have not sinfully shifted as I have been tempted to do but have persevered in a faithful expectation and hopeful longing still for thy promised salvation and deliverance for O Lord thou knowest mine heart is fixed upon nothing with contentment and confidence but thy covenant-dispensation for my wellfare and happiness 175 Do thou therefore tender me accordingly let it not be in the power of mine enemies to deprive me of my soul by taking away my life but preserve it as thou hast redeemed it from destruction that I may live by thy mercie and not perish by their cruelty that seek my death so shall I lay out and spend the life thou givest me in faithful affectionate praises of thee all my dayes Lord let thy righteousness be imployed for me in my defence and preservation against mine enemies their cruelty and oppression according as thy word holds forth for me to trust in and rely on 176 In this wilderness of troubles that I am in driven up and down from thy presence and people like a sheep wandred from the flock and out of the Shepheards ken I have I humbly confess lost my way and stept aside out of the direct and streight path I should have trod by infirmitie and frailtie O thou that art my Lord and God the shepheard of my soul whose I am and whom I desire to serve bring me back again into the un-erring path of thy precepts and enjoyment of sweet communion with thee thy people by freedom from these my troubles
shall have no more power to hurt thee through his gracious providence and protection over thee than a worm under thy feet 7 Fear neither less nor more great nor small for God shall certainly protect thee as well from one evil as another especially thy soul whether respecting life temporal or eternal shall have a special guard fear that least because as it is most of wroth in it self so also in Gods esteem and valuation 8 God is every where in all places at all times thou needest not put cases of fear and doubt to thy self of this though not that may befal me and then though not now for whatsoever thou doest and whither ever thou goest God is with thee and it and will ever be so to keep thee from evil and bless thee with good and to prosper thee in all thy wayes of well-doing believe it stedfastly and live comfortably in the faith thereof The cxxii PSALM David overjoyed to see the universal concord and conformitie in his people for the bringing the Ark to Ierusalem and worshipping the Lord there as God had appointed the more to sharpen them to it and ingratiate it to them highly commends the prerogative of that place and that people by reason of it and therefore exhorts them not to degenerate but in love and zeal still to labour and pray for the happiness of it promising happiness to those that do so and so does he himself and shews the reasons why See the title of the 120 Psalm the Authors name superadded here 1 HOw infinitly did it rejoyce me to hear and see such an universal unanimity in my people Israel to submit to and approve of the transportation and fixing the Ark and sanctuarie in Jerusalem where God had appointed it with desire and forwardness to worship God there without the least scruple or question 2 Saying amongst themselves with rejoycing now is the time and Jerusalem is the place that God will fulfil his promise by giving his Ark a settled condition which hitherto hath moved and removed from place to place and together with his Ark his Church and people Israel who have been both for worship and Government in an unsetled and various state but now shall there be an happie establishment as both Christ and the Church by Christ shall have at his glorifying 3 And indeed a blessed and desireable place Jerusalem is exceeding lovely for uniformitie of structure order in Government and harmonie of hearts and affections in the inhabitants towards the true worship of the onely true God stately and strong both in men and materials sweetly composed and well compact a Citie specially blessed of God to represent the happie condition of his Church both under Christ on earth united by faith in him their head and with Christ in heaven 4 It is the most beautiful place of the world and enriched with the most singular and Divine priviledges of any on earth being a resemblance of heaven it self and the Church both there and here for as thither the twelve tribes of Israel a chosen generation out of the whole world do congregate and ascend to the mount of God solemnly to worship him before the Ark the testimonie of his covenant and presence with his people so shall his elect the Church of the first born all the world over be gathered to Jesus and ascend into the heavenly Jerusalem evermore to praise him in that general assembly the celestial Quire of innumerable Angels and spirits of just men made perfect Yea by spirit and faith they shall meet in one bodie mystical on earth and with raised affections worship one God in Christ that blessed Emmanuel the mediatour of the new testament upon mount Sion in spiritual Jerusalem the Church that Citie of the living God 5 And as Christs Priestly office is established and clearly held forth in the sanctuarie-worship in Jerusalem so also is his Kingly in those thrones of honour and justice civil and ecclesiastical erected and perpetuated there in the royal line of David his posterity Kings of Judah the figure and progenitours of Christ according to the flesh as is his tribunal in heaven where he hath dominion over his Church and the whole world and from whence he shall come to judge all flesh at the latter day 6 Many are the enemies of this flourishing Citie Jerusalem as shall be to the Church yea all the world is against it and the worship and Government that is in it but yet we need not fear for God is for it able to preserve it in peace and prosperitie maugre all its adversaries if our sins and carnal presumption do not indispose him to it Therefore all ye Israelites specially ye that with a spiritual understanding are inlightned to know the worth and excellencie of the place which is in the world as the sun is in the firmament mystically comprehending all that Divine light and life that the sun of righteousness the Messiah shall illuminate the world withall when he comes to save his Church as Gods High-priest and take possession of his Kingdom as King of Kings and Lord of Lords do you serve the Lord and seek to him for the continuation of his grace and favour to it and his blessing upon it that it may be evermore happie with his love and presence and as a consequent thereof have rest and quiet from its enemies And of this be confident that they that thus for Christ and religion sake under that notion and relation sincerely love pray for and endeavour the happiness of it shall how ever it may suffer by other mens sins and formal hypocrisies within the pale or without by external violence of Gentile enemies be themselves happie and blessedly rewarded of God with grace peace and protection in their own particulars 7 It is and shall be my heartie prayer that the Lord will preserve thee as from outward forrain enemies so also from intestine civil broils and disunions in peace unanimity and concord within thy self as the Church shall be in heaven and ought to be on earth as one so at one under their one and onely head the Lord Christ. And that the throne of David his royal seed successours over his people Israel here in Jerusalem may successively flourish in peace and prosperitie and by the blessing and favour of God be established in judgement and righteousness there administred in honourable equipage as shall the Prince of peace Christ Jesus the righteous his throne and dominion over his Church be for ever in heaven 8 Nor am I a self-seeker in my well-wishes to this place no the Lord can witness for me that I desire the good and happiness of all the faithful yea of all Israel as mine own who to me are as dear as my nearest kindred and acquaintance by that relation natural and civil that God hath given me to them knowing right well that in the peace and
prosperitie of it the Government and worship in it consists the happiness and tranquillitie of all Israel chiefly the Israel of God whose heaven upon earth Jerusalem is where they worship and serve the God of Israel seek his face and enjoy his presence therefore pray I for her prosperitie and well-fare that they may be blessed with her and by her who are interessed and concerned equally in her felicitie with my self I as the head and they as the bodie 9 It is the zeal I have to the Church and glorie of God that makes me pray thus and for which I will spend and be spent therefore will I lay out mine uttermost endeavours to compass the good and well-fare of Jerusalem that that singular happiness and priviledge of the sanctuarie and sanctuarie-worship of the Lord God of Israel who there is present with us his people and from thence hears our prayers and to which appertains so many excellent promises and by it to us redounds so many precious priviledges and benefits and where is performed the onely true honour and service to the onely true God in all the world Therefore for these reasons do I will I evermore pray and faithfully endeavour the good of this place and so let all others do that are good together with me as members of the Church bodie mystical typified in this resemblance The cxxiii PSALM The Church and people of Israel being at present either under Babylons captivitie or Antiochus his crueltie some Prophet or holy man of God bespake the Lord in this pathetical short psalm in her behalf uttering much of the spirit in few words for afflictions commonly swell the heart too big for the mouth which makes him here to pray rather by signs than words with his eies rather than his tongue yea with both he presseth hard upon God for free grace to shew them mercie in their unspeakable miserie professing their patient waiting till then See the title of the 120 Psalm 1 WHat the present distress and calamities of thy poor Church and people Israel are thou Lord knowest right well utterly helpless and hopeless forlorn and disconsolate none on earth favouring us shewing any mercie or compassion to us but exercise all manner of crueltie and scorn towards us yet Lord in thy Churches and mine own behalf I am an humble suitor to thee in the agonie of my heart who I dare not can not believe hast quite forgotten to be gracious though thou seemest so as things frame here below but O thou that inhabitest the heavens and hast thy reserves of good will and pleasure there known to thy self unknown to us but hoped in by us and power to bring them to pass though to us impossible as much above all sublunarie powers as heaven is above earth to thee there with groans and sighs lift we up our eyes speechless with grief for thee graciously to look down upon us here in this our calamitie 2 Look how bond-men and bond-women who by their condition are as we exposed to hard and uncourteous usage depend upon the free grace and beneficence of their masters and mistesses can chalenge nothing no wages nor reward but wait with patience till pitie and compassion move them to extend their hand of favour and good will to them so do we under this just deserved punishment of long and grievous thraldom by cruel task-masters humbly and patiently wait till thine own mercie move thee towards us a sinful undeserving people yet thy people and thou our God by grace and election which hold us in hope 3 Good Lord take our case into consideration and commiseration to pitie us at last and to shew mercie to us a people that are made the very scum and scorn of our proud imperious enemies who for thy sake whose name we bear and whose we are do Lord it over us with disdain which imbitters our sorrows and breaks our hearts 4 Yea Lord it is not to be spoken how afflictive the reprochful vilifications of our insolent enemies are to us who judging by events because of our calamities scoff and scorn us as a vain besotted people that believe in we know not what and worship we know not whom and boast themselves unmeasurably over us our God and religion to our unutterable grief because of their superioritie and present felicitie which puffs them up with pride and contempt even to blasphemie The cxxiv PSALM David mindes Israel in their prosperitie of their adversitie to make them mindful of God praiseful to God and evermore dependent on God as his Church and people ought ever to be in their transmutations of estates and fortunes See the title of the 120 Psalm the Authors name superadded here 1 2 3 NOw that the Lord hath been pleased to bring us to the happie condition we are in we should do well to look back we the Israel and and Church of God and consider from the beginning to this day ever since we were a people chosen of the Lord out of the world to name his name upon what a world of enemies we have had and perils we have waded through before and since we came into this land where we have been a continual eye-sore not onely to the natives remaining in it but to all the mightie nations and Gentile people bordering round about it who severally and joyntly by combination of great men and Potentates have sundry times and wayes subtilly projected and violently attempted our utter abolition which to speak humanely was inavoidable had not the Lord our good God miraculously from time to time delivered us from their furie and preserved us a people to this day maugre all they could do as he shall his Church spite of the wicked world its power and malice who else long ere this had been no people nor nation but destroyed again and again by those many mightie barbarous enemies of ours that on all hands from all quarters have assailed us with most mortal and bloudie purposes greedy to prey upon us and with that odds of strength that they were able to have devoured us and as it were swallowed us alive as easily as the great fish does the little ones or the savage and ravenous beast tears his prey in pieces if God had not over-powered them and been for us against them when we were altogether unable to make resistance which now we should do well to weigh seriously and in all humilitie to acknowledge thankfully to his praise and glorie 4 5 Yea to consider that when all mankind was as it were against us and we were like sheep in the midst of Wolves and Bears that with mightie power and rage have broken in upon us like an unresistable torrent able to over-run the whole land and destroy man woman and child as easily as the sea or some mightie river drowns the countrey when it breaketh the banks and with pride and confident disdain made
God made to be a blessing to the common-wealth where he lives being thereby more than ordinarily usefull fitted to do God and it service in any kind sacred civil and military as God disposeth and adapts so he hath them to dispose of for publick weal in Church or State 5 There are diversitie of imaginarie happiness but certainly of all earthly ones this is really the best and that man the happiest that hath his house and family well filled with such living riches that no money can purchase for they are if good and got by prayers faith the immediate gift and extraordinarie favour of God to him that hath them who thereby is strengthened against the wrongs and oppressions that men in a solitarie condition are subject unto and able to stand the common-wealth in stead in opposing open enemies or suppressing civil injuries The cxxviii PSALM The Psalmist to undeceive the world shâ—ws who and who onely is a blessed man he that fears and obeys God and shâ—ws every such an one the favours he is in with God both as to his own particular his family and postâ—ritie the Church whereof he is a member and the common-wealth whereof he is a part all these shall fare the better for him whom God will bless both in his person and in all his relations See the Title of the 120. Psalm 1 ALl men would be blessed men but few take a right course for it nor indeed do they either judge that to be blessedness which is so or that to be the way to it which onely is so for as to the favour of God they see no such matter in it as that it should make them happy or blessed conceiving of spiritual things with carnal apprehensions knowing no felicity but what is earthly and sensual for the fear of God that leads to his favour obedience to his commandements which he rewards with blessedness these they skill not it is against the hair and loth they are to purchase God by being good But let deluded worldlings think how they please The God of truth tels thee who ever thou art that if thou wilt be blessed of him and otherwaies thou canst not thou must with a reverential filial fear in the faith of him thy God and Father do his will and not thine own please him not thy self and so doing thou and every such one shall be as surely blessed as God is faithfull 2 For God whose thou art will also be thine not onely in the grace of salvation but also in the grace of providence and protection if in his fear and faith thou usest the means soberly he will bless them successfully to thy contentment so that though he give not to surfet thee yet to suffice thee he will thy labour shall not be in vain in the Lord nor cursed of the Lord as others are but though thou work for thy living yet thou shalt be able to live by thy work which shall maintain thee and thine and that happily and contentedly which many that have much do not for thou shalt have the favour of God to thee and the blessing of God upon thee in what thou dost and hast 3 Within doors and without shall God bless thee with what ever blessings he knows convenient for thee if thou beest in a married condition whilest others that are so either have no children or have them taken from them when they have them or are cursed to them if not taken from them Thou that fearest God he will provide better for thee thy wife and thou shall with conjugal comfort behold the blessing of the Lord upon your marriage bed in her fruitfull womb and thy hopefull issue children wherein thou maist have comfort and not a few nor short-lived which shall delight thee to look on them and see God in them enriching thee by his gift with what rich men cannot purchase by their wealth and with them will give thee sustenance for them if he send thee mouths he will also send the meat 4 O that men would effectually believe this and take out this lesson that they that in conscience to God fear to sin and do good are the blessed of the Lord in their own persons and shall be blessed of the Lord in what is theirs find all true that I have said 5 The God of Israel shall upon thy prayers made at or towards the place of his presence and pledge of his Covenant the Ark and Mercie-Seat in his Sanctuarie upon Sion the type of Christ in heaven hear thee and bless thee as he hath promised to do and thou shalt be a means not onely to procure blessing to thy self but to the whole Israel and Church of God typified in Jerusalem which shall fare the better for thy sake and such as thou art and thou and they for its sake reciprocally as parts and whole as shall the Church and members mutually in all ages 6 Yea thy pietie shall preserve thee in grace and favour with God and make thee both blessed in thy self and a blessing to many others yea to the whole Israel of God thou shalt thy self be blessed with long life and happy daies and in thy family and relations with children and with childrens children which shall be a rejoycing to thee to behold and walking in thy waies who walks in Gods shall to many generations fare the better for thee and inherit the grace and faithfulness of God promised to the righteous and their seed yea the Church and common-wealth whereof thou art a member and wherein thou livest shall prosper for thy sake and such as thou art grace and peace from God and with men shall thy prayers and godly walking procure them The cxxix PSALM The Psalmist laies forth the common state of the Church for her present comfort under her present affliction the Iews as is conceived at this time being under those pressures that besel them after their return out of their grievous Babylonish captivitie by their wicked envious pick-thank neighbours the Samaritans endeavouring their subversion by accusing them to the Persian Kings encourageing the â—aithfull by late experience in Gods faithfulness for the Churches preservation and her enemies disappointment and destruction which with a prophetical prayer equivalent to a promise he foretels and desires See the Title of the 120. Psalm 1 2 WHen was the Church and people of God which for the paucitie of them in the world is as it were but one man amongst a many ever without afflictions and enemies at any time in any place among any people on earth from the very beginning in Abel and so along through all the Patriarks quite down to us from Egypt till very now whose fortune therefore is not singular in that at present we undergo but common with all the faithfull in all ages this you know to be true and yet this world of wicked enemies which the poor Church hath
