is the propitiatory which is his footstool since he sits on the wings of the Cherubins 1. THe LORD reigneth let the people tremble he sitteth between the cherubims let the earth be moved 1. LET the people fret and be tumultuous if they please it will do them no service for the Lord is the supreme Governour of the world whether they will or no and they had better with a pious fear submit themselves unto Him Though the whole earth should be in an uproar we are safe and secure for the Lord is attended with innumerable heavenly Ministers who are a Guard to his faithfull worshippers 2. The LORD is great in Sion and he is high above all people 2. The Lord whose Palace is in Sion is transcendently great there is no power on earth able to oppose Him who infinitely surpasses the united strength of all people 3. Let them praise thy great and terrible name for it is holy 3. Let them all therefore praise and reverently acknowledge thy mighty and dreadfull Majesty for that alone is every way most excellent and hath no equal and therefore worthy of all veneration 4. The Kings strength also loveth judgment thou dost establish equity thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob. 4. For though none can resist Him yet He is not a King that uses his power to wrong or oppress his Subjects but to do them right and give them relief in which He delights This is thy character O Lord who hast established most equal Laws among us and hitherto governed the seed of Jacob with exact justice and singular mercy 5. Exalt ye the LORD our God and worship at his footstool for he is holy 5. Do you therefore above all other people extoll the Lord our God both in your thoughts affections and words and turning your faces towards the Ark of his presence prostrate your selves before his Majesty in token of your absolute subjection to Him For He is incomparably above all other Beings and the proper object of your adoration 6. Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among them that call upon his name they called upon the LORD and he answered them 6. Thus did Moses and Aaron two of his principal and most famous Ministers XXXII Exod. 11. XVI Numb 45 46. and thus did Samuel one of his greatest Prophets that were wont to intercede for you 1 Sam. VII 5 8 9. VIII 5. XII 19. These holy men fell down before Him to make their humble supplications to Him and He gave them what they desired 7. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar they kept his testimonies and the ordinance that he gave them 7. He spake to them in a familiar manner telling them his mind out of a pillar of cloud wherein He appeared to them XXXIII Exod. 9 10. XII Numb 5. XVI 42. 1 Sam. III. 10. and they like faithfull servants of his conformed themselves to his precepts by which He testified his will to them and worshipped him after that manner that He appointed them 8. Thou answeredst them O LORD our God thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions 8. Whereby they obtained great favour with Thee O Lord our God for when they prayed to Thee Thou fulfilledst their petitions passing by for their sakes the sins of those who had highly offended Thee but taking a most severe vengeance on all those who contemned their authority and were contriving how to depose them XII Numb 2 9 10. XVI 3 31 35. 1 Sam. VIII 7 8 9 c. 9. Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy hill for the LORD our God is holy 9. Imitate therefore the piety of those admirable men and raise your thoughts and affections and voices to extoll and magnifie the Lord our God as much as you are able for you can never do it enough And in token of your absolute subjection to Him go and prostrate your selves before Him at his house on the holy hill of Sion for the Lord our God is incomparably above all other Beings and alone worthy of your adoration PSALM C. A Psalm of Praise ARGUMENT There is no other Psalm hath the like Title with this which is called a Psalm of Praise or rather of Thanksgiving and acknowledgment for Divine blessings as the word is translated below Verse 4. and in most other places For which reason I suppose it is that the Hebrews imagin as the Chaldee Paraphrase as well as other of their Authours tells us it was peculiarly appointed to be sung when their sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered mentioned VII Levit. 12 13. The Companies also or Quires of them who gave thanks to God are called by this Name XII Nehem. 31 38. Which makes it probable that the Levites sang this Song upon that occasion which the Greeks think was made by David who invites all the world to join with the Israelites in the service of Him who was kind and gracious to them beyond expression Accordingly we Christians now properly use it in acknowledgment of God's wonderfull love to us in Christ by whom we offer up continually spiritual sacrifices for redeeming us by the sacrifice He made of himself for making the world anew and creating us again unto good works according to his faithfull promises which we may depend upon for ever I do not know but the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made Ver. 3. may be used here as it is 1 Sam. XII 6. for advancing raising or preferring them as He is there said to have done Moses and Aaron making them to be what they then were a famous people in a good Land which seems to agree best with the following words and not we our selves and therefore I have not omitted that sense For to deny that we created our selves is altogether needless but that it is not to be ascribed to our industry or wit that we are raised to a happy condition is a proper expression of humility 1. MAKE a joyfull noise unto the LORD all ye lands 1. LET all the people of the earth lift up their voices in triumphant Songs to the honour of the Lord who deserves all our praises 2. Serve the LORD with gladness come before his presence with singing 2. Make the service of the Lord your delight nay greatest pleasure and when you approach into his Tabernacle shout for joy that you are admitted into his blessed presence to praise Him with your chearfull hymns 3. Know ye that the LORD he is God it is he that hath made us and not we our selves we are his people and the sheep of his pasture 3. Consider that the Lord whom you worship is the Creatour and the Governour of the world who gave us our Being and all the good things we enjoy His we are and by his power and goodness not our own we are become so great and mighty a Nation whom out of his own mere good will alone He hath made his peculiar people of
the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth 3. For in the day when thy forces 2 Tim. II. 3. compleatly armed with a Divine power IV. Act. 33. shall march forth to subdue the world unto thy obedience they that are fit for thy Kingdom IX Luk. 62. XIII Act. 48. shall chearfully submit themselves and present Thee with free-will Offerings in token of their absolute subjection to Thee II. Act. 45. IV. 34. And great shall be the number of chosen men 1 Joh. II. 13. who glad to see the night of Ignorance gone shall at thy first appearance by the celestial blessing fall unto Thee as thick as the morning dew 4. The LORD hath sworn and will not repent Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek 4. And happy are they who live under thy Government for the Lord hath unchangeably resolved that Thou shalt be a Priest as well as a King with full power to bless all thy Subjects not onely in that but in all future Ages even to all Eternity For Thou shalt not be a Priest like those after Aaron's order who die to make room for others but like that great King and Priest Melchisedek shalt neither have any Predecessour nor Successour in thine Office but continue a royal Priest for evermore Hebr. VII 5. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath 5. Who as he will be most compassionate to all those that heartily acknowledge Him for their Lord and submit unto His Government so will break in pieces the greatest powers on earth that provoke his displeasure by obstinate opposal of his Authority at thy right hand 6. He shall judg among the heathen he shall fill the places with the dead bodies he shall wound the heads over many countries 6. From whence He shall demonstrate Himself to all the heathen world to be their Law-giver and their Judge taking a severe vengeance on those that persecute his Subjects and destroying at last even that mighty Empire which shall then rule over many Countries 7. He shall drink of the brook in the way therefore shall he lift up the head 7. But before all this He shall first humble Himself to the meanest condition not living in the state of a King here in this world but of a way-faring man IX Luk. 56. who is content with such provision as he meets withall For which cause after the enduring many hardships even death it self He shall be highly exalted to his Royal and Priestly dignity in the Heavens from whence He shall never fall PSALM CXI Hallelujah i. e. Praise the Lord. ARGUMENT It is certain this is the Title of the Psalm which consists of as many short Metres as there are Letters in the Hebrew Alphabet and therefore cannot begin with Hallelujah whos 's first Letter is the fifth not the first Letter in that Alphabet In which order it proceeds for the better help of the memory being composed thus artificially that every one as well as the singers to whom the Hallelujah perhaps is particularly directed might have in their minds a brief form of thanking God especially upon festival days for the wonderfull things He had done for that Nation It was a meditation which the Authour had in time of peace and quiet for in distress or immediately after a great deliverance mens spirits are not at liberty to use such art and curiosity in their composures as there is in this Psalm being full at those seasons of such passions as make them neglect it even when they are inclined to use it see Psalm XXV For which reason I think Theodoret's opinion hath no ground that the Psalmist hath respect to the great Victory obtained by Jehoshaphat over the Ammonites and other Nations who invaded his Kingdom for which they gave thanks to God presently after 2 Chr. XX. It is more likely that David who composed those larger forms of commemoration Psalm CV and CVI. made this as I said for a compendious remembrance of what is there more largely delivered And that He might not exceed the number of the Ten Commandments as some give the reason of it in the Verses of this Psalm the Metres of the two last are so short that they have each of them three Letters of the Alphabet in them whereas all the former have but two 1. PRaise ye the LORD I will praise the LORD with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation 1. I Will make my thankfull acknowledgments to the Lord not onely with my lips or with some slight affections of my mind but with all my heart and soul And that not onely in the private society of those good â—…en whom I am more inâ—…mately acquainted withall but in the publick congregation of all his people 2. The works of the LORD are great sought out of all them that have pleasure therein 2. Who ought to join together to praise the Lord for his mighty and wonderfull works which it will not cost them much labour to understand for they are easily found out by all those who take any pleasure in such inquiries 3. His work is honourable and glorious and his righteousness endureth for ever 3. And there is not one of them but is full of majesty and splendour and the fruit of his infinite bounty and faithfulness to his promise which He still expresses towards us and will doe so for ever 4. He hath made his wonderfull works to be remembred the LORD is gracious and full of compassion 4. And such is his Goodness lest we should forget his Benefits He hath instituted solemn times for the commemoration of the wonders He hath done for us XII Exod. 14. XIII 3 9 c. which are everlasting testimonies that we serve a most gracious and compassionate Lord. 5. He hath given meat unto them that fear him he will ever be mindfull of his covenant 5. Who gave our Forefathers whom by his wonderfull works He possessed with the fear of Him XIV Exod. 31. the spoil of the Egyptians XII Exod. 35 36. and afterward fed them with Manna in the wilderness XVI Exod. according to his Covenant which He had made long before XV. Gen. 14. and will never forget in future Ages 6. He hath shewed his people the power of his works that he may give them the heritage of the heathen 6. He hath evidently demonstrated to his people the greatness of his power in destroying Sihon the Amorite II. Deut. 24 25. and Og the King of Bashan III. Deut. 21 24. with the rest of the Amorites and other Nations in the Land of Canaan X. Josh 6 11 12 c. which He took from the ancient Inhabitants that He might give it us for our possession 7. The works of his hands are verity and judgment all his commandments are sure 7. In which He did them no wrong but was exactly
both by my Birth and by my Education and by this marvellous Deliverance whereby Thou hast rescued me from the power of death which had in a manner taken hold of me 17. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the LORD 17. I can never sure prove ungratefull to Thee unto whom I am tied by so many bonds But will always be making Thee my most thankfull solemn acknowledgments for the benefits I have received And together with those praises and thanksgivings wait upon thy Goodness for the like mercies in time to come 18. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people 18. I resolve again religiously to make good these and all other my vows wherein I stand ingaged to the Lord and that not onely in private but here at this solemnity in the face of all his people 19. In the courts of the LORD's house in the midst of thee O Jerusalem Praise ye the LORD 19. When they are gathered together at his House in the midst of the holy City of our God where they meet to worship Him and to doe Him honour There let them all join with me to bless and praise the great Creatour and Preserver of all things PSALM CXVII ARGUMENT This Psalm like the CX seems to be altogether Prophetical of the joy that all the world should conceive at the coming of the Messiah to give Salvation first to the Jews and then to all other Nations according to his faithfull promise Saint Paul applies the first words of it to this business Rom. XV. 11. and some of the Hebrews justifie his application confessing that this Psalm belongs to that matter The brevity of it makes it the more remarkable and easier to be remembred both by Jews and Gentiles 1. O Praise the LORD all ye nations praise him all ye people 1. LET not the praises which are due to the great Lord of all be confined to our Nation but let all people upon the face of the earth praise Him Let all mankind sing thankfull hymns unto Him 2. For his mercifull kindness is great towards us and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever Praise ye the LORD 2. For they are all concerned in his transcendent kindness which hath done mighty things for us and the Lord who changes not will never fail to perform his faithfull promises to the worlds end Therefore let us all join our praises to our common Benefactour PSALM CXVIII ARGUMENT There is nothing more probable then that David composed this Psalm after God had settled him upon the Throne of Israel as well as Judah and also subdued the Philistines who hoped to have crusht him before he grew too powerfull 2 Sam. V. 17. together with other enemies round about him who though they are not mentioned yet in all likelihood joyned with them as we may gather from Ver. 10 11. of this Psalm compared with 2 Sam. VII 1. For that it was written after he had brought the Ark to Jerusalem mentioned there Chap. VI. and placed it in the House he had prepared for it seems very plain from Ver. 19. of this Psalm Where he begins to praise God in such words as had not their compleat fulfilling till the Lord 's Christ whom the Jews rejected and said He shall not reign over us was made King of the World For to Him R. Solomon himself acknowledges those words The stone which the builders refused c. are to be applied And as the latter part of the Psalm is a Prophecy of Christ in David his Type so the former part may be accommodated to all Christians who being persecuted as Theodoret speaks and tormented and disgracefully treated by many Princes and their people by Kings and Governours got a glorious Victory over them all after they had indured a thousand deaths It seems also to have been pronounced at first in some solemn assembly of all the people met together to praise the Lord for his benefits And it is the common opinion of most Interpreters that they all had a part in this Psalm The greatest part of which was spoken by David who begins with a declaration how much he was indebted to God desiring all to assist him in his praises And then coming in a solemn procession I suppose to the Gates of the Tabernacle calls upon the Porters Verse 19. to open them to him that he might praise God in his Sanctuary which he doth in the very entrance Ver. 20 and then in the Courts of his House Ver. 21. After which all the people shout and magnifie the Divine Goodness in making him who was banished from his Country their King Ver. 22 c. And then the Priests come forth and bless both the King and people in the Name of the Lord Ver. 26 and exhort them to be thankfull Ver. 27 And then David seems to take the words out of their mouth and to declare that he will never be unmindfull of God's benefits desiring all the people also to remember them Ver. 28 29. According to which account of the Psalm I have ordered the Paraphrase 1. O Give thanks unto the LORD for he is good because his mercy endureth for ever 1. O Make your thankfull acknowledgments to the great Lord of all the world who as He is the Authour of all good and hath been exceeding bountifull unto us so will continue his kindness to all succeeding generations 2. Let Israel now say that his mercy endureth for ever 2. Let the Children of Israel who have had such long experience of his love and now see his promises fulfilled let them confess and thankfully acknowledge that his kindness continues to all generations 3. Let the house of Aaron now say that his mercy endureth for ever 3. Let the Priests and the Levites whose business it is to attend upon His service confess now and thankfully acknowledge that his kindness extends unto all ages 4. Let them now that fear the LORD say that his mercy endureth for ever 4. And let all the devout Worshippers of the Lord of whatsoever Nation they be join together with us for there is one Lord of all who dispenses various benefits to every one of us and confess now most thankfully that there is no end of his kindness 5. I called upon the LORD in distress the LORD answered me and set me in a large place 5. You may see an example of it in me who was in grievous straits and dangers 1 Sam. XXIII 26. XXVII 1. but then imploring the Divine Protection the Lord not onely delivered me but placed me in a secure estate free from all such molestation 2 Sam. V. 3. VII 1. 6. The LORD is on my side I will not fear what can man doe unto me 6. For the Lord it is evident takes my part and therefore though I have many enemies I am not afraid of them for when He is for me what disturbance can men be they
LXXXVI A Prayer of David ARGUMENT The Title satisfies us that David was the Authour of this Psalm which the Collectour of this third Book found I suppose after the other two were made up and published and so placed it here among those which belong to the same subject For though it was composed by David when he was so persecuted either by Saul or Absalom that he was stript of all he had and left in a most forlorn condition Ver. 1. yet Theodoret thinks it was made with a prospect of the attempt which the Assyrians made upon Jerusalem and the hope which Hezekiah then placed in God for deliverance Which Notion it is likely he had from the Jews who say that this Prayer was made use of by Hezekiah in the time of that sore distress for the first words of this Psalm are the same with his in 2 King XIX 16. and the eighth and ninth Verses may very fitly be accommodated to that History as I have there observed but the rest a great deal better to David 1. BOW down thine ear O LORD hear me for I am poor and needy 1. THere cannot be a fitter object of thy Mercy O Lord then thy poor Supplicant who beseeches Thee graciously to condescend to his request for else he is utterly undone being quite destitute of all humane help 2. Preserve my soul for I am holy O thou my God save thy servant that trusteth in thee 2. And yet my life is in imminent danger unless Thou dost preserve it as many reasons make me hope Thou wilt for as Thou the righteous Judge hast been long my benefactour and I am perfectly innocent of that my enemies charge me withal so I my self have been a reliever of others in their need and besides am a faithfull servant of thine who depends intirely upon Thee and hath no confidence in any thing but onely thy Almighty Goodness 3. Be mercifull unto me O Lord for I cry unto thee daily 3. Whose mercifull help I have also implored with most importunate and incessant prayers which is another reason of my hope that Thou wilt take compassion upon me O Lord 4. Rejoice the soul of thy servant for unto thee O LORD do I lift up my soul 4. And turn the present sorrow of thy servant into joy and gladness For I have placed my hope intirely in Thee O Lord and expect nothing but from Thee alone 5. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee 5. Who art no less bountifull which is another exceeding great encouragement to me then I am indigent ready also to pardon those that have offended Thee yea to shew abundant kindness to every one of them in their greatest distress when with unfeigned devotion they call upon Thee 6. Give ear O LORD unto my prayer and attend to the voice of my supplications 6. As I now do O Lord most humbly beseeching Thee with repeated intreaties to give a favourable answer to these prayers and supplications whereby I deprecate thy displeasure and sue unto Thee for favour 7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee for thou wilt answer me 7. Which I beseech Thee let me the rather obtain because my distress is so great and so urgent that thy power will now be the more magnified in delivering me as heretofore Thou hast been wont to doe upon such earnest petitions as these are unto Thee 8. Among the gods there is none like unto thee O LORD neither are there any works like unto thy works 8. For nothing is too hard for Thee nor art Thou unwilling to doe more kindnesses for us because Thou hast done so many already But as appears by thy unparallel'd works dost incomparably excell whatsoever strangers think 2 King XVIII 15. all those that are worshipped in the world as gods who are not able so much as to help and preserve themselves 9. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee O LORD and shall glorifie thy name 9. Which shall move all our neighbouring Nations 2 Chron. XXXII 23. as all the rest shall do in the days of that Great King which we expect XV. Rom. 9. to acknowledge Thee O Lord to be their Creatour and with humble veneration to submit themselves unto Thee and to honour Thee with their highest praises 10. For thou art great and doest wondrous things thou art God alone 10. For they shall clearly see by the magnificence of thy marvellous works that Thou art infinitely superiour to all those Powers whom they adore And that in truth there is no God but Thou thy self alone 11. Teach me thy way O LORD I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name 11. Which I so firmly believe that I desire nothing more then to be perfectly instructed in all thy will which I will sincerely observe knit my heart O Lord in such pious affections to Thee that it may never in the least dissent from Thee nor be disturbed with any vain cares but intirely bent to study this alone what is pleasing unto Thee 12. I will praise thee O LORD my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy name for evermore 12. Whom I am bound to praise both as the fupreme Lord of all and as my most bountifull Benefactour with all the powers of my Soul and accordingly I do now most thankfully acknowledge Thee and will never cease to honour Thee and to doe Thee service as long as I have any Being 13. For great is thy mercy toward me and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell 13. For the benefits Thou hast bestowed on me are as inestimable as they are innumerable I owe my very life to Thee which hath been often snatched out of the extreamest dangers wherein I had inevitably perished if Thou hadst not mercifully delivered me 1 Sam. XXIII c. 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 14. Behold O God a new opportunity to glorifie that mercy for proud and ambitious men 2 Sam. XV. 1 2 c. have made an insurrection against me and raised a most formidable Army 2 Sam. XV. 12 13. to take away that life which Thou hast so miraculously preserved having no regard to thy Providence nor refusing any means whereby they may satisfie their unjust desires 15. But thou O LORD art a God full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth 15. All our comfort is that Thou not they dost govern the world who art no less compassionate then Thou art powerfull readily forgiving offences or bearing long before Thou punishest Them chusing rather to heap thy benefits upon us and never failing to perform thy faithfull promises 16. O turn unto me and have mercy upon me give thy strength unto thy servant and save the son of
power was which wrought such wonders for us in Egypt and in the Wilderness and in the Land of Canaan where shall we find a man that can set forth as they deserve all the praise-worthy acts of the Lord 3. Blessed are they that keep judgment and he that doeth righteousness at all times 3. Which are so great and many that they are most happy men who by faithfull obedience to all his precepts not onely when they have newly received his benefits but throughout the whole course of their lives preserve themselves in the favour of so gracious a Lord and Master which our Forefathers foolishly lost by revolting presently from their mercifull Deliverer 4. Remember me O LORD with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people O visit me with thy salvation 4. Make me good Lord one of this happy number and let me partake of the favour Thou still designest for thy people and find Thee ready at hand in all dangers to preserve and deliver me 1 Chron. XVIII 6 13 14. 5. That I may see the good of thy chosen that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation that I may glory with thine inheritance 5. That I may live to see thy chosen people Israel settled in a peaceable enjoyment of all thy blessings 1 Chron. XXII 18. and have my share in their joy and felicity 1 Chron. XXIX 9. nay triumph together with them in the highest praises of thy bounty towards thy own Nation and peculiar inheritance 1 Chron. XXIX 10 11 12 13 c. 6. We have sinned with our fathers we have committed iniquity we have done wickedly 6. Our sins indeed may hinder these blessings from us for we are no better then our Forefathers but have offended after their example by which we ought to have been amended we are guilty of many iniquities against one another and much impiety against Thee 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 7. We are the wicked offspring of those who were so stupid as not to be affected with the prodigious Works Thou didst in Egypt or presently to forget that long series of miraculous preservations and deliverances by which they were brought from thence But in the very next strait into which they fell at the borders of the Sea that remarkable place the red Sea distrusted his power and wisht He had left them in that cruel servitude of which before they so heavily complained XIV Exodus 11 12. 8. Nevertheless he saved them for his names sake that he might make his mighty power to be known 8. And yet such was his stupendious Goodness He would not let them perish in their ingratitude but to preserve the name He had gotten of their mighty Saviour gave them a new deliverance that the world might not imagin He wanted power to compleat what He had begun to doe for them 9. He rebuked the Red sea also and it was dried up so he led them through the depths as through the wilderness 9. On this consideration He checkt the course of that Sea by so strong a wind that He made a path in the midst of it and led them through those depths on as hard and dry ground as they trod upon in their march through the parched desarts XIV Exod. 21 22. 10. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy 10. By which means He saved them from Pharaoh's Army which pressed hard upon their backs as the Sea was before their face XIV Exod. 9 10. He rescued them from the power of those implacable enemies whose hatred carried them to pursue them eagerly even into the Sea XIV Exod. 23. 11. And the waters covered their enemies there was not one of them left 11. Where they were drowned every man of them the Sea which had stood fixed as a wall to save the Israelites returning back with a mighty violence to overwhelm their adversaries 12. Then believed they his words they sang his praise 12. Which was so evident a token of his power and goodness that they were perswaded by it at that present to believe God's promises XIV Exod. 31. and to sing a Song of praise to Him for this miraculous deliverance XV. Exod. 1 c. 13. They soon forgat his works they waited not for his counsel 13. But within three days they grew impatient again XV. Exod. 22 24. and forgetting the great and many pledges they had received of his Divine power quarrelled with his Servants and would not expect till He shewed what way He intended to relieve them 14. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desart 14. But not long after this murmured again XVI Exod. And though instead of punishing them for it He satisfied them with bread from heaven and gave them several other demonstrations of his Divine presence among them in the wilderness Exod. XVI XX. XXIV c. yet to please their wanton appetite they mutined another time and cried out vehemently for flesh to eat XI Numb 4 5 c. and desired new proofs of his power to supply them 15. And he gave them their request but sent leanness into their soul 15. Which He was pleased to grant in such abundance that they surfeited of the Quails which He sent them and instead of being nourished fell into a grievous disease whereby great numbers of them were wasted and consumed XI Numb 31 32 c. 16. They envied Moses also in the camp and Aaron the saint of the LORD 16. And they that escaped were not cured of their rebellious humour but seditiously disputed the Authority of Moses And accused both him and Aaron whom the Lord had consecrated for the service of his Altar as ambitious men that took too much upon them XVI Numb 3. 17. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan and covered the company of Abiram 17. Which moved the Divine Justice to punish their presumption with a most terrible vengeance for the earth opened and buried alive Dathan and Abiram and the faction that adhered to them XVI Numb 32 33. 18. And a fire was kindled in their company the flame burnt up the wicked 18. And the other company raised by Korah were smitten with lightning from heaven which burnt up those impious men who were so bold as to invade the Office of the Priests of the Lord XVI Numb 35. 19. They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image 19. Whose anger they began very early to incense for even at that very place where the Lord had newly appeared to them in astonishing thunder and lightning and clouds XX. Exodus 18. and had spoken to them with an audible voice and at the second word He spake had charged them not to make any graven image XX. Exod. 4. and had called Moses up into the Mount to receive the rest of his
enemies that invade us not that we may grow more famous no we have no thoughts of the glory that will accrue to our selves thereby but that thy Divine Majesty may be honoured and thy goodness and faithfulness to thy promises be made the more illustrious 2. Wherefore should the heathen say Where is now their God 2. What a sad thing will it be to hear the Nations that surround us insult not so much over us as over Thee saying what is become of their God in whom they trusted If He be so powerfull as they boast why doth He not deliver them 3. But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased 3. Let them know that Thou art infinitely superiour to them and all their gods being the possessour of the heavens as well as the earth 2 Chron. XX. 6. whom no power of theirs can hurt or so much as restrain but art able to doe whatsoever Thou pleasest for their confusion and for our deliverance 4. Their idols are silver and gold the work of mens hands 4. Their Idols cannot hinder it in the least who are of no more value then the silver and gold of which they are made and are so far from being the makers of things that they themselves are the work of those that adore them 5. They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 5. They are mere lifeless Images that have mouths but cannot give a word of advice or of incouragement and comfort to their supplicants and eyes also but cannot see the devotion wherewith they look up unto them or prostrate themselves before them 6. They have ears but they hear not noses have they but they smell not 6. Let their worshippers cry to them never so loudly they cannot hear a word All the Frankincense and sweet Odours which they burn to them are merely lost for they cannot smell them 7. They have hands but they handle not feet have they but they walk not neither speak they through their throat 7. Though they have thunderbolts in their hands they feel them not nor are able to doe either good or harm They cannot stir a foot from the place where they stand unless they be carried nor make so much noise as a fly being utterly void of breath as well as of sense and reason 8. They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 8. To what then but to those Idols shall we compare the makers of them and such as confide in them who are mere Images of men having eyes but do not see that the brutes are more excellent then such gods and that the least help is not to be expected from them 9. O Israel trust thou in the LORD he is their help and their shield 9. O ye Israelites who by the Divine Favour are better instructed repose that confidence in the eternal Lord which they do in those Vanities And He will not onely protect and defend you against all the assaults of your enemies but help you to overcome them 2 Chron. XX. 9. 10. O house of Aaron trust in the LORD he is their help and their shield 10. O ye Priests and Levites do you above all others rely upon that eternal Lord whose praise you sing and to whom you offer continual Sacrifice For He will never fail not onely to protect but to assist all such as piously confide in Him 11. Ye that fear the LORD trust in the LORD he is their help and their shield 11. And let all that fear the Lord and devoutly worship Him of whatsoever Nation they be place the like confidence in his Almighty Goodness For He will never forsake those that depend on Him alone though they be not of the seed of Abraham but defend them also in all dangers and aid them against all their enemies 12. The LORD hath been mindfull of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron 12. We have had abundant experience of his care over us in all ages and therefore though now for the present our enemies afflict us yet let us believe that the Lord will doe us good and bless us with a glorious deliverance All the house of Israel shall see how kind He is especially they that minister unto Him in his holy Temple 13. He will bless them that fear the LORD both small and great 13. And He will not forget those pious Proselytes that are come to worship Him there as the onely God but without any respect of persons give them his blessing also which shall not be denied either to old or young to rich or poor 14. The LORD shall increase you more and more you and your children 14. Nor will He grant you onely a single blessing by sending a present deliverance but heap his benefits and multiply his mercies upon you and upon all those that shall succeed you 15. You are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth 15. Ye are a happy people who live under the care and love and benediction of that mighty Lord whose power nothing can confine for He is not made like the Gentile gods but Himself created both the Heaven and the Earth 16. The heaven even the heavens are the LORD's but the earth hath he given to the children of men 16. In which He cannot be comprehended neither for his Empire extends further then you can see to the heavens which are above these visible heavens from whence his Providence reaches down even to us the children of men whom He hath placed upon this earth to admire and praise his infinite Majesty 17. The dead praise not the LORD neither any that go down into silence 17. And therefore will not suffer us to be rooted out as our enemies design 2 Chron. XX. 11. for then the earth would have none in it to sing his praises which the dead who dwell in the silent grave cannot celebrate 18. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore Praise the LORD 18. But will continue us still alive that we may praise the Lord and speak good of his Name as we do at this time 2 Chron. XX. 21 22. and leave those to succeed us who shall continue his praises in all future generations to the worlds end Hallelujah Praise the Lord. PSALM CXVI ARGUMENT I do not understand the reason why Theodoret applies this Psalm to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes when it agrees so exactly to the condition of David in his flight from his Son Absalom which seems to be mentioned Ver. 11. when Ahitophel and others proved very false to him and he had little or nothing to depend upon but onely the Goodness of the Almighty who was pleased to plead his cause and deliver him For which he resolved to be very thankfull and to call all his Friends to rejoice with him as I have expressed it Ver. 13. where the first
thankfull acknowledgments to the Lord in the place where He dwells and makes Himself present among us 2. Our feet shall stand within thy gates O Jerusalem 2. Which motion ought to be the more readily embraced because now He hath fixed his habitation and we need not travel further then Jerusalem to enquire after the Ark of his presence 3. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together 3. To Jerusalem I say that fair and beautifull City whose buildings do not now lie scattered and divided but are all compacted and united together as we ought to be in a goodly order 1 Sam. V. 9. 1 Chron. XI 8. 4. Whither the tribes go up the tribes of the LORD unto the testimony of Israel to give thanks unto the name of the LORD 4. Thither all the XII Tribes of Israel who own the great LORD for their God go up from all the parts of the Country by his special Commandment XXIII Exod. 17. to acknowledge before the Ark of his Testimony XXV Exod. 21 22. all the benefits they have received from his almighty Goodness and this above the rest that He thereby testifies his singular care and providence over them 5. For there are set thrones of judgment the thrones of the house of David 5. Thither also they repair for Justice for the supreme Judicatory of the Kingdom sits there 2 Chr. XIX 8. and there is the seat of the Royal Family where David and his Sons have their residence and govern the people 2 Sam. VIII 15 18. 6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee 6. O let this be part of your devout prayers when you come there that God would preserve Jerusalem in peace Happy shall they be who out of love to the Religion and Justice which is administred in thee O beloved City contribute their indeavours as well as their prayers for thy safety and prosperity 7. Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces 7. Let no enemy this shall be my constant prayer approach so much as to thy out-works to disturb thee and let plenty of all good things abound within thy Palaces 8. For my brethren and companions sakes I will now say Peace be within thee 8. The kindness I have for my kindred and my neighbours and friends whether in the City or the Country will not let me cease my earnest prayers to God that He will confer his blessings on thee 9. Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good 9. But above all the love I have to the Lord our God whose house is here whither all his devout servants resort to worship Him and celebrate his Name shall excite not onely my prayers but my study to promote thy welfare PSALM CXXIII A Song of degrees ARGUMENT This Psalm it is certain was composed in a time of great distress when they were extreamly afflicted by some haughty and insolent enemies Ver. 3 4. who those enemies were there are several conjectures And I will add mine that this short form of prayer was made by some pious person when the King of Assyria whose pride the Prophet Isaiah describes VIII 7. and many other places sent Rabshakeh and other of his Captains to besiege Jerusalem where they poured out most contemptuous nay blasphemous words against God and his people 2 King XVIII XIX It is probable if this conjecture be admitted that it was made by Isaiah whom Hezekiah desired to lift up his prayer for the remnant that was left 2 King XIX 4. XXXVII Isa 4. Accordingly we reade 2 Chron. XXXII 20. both he and Hezekiah cried unto the Lord and we may suppose lift up his eyes to heaven and said these words 1. UNto thee lift I up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens 1. THough all humane help fail us in this sore distress yet I do not despair of relief from Thee O Lord whose Majesty and Power incomparably excells all earthly Monarchs 2. Behold as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God untill that he have mercy upon us 2. Behold how not onely I but the rest of thy faithfull people wait upon Thee submitting our selves to this severe punishment as poor slaves do to the stroke of their offended Master or Mistress and resolving to bear it patiently till Thou our LORD who doest inflict it wilt be pleased to shew thy self our most gracious God and in much pity towards us remove it 3. Have mercy upon us O LORD have mercy upon us for we are exceedingly filled with contempt 3. O be gracious unto us good Lord be gracious unto us and in much mercy take away this heavy scourge from us for we are become so beyond all measure contemptible 2 King XVIII 23 24. XIX 34. that we can scarce any longer indure it 4. Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud 4. We have a long time groaned under the intollerable load of the derision and contempt of those whose constant prosperity puffs them up with pride nay makes them insolently oppress all those who are unable to resist them PSALM CXXIV A Song of degrees of David ARGUMENT If the Title had not told us that this is a Psalm of David's I should have thought it had been composed by the Authour of the former to acknowledge the wonderfull power and goodness of God in delivering them from Senacherib's Army which came in like a floud LIX Isa 19. and had overflown all the Country as far as Jerusalem VIII Isa 7 8. which might well make them be called proud waters as the Psalmist here speaks Ver. 5. because they fancied nothing could stand before them Such it seems were either the Philistines upon whom when they spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim the Lord broke forth as a breach of waters 2 Sam. V. 19 or the Ammonites and their Associates 2 Sam. X. 6 15 16. Of A Song of degrees see CXX 1. IF it had not been the LORD who was on our side now may Israel say 1. IF we had not had such a mighty helper as the Lord who took our part may Israel now most thankfully acknowledge 2. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side when men rose up against us 2. If it had not been the Lord whom none can resist who took our part when such numerous enemies united their forces as one man to make war upon us 3. Then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us 3. They would then have made but one morsel of our small Army and in the furious rage wherein they were have immediately devoured us as monstrous beasts doe their prey which they greedily swallow down alive 4. Then the waters had overwhelmed us the stream had gone over
our soul 4. Then they would have overrun all the Country like a violent torrent and we should have been buried in the floud 5. Then the proud waters had gone over our soul 5. Having once made a wide breach by the overthrow of our Army they would have poured in more numerous forces upon us till like an inundation of water which swells more and more they had wholly overwhelmed us 6. Blessed be the LORD who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth 6. Thanks be to the Lord to whose infinite mercies we ought to ascribe it that He hath not permitted them to domineer over us and execute their cruel intentions against us 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers the snare is broken and we are escaped 7. They thought they had laid their design so strongly that we could not escape no more then a little bird which a fowler hath taken in his snare but blessed be the Lord who hath assisted our weakness their plot is defeated they are broken in pieces and we thereby most wonderfully delivered 8. Our help is in the name of the LORD who made heaven and earth 8. This was not a work of our wit no more then of our power nor were we beholden to the help of any of our neighbours but we owe it wholly to his almighty Goodness who commands because He made all Creatures in whom we ought to place our confidence for ever PSALM CXXV A Song of degrees ARGUMENT We may well look upon this Psalm as a pious Exhortation to the people to trust in God when Senacherib's Army threatned to destroy Jerusalem And perhaps these were some of the comfortable words which we reade 2 Chron. XXXII 6 7 8. Hezekiah then spake to them when God chastised them by that rod of his anger as He calls Senacherib X. Isa 5. which the Psalmist here foretold Ver. 3. should not long afflict them Of A Song of degrees see CXX 1. THey that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Sion which cannot be removed but abideth for ever 1. THere are none so safe as they that repose a pious confidence in the Lord by which they shall both maintain themselves in a settled peace and tranquillity and remain for ever as unmoveable conspicuous and illustrious as mount Sion 2. As the mountains are round about Jerusalem so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever 2. For as Jerusalem is surrounded with high hills which make it not easily accessible by any enemies so the Divine providence incompasses his people who depend upon Him to guard and defend them from all dangers not onely now