so to them sooner or later in compassing their deliverance which he that so wonderfully redeemed their souls can easily and will certainly do by wayes and means they never dreamed of be their case never so desperate 8 Yea let not sin it self dismay Gods people though they may fall into them and by them into sad afflictions yet despair not but believe pray and wait and then where sin hath abounded grace shall at last much more abound so that neither the number or greatness of their sins should make them hopeless or desperate but live by faith upon the promise both for pardon of sin and punishment for God is as able to deliver us by his mercie from his own justice as mans malice and will do it to his faithful Israel by and for the sake of his son Christ God and man our propitiatorie sacrifice and merciful mediatour or High-priest who to effect and perfect our redemption is certainly to come into the world and after he hath suffered shall ascend into glorie which shall be fulfilled and his Church thereby saved The cxxxi PSALM David acquits himself of ambition to the Kingdom or in it now he hath it being meerly passive in the first and no self-seeker in the last but one that accounts himself appointed by God for the good of his people as Christ for his Church which is their exceeding great happiness and should be their incouragement See the title of the 120 Psalm the Authors name superadded here 1 THou Lord knowest however I have been misjudged by some through weakness by others through perversnes to be an ambitious self-seeker as touching the Kingdom of Israel and those high dignities spiritual and temporal that are concomitant to it how that herein I am wronged for that I never had any such aspiring thoughts but as comparatively I was a mean man so I allwayes had a lowly heart and as were mine inward affections such was and is mine outward comportment I overlook not my brethren with an imperious countenance as most Kings do their subjects counting them their vassals Nor do I of mine own accord for ambition sake as most Princes are wont put forth my self beyond my self and calling to inlarge my dominions how ever I may be censured considering the great things I am called unto but walk by the dictate of Gods word and spirit in all mine undertakings both in matters of Church and State for the good of both that is my rule and this is mine end and aim 2 My behaviour neither heretofore nor now either was or is such as should deserve to be so thought of I think I have gone through mine afflictions with another spirit than ambitious worldlings shew in the exercise of much patience as seeing God in all waiting and submitting to his will and providence with a child-like temper and carriage not seeking my self or mine own either untimely or ambitious advancement had I then I would have steared a far other course as others do that do so made a noise and a bussle in the world taken all advantages not been meerly passive as I was both in regard of God and mine adversaries but active against mine enemies as they were against me yet I did no such thing but staied the Lords leasure and in all things submitted to his pleasure without repining or precipitancie living all the while by faith without using either unlawfull means or lawfull means unlawfully to compass the Kingdom from Saul and I bless God now I have it I am not altered I am no more proud of it now than I ambitiously coveted it heretofore but am every whit as much at Gods dispose who as he gave it so I know to what use and end for his honour and service sake and not for mine and hereunto stands my heart onely affected to advance him and to be ordered by him as Christs shall be whom I prefigure who yet shall be censured as I am 3 This I would have Israel know That the Kingdom was not my seeking but the meer gift of God for their good and advancement of their happiness as the Church is Christs which I would have them know for their comfort and incouragement to believe and hope in the Lord accordingly for time to come as I have done in time past if so they shall find him faithful of his word as he hath been to me in making them a happie people under my regiment and those that come of me as the Church and spiritual Israel shall be in all ages whilest the world endures under the governance of Christ the Messiah that Prince of peace and Lamb of God that takes away the sins of all those who are Israelites indeed that believe and hope in his name The cxxxii PSALM Solomon as is most probable at the compleat finishing and furnishing of the Temple made this Psalm much of it being the same with the prayer he made at the dedication wherein he prayer-wise minds God first of Davids faith and zeal as also of the peoples in his time for the promotion of the glorie and worship of God at Ierusalem which now being brought to perfection in the perfecting of the Temple he praies that God would turn his promises to David into performances by vouchsafing himself to be present there and his blessings both to the Priestly and Kingly office that they may flourish to the rejoycing of the godly especially in his own time and person according to those especial promises and prophesies concerning him who also is an extraordinarie type of Christ and his glorious Kingdom See the title of the 120 Psalm 1 LOrd remember thy servant David that type of Christ thy son what sad sufferings by thy ordination he underwent for the good of thy Church and people what miseries he sustained in his faithful dependence on thee and thy gracious promises made to him and for his sake to his posteritie yea to the whole Kingdom of Israel which are still of force to thy people whom by and for him thou hast blessed accordingly as through Christ thou wilt the Church and we pray thee still go on to do so to bless both him and them let his name and sufferings be still precious with thee and efficacious to us as Christs shall be after his death and departure carrying in mind thine ingagements of grace and mercie to his people and posterity for his sake 2 Call to mind the wonderful zeal he had for thee and thy worship which made him infinitly solicitous in it solemnly swearing affectionately and freely vowing to and before thee the Almighty God of Jacob that holy Patriark and progenitour of him and all Israel whom thou didst bless and powerfully preserve and promisedst to bless his seed after him as followeth 3 Surely I will not rest my self contentented with the advancement of my royal throne and erecting of mine own house and palace in the Citie of David it is not the
that though he do yea must both in justice and mercie chastize them for their aberrations thereby to humble and reduce them For impunitie would argue him no father nor they no children as sure I say as he is both just and gracious to lay the rod upon them for sin so he is as merciful and faithful to take it off again when of sinners they become penitents and renew their covenant to be his he will soon be theirs and repent as well as they and then wo be to their enemies we have and shall ever find it so 15 That he hath ever approved himself the onely God of power to deliver us when the time hath come maugre all the Powers on earth that have been against us and their gods to boot which cannot preserve them that worship them against the power of the Almighty whom we onely serve of all the world besides which is heathen and their gods meer Idols at best made of gold and silver nor are they so much as their own makers but have their Beings from men they make them that made not themselves therefore must they needs be goodly Gods 16 They are meer liveless statues without sense or motion able neither to speak nor see having no better mouthes nor eyes than man can make them 17 Their ears are like their eyes the one blind the other deaf and their mouthes as breathless as speechless for such an inversion of nature as men to make Gods can produce no better effects 18 And they that make them are as void of understanding as they of life and sense that against reason can think such things fit to be worshipped for Gods which are their creatures not they theirs and so is every one that seeing what they are and knowing whence they come putteth confidence of good or evil in them both their Gods and they are alike blockish and as void of power as understanding as plainly appeareth when our God appears for us against them 19 Let therefore your faith and zeal be laid out upon no such imaginarie deities nor your fear upon any earthly powers do you that are the posteritie of Jacob from whom you have the name of Israel given of God himself walk worthie such a father and servant of the Lord by honouring and praising him and him alone all of you own him and honour him for your Lord and God specially you that are his in principal place and office by special designation you Priests the sons of Aaron let your zeal exceed as much as do your engagements 20 And you that are of an inferiour rank in the Priest-hood ye Levites remember also your ingagements to honour and praise the Lord who hath called you to so sacred an office about his Temple do your duties worthie your places but because no doubt too many are as formal people so formal Priests that serve the Lord if at all more in shew than sincerity therefore my exhortation is chiefly to you both Priests and people that are regenerate Israelites indeed Priests of the Lord as well as of the Temple endowed with the true fear of God and sanctifying graces of his spirit you are they that I hope and exhort and that God looks should honour and serve him with praise and thanks in faith and spirit worthie your selves and him your God as a chosen generation a royal Priest-hood a holy nation a peculiar people that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light 21 Let all Israel whether in power or profession his visible or invisible people of what rank or qualitie soever Prince Priest people resort unto the place appointed for his solemn worship mount Sion where his sanctuarie is seated and there joyn their forces and affections to bless and serve him who is especially present there of all Israel having preferred Jerusalem to be the place of his residence and of all his glorious dispensations where he will be blessed of his people and whence he will bless them again that honour and serve him Therefore fail not on your part praise him and pray to him that is and will be your God if you do so The cxxxvi PSALM This Psalm for the magnifying of mercie it is thought was sung daily in the Tabernacle and Temple 1 Chron. 16.41 Jer. 33.11 and this clause for his mercie endureth for ever so oft repeated was sung by turns of the Levites and oft used for the burden of the song at solemn celebrations of remarkable mercies 2 Chron. 7.3 and 6. and 20.21 The drift of the Psalmist is to advance covenant-mercie that Church priviledge in the eyes of the faithful as the great and allmost onely thank-worthie benefit by which God himself and all that is Gods is his Churches the fountain of all good general special of creation and providence to the world to the Church which therefore we should behold in every thing and thank God for in all things 1 GOds greatness is better known and more taken notice of than his goodness but this ought principally to be his peoples studie to see all he does as well the acts of his grace and that a stable covenant-grace as of his power Therefore ye that are so be sure to do so be thankful to him and faithful in him for his goodness sake that is so transcendent even to the sins of all mankind in general who live move and have their beings in and from him notwithstanding them and to his Church in particular as appears by his many gracious promises and great performances temporal and spiritual in goodness made and in mercie made good sin cannot finally hinder the current of his grace which is as himself everlasting as in being so in acting an ever overflowing fountain whose mercies therefore are renewed every morning 2 3 Exalt him in his greatness yea in the full dimensions of it superlatively prefer him to all things in heaven and earth principalities powers or imaginarie deities Praise him as such but withal be thankful to him that is such so great and yet of such condiscention in continual dispensation of mercies for the consideration of his goodness setteth forth his greatness with greater beautie and sweetness which by reason thereof becomes a useful propertie and encouragement to his Church and people to draw nigh to him and trust in him for ever 4 And as for his mercie sake he is to be honoured in what he is essentially being thereby that to us and for us which he is in himself so also in what he does for his mercie and free grace it is the cause of the manifestation of so great power in all those glorious works of wonder wrought so apparently by the immediate hand and finger of God who onely is Almighty for and in his peoples behalfs in all their dangers notwithstanding all their sins as we can witness in an everlasting
that thou wilt be meet with wicked workers and pay them in their kind they that unjustly seek to destroy others shall themselves justly be destroyed by thee the righteous God and judge of all the world therefore will I keep me free from partner-ship with them in those their evil and injurious waies of wrong or revenge no such guilt will I bring upon my head and so I declare my self I fear thee though they do not 20 For they stick not presumptuously to despise and despite thee by open blasphemies and reproches of thy justice power and faithfulness scornfully abusing in the height of their pride and malice against thee and thine all those thine excellencies which thy people fear and reverence thee for 21 Thou Lord knowest how little good-will I bear to wickedness and wicked men I am far from having fellowship with them that I see bear an evil will toward thee thy worship or people my very heart riseth at such with indignation out of zeal to thee and it is no small trouble to me to see wicked men to provoke thee and bear themselves so contemptuously toward thee so great a God as they do 22 Yea from my heart root do I abominate wicked men in their wicked courses nor do I dissemble the matter but profess my self no friend or favourer of them no more nor so much than if they were mine own very enemies and hated me for my love to thee makes me more sensible of the dishonour and indignitie that is done thee than my self and worse can I endure it or them that do it 23 And in regard many that are mine enemies are also thine such as perversly sin against thee as well as injure me and that therefore I may play the hypocrite and dissemblingly make shew of hatred to them for thy sake when covertly it is for mine own thinking thereby to commend my self unto thee and gain upon thee by such a profession therefore do I willingly lay my self open before thee and uncover every corner of my heart for thee to see into it whether it be not as I say and that my thoughts and affections in this point be not sincere and upright against wicked men purely for wickedness 24 Yea spare not to make such discovery of me whether although I speciously seem to hate their persons if yet secretly I love not their waies and could find in my heart to practise wickedness as they do rather than pietie yea if there be any the least root of bitterness remaining in me or the least sin unmortified or abetted by me whereby I may incur thy displeasure that art an all-discerning God or grieve thy spirit who am judge of mine and if there be any such unknown to me for I know mans heart is deceitful convince me of it and convert me from it that by thy gracious powerful manu-mission I may be set free from thraldom to sin that leads to perdition the reward of every such transgression and by thy no less gracious and powerful manu-diction be ordered and inabled in my whole man through my whole life to walke in a perfect way of holiness that onely leads to everlasting life and thy well pleasing this Lord is my desire The cxl PSALM David in way of prayer makes his complaint against his wicked and violent persecutours Saul and Doeg and the rest of their considerates that by a saynt combination plot and labour to take away both his life and good name by all under-hand contriâ—anâ—â—s that may be Therefore he applies himself to God that hath preserved him from open now to protect him from secret violence and bring the evil they intend to him upon themselves yea remarkable judgements upon such impâ—nitâ—nts And promiseth himself and all others that suffers in a good cause with a good conscience as he doth happy deliverance and their enemies confusion To him that is the first and principall of all the Quire do I David that made this Psalm recommend it for the care and ordering of it to be sung 1 O Lord that knowest the wrong I sustain by being thus unjustly persecuted of Saul and his complices that most wickedly and unmercifully prosecute me to the death that never wronged him nor them in all my life do thou that art a righteous Judge of oppressours and a gracious God to right the oppressed undertake my cause and me to vindicate the one and protect the other from the bloudy intentions of my causeless cruell enemy and enemies 2 Whose hearts are full of cursed contrivances how to mischief and undo me and to take away both my good name and life labouring to increase their party and stirre up others against me dayly by false suggestions plotting all manner of wayes and means by joynt advice and endeavour to wage war upon me that would fain be at peace 3 They labour to wound mine innocency as deep as they can possibly by lying and slanderous reports of me and vermin-like spit their venom at me behind my back by prejudicing the people against me with their false calumnies which they have ready at hand to poyson all ears that will give them the hearing It is their continuall practise 4 5 The good Lord watch for me to save me as they do against me to undo me and keep me from their destructive malice and power that have put in practise every way in the world to compass my ruin with extream and unappeasable violence doth Saul seek my life and to that end hath laid snares to catch and intrap me that I should not escape him as yet I bless thee I have done and pray still I may do by thy powerfull preservation and deliverance of me from him and those proud presumptuous wretches his Partizans that disdain the purpose though of God himself as touching me to be King over them and therefore try all conclusions and use their utmost endeavours to disappoint it by subtill stratagems and wicked devices laying as it were traps and toils nets and grins all manner of engins to catch me that craft can device the way they think I take as if I were some wild beast or monster among men of a perillous nature and dangerous consequence not fit to live They are restless to ruin me 6 In this my hazardous condition when I was thus way-laid on all hands I repaired to God as alwayes I do to extricate me out of it by faithfull prayer pleading my propriety in him and his grace which of grace he had vouchsafed me minded him of it and prayed him for it to lend me an hearing ear in my very great need for deliverance and preservation 7 Saying O gracious God the onely Lord Almighty the sole power I trust in and depend upon for safety I have found thee a deliverer and preserver in former dangers when my life hath laien at stake and been in hazard by open violence in the day