but in all succeeding ages to the end of the world 3. For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity 3. The power of wicked Tyrants indeed may heavily afflict the righteous for a time but they shall not always harrass their Country nor continue their oppression so long as quite to tire out the patience of the righteous and tempt them to forsake their pious confidence in Him and lay hold on any means though never so unjust of obtaining deliverance 4. Do good O LORD unto those that be good and to them that are upright in their hearts 4. To prevent so great an evil be pleased now good Lord to deal well with those who are truly good and reward their fidelity who notwithstanding all these calamities sincerely persist in thy ways and preserve their integrity 5. As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity but peace shall be upon Israel 5. But as for those who instead of growing bettter by these oppressions decline more and more from the ways of piety unto the most perverse and crooked courses the Lord shall deliver them over to be punished with their oppressours when Israel after all these sore afflictions shall be settled again in peace and happiness PSALM CXXVI A Song of degrees ARGUMENT This Psalm is so universally thought to be a joyfull Song composed by Ezra or some such good man when they returned out of Babylon that I shall seek for no other interpretation But observe with Theodoret that when Cyrus gave them all leave to return to their own Land some were so ill minded that they chose to continue where they were But such as had any sense of the piety of their Forefathers and desired to see the worship of God according to the Law restored gladly embraced the opportunity of returning to their own Country Where they thought themselves so happy in the liberty which they enjoyed that they pray Ver. 4. all the rest of the Nation who remained still behind would come and partake of it This is the most received sense else I should have thought the deliverance from Senacherib might be here celebrated who had carried many of them Captive V. Isa 13. and other places and when they were delivered from his oppression they were indeed like men that dreamed as the Psalmist here speaks For awaking in the morning and seeing his vast Army to be dead Corpses 2 King XIX 35. they could scarce believe what they beheld with their eyes it was so wonderfull And perhaps it was first made then and afterward applied with some alteration to their return from Babylon See CXXXIII 1. WHen the LORD turned again the captivity of Sion we were like them that dream 1. TO the Lord alone must we ascribe this wonderfull change which is like the sudden recovery of health out of a tedious and desperate sickness For when the proclamation unexpectedly came forth to give us liberty to return to our own Country out of a long captivity I. Ezra 2 3. we could scarce believe it but were apt to look upon our selves as onely in a dream of so great a happiness 2. Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing then said they among the heathen The LORD hath done great things for them 2. Which presently turned our heaviness into such a heighth of joy that it filled all places with our mirth especially with chearfull hymns in which the heathen themselves accompanied us saying This truly is the Lord's work who hath magnified his power in the strange deliverance of this Nation 3. The LORD hath done great things for us whereof we are glad 3. And truly so He hath we should be very ungratefull if we should not thankfull if we should not thankfully acknowledge the singular benefits which strangers admire the Lord hath not onely restored our liberty but declared the greatness of his power in this deliverance which justly fills us with joy and triumph 4. Turn again our captivity O LORD as the streams in the south 4. O that the Lord would be pleased to perfect what He hath begun and bring back in greater numbers the rest of
potent Kings who presuming of their strength opposed the accomplishment of his promises to you 11. Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan and all the kingdoms of Canaan 11. First of all Sihon King of the Amorites who were esteemed invincible XXI Numb 24. II. Amos 9. and then Og that giantly King of Bashan XXI Numb 33. III. Deut. II. and at last all the Kingdoms and Kings of the Land of Canaan XII Josh 7 24. 12. And gave their land for an heritage an heritage unto Israel his people 12. Which He graciously bestowed upon us the Children of Israel as an inheritance we should hold of Him by a Divine right of which none while we continue his obedient people shall be able to dispossess us 13. Thy name O LORD endureth for ever and thy memorial O LORD throughout all generations 13. O Lord how astonishing is this thy omnipotent Goodness the fame of which shall never be forgotten But an illustrious memory O Lord shall be continued of it from generation to generation 14. For the LORD will judge his people and he will repent himself concerning his servants 14. For though our enemies may sometimes oppress us when we offend Him yet the Lord at last will take the part of his people and deliver them and being reconciled unto his servants will turn his severity into kindness towards them 15. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold the work of mens hands 15. It is not in the power of the Idols which the heathen worship to divert his kindness from us for they are of no more value then the silver and the gold of which they are made and are so far from being able to doe any thing that they themselves are made by those that adore them 16. They have mouths but they speak not eyes have they but they see not 16. They are mere Images of things without their life having mouths but cannot give a word of advice or comfort to their supplicants and eyes also but cannot see much less prevent any danger that doth approach them 17. They have ears but they hear not neither is there any breath in their mouths 17. Ears they have but cannot hear a word that is said to them and noses also but they do not so much as breathe much less can they smell the odours that are offered to them 18. They that make them are like unto them so is every one that trusteth in them 18. They that make them therefore or put any confidence in them are as senseless as themselves having eyes for instance but do not see that brutes are more excellent then such gods and that no help is to be expected from them 19. Bless the LORD O house of Israel bless the LORD O house of Aaron 19. O how much then are we all bound to bless the Lord the Creatour of all who hath freed us from this stupid blindness Let the whole Nation of the Children of Israel especially the Priests of the Lord praise Him and give thanks to Him who hath better instructed them 20. Bless the LORD O house of Levi ye that fear the LORD bless the LORD 20. Let all the Levites declare how gracious He is yea let all his pious Worshippers of whatsoever Nation they be join in this heavenly imployment of speaking good of the Lord. 21. Blessed be the LORD out of Sion which dwelleth at Jerusalem Praise ye the LORD 21. Let them all say with one accord the Lord be ever praised in this holy place who though He be the owner of all the World yet makes his special residence at Jerusalem The honour the heathens give to their lifeless Images ought to excite you all with the greater devotion to praise the Lord of the World PSALM CXXXVI ARGUMENT This Psalm like the former is a commemoration of the goodness of God expressed in his wonderfull works particularly those He had done for that Nation And it is likely was composed to be sung upon the great Festivals as every day I suppose they sung the foregoing which is of the same strain with this and contains much of the same matter onely here at every half Verse one half of the Quire answers to the other in these words For his mercy endureth for ever A form of acknowledgment prescribed by David to be used continually in the Divine Service 1 Chron. XVI 41 and accordingly followed by Solomon 2. Chron. VII 3 6. when he dedicated the Temple and by Jehoshaphat when by the incouragement of a Prophet he went out to incounter a vast Army with small Forces 2 Chron. XX. 21. and here is repeated six and twenty times to make them the more sensible that they owed all they had to the mere bounty of God and to excite them to depend intirely upon it and rest assured it would never fail them if they did piously and most heartily acknowledge it Such repetitions we use now in our earnest Prayers when we say Lord have mercy upon us c. which are no more vain then these I have variously expressed the sense of this repeated acknowledgment according as the other part of the several verses seemed to direct me 1. O Give thanks unto the LORD for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 1. OFfer your thankfull Hymns unto the Lord of all who is as good as He is great and will continue his kindness which hath been exceeding abundant towards us unto all succeeding generations 2. O give thanks unto the God of gods for his mercy endureth for ever 2. He is the Sovereign of all the heavenly Hosts and therefore praise Him and give thanks unto Him for He can imploy them all for your help and protection as He hath in former times and you need not doubt of his kindness which continues unto all Ages 3. O give thanks unto the Lord of lords for his mercy endureth for ever 3. All the Kings and Princes of the Earth are his Subjects upon which account also give Him praise and thanks For his kindness endures throughout all Ages to defend you as He hath done hitherto from their tyrannical violence 4. To him who alone doth great wonders for his mercy endureth for ever 4. He it is and He alone whose Works are so great that they surprise all those who seriously consider them with wonder and astonishment and therefore give Him praise and thanks For his kindness will never fail still to imploy his infinite Power for the good of those who are truly gratefull to Him 5. To him that by wisdome made the heavens for his mercy endureth for ever 5. Look upon the Heavens and behold with admiration and praise the splendour and the order wherein his wisdome hath contrived and setled them For his kindness is as large and as firm and durable as they 6. To him that stretched out the earth above the waters for his mercy endureth for ever 6. And then look down to the Earth and thankfully praise Him
One generation shall praise thy works to another and shall declare thy mighty acts 4. For there are none of thy works which we see that we are able to understand but though this Age transmit its observations to the next and that recommend the study of them to posterity yet still we are ignorant and cannot praise them enough no nor sufficiently declare the prodigious acts of thy miraculous Providence for the preservation of thy people which shall be perpetually commemorated 5. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty and of thy wondrous works 5. It shall be my business in this present age to speak of the dazling splendour and beauty of thy Majesty which I want words to express but appears in thy stupendious works 6. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts and I will declare thy greatness 6. Which they that come after shall rehearse and from the narratives that I shall make of thy magnificent greatness declare to their posterity what dreadfull things were done by thy irresistable power for the subversion of our enemies 7. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness 7. And with the same diligence shall they continue the constant memory of thy numerous benefits to us which they shall no more cease to celebrate with their praises then a spring doth to pour out water but publish in their perpetual Hymns how just and faithfull Thou art to thy word 8. The LORD is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy 8. For the Lord this shall be the subject of their and of my Song is exceeding propense to doe us good and very indulgent when we doe amiss which makes Him that He doth not presently punish but rather chuses to bestow new and greater benefits upon us if we repent of our faults 9. The LORD is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works 9. Nor is his goodness confined unto us but extends it self in various acts of bounty to all mankind who need not doubt of his kindness when they see He takes so tender a care of all his Creatures 10. All thy works shall praise thee O LORD and thy saints shall bless thee 10. Who all in their several kinds declare O Lord throughout all generations how great how wise how powerfull and provident Thou art which such as we who are particularly bound unto Thee for special favours bestowed upon us ought most sensibly to acknowledge with thankfull praises 11. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom and talk of thy power 11. It is their duty to discourse of the incomparable wisedom and goodness and care which Thou exercisest in the government of the whole world especially of us and to recount the memorable acts of thy invincible power among us 12. To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his kingdom 12. That all mankind who regard not such things so much as they ought may be made sensible how mighty the Lord is and adore the amazing splendour of his illustrious works and the admirable order He observes in his government of all things 13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations 13. Which as they are all intirely subject to Him so his Empire over them is immoveable and neither ends nor decays but when earthly Kingdoms fail and are transferred from one to another his dominion is still the same throughout all successions 14. The LORD upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down 14. In which He doth not neglect any of his subjects that depend upon Him as mortal Princes too frequently doe but supports and comforts the meanest of them that are oppressed with grievous afflictions and gives them a seasonable deliverance when they are in danger to sink and perish under the heavy weight of their burthens 15. The eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them their meat in due season 15. He makes a constant provision also for them which every Creature when their necessities call for supply daily receive from Thee O Lord in the proper season for it 16. Thou openest thy hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing 16. And Thou art not sparing of thy blessings but dispensest them with such a bountifull hand that there are none of them live without satisfaction but have all their appetites filled by thy liberality to the smallest of them 17. The LORD is righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works 17. And therefore let us not doubt but thankfully acknowledge that the Lord is not onely just in all the dispensations of his Providence to us though perhaps we do not apprehend it but exceeding mercifull and kind in every thing that befalls us 18. The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon him in truth 18. We need doe no more but piously commend our selves to Him and He will take care of us for He is ready on all occasions to relieve every one that addresses himself unto Him with a sincere heart truly disposed to be faithfull to Him 19. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him he also will hear their cry and will save them 19. He that satisfies the appetite of all Creatures Ver. 16. will not fail we may be confident to gratifie in their desires such religious persons as fear to offend Him But though He let them fall into troubles and straits in due time will be moved by their importunate prayers to send them a seasonable deliverance 20. The LORD preserveth all them that love him but all the wicked will he destroy 20. For since they love Him so well that they had rather suffer any thing then disobey Him the Lord undoubtedly will preserve them and destroy all those impious men who have no regard to his Laws nor make any scruple to abuse and oppress such vertuous persons 21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever 21. For which and all the rest of his benefits I will never cease to sing Hymns of praise unto the Lord and let all mankind remembring how weak and frail they are join together with me in this imployment as the greatest support and comfort and security they have to bless his incomparable Goodness and Power and carefull Providence for ever and ever PSALM CXLVI Hallelujah ARGUMENT This Psalm and the other four which follow both begin and conclude with the word Hallelujah i. e. Praise ye the Lord. And therefore might if the Jews had pleased have been called The great Hallelujah being all of them exhortations and incitements to the people to stir up themselves unto that heavenly imployment which this Psalm recommends to them from the consideration of several of the Divine Excellencies which make
may well be a warning to all fell Tyrants not to be so fierce and outragious which will onely present Thee with the fairer opportunity to glorifie thy self and raise thy praise to a greater height as Thou hast now done by suppressing the Assyrians fury who if they have any reliques of wrath which may boil up again in their hearts Thou shalt chain it up and not suffer it to break forth to our further disturbance 11. Vow and pay unto the LORD your God let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared 11. And let this excite you all who are thus marvellously delivered to make more liberal promises of gratefull Sacrifices as well as to perform those which you have already vowed to the great Lord your most gracious God who so far excells all others that the Nations round about us who hear the fame of this shall reproach you if you be forgetfull of his benefits by the presents which they shall make to Him 2 Chr. XXXII 23. who ought to be feared by all his Friends and is most terrible to his Enemies 12. He shall cut off the spirit of princes he is terrible to the kings of the earth 12. For he can easily with a sudden stroke not onely take down the proud stomach but take away the life of the fiercest Captains and Commanders 2 Chr. XXXII 21. yea make the greatest Monarchs who keep the world in awe quake and tremble at his dreadfull executions PSALM LXXVII To the chief Musician to Jeduthun A Psalm of Asaph ARGUMENT A Psalm composed by Asaph and sent by him to that Song-Master who was over the Children of Jeduthun in which I imagined at first sight that he represented the sad condition of Hezekiah and the motions of his heart towards God in his sickness 2 Chron. XXXII 24. XXXVIII Isa 1. But upon further consideration it appears from the latter part of it that he bewails the calamity of all the Nation either when Senacherib over-ran the Country or else in the Captivity of Babylon If we refer it to the latter then it was not Asaph the Seer whom I mentioned before Psalm LXXIII that made this Psalm but some other in after times see Psal LXXIV who laments the long continuance of their Captivity which looked like an utter forsaking by God but he comforts himself at last with the remembrance of what God had done formerly for them when he delivered them out of the Egyptian bondage 1. I Cried unto God with my voice even unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me 1. I Have incessantly made my prayer to God and I will still most earnestly intreat his favour To Him who hath justly afflicted us and can alone relieve us have I again and again renewed my importunate suit which I hope will at last prevail with Him for deliverance 2. In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted 2. I have not negligently discharged this Duty but as the distress is great wherein we are so I have restlesly implored help from the Lord In the night when men are wont to bury their troubles in sleep I have with unwearied diligence spread out my hands unto Him in token that all my dependence is upon His power alone resolving to admit of no consolation till I obtained a gracious Answer from Him 3. I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Selah 3. I remembred indeed how kind God had been unto us in former times but this onely gave me the greater trouble when I compared it with our present miseries and the more I mused on it the more my spirit was disturbed and miserably afflicted 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking I am so troubled that I cannot speak 4. Insomuch that I could not close my eyes to take a wink of sleep nor open my mouth such was my perturbation and astonishment to express the heaviness of my grief 5. I have considered the days of old the years of aucient times 5. All that I could doe was to recount thy mercifull Providences over our Forefathers in times past and ponder seriously what wonders Thou didst for them many ages agone 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night I commune with mine own heart and my spirit made diligent search 6. I called to mind all the Songs I had indited to celebrate the memory of those ancient benefits and spent whole nights in silent meditations and diligent inquiries which I revolved to and fro in my mind why He who had taken such care of our Ancestours had so long rejected us 7. Will the LORD cast off for ever and will he be favourable no more 7. Will the Lord thought I abandon us for ever Is He so incensed against us that He will never be reconciled nor intend to shew us any more favour 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise fail for evermore 8. Is his infinite mercy which is the fountain of all his benefits quite exhausted and will He never hereafter speak a word of comfort to us 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Selah 9. Hath God whose property it is to shew mercy quite laid aside all thoughts of exercising his clemency towards us or have we so highly provoked Him to anger that He hath no regard at all unto our miseries 10. And I said This is my infirmity but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High 10. But having thus complained and said within my self This is the thing which sorely afflicts me to see such alterations in the proceedings of the most High that the same hand which formerly protected us now severely scourges us 11. I will remember the works of the LORD surely I will remember thy wonders of old 11. I presently considered that there might be a change again and resolved to comfort my self with the remembrance of the former works of the Lord and to go back as far as the Miracle Thou didst for us in bringing us up out of the Land of Egypt when our deserts were as small as in these days 12. I will meditate also of all thy work and talk of thy doings 12. Of all the ensuing wonders I will think rather then on our present miseries I will not omit one of them but instead of these complaints make them the constant subject of my discourse 13. Thy way O God is in the sanctuary who is so great a God as our God 13. From which I cannot but conclude that the method of thy Providence O God is not onely perfectly holy and just but quite out of our reach nor is thy Power inferiour but as Thou dost not proceed in the common way of our thoughts so none can resist what thy incomparable Majesty thinks fit to effect 14. Thou art the God that
people over also to the sword and was wroth with his inheritance 62. Whose Sword slew a great number of his people 1 Sam. IV. 10. so exceeding angry was He with those whom He had formerly taken into his special care above all other Nations XXXII Deut. 8 9. 63. The fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given to marriage 63. For it was by his Divine vengeance more then the Philistines valour that they lost abundance of brave young men the very flower of their Army by which means many of their Virgins were constrained to remain unmarried and they that found Husbands were fain to omit all tokens of joy in a time of publick sorrow 64. Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation 64. For some of their Priests who were peculiarly consecrated to God's service were slain in this Battel 1 Sam. IV. 11. and their Wives oppressed with grief did not long survive to make any publick Funeral for them 1 Sam. IV. 20. 65. Then the LORD awaked as one out of sleep and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine 65. The Lord Himself also who was wont to sight for us seemed no more concerned in all these calamities which befell both us and our Religion then a mighty Commander is at that which is done to his Army when he is asleep or overcome with Wine Till at last like such a great Warriour who being awaked calls for his arms and charges the enemy with greater fury He vindicated his honour in a terrible manner and made a very great destruction among them 1 Sam. V. 9 11. 66. And he smote his enemies in the hinder parts he put them to a perpetual reproach 66. For besides the fall of Dagon before the Ark He smote several Cities of the Philistines with a grievous sort of Haemorrhoids whereof many died and the rest languished under most miserable torments 1 Sam. V. 6 9 12. the monuments of which they themselves were forced to make and send back with the Ark to his great glory and their eternal reproach 1 Sam. VI. 3 4 9. 67. Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim 67. Yet he would not return to Shiloh again which was in the Tribe of Ephraim the Son of Joseph nor have the Ark of his presence placed there any more 68. But chose the tribe of Judah the mount Sion which he loved 68. But first it was brought to Kiriathaim 1 Sam. VI. 21. a City of the Tribe of Judah XV. Josh 6. where He resolved hereafter to have his special residence and so from thence after a short stay at the House of Obed-Edom unto Mount Sion 1 Chron. XIII 6. XVI 1 3 29. which He preferred before the Hill of Kiriathaim 1 Sam. VII 1. or any other place in all the Country 69. And he built his sanctuary like high palaces like the earth which he hath established for ever 69. There Solomon built Him a stately Temple which as it was a high and lofty Fabrick so was not moveable like his former habitation but remained perpetually fixed like the earth on which it stood 70. He chose David also his servant and took him from the sheepfolds 70. For as He had rejected Shiloh and chosen Sion for the place of his dwelling so He had likewise rejected Saul and chosen David the Father of Solomon to be the King of his people A man who served Him as faithfully in that Office as he had done his Father in keeping of his Sheep 71. From following the ews great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance 71. From that mean imployment He took him and raised him to the highest charge and dignity that the care he had imployed in looking after the Ews and their Lambs when they should fall he might exercise in governing his people and endeavouring that they whom He had chosen for his own peculiar inheritance did no way miscarry 72. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands 72. And he did not deceive His expectation but governed them with equal integrity and prudence never designing any thing but their good and dextrously accomplishing whatsoever he designed PSALM LXXIX A Psalm of Asaph ARGUMENT This Psalm was penned in all probability upon the same occasion with the LXXIX viz. The destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar see what I have said there in the Argument of that Psalm and it will appear altogether unlikely that this should have respect to the times of Antiochus Epiphanes as many imagin and among the rest Theodoret which is the more strange because the same reason he gives there why the LXXIV Psalm doth not belong to those times which he repeats again upon LXXX Psal 17. lies as strongly against the application of this Psalm to the fury and rage wherewith that Prince fell upon the Jewish Nation Whose miserable calamity under Nebuchadnezzar we find bewailed by Jeremiah who then lived X. Jer. 25. in the very words of the sixth and seventh verses of this Psalm which is some indication that they both belong to the same matter but whether Jeremiah took them from Asaph or Asaph from him I cannot certainly determin The latter is most likely because this Psalm seems to have been written after that desolation had for some time continued We reade indeed in the Book of Maccabees 1. VII 16 17. two other verses of this Psalm viz. 2 3. applied to the slaughter of threescore of the devouter sort of Jews presently after Antiochus his death But that Authour quotes them it is plain as words which had been written in former days and by him onely made use of to his purpose which was to shew that the same cruelties were in great part acted over again which their Fathers had seen at the destruction of Jerusalem 1. O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy temple have they defiled they have laid Jerusalem on heaps 1. O God the supreme Judge of the world Thou art not ignorant we know of our calamity for it comes by thy order but give us leave to represent unto thy Majesty the sad condition of the people and place which was once very dear unto Thee for prophane Nations have not onely invaded our or rather thy Country to which Thou hast a peculiar Title but polluted thy own House which was separated to thy service alone and laid it together with Jerusalem in ruinous heaps 2. The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth 2. Under which thy servants the Priests and other holy men whom they have slain could not have the honour to be buried nor obtain the common civility of a Grave but the dead Bodies of those whom Thou lovest they have barbarously disposed to