the powers of my soul that is left me 9 Thy effectuall grace in my powerfull deliverance is mine humble and earnest suit I put up unto thee that mine enemies who seek and make sure of my life may not destroy it which they will certainly and suddenly do if thou prevent not to whom onely I flie from them for no place on earth can escape them 10 And as I beg to be preserved by thy power out of the hands of mine enemies so by thy grace out of the power of my corruptions which by reason of my temptations are very stirring and hardly suppressed inclining me upon occasion to deviate but my trust is in thee and prayer unto thee for this as well as that sinne being as death to me therefore for thy goodness sake which hath so freely and so fully ingaged thee to be every way a gracious God unto me and specially in soul-concernments Lord teach me at every turn and in every strait what is thy will and how to obey it by the powerfull energie of thy spirit which himself is good and can make me so by his efficacious impowering my spirit thereunto maugre all temptations within or without yea all my life long effectually dispose me to walk in the way of holiness and righteousness which onely leads unto everlasting life the new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness a pattern whereof shall be that flourishing estate of thy Church in holiness shortly to be accomplished to thine Israel by and under me a figure of Christ which good Lord teach me how to attain to that my sins debar me not so great a blessing 11 For the glory of thy power which is so highly esteemed and little feared by mine enemies do thou manifest it in as it were my resurrection from the dead for such am I in effect and in all humane appearance and for thy faithfulness sake both in point of grace and justice be mindfull of me thy servant wrongfully oppressed and persecuted to set me free from these deadly dangers I am continually in 12 And of meer compassion to me in so great misery undertake my cause and quarrell that without cause am thus persecuted to the death by violent and bloudy enemies who are untreatable and from whom I must never expect other till thou shalt disable them to destroy me by destroying them which I pray thee do as an act of mercy to my wronged innocency let none escape that would not have me do so that my soul may be free from these distractions to serve thee for thereunto through mercy am I designed and by grace am I called The cxliv. PSALM David being in part possessed of the Kingdom blesseth God for that which he acknowledgeth to be of him as also all his atchievements and deliverances and aggravates the greatness of God goodness to him from the baseness and disparity of him to God whom he prayes extraordinarily to stand for him against and rid him of his remainder of enemies as bad as the rest and promiseth upon finall deliverance to tune all his instruments to his praise as the sole Saviour specially of him and again iterates his request that the times of Israels tranquillity under him and his may hasten that they may once be happie after so much miserie which then they shall be with the ample possession of temporall felicities of all kinds and God to boot which will make them or any people happie that are so blessed A Psalm made by David 1 MAgnified be the Lord for his praise-worthy goodness to me in so marvellously inabling me beyond either naturall ability or acquired skill to do things so much above my self in souldiery as through his assistance I have done to mine own and all mens admiration and to such wonderfull success as I have had thereby 2 But it was the Lord and of him onely who hath and doth shew me so many favours and is so bountifull and beneficent to me as I cannot express it but in the abstract of goodness it self so freely are they acted and so manifoldly multiplied to descend into particulars were infinite but what can be imagined by way of offence to mine enemies or defence to my self that the Lord is and hath been to me and I am confident so will be still He it is that hath brought and will go on irresistably to bring this stubborn stiff-necked people of Israel to submit to me as their King who so hardly are removed from their prejudices concerning me and brought to believe the truth of promises touching me 3 Lord I cannot when I reflect upon my self and thee the disproportion 'twixt my nature and essence frail mortal dust and ashes here below and thy spiritual eternal incomprehensible Being and infinite Majestie in heaven above but admire That such an earth-worm as man the whole kind whereof is at best but as the drop of thy bucket subject to generation and corruption should be so regarded of thee as to expend and lay out so much of thy wisdom care and providence upon him especially considering what he is becom by sin not worthie the name of a creature that by nature is thine enemy and that yet thou shouldest exercise so much grace and goodness towards him sundry wayes 4 Man in respect of thee is as the most vain and emptiest thing in the world is to him for substance a thing of nothing and for duration as momentanie and uncertain is his life subject to time and change as the shadow which is as transient as the sun is moveable 5 Yet such is thy goodness to this poor inconsiderable creature that thou art pleased to work miracles many times for the preservation of a very few yea of one single person that belongs unto thee and to descend as it were from thine imperial throne of Divine Majestie to help here on earth wonderfully when thine are in extremitie and so Lord vouchsafe to do now manifest thy presence as when in thick and darksome clouds thou formerly descendedst and made the mountains seem all on fire under thee such let be thine out-goings against mine and thy Churches enemies consume those mountainous powerful adversaries that oppose themselves against thee in thy wrathful displeasure a little whereof will serve to do it as high and mightie as they are in their own vain imaginations 6 Thy peoples extraordinarie dangers have produced extraordinarie and miraculous effects of providence for their preservation and so let it do still let thy power be now as evident as when with thunder and lightening thou foughtest for them destroyedst and discomfitedst their enemies heretofore 7 When earthly helps fail from heaven do thou send succour and set me free from this deluge of trouble and troublesome adversaries that break in upon me like an unresistable torrent let me not fall into the hands of those that though they are visible Israelites of the seed and family
been under sore dejections and grievous oppressions yet still upheld and in its lowest condition made to keep its feet to have a Being and raised in time to a well-being in despite of its potent adversaries by the Lord whose power many a time hath underpropt it and his grace restored it when it was low brought and who indeed in righteousness is pitiful to all that are wrongfully oppressed to right and relieve them and hath power to do it be their condition never so bad especially if they trust in him and seek to him whose Kingdom over the world is chiefly exercised in administring justice and mercie for and towards the afflicted 15 16 Whose goodness is as universal as his greatness and providencially extends it self to every creature that he hath made which also by instinct of nature it self waits upon providence seeks after and endeavours its own means of subsistence every one what is proper to its nature and kind as by and from God his ordination and especial dispensation thus acknowledging his supremacie both man and beast even the whole creation And he orderly in a suitable and seasonable manner supplies unto them food of several kinds in several seasons of both time and opportunitie for sustaining the nature and satisfying the hunger of all creatures of so many several kinds as are in the world and of every individual of each kind by his liberalitie and bountie so universally extended over the whole earth and providently dispensed to the sundry particulars in it which is onely then had when he gives it and therefore had because he gives it none being able to supply their own wants much less worthy to share in the honour of the worlds providing for both which is of the Lord alone who makes second causes instrumental to him and useful to man the power and governance of all creatures being his which therofore bringeth forth and increaseth because he appointeth and is satisfied because he dispenseth 17 Manifold dispensations there are in the world towards good and bad that seemeth strange to us but in this also is God and his government admirable and transcendently praise-worthy that nothing he does be it never so discrepant to humane reason and rules of policie amongst men but he is both righteous and holy in so doing for his will being the onely rule of both his works can none of them disaagree from either 18 His government and dispensation though it be to and over all yet principally and primarily doth it belong to the faithful as near as he seems to others yet is he far enough from them and as far as he seems from these who have the greatest share of adverse fortune in this life yet is he near unto them They that profess him publickly by adoration and worship and withal serve him sincerely in faith and affection that offer to find him fervent not fained prayer they shall be sure to find him a propitious God to a gracious heart accompanied with a holy life 19 Such as take care of him hee 'l take care of them they that fear to sin shall be satisfied with good such God will hear and answer graciously as hear and obey him conscionably and though sometimes by extraordinarie trials he may put them to it to ask yea crie hard for ease before they have it yet that is but to trie and exercise their graces with patient waiting and fervent importuning till the time the set time be come which he hath determined in himself as most opportune for him and them to be relieved and answered in and then though not till then they shall be sure of it when their fears are greatest and their hopes humanely least 20 The Lord will keep promise with all that fear to offend him out of love and desire to please him he may venture them but he will not lose them his eye is over and his hand under them for he has not many such that so love him nor therefore are there many that are so beloved of him and so they shall find that wickedly transgress against him that as he hath powerful grace in store to preserve the one so hath he vindicative justice to destroy the other which shall certainly fall to their lot every mothers son of them his Kingdom is administred by mercie and justice and so the good and bad shall find 21 My mind shall meditate of these thine admirable excellencies of several kinds exhibited to the world in general and thy people in particular both which are wholly under thy dominion and dispensation subject to thy greatness and sharers of thy goodness respectively common and special as also of thy mercie and justice My mouth shall extol them and praise thee the God of them that art so great in power so gracious in providence so rich in mercie and so severe in justice and let mankind in general in all times and places who ought to know thee under all and do know thee under most of these notions whereof they have dayly and frequent experience bless and magnifie thee in all thy holy attributes and properties that so shine forth in thy works of mercie power and righteousness all the world over in all the ages of it The cxlvi PSALM David exciteth all especially Gods people and most especially himself to praise the Lord principally by trusting in him and distrusting all but him Man both great and small being a perishable creature and God onely to be relied on but then that must be the true God and that also by a true faith acted upon his power goodness and never-failing faithfulness and that is every condition believing in God with a like never-failing stedfastness though our estate be various and miserable for that to the good he is ever graciously enclined and to the wicked quite contrarie As also for the perpetuitie and unchangeableness of his throne and dominion over his Church and people for their protection throughout all ages to the end of the world does the Psalmist again excite to praise him concluding as he began in this and so do every of these 5 concluding Psalms 1 2 AS it is the dutie so I wish it were the practise of all especially his people to be constant and conversant in praising God who himself is so constant and conversant in praise-worthie dispensations of several sorts and what I admonish others of I do much more so to my self that have cause beyond all men to praise the Lord and that with my whole heart throughout my whole life as well he deserves that I should spend and lay out my utmost strenght and best affections in praising him which I will be sure to do whilest my tounge can wag 3 4 But let your praises be real give God the praise of your faith which is thank worthie when in your hearts you set up his throne above all principalities and powers trust in him solely
ones for ever in all ages to do them good protect and save them spite of all worldly power or malice Such a God is thy God O Israel whom thou worshippest in his sanctuary upon his holy hill Sion of which accordingly he will bless preserve as the type of his Church universal which as his shall be upheld by him who himself is everlasting whilest the world endures Therefore praise ye the Lord trust in him and in nothing else all ye that are now or shall hereafter be his people the true worshippers of the onely true God The cxlvii PSALM David exceedingly exciteth the people of God his Israel to be frequent and conversant in praising the Lord by sweet motives and powerfull arguments proper and common shewing sometimes his tender care in speciall over his Church then again illustrating him by his native excellencies also by his gracious just and different dispensations to good and bad all having relation to his people whom he again stirs up to the dutie of thanksgiving and praise by acts of powerfull providence above and below to beast and birds He further cautionizeth them not to be misled in judgement so as to think the favour of God or success from God is attainable by humane inducemâ—nes or probabilities no but by faith and holy fear which being the things that indear us to God he again incites gods people to praise him for the priviledge of such truths revealed and such graces exhibited whereby they are so blessed and prospered with peace and plentie by him who as Lord paramount commands the whole creation and is obeyed by it both in heaven and earth but he is Israels and Israel his after a more peculiar and excellent manner than any other nations or all the worlds besides for which he concludes they ought to praise him answerably 1 O Ye people of the Lord be much busied in praising him no greater testimonie of a good heart towards God than to be praisefully affected and disposed nothing we can do more profitable and available to our selves for it keeps the heart in a holy frame and tunableness in the exercise of faith and love to God-ward and gains upon him exceedingly who is much delighted with that kind of service and sacrifice to have the honour done him and homage paid him that 's due unto him from the creature specially his people that do it with faith and understanding it is a work well becoming these to magnifie the Lord both for what he is in himself considered and also to them in grace and gracious dispensations 2 Who indeed deserves praise but he That is all in all specially to his Church it is he that laieth the foundation of it in election and builds it progressively by faith and sanctification and finisheth his work of grace and his peoples happiness in glorification like as out of all the world Jerusalem is the chosen place of his worship and Israel a chosen people to worship him both which he of meer grace by an Almightie power doth bless and build up unto a flourishing state and condition and that notwithstanding their many enemies Yea he brings his people Israel out of their several mis-fortunes and dispersions to be the sole subjects of his Kingdom and to be united under me their head his substitute in a formed Church and Common-wealth thereby to live happilie and serve him acceptably as in like sort he shall call his chosen all the world over into one body his Church under one head Christ to serve and honour him and partake of his happiness It is he that doth both the one and the other 3 God many times is pleased to break and bruise his people with outward afflictions and inward depressions of mind and conscience by the weight of sins guilt or his dis-favour but it is but to find his grace and spirit work to shew his skill and to verifie his word who healeth them again with the balm of Gilead the light of his countenance ariseth upon such a soul after some conflict for God is tender over his people specially in distress and most specially in soul-agonies when they pant under a troublesom spirit he is the true Samaritan that poureth in wine and oyl and binds up the wound of his Church and chosen which the world without or trouble within hath made 4 He that can number the numberless stars from one end of the heavens to the other and knoweth them particularly and distinctly one by one as many as they are having indeed made them all and ordained each one its orb and office causing them to appear and act in their seasons orderly and successively without confusion notwithstanding their infinite number as also their variable manifold and inter-winding courses he as well knoweth the number of the stars on earth as in heaven his people wheresoever dispersed upon the face of the whole earth to gather them into his bodie as Israel into Canaan from their dispersions yea every particular person and member of his Church universal knows he to bring him in in his season age and generation and both where and how to imploy him in what station of the world and place in his Church for the service of him and it 5 For as the Lord is great in knowledge so also in power there can no bounds be set to either he is infinite in understanding past our capacitie a fit object of of our faith and subject of our praise in all his proceedings 6 As appears by the certain conclusions he brings out of uncertain providences how those that meekly and humbly undergo their time and portion of sufferings the share of all his servants wherein they seem to themselves and others to be forlorne and helpless he by an Almightie hand beyond imagination relieves and releaseth them makes them able with joy to over-top their sorrows how despicable soever they were in the eyes of the world whereas on the contrarie those that with worldly pomp and affluence are lifted up to do wickedly against him or his Church oppressing them or contemning him these as high as they are in power and pride and though they seem to the world and themselves in respect of their present condition to be as immoveable as a mountain God notwithstanding nay therefore ruinates them and lets the world see the difference of good and bad of them that fear him and also of them that fear him not 7 Consider the thank-worthy goodness of God to stir you up to zeal and gratitude when you praise him in Psalms and Hymns which neglect not to do even to do with all your might and the best of your skill both of voice and instrument and all too little to give God his due specially we his peculiar people cannot do too much in this way who by special priviledge are the onely people of all the world that worship the onely true God 8 For it is he
Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying 3 Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us 4 He that sitteth in the Heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure 6 Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Sion 7 I will declare the decree the Lord hath said unto me Thou art my Son this day hâ—ve I begotten thee 8 Ask of me and I shall give thee the Heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession 9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessel 10 Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed ye Judges of the earth 11 Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling 12 Kiss the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him Psalm 3. A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son 1 LOrd how are they encreased that trouble meâ— many are they that rise up against me 2 Many there be which say of my soul There is no help for him in God Selah 3 But thou O Lord art a shield for me my glory and the lifter up of my head 4 I cried unto the Lord with my voice and he heard me out of his holy hill Selah 5 I laid me down and slept I awaked for the Lord sustained me 6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about 7 Arise O Lord save me O my God for thou hast smitten all â—ine enemies upon the cheek bone thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly 8 Salvation belongeth unto the Lord thy blessing is upon thy people Selah Psalm 4. To the chief musician on Neginoth A Psalm of David 1 HEar when I call O God of my righteousness thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress have mercie upon me and hear my prayer 2 O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glorie into shame how long will ye love vanitie and seek after leasing Selah 3 But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself the Lord will hear when I call unto him 4 Stand in aw and sin not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still Selah 5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your trust in the Lord. 6 There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us 7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased 8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord onely makest me dwel in safetie Psalm 5. To the chief musician upon Neginoth A Psalm of David 1 GIve ear to my words O Lord consider my meditations 2 Hearken unto the voice of my crie my King and my God for unto thee will I pray 3 My voyce shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up 4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness neither shall evil dwell with thee 5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquitie 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing the Lord will abhor the bloudie and deceitful man 7 But as for me I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercie and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy Temple 8 Lead me O Lord in thy righteousness because of mine enemies make thy way straight before my face 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth their inward part is very wickedness their throat is an open sepulchre they flatter with their tongue 10 Destroy thou them O God let them fall by their own counsels cast them out in the multitude of their transgressioâ—s for thy have rebelled against thee 11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest him let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee 12 For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield To the chief musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith A Psalm of David 1 O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure 2 Have mercie upon me O Lord for I am weak O Lord heal me for my bones are vexed 3 My soul is also soar vexed but thou O Lord how long 4 Return O Lord deliver my soul o save me for thy mercie sake 5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee thanks 6 I am wearie with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with my tears 7 Mine eye is consumed because of grief it waxeth old because of all mine enemies 8 Depart from me all ye workers of iniquitie for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping 9 The Lord hath heard my supplication the Lord will receive my prayer 10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed let them return and be ashamed suddenly Psalm 7. Shiggaion of David which he sang unto the Lord concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite 1 O Lord my God in thee do I put my trust save me from all them that persecute me and deliver me 2 Lest he tear my soul like a Lion renting it in pieces while there is none to deliver 3 O Lord my God if I have done this if there be iniquitie in my hands 4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me Yea I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemie 5 Let the enemie persecute my soul and take it yea let him tread down my life upon the earth and lay mine honour in the dust Selah 6 Arise O Lord in thine aâ—ger lift up thy self because of the rage of mine enemies and awake for me to the judgement that thou hast commanded 7 So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about for their sakes therefore return thou â—e high 8 The Lord shall â—udge the people â—udge me O Lord according to my righteousness and according to mine integritie that is in me 9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the just â—or the righteous God trieth the heaâ—rs and reins 10 My defence is of God which saveth the upright in heart 11 God judgeth the righteous and God is angrie with the wicked every day 12 If he turn not he will wheâ— his sword he hath bent
the tongue that speaketh proud things 4 Who have said with our tongue will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us 5 For the oppression of the poor for the sighing of the needie now will I arise saith the Lord I will set him in safetie from him that puffeth at him 6 The words of the Lord are pure words as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times 7 Thou shalt keep them O Lord thou shalt preserve them from this Generation for ever 8 The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted Psalm xiii To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 HOw long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from me 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul having sorrow in my heart daily how long shall mine enemies be exalted over me 3 Consider and hear me O Lord my God lighten mine eyes least I sleep the sleep of death 4 Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me rejoyce when I am moved 5 But I have trusted in thy mercie my heart shall rejoyce in thy salvation 6 I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me Psalm xiii To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 THe fool hath said in his heart there is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good 2 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God 3 They are all gone aside they are all together become filthy there is none that doth good no not one 4 Have all the workers of iniquitie no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. 5 There were they in great fear for God is in the generation of the righteous 6 You hâ—ve shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge 7 O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people Jacob shall reioyce and Israel shall be glad Psalm xv A Psalm of David 1 LOrd who shall abide in thy tabernacle who shall dwell in thy holy hill 2 He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnes and speaketh the truth in his heart 3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his neighbour nor taketh up a reproch against his neighbour 4 In whose eyes a â—â—le person is contemned but he honoureth them that fear the Lord he that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not 5 He that putted not out his money to usurie nor taketh reward against the innocent He that doth these things shall never be moved Psalm xvi Michtam of David 1 PReserve me O God for in thee do I put my trust 2 O my soul thou hast said unto the Lord Thou art my Lord my goodnes extendeth not to thee 3 But to the sâ—â—ints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God their drink-offerings of bloud will I not offer nor take up their names into my lips 5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup thou maintainest my lot 6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly heritage 7 I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel my reins also instruct me in the night seasons 8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glorie rejoyceth my flâ—sh also shall rest in hope 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell neither â—ilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore Psalm 17. A prayer of David 1 Hear the right O Lord attend unto my cry give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence let thine eyes behold the things that are equal 3 Thou hast proved mine heart thou hast viâ—ited me in the night thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgreâ—â— 4 Concerning the works of men by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer 5 Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not 6 I have called upon thee for thou wilt hear me O God incline thine ear unto me hear my speech 7 Shew thy marvellous loving kindness O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye hide me under the shadow of thy wings 9 From the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies who compass me about 10 They are inclosed in their own fat with their mouth they speak proudly 11 They have now compassed us in our steps they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth 12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places 13 Arise O Lord disappoint him cast him down deliver my soul from the wicked which is or as in the margin by thy sword 14 From men which are or as in the margin by thine hand O Lord from men of the world which have their portion in this life and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasurâ— they are full of children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes 15 As for me I will behold thy face in righteousness I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness Psalm xviii To the chief musician a Psalm of David the servant of the Lord who spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul And he said 1 I Will love theâ— O Lord my strength 2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust my buckler and the born of my salvation and my high tower 3 I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praiâ—ed so shall I be saved from mine enemies 4 The sorrows of death compassed me and the flouds of ungodly men made me afraid 5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about the snares of death prevented me 6 In my distresse I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God he heard my prayer out of his Temple and my cry came before him even into his ears 7 Then the earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because he
his temple doth every one speak of his glorie 10 The Lord sitteth upon the floud yea the Lord sitteth King for ever 11 The Lord will give strength unto his people the Lord will bless his people with peaâ—e Psalm xxx A Psalm and song at the dedication of the house of David 1 I Will extol thee O Lord for thou hast lifted me up and hast not made my foes to rejoyce over me 2 O Lord my God I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me 3 O Lord thou hast brought up my soul from the grave thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit 4 Sing unto the Lord O ye saints of his and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness 5 For his anger endureth but a moment in his favour is life weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning 6 And in my prosperitie I said I should never be moved 7 Lord by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled 8 I cried to thee O Lord and unto the Lord I made supplication 9 What profit is there in my bloud when I go down to the pit shall the dust praise thee shall it declare thy truth 10 Hear O Lord and have mercie upon me Lord be thou mine helper 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness 12 To the end that my glorie may sing praise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Psalm xxxi To the chief musician A Psalm of David 1 IN thee O Lord do I put my trust let me never be ashamed deliver me in thy righteousnes 2 Bow down thine ear to me deliver me speedily be thou my strong rock for an house of defence to save me 3 For thou art my rock and my fortress therefore for thy name sake lead me and guid me 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me for thou art my strength 5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth 6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities but I trust in the Lord. 7 I will be glâ—d and rejoyce in thy mercie for thou hast considered my trouble thou hast known my soul in adversities 8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemie thou hast set my feet in a large room 9 Have mercie upon me O Lord for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with grief yea my soul and my belly 10 For my life is spent with grief and my years with sighing my strength faileth because of mine iniquitie and my bones are consumed 11 I was a reproch among all mine enemies but especially among my neighbours and a fear to mine acquaintance they that did see me without sled from me 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind I am like a broken vessel 13 For I have heard the slaunder of many fear was on every side while they took counsel together against me they devised to take away my life 14 But I trusted in thee O Lord I said Thou art my God 15 My times are in thy hand deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me 16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant save me for thy mercies sake 17 Let me not be ashamed O Lord for I have called upon thee let the wicked be ashamed and let them be silent in the grave 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous 19 O how great is thy goodnes which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee whâ—ch thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sâ—ns of men 20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues 21 Blessed be the Lord for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong citie 22 For I said in my hast I am cut off from before thine eyes nevertheless thou hearest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee 23 O love the Lord all ye his saints for the Lord preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer 24 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord. Psalm xxxii A Psalm of David Maschil 1 BLessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquitie and in whose spirit there is no guil 3 When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long 4 For day and night thy hand was heavie upon me my moisture is turned into the drought of summer Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee and mine iniquitie have I not hid I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquitie of my sin Selah 6 For this shall every one that is Godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found surely in the flouds of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him 7 Thou art my hiding place thou shalt preserve me from trouble thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance Selah 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go I will guid thee with mine eye 9 Be ye not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding whose mouths must be held in with bit and bridle lest they come near unto thee 10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked but he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about 11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upâ—ight in heart Psalm xxxiii 1 REjoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright 2 Praise the Lord with harp sing unto him with the psalterie and an instrument of ten strings 3 Sing unto him a new song play skilfully with a loud noise 4 For the word of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth 5 He loveth righteousness and judgement the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord weâ—e the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth 7 He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap he layeth up the depth in store houses 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him 9 For he spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast 10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect 11 The
counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance 13 The Lord looketh from heaven he beholdeth all the sons of men 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike he considereth all their works 16 There is no King saved by the multitude of an host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength 17 An horse is a vain thing for safety neither shall he deliver any by his great strength 18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him upon them that hope in his mercy 19 To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine 20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord he is our help and our shield 21 For our heart shall rejoyce in him because we have trusted in his holy name 22 Let thy mercy O Lord be upon us according as we hope in thee Psalm xxxiv A Psalm of David when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech who drove him away and he departed 1 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord the humble shall hear thereof and be glad 3 O magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together 4 I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears 5 They looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed 6 This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles 7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them 8 O tast see that the Lord is good blessed is the man that trusteth in him 9 O fear the Lord ye his Saints for there is no want to them that fear him 10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing 11 Come ye children hearken unto me I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 What man is he that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good 13 Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile 14 Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it 15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry 16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth 17 The righteous cry the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all 20 He keepeth all his bones not one of them is broken 21 Evil shall slay the wicked and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate 22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate Psalm xxxv A Psalm of David 1 PLead my cause O Lord with them that strive with me fight against them that fight against me 2 Take hold of shield and buckler stand up for mine help 3 Draw out also the spear and stop the way against them that persecute me say unto my soul I am thy salvation 4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul let them be turned back brought to confusion that devise my hurt 5 Let them be as chaff bâ—fore the wind and let the Angel of the Lord chase them 6 Let their way be dark and slippery and let the Angel of the Lord persebute them 7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soul. 8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himself into that very destruction let him fall 9 And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord it shall rejoyce in his salvation 10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him 11 False witnesses did rise up they laid to my charge things that I knew not 12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul. 13 But as for me when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosome 14 I behaved my self as though he had been my friend or brother I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother 15 But in mine adversity they rejoyced and gathered themselves together yea the abjects gathered themselves together against me and I know it not they did tear me and ceased not 16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth 17 Lord how long wilt thou look on rescue my soul from their destructions my darling from the lions 18 I will give thee thanks in the great congregation I will praise thee among much people 19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoyce over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause 20 For they speak not peace but they devise deceitâ—ul matters against them that are quiet in the land 21 Yea they opened their mouth wide against me and said Aha aha our eye hath seen it 22 This thou hast seen O Lord keep not silence O Lord be not far from me 23 Stir up thy self awake to my judgement even unto my cause my God and my Lord. 24 Judge me O Lord my God according to thy righteousness and let them not rejoyce over me 25 Let them not say in their hearts Ah so would we have it let them not say we have swallowed him up 26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoyce at mine hurt let them be clothed with shame dishonour that magnifie themselves against me 27 Let them shout for joy and be glad that favour my righteous cause yea let them say continually Let the Lord be magnified which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant 28 And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long Psalm xxxvi To the chief musician A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord. 1 THe transgression of the wicked saith within my heart that there is no fear of God before his eyeâ— 2 For he flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful 3 The words of his mouth are iniquity deceit he hath left off to be wise and to do good 4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed he setteth himself in a way that is not
good he abhorreth not evil 5 Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds 6 Thy righteousnes is like the great mountains thy judgements are a great deep O Lord thou preservest man and beast 7 How excellent is thy loving kindness ' O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow oâ— thy wings 8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures 9 For with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light 10 O continue thy loving kindness unto them that know thee and thy righteousness to the upright in heart 11 Let not the foot of pride come against me and let not the hand of the wicked remove me 12 There are the workers of iniquitie fallen they are cast down and shall not be able to rise Psalm xxxvii A Psalm of David 1 FRet not thy self because of evil doers neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquitie 2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb 3 Trust in the Lord and do good so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed 4 Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass 6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the noon-day 7 Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him fret not thy self because of him who prospereth in his way because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass Cease from anger 〈◊〉 forsake wrath â—â—et not thy self in any wise to do evil 9 For evil doers shall be cut off but those that wait upon the Lord they shall inherit the land 10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be yeâ— thou shalt diligently consider his place and iâ— shall not be 11 But the meek shal inherit the earth shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace 12 The wicked plotteth against the just and gnasheth upon him with his teeth 13 The Lord shall laugh at him for he seeth that his day is coming 14 The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needie and to slay such as be of upright conversation 15 Their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall he broken 16 A little that a righteous man hath is is better than the riches of many wicked 17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken but the Lord upholdeth the righteous 18 The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be for ever 19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famin they shall be satisfied 20 But the wicked shall perish and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs they shall consume into smoak shall they consume away 21 The wicked borroweth and payeth not again but the righteous sheweth mercie and giveth 22 For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off 23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way 24 Though he fall he shall not utterly be cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand 25 I have been young and now am old yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread 26 He is ever merciful and lendeth and his seed is blessed 27 Depart from evil and do good dwell for evermore 28 For the Lord loveth judgement and forsaketh not his saints they are preserved for ever but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off 29 The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell therein for ever 30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom his tongue talketh of judgement 31 The Law of his God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide 32 The wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh to slay him 33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand nor condemn him when he is judged 34 Wait on the Lord and keep his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it 35 I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green bay-tree 36 Yet he passed away and so he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found 37 Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace 38 But the transgressours shall be destroyed together the end of the wicked shall be cut off 39 But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord he is their strength in time of trouble 40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them he shall deliver them from the wicked and save them because they trust in him Psalm xxxviii A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance 1 O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure 2 For thine arrows stick fast in me and thine hand presseth me soar 3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin 4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me 5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness 6 I am troubled I am bowed down greatly I go mourning all the day long 7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease there is no soundness in my flesh 8 I am feeble sore broken I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart 9 Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee 10 My heart panteth my strength faileth me as for the light of mine eyes it also is gone from me 11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore and my kinsmen stand far off 12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me they that seek my hurt â—peak mischievous things and imagin deceits all the day long 13 But I as a deaf man heard not and I was as a dumb man that opened not his mouth 14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs 15 For in thee O Lord do I hope thou wilt hear O Lord my God 16 For I said Hear me least otherwise they should reâ—oyce over me when my foot slippeth they magnifie themselves against me 17 For I am readie to halt and my sorrow is continually before me 18 For I will declare mine iniquitie I will be sorie for my sin 19 But mine enemies are lively and they are strong and they that hate me wrongfully
Bath-sheba 1 HAve mercy upon me O God acâ—ording to thy loving kindness according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies bloâ— out my transgressions 2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me 4 Against thee thee onely have I sinned and done this evil in thy light that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest be clear when thou judgest 5 Behold I am shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me 6 Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom 7 Purge me with hysope and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow 8 Make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce 9 Hide thy face from my 〈◊〉 and blot out all mine iniquities 10 Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me 11 Cast me not away from thy prâ—sence and take not thy holy spirit from me 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit 13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee 14 Deliver me from bloud-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousâ— 15 O Lord open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise 16 For thou desirest not sacrifice else would I give it thou delightest not in burnt-offering 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise 18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem 19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with burnt-offering and whole burnt-offering then shall they offer Bullocks upon thine altar Psalm li. To the chief musician Maschil A Psalm of David when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said unto him David is come to the house of Abimelech 1 WHy boastest thou thy self in mischief O mighty man the goodness of God endureth continually 2 Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp rasour working deceitfully 3 Thou lovest evil more than good and lying rather than to speak righteousness Selah 4 Thou lovest all devouring words O thou deceitful tongue 5 God shal likewise destroy thee for ever he shall take thee away and pluck thee out of thy dwelling-place and root thee out of the land of the living Selah 6 The righteous also shall see and fear and shall laugh at him 7 Lo this is the man that made not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness 8 But I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God I trust in the mercie of God for ever and ever 9 I will praise thee for ever because thou hast done it and I will wait on thy name Psalm liii To the chief musician upon Mahalath Maschil A Psalm of David 1 THe fool hath said in his heart there is no God corrupt are they and have done abominable iniquitie there is none that doth good 2 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand that did seek God 3 Every one of them is gone back they are altogether become filthie there is none that doth good no not one 4 Have the workers of iniquitie no knowledge who eat up my people as they eat bread they have not called upon God 5 There were they in great fear where no fear was for God hath scatâ—ered the bones of him that encampeth against thee thou shalt put them to flame because God hath despised them 6 O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion when God bringeth back the captiâ—itie of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad The liiii Psalm To the chief musician on Neginoth Maschil A Psalm of David when the Ziphims came and said to Saul Doth not David hide himself with us 1 SAve me O God by thy name and judge me by thy strength 2 Hear my prayer O God give ear to the words of my mouth 3 For strangers are risen up against me and oppressours seek after my soul they have not set God before them Selah 4 Behold God is my helper the Lord is with them that uphold my Soul 5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies cut them off in thy truth 6 I will freely sacrifice unto thee I will praise thy name O Lord for it is good 7 For he hath delivered me out of all trouble and mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies Psalm lv To the chief musician on Neginoth Maschil A Psalm of David 1 GIve ear to my prayer O God and hide not thy self from my supplication 2 Attend unto me and hear me I mourn in my complaint and make a noise 3 Because of the voice of the enemie because of the oppression of the wicked for they cast iniquitie upon me and in wrath they hate me 4 My heart is sore pained within me and the terrours of death are fallen upon me 5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and horrour hath over-whelmed me 6 And I said O that I had wings like a dove for then would I flie awâ—y and be at rest 7 Lo then would I wander far off and remain in the wilderderness Selah 8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest 9 Destroy O Lord and divide their rongues for I have seen violence and strife in the Citie 10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it 11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof deceit and guil depart not from her streets 12 For it was â—ot an enemy that reproched me then I could have borne it neither was it he that hated me that did magnifie himself against me then I would have hid my self from him 13 But it was thou a man mine equal my guid and mine acquaintance 14 We took sweet counsel together and walked unto the house of God in company 15 Let death seize upon them and let them go down quick into hell for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them 16 As for me I will call upon God and the Lord shall save me 17 Evening morning and at noon will I pray and crie aloud and he shall hear my voice 18 He hath delivered my Soul in peace from the battel that was against me for there were many with me 19 God shall hear and afflict them even he that abideth of old Selah because they have no changes therefore they fear not God 20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him he hath broken his covenant 21 The words of his
Selah 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee in whose heart are the ways of them 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well the rain also filleth the pooles 7 They go from strength to strength every one of them in Sion appeareth before God 8 O Lord God of hosts hear my prayer give ear O God of Jacob Selah 9 Behold O God our shield and look upon the face of thine anointed 10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwel in the â—ents of wickedness 11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord will give grace and glory no good thing will â—e with-hold from them that walk uprightly 12 O Lord of hosts blessed is the man that trusteth in thee Psalm lxxxv To the chief musician A Psalm for the sons of Korah 1 LOrd thou hast been favourable unto thy land thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 2 Thou hast forgiven the iniquitie of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Selah 3 Thou hast taken away all thy wrath thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness of thine anger 4 Turn us O God of our salvation and cause thine anger towards us to cease 5 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations 6 Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoce in thee 7 Shew us thy merâ— O Lord and grant salvation 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 â—olly 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him that glorie may dwell in our land 10 Mercie and truth are met together righteousness peace have killed eaâ—h other 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven 12 Yea the Lord shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase 13 Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps Psalm lxxxvi A prayer of David 1 BOw down thine ear O Lord hear me for I am poor and needie 2 Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee 3 Be merciful unto me O Lord for I crie unto thee dayly 4 Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercie unto all them that call upon thee 6 Give ear O Lord unto my praier and attend to the voice oâ— my supplications 7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me 8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee O Lord neither are there any works like unto thy works 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O Lord and shall glorifie thy name 10 For thou art great and doest wondrous things thou art God alone 11 Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name 12 I will praise thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy name for evermore 13 For great is thy mercie toward me and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell 14 O God the proud are risen against me and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul and have not set thee before them 15 But thou O Lord art a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercie and truth 16 O turn unto me and have mercie upon me give thy strength unto thy servant and save the son of thine handmaid 17 Shew me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamâ—d because thou Lord hast holpen me and comforted me Psalm lxxxvii A Psalm or song for the sons of Korah 1 HIs foundation is in the holy mountains 2 The Lord loveth the gates of Sâ—on more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee O citie of God Selah 4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know ' me behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia this man was born there 5 And of Sion it shall be said This and that man was born in her and the highest himself shall establish her 6 The Lord shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there Selah 7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there all my springs are in thee Psalm lxxviii A song or Psalm for the sons of Korah to the chief musician upon Mahalath Leannoth Maschil of Heman the Ezraelite 1 O Lord God of my salvation I have cried day and night before thee 2 Let my prayer come before thee incline thine ear unto my cry 3 For my soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave 4 I aâ— counted with them that go down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength 5 Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou rememberest no more and they are cut off from thy hand 6 Thou hast â—aid me in the lowest pit in darknes in the deeps 7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves Selah 8 Thou hast put away mine aâ—quaintance far from me thou hast made me an abomination unto them I am shut up and I cannot come forth 9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of afâ—â—ition Lord I have called dâ—lly upon thee I have stretched our mine hands unto thee 10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah 11 Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction 12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness 13 But unto thee have I cried O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee 14 Lord why castest thou off my soul why hidest thou thy face from me 15 I am afflicted and readie to die from my youth up while I suâ—fer thy terrours I am distracted 16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cut me off 17 They came round about me dayly like water they compassed me about together 18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness Psalm lxxxix Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite 1 I Will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations 2 For I have said mercie shall be built up for ever thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens 3 I have made a covenant with my chosen I have sworn unto
and I am withered like grass 12 But thou O Lord shalt endure for ever and thy remembrance unto all generations 13 Thou shalt arise and have mercie upon Sion for the time to favour her yea the set time is come 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord and all the Kings of the earth thy glorie 16 When the Lord shall build Sion he shall appear in his glorie 17 He shall regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer 18 This shall be written for the generation to come and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. 19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuarie from heaven did the Lord behold the earth 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner to loose those that are appointed to death 21 To declare the name of the Lord in Sion and his praise in Jerusalem 22 When the people are gathered together and the Kingdoms to serve the Lord. 23 He weakened my strength in the way he shortned my dayes 24 I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my daie 2 Bless the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits 3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases 4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies 5 Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed as the Eagles 6 The Lord executeth righteousness and judgement for all that are oppressed 7 He made known his wayes unto Moses his acts unto the children of Israel 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy 9 He will not allwayes chide neither will he keep his anger for ever 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercie toward them that fear him 12 As far as the East is from the West so far hath he removeth our transgressions from us 13 Like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him 14 For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust 15 As for man his dayes are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth 16 For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 17 But the mercie of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children 18 To such as keep his Covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them 19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all 20 Bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength that do his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word 21 Bless ye the Lord all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that do his pleasure 22 Bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord O my soul. Psalm civ 1 BLess the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art clothed with honour and Majestie 2 Who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain 3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters who maketh the clouds his chariot who walketh upon the wings of the wind 4 Who maketh his angels spirits his ministers a flaming â—ire 5 Who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever 6 Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the mountains 7 At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away 8 They go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them 9 Thou hast set a bound that they may may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth 10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hils 11 They give drink to every beast of the field the wild asses quench their thirst 12 By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation which sing among the branches 13 He watereth the hils from his chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of his works 14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel and hearb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth 15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man and oyl to make his face to shine and bread which strengtheneth mans heart 16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap the Cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted 17 Where the birds make their nests as for the stork the fir-trees are her house 18 The high hils are a refuge for the wild Goats and the rocks for the conies 19 He appointeth the moon for seasons the sun knoweth his going down 20 Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forrest do creep forth 21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God 22 The sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens 23 Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening 24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches 25 So is the great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great 26 There go the ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein 27 These wait all upon thee that thou maist give them their meat in due season 28 That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good 29 Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust 30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 31 The glorie of the Lord shall endure for ever the Lord shall rejoyce in his works 32 He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoak 33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being 34 My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the Lord. 35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more bless thou the Lord O my soul. Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cv 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among the people 2 Sing unto him sing Psalms unto him talk ye of all his wonderous works 3 Glorie ye in his holy name let the heart of them rejoyce that â—ear the Lord. 4 Seek
the Lord and his strength seek his face evermore 5 Remember his marvelous works that he hath done his wonders and the judgements of his mouth 6 O ye seed of Abraham his Servant ye children of Jacob his chosen 7 He is the Lord our God his judgements are in all the earth 8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations 9 Which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac 10 And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and â—o Israel for aâ— everlasting covenant 11 Saying unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance 12 When they were but a few men in number yea very few and strangers in it 13 When they went from one nation to another from one Kingdom to another people 14 He suffered no man to do them wrong yea he reproved Kings for their sakeâ— 15 Saying Touch not mine anointed and do my Prophets no harm 16 Moreover he called for a famin upon the land he brake the whole staff of bread 17 He sent a man before them evâ—n Joseph who was sold for a servant 18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in Iron 19 Until the time that his word came the word of the Lord tryed him 20 The King sent and loosed him even the ruler of the people and let him go free 21 He made â—im Lord of his house and ruler of all his substance 22 To bind his Princes at his pleasure and teach his senatours wisdom 23 Israel also came into Egypt and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24 And he increased his people greatly made them stronger than their enemies 25 He turned their heart to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants 26 He sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen 27 They shewed his signs among them and wonders in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness and made it dark and they rebelled not against his word 29 He turned their waters in o bloud and slew their fish 30 The land brought forth frogs in abundance in the chambers of their Kings 31 He spake and there came diverse sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts 32 He gave them hail for rain and flaming fire in their land 33 He smote their vines also and their fig-trees and brake the trees of their coasts 34 He spake the locusts came and cater-pillars and that without number 35 And did eat up all the hearbs in the land and devoured the fruit of their ground 36 He smote also all the first-born in their land the chief of all their strength 37 He brought them sorth also with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their Tribes 38 Egypt was glad when they departed for the fear of them fell upon them 39 He spread a cloud for a covering and a fire to give light in the night 40 The people asked and he broughâ— quailes and satisfied them with the breaâ— of heaven 41 He opened the rock and the waters gushed out they ran in the dry places like a river 42 For he remembred his holy promise and Abraham his servant 43 And he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness 44 And gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the labour of the people 45 That they might observe his statutes keep his laws Praise ye the Lord. PRaise ye the Lord O give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 2 Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord who can shew forth all his praise 3 Blessed are they that keep judgement and he that doth righteousness at all times 4 Remember me O Lord with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation 5 That I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoyce in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance 6 We have sinned with our fathers we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly 7 Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt they remembred not the multitude of thy mercies but provoked him at the sea even at the red sea 8 Nevertheless he saved them for his names sake that he might make his mighty power to be known 9 He rebuked the red sea also and it was dried up so he led them through the depths as through the wilderness 10 And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy 11 And the waters covered their enemies there was not one of them left 12 Then believed they his words they sang his praise 13 They soon forgat his works they waited not for his counsell 14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert 15 And he gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul. 16 They envied Moses also in the 17 The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram 18 And a fire was kindled in their company the flame burnt up the wicked 19 They made a calfâ— in Horeb and worshipped the molten image 20 Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass 21 They forgat God their saviour which had done great things in Egypt 22 Wonderous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the red sea 23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath least he should destroy them 24 Yea they despised the pleasant land they believed not his word 25 But murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord. 26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness 27 To overthrow their seed also among the nations and to scatterâ— them in the lands 28 They joyned themselves also unto Baal-peor and ate the sacrifices of the dead 29 Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the plague brake in upon them 30 Then stood up Phinehas and exe uted judgement and so the plague was stayed 31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore 32 They angred him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes 33 Because they provoked his spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips 34 They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them 35 But were mingled among the heathen and learned their works 36 And they served their idols which were a snare unto them 37 Yea they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils 38 And shed innocent bloud even the bloud of their sons and their daughters whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan and the land was
polluted with bloud 39 Thus were theâ— defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions 40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people insomuch as he abhorred his own inheritanâ—e 41 And he gave them into the hand of the heathen and they that hated them ruled over them 42 Their enemies also oppressed them they were brought into subjection under their hand 43 Many times did he deliver them but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquitie 44 Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their crie 45 And he remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies 46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives 47 Save us O Lord our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise 48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting let all the people say Amen Praise ye the Lord. 1 O Give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercie endureth for ever 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he hath redeemed from the hands of the enemy 3 And gathered them out of the lands from the East and from the West from the North and from the South 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitarie way they found no Citie to dwell in 5 Hungrie and thirstie their soul fainted in them 6 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses 7 And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a Citie of habitation 8 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness 10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most high 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 13 Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder 15 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children ofmen 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in â—â—nder 17 Fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities are afflicted 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death 19 Then they crie unto the Lord in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses 20 He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction 21 Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men 22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanks-giving and declare his works with rejoycing 23 They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters 24 These see the works of the Lord â—nd his wonders in the deep 25 For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof 26 They mount up to the heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble 27 They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 28 Then they crie unto the Lord in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses 29 He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven 31 Ohâ— that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into drie ground 34 A fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein 35 He turned the wilderness into a standing water and drie ground into water-springs 36 And there he maketh the hungrie to dwell that they may prepare a Citie for habitation 37 And sow the fields and plant vineyards which may yield fruits of increase 38 He blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly suffereth not their cattel to decrease 39 Again they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow 40 He poureth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high and maketh him families like a â—lock 42 The righteous shall see it and rejoyce and all iniquitie shall stop her mouth 43 Who so is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Psalm cviii A Song or Psalm of David 1 O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glorie 2 Awake Psalterie and harp I my self will awake early 3 I will praise thee O Lord among the People and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations 4 For thy mercie is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds 5 Be thou exalted O God above the heavens and thy glorie above all the earth 6 That thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand and answer me 7 God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoyce I will divide Sechem and meet out the valley of Succoth 8 Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of mine head Judah is my law-giver 9 Moab is my wash-pot over Edom will I cast my shoe over Philistia will I triumph 10 Who will bring me into the strong citie who will lead me into Edom. 11 Wilt not thou O God who hast cast us off and wilt not thou O God go foâ—th with our hosts 12 Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man 13 Through God we shall do valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies Psalm cix To the chief musitian A Psalm of David 1 HOld not thy thy peace O God of my praise 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceiptful are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue 3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause 4 For my love they are mine advâ—rsaries but I give my self unto prayer 5 And they have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love 6 Set thou a wicked man over him and lâ—t