together rather then any other because they were the Tribes as we reade in the second of Numbers who when they were in the Wilderness always marched behind the Tabernacle when it moved and had that part where the Propitiatory was from whence God sent his Oracles and the tokens of his power just before them But then there is this to be added to make it probable that this Psalm was not penned in the time of the Captivity because as then there was no Ark nor did God sit between the Cherubins concerning which phrase the learned Reader may see Lud. de Dieu upon 1 Sam. IV. 4. as He is said here to do nor were Ephraim and Manasseh then mixed with them that we reade of so first of all it is too full of elegancies for that time of utter desolation and secondly the Greek expresly calls it A Psalm concerning the Assyrian who is the wild Boar I suppose that broke into God's Vineyard mentioned Ver. 13. and lastly Hezekiah I observe applies himself to God in the time of that distress by the King of Assyria in the very language of the Psalmist and begins his Prayer just as Asaph doth here to Him that sits between the Cherubins desiring Him to incline his ear to his requests 2 King XIX 15 16. XXXVII Isa 16 17. It was delivered to the chief Master of Musick to be sung as the LX. Psalm upon the Instruments of six strings which were wont to be used in solemn Thanksgivings see the Argument of that Psalm for he nothing doubted God would hear their Prayers and destroy Senacherib Or perhaps it was ordered afterward to be sung in that manner 1. GIve ear O shepherd of Israel thou that leadest Joseph like a flock thou that dwellest between the cherubims shine forth 1. O Thou who art the Ruler and Protectour of thy people Israel who didst long ago give a famous instance of thy power in preserving Joseph when he fell like an innocent Lamb among a company of Wolves XXXVII Gen. 18 c. and conducting him to the highest preferment reject not our humble petitions which we put up unto Thee in the like distress but shew that Thou favourest us by some illustrious token of thy presence among us in thy Holy place from whence Thou canst send Angels to defend and deliver us 2 King XIX 35. 2. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us 2. Let the posterity of Joseph who beheld heretofore so many enemies fall before Thee when they attended upon the Ark of thy presence in the Wilderness II. Numb 18 20 22. and have lately been very zealous in thy service 2 Chr. XXX 1. XXXI 1. see thy power to be as great as ever though for some time it hath not appeared at all for us and that Thou art as forward in due time to grant us a glorious deliverance 3. Turn us again O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 3. Restore us O God to our former happiness and for that end restore us into thy favour and then there will soon be an end of our calamities 4. O LORD God of hosts how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people 4. For what can the greatest Armies 2 King XVIII 17. doe against Thee who art the supreme Lord of all the absolute Commander of the Hosts of Heaven whose help we have most importunately implored and long waited for as men impatient to see our enemies so prevalent though hitherto Thou hast been so exceeding angry with us that Thou hast not heard the prayers of thy people 5. Thou feedest them with the bread of tears and givest them tears to drink in great measure 5. But hast turned our joyfull Feasts unto fasting and weeping and our plenty into scarcity of all things but onely of tears which we pour out in large measure when we think of the danger we are in to perish by famine and by thirst 2 Chron. XXXII 21. 6. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours and our enemies laugh among themselves 6. Our neighbours the Edomites and others either pick quarrels with us or strive among themselves who shall make the greatest booty of us while our enemies that besiege us mock at our inability to help our selves and at our confidence which we place in Thee 2 King XVIII 22 23. 2 Chron. XXXII 15. 7. Turn us again O God of hosts and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 7. Convince them O Lord that it is not vainly placed by restoring us again to our former happiness which it is easie for Thee to doe who hast all the Hosts of Heaven at thy command if Thou wilt but be pleased to favour us as we again beseech Thee Thou wilt and then no harm shall befall us 8. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it 8. We were once very dear unto Thee when Thou didst transplant us like a choice Vine out of Egypt into this Country from whence Thou didst drive out the ancient Inhabitants that we might be settled in their place 9. Thou preparedst room before it and didst cause it to take deep root and it filled the land 9. Thou preparedst the way for us making our terrour fall upon them before we came II. Josh 9 10 11. so that we easily expelled them and being there firmly established like a Vine deeply rooted in a fruitfull soil we increased and multiplied till we peopled all the Land 10. The hills were covered with the shadow of it and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars 10. And as a rich Vine covers the Hill on the side of which it is planted or overtops the lofty Cedars which support it so we obscured the splendour of the greatest Kingdoms and made mighty Kings become Tributaries to us 1 King IV. 24. 11. She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river 11. For our Empire extended it self just like such a luxuriant Vine which spreads its branches every way from the mid-land Sea to the River Euphrates 1 King IV. 21. see LXXII Psal 8. 12. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her 12. But now alas Thou hast withdrawn thy protection from us and we are left like a Vineyard without its Hedges All our strong Holds and fenced Cities are taken 2 King XVIII 3. so that we lie open to be made a prey to every one that hath a mind to spoil us 13. The Boar out of the wood doth waste it and the wild beast of the field doth devour it 13. The Assyrian King like a wild Boar that breaks into a Vineyard treads down all under his feet and seeks to root us up There is no savage Beast can make greater havock among the Vines then his barbarous Souldiers have done throughout all the Land which they
have eaten up 2 King XIX 29. 14. Return we heseech thee O God of hosts look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine 14. Our onely hope is that Thou the great Lord of Hosts on whom the event of Wars as of all things else depends wilt be reconciled unto us and drive him out again deny us not this request we beseech Thee but though we be destitute of all help on earth yet send us some from heaven and though very unworthy yet graciously take us into thy care and repair the breaches which they have made 15. And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the branch that thou madest strong for thy self 15. Be favourable to the remnant of us which by thy powerfull preservation is still left like the root or stock of a Vine which may sprout out again 2 King XIX 30 31. and especially to our King whom Thou hast endued with zeal and couragious resolution for they service 2 Chron. XXX 32. and for our defence 2 Chron. XXXII 5 6 7 8. 16. It is burnt with fire it is out down they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance 16. Great numbers of us are destroyed already and may be compared to the numerous branches of that remaining stock which being cut off are burnt with fire and all the rest of us must perish if Thou wilt not be reconciled unto us but still persevere in thy anger towards us 17. Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thy self 17. Which we beseech Thee turn away and be the mighty Helper of our Sovereign who is dearly beloved by Thee of that excellent Prince whom Thou hast endued with zeal and couragious resolution for thy service and for our defence and preservation Ver. 15. 18. So will not we go back from thee quicken us and we will call upon thy name 18. Which shall be an everlasting obligation upon us never to revolt from Thee to our former Idolatry Do but free us from these deadly enemies and we will worship Thee alone and never cease to praise Thee and acknowledge that we owe our very lives to thy almighty Goodness 19. Turn us again O LORD God of hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 19. Hear us O great Lord who hast all the Angels in Heaven at thy command hear us we once more beseech Thee and restore us perfectly to our former happiness and in order to it restore us to thy favour and let there be a speedy end of all these calamities PSALM LXXXI To the chief Musician upon Gittith A Psalm of Asaph ARGUMENT There was a special command of God as the Psalmist here takes notice Ver. 4. for the making a joyfull sound with Trumpets upon all their solemn days especially their New Moons X. Numb 10. But more particularly upon the first day of the seventh Month which is called by this peculiar Name above all other days a day of blowing the Trumpets i. e from Morning unto Evening XXIX Numb 1. and a memorial of blowing Trumpets XXIII Lev. 24. For this solemn day I suppose this Psalm was composed and the reason is apparent why they were to blow with Trumpets longer on this day then any other because it was the first New Moon in the Year for according to their old computation before they came out of Egypt their Year began on this Day as appears from XXIII Exod. 16. XXXIV 22. where the Feast of ingathering their Fruits is said to be in the revolution or the end of the year and God intended it is possible to awaken them as Maimonides conjectures to prepare themselves by strict inquiry into their lives and by hearty repentance for the great day of Attonement which was the tenth of this Month. But of what this blowing Trumpets or Cornets was a memorial is not easie to resolve the Hebrews themselves being at such a loss about it that they are fain to go as far back as the deliverance of Isaac and the offering a Ram in his stead for the reason of it The clearest account of which it seems to me may be fetcht from this Psalm which plainly intimates that the blowing with Trumpets at that time related to something which ensued upon their happy deliverance out of Egypt Which though it began upon the first day of the first Month according to their new Computation which took its original from that deliverance in memory of which God ordained the Feast of the Passeover to begin on that day XXIII Lev. 6. yet they had not a compleat body of Laws delivered to them by Moses till the first day of the seventh Month which was the Feast of blowing Trumpets Moses received indeed several Laws in the third Month XIX Exod. 1 3 c. on the third day whereof Ver. 11 16 19 20. God himself appeared on the top of Mount Sinai with the sound of a Trumpet exceeding loud and prolonged to which I believe this Feast hath respect and spake the Ten Commandments after which Moses delivered them a body of civil Laws Exod. XXI XXII XXIII But they did not know the manner of the Divine Service for which they came out of Egypt into the Wilderness till Moses had been twice forty days one after the other in the Mount and likewise as several of the Jews understand those passages in IX Deut. relating to this matter had forty days more bewailed their sin in making the golden Calf Which sixscore days if we add to the time between their coming out of Egypt and the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai and to the six days which passed before Moses was called up into the Cloud it will fall out exactly to be the first day of the seventh month when he began to give orders for the building of the Tabernacle and making all things belonging to God's House according to the direction he had received in the Mount I am sure this was the precise time of their setting up the Altar and beginning to offer burnt Offerings after their return from the Captivity of Babylon before the foundation of the Temple was laid For you reade III. Ezra 1 6. it was upon the first day of the seventh month in the middle of which they also kept the Feast of Tabernacles as Moses had appointed in memory of their dwelling in Booths in the Wilderness under the Government of the Almighty The same day also was kept holy by Nehemiah with great solemnity VIII 1 8 9 10. where you find how the Book of the Law was distinctly read to the people on this day and the sense of it explained so that they came the next day again for further instruction Ver. 13. Now that they might be more mindfull of those Divine Benefits which in this Month they commemorated more then in any other Month in the Year Asaph in the days of David it is likely composed this Psalm and directed it to
our Defender 2 King XIX 19. 10. For a day in thy courts is better then a thousand I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the tents of wickedness 10. For one day spent in thy Courts is far more pleasant than a thousand in any other place and I had rather lie at the Gates of thy House then live in the most splendid condition in Idolatrous Countries 11. For the LORD God is a sun and shield the LORD will give grace and glory no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly 11. For though our happiness be sometimes clouded yet the Lord like the Sun will dispell the darkness of affliction and having brought us out of a disconsolate condition defend and secure us in a better 2 King XX. 6. The Lord will give those favour with others and advance them to great honour 2 Chron. XXXII 22 23. He will never be sparing of his blessings but heap them abundantly on those who sincerely doe his will in all things 2 King XVIII 5 6. XX. 3. 12. O LORD of hosts blessed is the man that trusteth in thee 12. O most mighty Lord who commandest all the host of heaven happy is that man who by his integrity preserves this hope and confidence in Thee though for the present he be restrained from the delightfull injoyment of Thee in thy Temple PSALM LXXXV To the chief Musician A Psalm for the Sons of Korah ARGUMENT It is thought by many that this Psalm was composed by some of the Sons of Korah after David's banishment from Jerusalem by his Son Absalom called a Captivity as we reaâ—… Psal XIV ult and his happy restauration to his Kingdom though not to such a settlement as they desired But it may be as well or better applied to the miraculous providence which drove Senacherib out of the Land who had taken many Captives V. Isa 13. and restored them to the happy liberty whose loss they bewailed in the Psalm foregoing Which way soever we understand it the composure is such that it might be much better used by them after their return from the Captivity of Babylon then at any other time when they were infested with many enemies who disturbed their peaceable injoyment of their Country and Religion And therefore it is possible it might be reviewed if not made in those days and delivered to the chief Master of Musick in the Temple to be sung presently after the Foundation of it was laid III. Ezr. 10 11 c. but the Work hindred from proceeding by the opposition of their enemies And so I shall interpret it 1. LORD thou hast been favourable unto thy land thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. 1. THou hast been exceeding kind unto us O Lord and we most thankfully acknowledge the favour Thou hast done us in delivering us the posterity of Jacob out of our sad Captivity and restoring us to the Land in which Thou thy self hast chosen to dwell I. Ezra 2. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people thou hast covered all their sin Selah 2. Our sins kept us from it in banishment a long time but now Thou hast graciously pardoned both our Idolatry and all the other crimes for which we justly suffered 3. Thou hast taken away all thy wrath thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness of thine anger 3. Thou hast put an end to the sore punishments which in thy heavy displeasure Thou inflictedst on us and turned thy severity which like sire had almost consumed us into great clemency and mercy toward us 4. Turn us O God of our salvation and cause thine anger towards us to cease 4. Compleat good Lord our deliverance which Thou hast thus graciously begun and let not our ingratitude provoke Thee to continue this new vexation and trouble that is befaln us IV. Ezra 4 5 21 23. 5. Wilt thou be angry with us for ever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations 5. Which forces us to sigh and say in the anguish of our Souls will there never be an end of our miseries Is it not enough that the foregoing generation hath felt the sad effects of thine anger but it must extend it self to us also and our posterity 6. Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee 6. Will it not be more for thy honour not onely to preserve this feeble life which Thou hast bestowed on us but to give us a perfect recovery that thy people may have nothing to damp their joy and intire satisfaction in thy goodness to them 7. Shew us thy mercy O LORD and grant us thy salvation 7. Make us so happy good Lord and though we deserve indeed to be more miserable then we are yet let thy mercy prevail with Thee to grant us a compleat deliverance 8. I will hear what God the LORD will speak for he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints but let them not turn again to folly 8. I will wait patiently upon the Lord the Judge of the world for a gracious Answer to these Prayers hoping that He will not condemn us to further punishment but settle his people who devoutly worship Him in a prosperous tranquillity provided they return not again to their old Idolatry 9. Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him that glory may dwell in our land 9. He will be so far from deserting those who fear to offend Him that I am confident the time approaches when He will finish what He hath begun to doe for us in rebuilding our Temple V. Ezra 2 8. VI. 7 8 c. and restoring our Country to its ancient dignity and splendour 10. Mercy and truth are met together righteousness and peace have kissed each other 10. For methinks I see goodness and fidelity justice and concord which are the principal glory of a Kingdom meeting together like ancient Friends which have been long absent and embracing each other 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven 11. And as Truth and Honesty with all other Vertues shall grow and flourish among us like Flowers and Herbs in the Spring after a tedious Winter so God shall faithfully fulfill his promises to us and exercise a most gracious providence over us 12. Yea the LORD shall give that which is good and our land shall yield her increase 12. Yea the Lord will doe us good beyond our expectation and reward our fruitfulness in good works with such a large and plentifull increase of the fruits of the earth as shall demonstrate the bounty of heaven to us 13. Righteousness shall go before him and shall set us in the way of his steps 13. He will govern us with great justice and mercy having his faithfull promises always before his eyes from that rule He will never swerve but stedfastly proceed by it as the constant method He will hold in his Divine Administrations PSALM
thine handmaid 16. In confidence of which I humbly beseech thy favour and gracious pardon though I have highly offended Thee Assist thy poor servant by thy irresistible power against those mighty forces which are ready to assault me O deliver me who am here humbled in the lowest manner before Thee looking upon my self as more absolutely thine then any slave that is born in our house can be ours 17. Shew me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thou LORD hast holpen me and comforted me 17. Vouchsafe me now in this great distress such manifest tokens of thy favour towards me that I may not onely be delivered but all may take notice of it And good men thereby be encouraged to hope in Thee but they that hate me be utterly confounded to see him whom they intended to destroy not onely preserved but blessed with comforts proportionable to the sorrow he hath indured PSALM LXXXVII A Psalm or Song for the Sons of Korah ARGUMENT It is as uncertain when this Psalm-Song see LXVII was composed as which of the Sons of Korah was the Authour of it But it is manifest enough that it was written in commendation of Jerusalem situate in the holy Mountains of Sion where David built his Palace and afterward settled the Ark and of Moriah where Solomon built the Temple There are those that think it was composed upon the Anniversary of the Birth or Coronation of some great Prince such as Hezekiah in whose days this City was made more famous by the glorious deliverance which God gave it from the power of the King of Assyria's Army But this is a mere conjecture and I shall follow the vulgar opinion according to which the beginning of this Psalm must be lookt upon as very abrupt but expresses the greater rapture of joyfull admiration wherein the Psalmist was 1. HIS foundations is in the holy mountains 1. GReat is the strength and beauty of this place which is founded by God in the high Mountains which He hath peculiarly chosen for the seat of his Kingdom and of his Priesthood 2. The LORD loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob. 2. Though the Lord loves all the habitations of his people yet none are so dear unto Him as those within the Gates of Jerusalem A principal part of which is Sion 3. Glorious things are spoken of thee O city of God Selah 3. There is no City in the world of which such glorious things are foretold or of which any thing can now be said comparable to what we can truly boast of thee that art the City which God Himself hath separated for his own habitation 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 4. I do not deny the due praises which belong to other places and Countries but rather am wont to make honourable mention among my acquaintance and familiars of Egypt and of Babylon and of those who are nearer to us the Philistines Tyrians and Arabians bidding them observe that such a notable person was born among them 5. And of Sion it shall be said This and that man was born in her and the Highest himself shall establish her 5. But what is this to Sion of whom it shall be said in future times that not such a single person but this and that man a great many Worthies and far more eminent both in Learning and in Arms but especially in Piety were born in her for she hath no meaner instructour than the most high who shall settle her in a flourishing estate by educating and forming her inhabitants to the most excellent qualities 6. The LORD shall count when he writeth up the people that this man was born there Selah 6. So that when He himself whose eyes nothing can escape shall look over the register of those Nations and count the famous men they have produced He shall find onely some one great man and he comparatively of no great value was born among them 7. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there all my springs are in thee 7. But in thee O City of God He shall find multitudes of excellent persons all eminent in their kind even among those of lower rank as well as in the higher And there shall be a constant succession of such as there is of water from a spring PSALM LXXXVIII A Song or Psalm for the Sons of Korah to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite ARGUMENT Who this Heman was is uncertain Not he who was the famous Singer in David's time for he was of the Tribe of Levi 1 Chron. VI. 32. XV. 17. whereas this was descended from Zerah who was one of the Sons of Judah 1 Chron. II. 6. where we find indeed not onely Heman but Ethan to whom the next Psalm is ascribed mentioned as two of Zerah's Sons But we cannot reasonably think that they were in those early times the Authours of these two Psalms because Ethan plainly makes mention of David and the promise which God had passed to him of a perpetual Kingdom It remains therefore that these two here mentioned were of the posterity of those Sons of Zerah and thence called Ezrahites and had the Names of their noble Ancestours given them to perpetuate the memory of those who were so famous for wisedom 1 King IV. 31. But in what time they lived cannot be certainly determined It is probable when Jechoniah otherwise called Jehojachin or after him Zedekiah was taken and carried captive to Babylon together with abundance of the Nobility and the principal Commanders and Artizans 2 King XXIV 14 15 16. In some of which ranks I suppose this Heman was who being cast into a dark prison which hath made some fancy Jehojachin himself to have made it Ver. 6 8. or otherwise as miserably treated as if he had been in a dungeon bewails his private calamity as Ethan in the next Psalm doth the publick Why it is called a Song-Psalm see upon the Title of Psal LXVII It was to be sung by the Sons of Korah interchangeably which is the meaning of Leannoth upon a Flute or Pipe see Psal LIII to the known tune of Maschil see Psal XXXII Some passages in it may be applied to our Saviour's Death and Burial in his Grave which the Prophet Isaiah compares to a Prison and so is used by our Church upon Good Friday 1. O LORD God of my salvation I have cried day and night before thee 1. O Mighty Lord by whose gracious care and good providence I have been hitherto preserved and on whom all my hopes of safety still depend I have not failed in this sore affliction to implore thy mercy with most earnest cries without any intermission 2. Let my prayer come before thee incline thine ear unto my cry 2. Let them at last prevail I beseech
Thee and do not reject my petition accompanied with sad moans and dolefull lamentations but vouchsafe a favourable answer to it 3. For my soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave 3. For my Soul is overcharged with great variety of long continued evils which have brought me so low that there is but a step between me and the grave 4. I am counted with them that go down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength 4. All that know my condition look upon me as utterly lost and I have no reason to think otherwise being quite spent and having no power at all to help my self 5. Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy hand 5. I am no longer one of this world from whose society I am quite separated there is little difference between me and those who being slain in a Battel and cast all together into one common grave are no further regarded or those whose families are so wholly exstirpated that there are none left to preserve their memory 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the deeps 6. For Thou hast thrust me down into a deep and dismal Dungeon which I can compare to nothing but a Grave wherein I lie neglected and see no hope of being delivered 7. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves Selah 7. My spirit is ready to sink under the weight of thy displeasure while my calamities fall upon me so fast and so heavily like the mountainous waves of the Sea one after another that it is impossible to express the soreness of my affliction 8. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me thou hast made me an abomination unto them I am shut up and I cannot come forth 8. I am not allowed to have any familiarity with my friends or acquaintance no more then if I were in another world And as for other men they abominate to come into such a loathsome place where I am kept so close that I have no means of getting out 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction LORD I have called daily upon thee I have stretched out my hands unto thee 9. Nor can I doe any thing there but weep till I am almost blind by reason of the miseries I endure onely I cease not to look up unto Thee O Lord continually who art my onely companion in this solitary and helpless condition imploring thy aid with fervent prayers and longing expectations saying 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee Selah 10. Make haste good Lord to deliver me if Thou intendest any kindness to me otherwise I shall presently perish and then without the greatest Miracle there is no help for me For can I with any reason expect that Thou shouldest doe wonders for me among the dead when Thou wouldest doe nothing for me while I was alive and raise me out of my grave when Thou wouldest not bring me out of prison 11. Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction 11. Now is the time to declare the love Thou bearest to me and to perform the promise Thou hast made to them that faithfully serve Thee For if Thou dost defer thy relief I die and what can I hope for when I am rotten in my grave 12. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness 12. Shall thy power be apparent there where nothing is seen And wilt Thou convince men how good and how just Thou art to thy servants in the place where they are no more remembred 13. But unto thee have I cried O LORD and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee 13. Thus O Lord I cry unto Thee in the anguish of my soul which keeps me awake to present my prayers unto Thee before the morning light 14. LORD why castest thou off my soul why hidest thou thy face from me 14. Though alas they have no effect but I see my self deserted notwithstanding all my prayers in these miserable straits wherein I lie sighing to think what the reason should be that Thou deniest me thy help and takest no notice of me 15. I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up while I suffer thy terrours I am distracted 15. Which is the more strange because I faint away under my misery which hath continued many years and under the sad prospect I have before me of more dreadfull calamities which so astonish me that I know not what to doe with my self 16. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me thy terrours have cut me off 16. I onely bemoan over again my forlorn estate which grows still more deplorable I suffer not merely the effects of thy anger Ver. 7. but of thy severest and most terrible displeasure wherewith I am so overwhelmed and oppressed that I am scarce able to fetch my breath 17. They came round about me daily like water they compassed me about together 17. Which way soever I turn my self I find that I am inviron'd with them and they increase continually like flouds of water coming from several places and at last meeting all together to inclose and swallow me up 18. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness 18. And there is no Friend no Neighbour comes near me to give me the least consolation But all they whose sweet society was wont to help to mitigate my sorrow are either dead or kept from my sight or hide themselves for fear of being thrust down together with me into this dolefull place PSALM LXXXIX Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite ARGUMENT The Authour of this Psalm was near of kin to him that made the former see the Argument there and they lived I suppose in the same time Onely Heman bewailed some private affliction which was befallen himself whereas Ethan after a thankfull acknowledgment of the benefits God had bestowed upon them and especially of his promise made to David by Samuel and Nathan of settling the Kingdom upon him and his posterity for ever laments most sadly the publick calamity by the subversion of the Royal Family and Government in the days of Jehojachin or of Zedekiah Whose miserable fate seems in the conclusion of this Psalm to be bewailed with the greater passion because it looked like a breach of God's promise to David and gave the Babylonians and other Nations who assisted in their destruction occasion to say that notwithstanding all the promises they boasted of and the fidelity of their God in the performance there was now a period put to David's Family and Kingdom That 's the clearest account I can give of the meaning of the last clause of the last verse but one where we reade that they reproached the foot-steps of his Anointed The word we render