Satan stand at his right hand 7 When he shall be judged let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin 8 Let his daies be few and let another take his office 9 Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow 10 Let his children be continual vagabonds and beg let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places 11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath and let the stranger spoil his labour 12 Let there be none to extend mercie unto him neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children 13 Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembred of the Lord and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out 15 Let them be before the Lord continually that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth 16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercie but persecuted the poor and needy man that he might even slay the broken in heart 17 As he loved cursing so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing so let it be far from him 18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyl into his bones 19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually 20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord and of them that speak evil against my soul. 21 But do thou for me O God the Lord for thy names sake because thy mercy is good deliver thou me 22 For I am poor and needy and mine heart is wounded within me 23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth I am tossed up and down as the locust 24 My knees are weak through fasting and my flesh faileth of fatness 25 I became also a reproach unto them when they looked upon me they shaked their heads 26 Help me O Lord my God O save me according to thy mercie 27 That they may know that this is thy hand that thou Lord hast done it 28 Let them curse but bless thou when they arise let them be ashamâ—d but let thy servant rejoice 29 Let mine adversaâ—ies be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle 30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth yea I will praise him among the multitude 31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul. Psalm cx A Psalm of David 1 THe Lord said unto my Lord fit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool 2 The Lord â—shall send the rod of thy strength out of Sion rule thou in the middest of thine enemies 3 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth 4 The Lord hath sworn and will not repent thou art a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeck 5 The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath 6 He shall judge among the heathen he shall fill the places with the dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many countries 7 He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up the head Psalm cxi 1 PRraise ye the Lord I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation 2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein 3 His work is honourable glorious and his righteousness endureth for ever 4 He hath made his wonderfull works to be remembred the Lord is gracious and full of compassion 5 He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindfull of his covenant 6 He hath shewed his people the power of his works that he may give them the heritage of the heathen 7 The works of his hands are verity and judgement all his commandments are sure 8 They stand fast for ever and ever and are done in truth and uprigâ—tness 9 He sent redemption unto his people he hath commanded his covenant for ever holy and reverend is his name 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom a good understanding have all they that do his commandments his praise endureth for ever Psalm cxii 1 PRaise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord that delighteth greatly in his commandments 2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth the generation of the upright shall be blessed 3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house and his righteousness endureth forever 4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness he is gracious and full of compassion and righteous 5 A good man sheweth favour and lendeth he will guide his affairs with discretion 6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance 7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. 8 His heart is established he shall not be afraid untill he see his desire upon his enemies 9 He hath dispersed he hath given to the poore his righteousness endureth for ever his horn shall be exhalted with honour 10 The wicked shall see it and be grieved he shall gnash with his teeth and melt away the desire of the wicked shall perish Psalm cxiii 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise O ye servants of the Lord praise the name of the Lord. 2 Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermorâ— 3 From the 〈…〉 the sunne unto the 〈◊〉 down of the 〈◊〉 the Lords name is 〈◊〉 be praised 4 The Lord is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens 5 Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high 6 Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth 7 He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill 8 That he may set him with Princes even with the Princes of his people 9 He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyfull mother of children praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxiv 1 WHen Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of a strange language 2 Judah was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion 3 The sea saw it and fled Jordan was dâ—iven back 4 The mountains skipped like ramâ— and the little hills like lambs 5 What ailed thee O thou sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back 6 Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams and ye little hills like lambs 7 Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the
help me 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant for I do not forget thy commandments A song of degrees Psalm cxx 1 IN my distress I cried unto the Lord and he heard me 2 Deliver my Soul O Lord from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue 3 What shall be given unto thee or what shall be done unto thee thou false tongue 4 Sharp arrows of the mightie with coals of juniper 5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar 6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace 7 I am for peace but when I speak they are for war Psalm cxxi A song of degrees 1 I Will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help 2 My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven earth 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved he that keepeth thee will not slamber 4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep 5 The Lord is thy keeper the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night 7 The Lord shall reserve thee from all evil he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore Psalm cxxii A song of degrees of David 1 I Was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord. 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem 3 Jerusalem is builded as a Citie that is compact together 4 Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord unto the testimonie of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. 5 For there are set thrones of judgement the thrones of the house of David 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee 7 Peace be within thy walls and prosperiâ—ie within thy palaces 8 For my brethren and companions sake I will now say Peace be with thee 9 Because of tâ—e house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good Psalm cxxiii A song of degreeâ— 1 UNto thee lift I up mine eyeâ— O thou that dwellest in the heavens 2 Behoâ—d as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their maiters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercie upon us 3 Have mercie upon us O Lord have mercie upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt 4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud Psalm cxxiv A song of degrees of David 1 IF it had not been the Lord who was on our side now may Israel say 2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over our soul. 5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. 6 Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped 8 Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Psalm cxxv A song of degrees 1 THey that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for ever 3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquitie 4 Do good O Lord unto those that be good and to them that are upright in their hearts 5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquitie but peace shall be upon Israel Psalm cxxvi A song of degrees 1 WHen the Lord turned again the captivitie of Sion we were like them that dream 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter our toÌ„gue with singing then said they among the heathen the Lord hath done great things for them 3 The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad 4 Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth hearing pretious seed shall doubtless â—ome again wiâ—h reioycing bringing his sheaves with him Psalm cxxvii A Song of degrees for or as in the margin of Solomon 1 EXcept the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it except the Lord keep the citie the watchman waketh but in vain 2 It is vain for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrow for so he giveth his beloved sleep 3 Lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward 4 As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man so are children of the youth 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate Psalm cxxviii A Song of degrees 1 BLessed is every one that feareth the Lord that walketh in his waies 2 〈◊〉 thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands happy shalt thou be and it shall be well with thee 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitfull vine by the sides of thine house thy children like olive plants round about thy table 4 Behold that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. 5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Sion and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life 7 Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and peaâ—e upon Israel Psalm cxxix 1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me 3 The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows 4 The Lord is righteous he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Sion 6 Let them be as the grass upon the house tops which withereth before it springeth up 7 Wherewith the mowe silieth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom 8 Neither do they whiâ—h go by say the blessing of the Lord be upon you we bless you in the name of the Lord. Psalm CXXX A song of degrees 1 OUt of the depths have I cried uno thee O Lord. 2 Lord hear my vioce let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication 3 If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities
places they shall hear my words for they are sweet 7 Our bones are scatterâ—d the graves mouth as whâ—n one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth 8 But mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute 9 Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me and the grins of the workers of iniquitie 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets whilest that I withall escape Psalm cxlii Masâ—hil of David a pâ—ayer when he was in the cave 1 I cried unto the Lord with my voice with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication 2 I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me then thou knewest my path in the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me 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. 5 I cried unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living 6 Attend unto my cry for I am brought very low deliver me from my persecutours for they are stronger than I. 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 Psalm cxliii A Psalm of David 1 HEar my prayer O Lord give ear to my supplications in thy faithfulness answer me in thy righteousness 2 And enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified 3 For the enemie 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 4 Therefore is my spirit over-whelmed within me my heart within me is desolate 5 I remember the dayes of old I meditate on all thy works I muse on the work of thine hands 6 I stretch forth mine hands unto thee my soul thin steth after thee as a thâ—rsty land Sâ—laâ— 7 Heaâ— me speedily O Lord my spirit saileth hide not thy face from me least I be like unto them that go down into the pit 8 Cause me to heathy loving kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust cause me to know the way wherein I shall walk for I lift up my soul unto thee 9 Deliver me O Lord from mine enemies I flie unto thee to hide me 10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me in the land of uprightness 11 Quicken me O Lord for thy names sake for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble 12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul for I am thy servant Psalm cxliv. A Psalm of David BLessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight 2 My goodness and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer my shield and he in whom I trust who subdueth my people under me 3 Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him 4 Man is like to vanitie his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away 5 Bow thy heavenâ— O Lord and come down touch the mountains and they shall smoke 6 Cast forth lightning and scatter them shoot out thine arrows destroy them 7 Send thine hand from above rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children 8 Whose mouth speaketh vanitie and their right hand is a right hand of falshood 9 I will sing a new song unto thee O God upon a â—saltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee 10 It is he that giveth salvation unto Kings who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword 11 Rid me and deliver me from the hand of strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falshood 12 That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our daugâ—ters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace 13 That our garners may be full affording all manner of store that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets 14 That our oxen may be strong to labour that there be no breaking in nor going out that there be no complaining in our streets 15 Happy is that people that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the Lord. Psalm cxlv Davids Psalm of praise 1 I Will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy name for ever and ever 2 Every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name for ever and ever 3 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mightie acts 5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy Majestie and of thy wonderous works 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and will declare thy greatness 7 They shall abundantly utter the memorie of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness 8 The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercie 9 The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works 10 All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and the saints shall bless thee 11 They shall speak of the glorie of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power 12 To make known to the sons of men his mightie acts and the glorious Majestie of his Kingdom 13 Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 14 The Lord upholdeth all that fall raiseth up all those that be bowed down 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee and and thou givest them their meat in due season 16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing 17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works 18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth 19 He 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 that fear 〈…〉 will hâ—ar their crie and will save them 20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him but all the wicked will he destroy 21 My mouth â—hall speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever Psalm cxlvi 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise the Lord O my soul. 2 While I live will I praise the Lord I will sing praise unto my God while I have any being 3 Put not your trâ—st in Princes nor in the son of men in whom there is no help 4 His breath goeth forth be returneth to this
earth in that very day his thoughts perish 5 Happie is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God 6 Which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth trust for ever 7 Which executeth judgement for the oppressed whiâ—h givâ—th food to the hungry the Lord looseth the prisoners 8 The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down the Lord loveth the righteous 9 The Lord preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow but the way of the wicked he turneth it upâ—side do 〈◊〉 10 The Lord shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion unto all generations Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxlvii 1 PRaise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is coâ—ly 2 The Lord doth build up Jerusalem he gathereth together the out-casts of Israel 3 He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds 4 He telleth the number of the stars he calleth them all by their names 5 Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite 6 The Lord lifteth up the meek he casteth the wicked down to the ground 7 Sings unto the Lord with thanks-giving sing praise upon the harp unto our God 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds who prepareth rain for the earth who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains 9 He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens which crie 10 He delighteth not in the strenght of horse he taketh not pleasure in the leggs of a man 11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercie 12 Praise the Lord O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion 13 For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates he hath blessed thy children within thee 14 He maketh peace in thy borders and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat 15 He sendeth forth his commandement upon earth his word runneth very swiftly 16 He giveth snow like wooll he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes 17 He casteth forth his ice like morsels who can stand before his cold 18 He sendeth out his word and meltâ—th them he causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow 19 He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes his judgements unto Israel 20 He hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgements they have not known them Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxlviii 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise ye the Lord from the heavens praise him in the heights 2 Praise ye him all his Angels praise ye him all his hosts 3 Praise ye him sun and moon praise ye him all ye stars of light 4 Praise him ye heavens of heavens ye waters that be above the heavens 5 Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded they were created 6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever he hath made a decree which shall not pass 7 Praise the lord from the earth ye dragons all deeps 8 Fire hail snow and vapour stormy wind fulfilling his word 9 Mountains and all hils fruitful trees and all Cedars 10 Beasts and aâ— cattel creeping things and flying fowl 11 Kings of the earth and all people Princes all Judges of the earth 12 Both young men and maidens old men and children 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glorie is above the earth and heaven 14 He also exalteth the horn of his people the praise of all his saints even of the children of Israel a people near unto him Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cxlix 1 PRaise ye the Lord sing unto Lord a new the song and his praise in the congregation of saints 2 Let Israel rejoyce in him that made him let the children of Sion be joyfull in their King 3 Let them praise his nâ—me in the dance let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp 4 For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvatâ—â—â— 5 Let the saints be joyful in glorie let them sing aloud upon their beds 6 Let the high praiseâ— of God be in their mouth and a two edged sword in their hand 7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people 8 To bind their Kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron 9 To execute upon them the judgement written this honour have all his saints Praise ye the Lord. Psalm cl 1 PRaise ye the Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power 2 Praise him for his mightie acts praise him according to his excellent greatness 3 Praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the psaltery and harp 4 Praise him with the timbrel dance praiâ—e him with the stringed instruments and organs 5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals praise him upon the high sounding cymbals 6 Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
2 I have no help but thine therefore quit thee answerably to the affiance I put in thee for my defence for thou art mine all in all therefore stand to me and appear for me fail me not but by thine Almighty power defend and keep me safe from my violent adversaries 3 Nor onely defend me but also offend them that would offend me secure me from my persecutors and prevent their cruel designs upon me Let thine actions outwardly speak thy loving kindness towards me and inwardly perswade mine heart to firm affiance in thee amidst mine afflictions 4 O Lord thou knowest in what place thou hast set me not as a private man therefore for revenge but as a Prophet and publick person representing thy Christ and Church do I accurse mine enemies and pray that they may not prosper in their designs but that confusion and destruction may be the portion of them that persecute my life let them be discomfited and brought to ruine that plot mine 5 Let thy violent and sudden judgements sweep them away past all help Yea with a divine and unresistable power from heaven do thou utterly defeat all their humane power wherein they put such confidence 6 And let them totally miscarry in their discomfiture so that they may not know how to escape to save themselves but void of power and policy let them stumble and fall and be followed at the heels by thine immediate judgements until they be overtaken and quite destroyed 7 Yea Lord let them be catched in thy trap as they have endeavoured to catch me in theirs using all manner of deceit and craft to compass my destruction and to take away my life unjustly without any desert or cause given by me 8 Measure to mine enemy as he would measure to me Let sudden destruction befall him when he least fears himself and makes most sure of me Yea let him be caught in his own very craft and the self-same ruin he intends to me let it fall on him 9 So wilt thou give me cause of rejoycing in thee and thy favour towards me yea and accordingly I will exceedingly rejoyce in thy saving mercy and will praise thee for it ascribing all my safety to it 10 Yea both soul and body each part and faculty with all their might in a joynt and joyful acclamation shall feelingly break out into unexpressible praises and thankful acknowledgements of thy transcendent power and goodness in my behalf So that I will make faithful publication of thee to be a non-such for poor afflicted persons to trust in and seek to when they are distressed and over-powered by unjust violence yea for the most impotent and despicable person living to flie to to be righted and relieved on him that wrongfully violates and oppresseth him be he never so much too hard for him 11 Thou O Lord knowst how falsly I as Christ shall be am accused by mine injurious adversaries to Saul who by might suppresses right and I can get no hearing but am partially and unduly proceeded against as guilty of such things as never so much as came in my thoughts nor am not suffered to clear my self 12 Yea they have dealt most inhumanely with me requiting all the good service that I have done them by preserving their lives with the apparent hazard of mine own against their enemies with the going about enviously to deprive me of mine as they shall Christ of his 13 Their carriage towards me is not as mine to them for when they ailed any thing were sick or in trouble so far was I from wishing them ill as is falsely suggested that I fasted and prayed for thy mercy to them and deliverance of them as for my self though I now perceive God having rejected them for their wickedness I lost my labour but not my reward for I have the comfort of a self-excusing conscience by it 14 Thou Lord knowest what manner of duty and love I bare to Saul how that had he been my brother a thousand times I could not have borne and shewed more tender affections to him than I did Yea my sorrow was as natural and passionate for him as a childs for his mother 15 But alas how differently have they walked towards me driving me into adversity and rejoycing at it all that envied and maligned me combining together against me to bring me to ruin and hatred yea base unworthy wretches men of flattering and lying tongues laid their heads together to accuse and calumniate me which being innocent I suspected not incessantly back-biting me and slandering mine innocency 16 They have scornfully derided me at their feasts and in their cups even such as I thought had been my friends but they prove false ones and have uttered their spitefull aspersions of me and threats against me 17 O Lord be moved to compassionate me and be not always a spectator of my miseries and a tolerator of mine enemies cruelties but take me and my cause into thy merciful consideration and let not my life be a prey to their hatred but preserve and deliver my pretious soul that principal part from the malicious rage of them that would unjustly deprive me of it by cruel death 18 Which when thou shalt have done and made me partaker of thy publick ordinances from which mine enemies have driven me I will promise to magnifie and praise thee with sacrifices of thanksgiving in the face of all Israel gathered together at thy Sanctuary 19 Seeing I stand for the right let not mine enemies that maintain a wrong cause against me ever have their wills upon me and rejoyce at mine unjust overthrow never let â—hem have cause mockingly to insult and contemptuously to jear in their sleeves at my destruction that they causelesly hunt after and hope for 20 For mine enemies are so implacably and violently bent against me that no parley or hope of peace can be had at their hands but they practise all manner of wayes by false accusations and treacherous machinations to molest and harm me yea utterly to ruin me that would fain live peaceably by them in the land of Israel without doing or thinking any harm unto them and not be driven thence 21 They have made me their table-talk belching out their hatred against me in impudent false assertions and joyful expressions at my misery 22 This their carriage towards me O Lord thou art privy to and hast seen their malice forbear no longer to rebuke them for it O Lord whom I serve and trust be not deaf to my cries nor a stranger to my wrongs but take my part and send me speedy help 23 Be provoked by mine enemies outrage and my wronged innocency to execute judgement on mine and my causes behalf upon the wrong-doers O my most gracious and Almighty Lord God 24 Such is my reighteousness and innocency in this matter as I put it into thine
hands to be judge of and pray thee O thou my righteous and good God in thy justice and faithfulness to defend the cause of thy servant where the fault is there let the punishment light and let not them that are wicked have cause to rejoyce at my destruction that am innocent 25 Let them never have cause to rejoyce in my ruin and say when they see it It is as we would have it let them not prey upon me and boast themselves against me and say we have our desire 26 Let them O Lord as enemies to Christ and his Church be shamefully defeated of their hopes and brought to utter destruction even the whole rout of them that unjustly wish me ill and rejoyce to see it befall me Let disgrace and obloquy be their portion that seek to make it mine and that proudly insult over me in my misery 27 And on the contrary let them as friends of Christ and his Church have their hearts desire and their bellies full of joy and comfort that out of love and pitty to mine innocency and the cause of Christ as it is engaged in me wish well to me and take part with me Let such have cause for ever to remember with praise and thankfulness thy loving-kindness and mercy to me thine annointed and chosen one shewn in my preservation and prosperous success against mine enemies and in thy vindication of mine innocency against my false malignant accusers 28 And I for mine own part promise that thy praises shall never die on my hand but when as thou shalt have fulfilled thy goodness and truth to me I will all my life long preach and declare thy faithfulness and grace for the defence of thy people and thy righteous judgements against their wicked enemies to invite others to trust in thee and wait upon thee of both which I shall be then a singular example which I will perpetually publish to thy no less singular glory The xxxvi PSALM David gives as I conceive the character of Saul and the rest of his enemies branding them deeply for wicked men and treacherous But with all incourageth himself in the superlative faithfulness mercy and loving-kindness which God hath promised and keeps in store for his people that serve him and trust in him which shall not deceive them and which he prayes may be ever the portion of all the godly but more especially of himself in his preservation and his enemies destruction To him that is first and principal of all the Quire is recommended for the care and ordering of it to be sung by David the designed and dedicated servant of the Lord this Psalm which himself made 1 THe constant course of wickedness which appears in my perverse and malicious enemies adures me that I may with a safe conscience censure them to be wicked men void of all conscience and piety enemies to God and goodness and that both they and their cause is naught 2 It clearly appears they are so for that they proudly bolster up themselves in their own evil wayes without remorse or amendment and so its like will ever do till God by his judgements convince them how hateful they are 3 They make no conscience to slander and dissemble they have quite given over the profession and practise of godliness and honesty counting it foolishness and practise nothing but craft and iniquity as if that were the onely wisdom 4 They set all their wits a work to do mischief night and day early and late they make a very trade of it with might and main endeavoring to work wickedness never scrupeling to act any thing be it never so sinful but the worse it is the better they like it 5 Yet have I no cause to dread them considering how far thy mercy and truth wherein I trust is able do for me above what they can do against me which as far exceeds them their power and policie as the heavens and the clouds above do the earth beneath 6 Thy righteousnes goes as far beyond all that they by unrighteousnes can do against thy people as great mountains do little mole-hills and thy wisdom is not to be fathomed by reason it is to it as the Sea to shallowes All thine infinit excellencies are thy peoples inheritances whom thou certainly wilt preserve and bless maugre their enemies who notwithstanding the worlds sinfulness preservest man and beast of thy meer faithfulness and them much more 7 Thy goodness appears to be so great in thy promises and such abundance of loving kindness and mercie is held forth therein as that it is a most sweet and powerful attraction to draw men to thee to trust in thee for salvation and protection whose eyes thou openest and whose hearts thou disposest 8 And such as do convert to thee and repose themselves upon thee with trust and confidence they shall not repent it but shall feel and find infinit soul-satisfaction in the track of pietie and use of holy ordinances and thou shalt utterly quench their thirst after the world and sin by inspiring them with thy divine and heavenly grace and consolation to their surpassing ravishment and content 9 For in thee and from thee onely is the life of grace and true consolation to be had in the light of thy countenance and gracious favour shining upon us and by thy illuminating us therewith we shall have inward light and happiness when we are otherways never so in darkness and infelicitie 10 O Lord as thou hast promised so perform thy grace and favour to them that are enlightned by thee and drawn to thee withdraw not the light of thy countenance from such as serve thee and believe in thee but shine upon thy faithful and sincere people and bless them with preservation and safetie answerable to thy promise and their trust 11 As thou hast so still continue to succour me and prevent the attempts of my proud and wicked enemies upon me who would tread me under foot let them not with all their might and malice be able to stagger my faith in thee nor compass my ruin 12 But let me for my part be able to see by experience and to say to thy glorie There are my wicked enemies for all their pride and power destroyed by the just judgement of God and that according to thy promise by thine almighty power they are utterly subdued under me and fallen without likelihood of recoverie The xxxvii PSALM David grounding much upon his own experience and observation of Gods dealing with himself presseth many excellent exhortations upon the people of God advising them to patience faith and comfort in God promising them in so doing a happie issue to themselves and an unhappie to their wicked adversaries which exhortations and promises doubled and redoubled the better to take impression and beget incouragement is the substance of this whole Psalm A Psalm made by David
for the good and well-fare of his Church and to be a type of Christ be blessed in his own person and a means of much blessing unto Israel and blessed of them again with a prayer and praise to God for him and his Government Yea let the Priests of the Lord that wait upon the Altar whose office by the Lords special appointment it is to bless his people discharge their sacred function in performance of that holy action from out that sacred place where they immediatly attend the Lords service upon David and his people the figure of Christ and his Church and let him and them be blessed accordingly both of Priests and people that worship within or without in the Courts of the sanctuarie of the Lord. 27 God hath approved himself to be the Lord omnipotent for that he hath brought us out of a miserable estate void of temporal but especially spiritual felicitie having of late nothing but confusion amongst us in Church and Kingdom and reduced us to a comfortable condition in both principally in the enjoyment of the Doctrine and ordinances of his saving truth and holy worship which by David and Christ that blessed type and Antytipe are made to shine forth upon the Church and people of God after the dark times of Sauls reign and Gentilism like as the sun comforts and lightens all creatures when the darkness is past for which unspeakable and unvaluable mercie let us therefore bring those offerings and sacrifices the Law appointeth accompanied with sincere and hearty praise and thanks-givings before him and tie them with cords ready for their oblation and that in abundance answerable to his benefits and for the larger expression of our praises in proportion to those Holocausts of Hallelujahs that shall be offered under Christs regiment Let the people by their frank and liberal offerings find the Priests store of work in their sacrificing imployment at the Altar 28 For my part I am resolved to lead the way by mine example unto thy praising and magnifying and I confess cause I have to do so if I consider how much thou hast done for me and how thou hast made choice of me to this place and office of honour and service 29 As I begun so I conclude with hearty advice and instigation to be mindful of and thankful for the goodness of God whose mercie to his Church and faithful people never failed nor never shall The cxix PSALM This Psalm by the Author of it which some say and by many circumstances probably was David in his flight and exile is divided into 22 parts according to the number and order of letters in the Hebrew Alphabet each part containing eight verses and the first word of every verse in each part beginning with the same letter that is prefixet to the part it self as it is in order and succession in the Hebrew A. B. C. which its conceived was done for help of memorie The Psalm is without title and for the matter of it drives on no one particular subject but partly by the Psalmists own example and partly by rule is represented what is requisit to enter a man into and carrie him through a holy life specially in an afflicted state which are promiscuously scattered throughout the Psalm promises precepts documents prayers being variously intermingled and to be taken notice of accordingly by the Reader as they happen in his way as also the Authors exalting Gods grace and decrying self in his own person a president for all and a confutation of all self-opinionists or justiciaries whether Papists Armenians in judgement or practise mâ—n morally righteous or carnally confident Israelitish Christians which worship God but not in the spirit and rejoyce but not in Christ Iesus having confidence in the flesh contrarie to Paul Phil. 3.3 and David throughout this Psalm Aleph Is the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet and is therefore here according to order prefixed to the first part of this Psalm to signifie that it is so and so do all the rest of the Letters in their ranck and order as they are prefixed to each part signifie alike numerarie orderly succession of the rest of the parts of this Psalm for instance The second letter Beth signifies that to be the second part and the third letter the third part and so of the rest 1 ALl men would be blessed but certainly happie and onely happie is here and shall be hereafter that man that seeks not after a sensual sinful felicitie as most do but on the contrarie throughout the whole course and trade of his life approves himself as one that walks towards heaven in heavens way in conscience to God avoiding the spots and stains of every sin in heart and life that may render him unpleasing or unsightly with God and strives to walk exactly in holy obedience to all his commandments to his well-pleasing 2 Yea they onely do and shall partake of true happiness peace of conscience and favour with God which deviate not into by-wayes of their own fancying but keep constant to an obediential walking with him according to the rules he in his word hath prescribed and commanded and that set so high a rate upon his grace and favour as to over-value it to all other happiness and therefore pray for it as their chiefest good and strive to walk worthy of it in all well-pleasing with sincere and entire obedience 3 Nor dare they transgress or willingly contract the least guilt of any known sinne upon themselves out of a filiall fear of displeasing God and forfeiting his favour but carefully tread his paths which onely lead to life and true happiness and bring with them sweet peace of conscience and seals of sincerity 4 And if it be asked what is the cause of the blessed mans exact walking and not taking the liberty that others do to sinne it is because he prefers Gods will before his own because the holy God strictly commandeth holiness therefore is he strict in observance to do thereafter to keep all and break none of his commandments 5 Lord let other men take other courses my prayer is and ever shall be that I may be so happy as to be enabled by thee to walk in well-pleasing to thee all my dayes and in all my wayes according to the rule of righteousness 6 Others think shame of holiness but I count it my glory yea the more holiness the less shame to come short of duty and sincerity is onely shame-worthy make me therefore in sincerity of heart and integrity of life to do thy whole will with my whole heart and then and never but then am I as I would be because then and onely then I am as I ought to be able to look God and man in the face free from an evil conscience 7 Truly Lord if I know mine own heart and I take it to be upright towards thee there is nothing that thou