shall not befall thee 13. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet 13. No shouldst thou come among Serpents Asps and Dragons with all the rest of those venemous sort of Creatures they shall not be able to doe thee hurt but thou shalt victoriously trample upon them and triumph over them X. Luk. 19. XVI Mark 18. 14. Because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high because he hath known my name 14. For so hath the Lord declared his will and pleasure to be when He gave commission to his Angels concerning me saying Because he heartily loves Me and delights in Me therefore will I deliver him from all present danger and raise him above the reach of all future because he hath acknowledged Me to be the onely safe refuge and relied on My power for his protection 15. He shall call upon me and I will answer him I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him and honour him 15. I will grant him all his petitions especially when he is in any distress I will be present with him to afford him sutable comfort and not onely preserve him from perishing but after a happy deliverance make him great and illustrious 16. With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation 16. And more then that he shall have the satisfaction of injoying his honour to a great old Age and when his strength fails him I will not but still give him evident proofs of my care of him and kindness towards him PSALM XCII A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day ARGUMENT If Adam had made this Psalm presently after he was created in the evening of the Sabbath which is a Rabbinical fancy mentioned in the Midrash upon this place sure it would have been set in this fourth Book of Psalms before that of Moses who may more probably be conceived to have composed it to raise the hearts of the Israelites to the proper business of the Sabbath-day which was to praise God when they meditated upon his wonderfull works not onely of Creation but of Providence in the government of the world Several instances of which in rewarding the good and punishing the wicked they themselves had seen since they came out of Egypt and were to see more when they came into the Land of Canaan to keep their Sabbath or rest there after their long travels in the Deserts with respect to which some thing Moses might call this A Psalm for the Sabbath-day But there is no certainty of these things or rather it is certain that neither of these conjectures are true For as Adam in Paradise had no enemies to rise up against him nor was troubled with any workers of iniquity such as we reade of Ver. 7 11. and there were no Psalteries Harps and Instruments of Musick then made which Moses himself tells us were found out by Jubal so those Instruments were not imployed in the service of God till the days of David who may therefore more reasonably be thought to have made this Psalm for the Sabbath then either of the other after God had given him such Rest round about from all his enemies 2 Sam. VII 1. that he concluded he should be able to subdue those who should hereafter adventure to oppose him such as those mentioned in the following Chapters 2 Sam. VIII X. 1. IT is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD and to sing praises unto thy name O most High 1. NOW is the proper season to give thanks unto the Lord for all the benefits we have received from Him and it is no less delightfull then it is profitable to sing Hymns in the praise of the Divine perfections which infinitely transcend all that can be said or thought of them 2. To shew forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night 2. This is the sweetest imployment in the morning and no entertainment equal to it at night to commemorate and declare to all how bountifull Thou art and how faithfull in performing thy promises to those who depend on thy Almighty Goodness 3. Vpon an instrument of ten strings and upon the psaltery upon the harp with a solemn sound 3. Which ought to be celebrated with a full Consort not onely of our chearfull Voices but of all the Instruments of Musick 4. For thou LORD hast made me glad through thy work I will triumph in the works of thy hands 4. For all are too little O Lord to express the joy I have in the acts of thy Providence by whom as the world was made so it is still governed it ravishes my spirit and makes me shout for joy to think how excellently Thou orderest and disposest all things 5. O LORD how great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep 5. Whose administration though I cannot fully comprehend yet I admire and applaud the astonishing greatness of thy works and reverence the unsearchable depth of thy counsels and designs 6. A bruitish man knoweth not neither doth a fool understand this 6. Of which a stupid man who looks not beyond his senses is so wholly ignorant that seeing himself and other such like fools prosper and thrive while better men are in trouble and affliction He presently concludes Thou dost not meddle in our affairs but leavest all to chance For he doth not understand so much as this secret 7. When the wicked spring as the grass and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish it is that they shall be destroyed for ever 7. That when the lewdest men grow rich high and powerfull and their interest is such that by their means all the workers of iniquity and few other men are promoted the reason is because nothing in this world is of any great value nor of any long continuance but after they have flourished a while in an empty glory they shall be cut down like grass and which is more never rise up again 8. But thou LORD art most high for evermore 8. And that Thou who rulest all things though far out of their sight canst as well punish or reward men hereafter as at present being the eternal Lord. 9. For lo thine enemies O LORD for lo thine enemies shall perish all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered 9. Who shewest Thou dost not intend to let the wicked escape though now they flourish for Thou hast begun already to give thy enemies who have long prospered a remarkable defeat they have received such a notable blow that I am confident they shall perish and all their partakers though never so numerous and strongly linkt together be dispersed and utterly destroyed 10. But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn I shall be anointed with fresh oil 10. But my power and authority Thou shalt raise to a formidable height and crown that dignity with such undisturbed joy and pleasure as shall
prove the pious are not always miserable 11. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me 11. Nor the wicked alway prosperous For to all other pleasures this shall be added that I shall see those deprived of all power who have long watched to doe me mischief or certainly hear of the ruin of those malicious men who set themselves with all their might to destroy me 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon 12. Which may be an incouragement to every good man to hope in God and not question the justice of his Providence if at present he be afflicted for as He shall overturn all his enemies at the last so He will make the righteous flourish not as the wicked do like the grass Ver. 7. but in a durable prosperity like the fruitfull Palm and the stately Cedar in Lebanon 13. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God 13. For they are under the care of the Lord our God whose House they frequent and there partake of his Divine blessing for the growth and increase of their happiness 14. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age they shall be fat and flourishing 14. Which shall not decay as the strength and freshness of those Trees will do with age but the older they grow the more happy fruits shall their piety produce and they shall abound in wealth and honour as much as they do in that 15. To shew that the LORD is upright he is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him 15. To demonstrate to all the world that the Lord is a most impartial Governour whom I have found my firm unmoveable Friend and assure your selves is so just and kind that he will never let wickedness go unpunished nor vertue be always unrewarded PSALM XCIII ARGUMENT There is no Title in the Hebrew to tellâ— us who was the Authour of this Psalm Nor was there any in Origen's Hexaplus or in Eusebius as Theodoret confesses who found in the Greek Copy which he used this Psalm called An Ode of David in praise of God To which hath been since added in the day before the Sabbath when the earth began to be inhabited Which Musculus thinks was not rashly done by the Greeks but suspects they were moved to it because they knew perhaps that the Jews used this Psalm upon that day As indeed they did for the words of the Talmud in the Title Kedishim confirm his suspicions which are these as I find them set down by de Dieu upon the foregoing Psalm The Canticles which the Levites sung in the Sanctuary were as follow on the first day of the week the XXIV on the second the XLVIII on the third the LXXXII on the fourth the XCIV on the fifth the LXXXI on the sixth the XCIII and on the seventh the XCII Nor is the matter of this Psalm more distant from the foregoing then the sixth day is from the seventh for it seems to me to have been composed when some of those potent enemies began to take heart again and threaten to disturb David's peace and tranquillity which in the foregoing Psalm he had said he was confident they should never be able to overthrow Though in the more sublime sense it ought to be applied to the stability of Christ Kingdom which several of the Jews acknowledge is prophesied of in this and in all the Psalms that follow unto the Hundredth 1. THe LORD reigneth he is cloathed with majesty the LORD is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself the world also is stablished that it cannot be moved 1. LET the Nations boast of the power and splendour of their Kings and trust to their military preparations this is our glory and our confidence that the LORD reigneth over us whose royal ornaments are not gold and precious stones but Majesty it self and is not armed with sword and spear but with almighty strength which is ready to fight for us who have this comfort also that He who made the world will support that excellent order wherein we are settled so that it shall not be in the power of man to disturb what He hath established 2. Thy throne is established of old thou art from everlasting 2. This we know because thy Kingdom O Lord is fixed and immoveable and did not begin now when we were made thy peculiar people but was as Thou art from everlasting 3. The flouds have lifted up O Lord the flouds have lifted up their voice the flouds lift up their waves 3. We will not be afraid therefore though multitudes of combined enemies threaten to break in upon us like a floud though they storm and rage and insolently vaunt as if they were sure to overwhelm us 4. The LORD on high is mightier then the noise of many waters yea then the mighty waves of the sea 4. Though they roar terribly and be as numerous as the waters of the Sea swelling like its boisterous waves in a furious tempest the great Lord is above them all and can instantly depress them as low as He pleases 5. Thy testimonies are very sure holiness becometh thine house O LORD for ever 5. And thy fidelity in performing the promises wherein Thou hast testified thy good will to us is as unquestionable as thy power no age shall find it fail for it becomes not Thee to start from thy word delivered to us by thy Oracle but it is thy glory to observe it sacredly for ever PSALM XCIV ARGUMENT This Psalm also wants an inscription in the Hebrew to tell us who was the Authour of it but the later Greeks intitle David to it and call it A Psalm of his for the fourth day of the week which they had as I shewed in the Argument of the foregoing Psalm from the Hebrew Tradition in the Talmud And he hath little acquaintance with the History of David who doth not see that here is an exact description of the Court of Saul who abused their Authority to all manner of oppression and violence especially against David without any fear of God or thought that He would call them to any account for it as he complains in several other Psalms particularly LVII LVIII LIX But it might as well be penned by any other holy man who lived in times of general corruption when as Theodoret expresses it their Kings and their Princes i. e. Judges loved not to be tied to the Law but pronounced unjust sentences and committed murthers selling the bloud of innocents for bribes of whom the Prophet Isaiah sadly complains Ver. 21. of the first Chapter where Ver. 10. he calls them Rulers of Sodom Certain it is the Psalmist whosoever he was desires he may see justice done upon such Atheistical Oppressours and desires good men not to be discouraged under their tyranny but patiently
expect an happy issue of all the vexation which they gave them 1. O LORD God to whom vengeance belongeth O God to whom vengeance belongeth shew thy self 1. O Eternal Lord the Sovereign of the world in whose power it is to punish the highest offendors and to whom alone it belongs to take revenge on those who oppress thy people when they should protect them make thy justice conspicuous in a severe vengeance upon them 2. Lift up thy self thou judge of the earth render a reward to the proud 2. Call them to an account O Thou righteous Judge of the whole earth And by making them suffer according to the wrong they have done let those proud men who have acted as if they thought none could controle them know they have a Superiour 3. LORD how long shall the wicked how long shall the wicked triumph 3. We can scarce behold these wicked men without indignation it tempts us to impatience O Lord to see how they prosper and triumph in their injurious proceedings 4. How long shall they utter and speak hard things and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves 4. And to hear their insolent and provoking language for they care not what they say but as they intolerably abuse us so they audaciously blaspheme Thee the whole company of them priding themselves in the mischief they doe and scornfully deriding those that tell them thy judgments will overtake them 5. They break in pieces thy people O LORD and afflict thine heritage 5. They have crushed thy people so that they dare scarce complain of their tyranny which cruelly afflicts those who are dear unto Thee with all manner of rapines and extortions 6. They slay the widow and the stranger and murther the fatherless 6. They have no compassion upon the widow or the stranger but the rather spoil them nay condemn them to die upon false accusations that they may possess themselves of their estates because they have no Patron to defend them and in the same manner they murther for it is no better the poor fatherless children whom they ought to protect from violence 7. Yet they say The LORD shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it 7. And to harden themselves in their wickedness they say what do you tell us of the Lord He knows not or minds not what we doe here though there are such evident demonstrations of the Divine providence over Jacob and his posterity yet for all that they fancy He doth not regard nor will call them to any account for their doings 8. Vnderstand ye brutish among the people and ye fools when will ye be wise 8. What stupid wretches are these who think themselves the wisest but are in truth the most brutish of all mankind whom I would advise if they have not perfectly lost their reason to consider this and sure they are not such fools but they may soon understand it 9. He that planted the ear shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall he not see 9. Shall not He hear your blasphemies who gave you the faculty of hearing and shall not He see all you doe who gave you the power of seeing Is it possible He should give to others what he wants Himself 10. He that chastiseth the heathen shall not he correct he that teacheth man knowledge shall not he know 10. He that taught all Nations his will shall not He correct them when they transgress it To what purpose did he make man to know the difference between good and evil but that he should observe it and expect if he did not to suffer for it 11. The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vanity 11. Let them devise what ways they please and flatter themselves with hopes to escape his vengeance the Lord knows them all and will make them see one day that all such counsels and contrivances are but mere folly and vanity 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O LORD and teachest him out of thy law 12. And far better had it been for them to have been punished sooner For not he that prospers in his wickedness is happy but he whom Thou chastenest O Lord when he doth amiss and thereby teachest to study and obey thy Law with greater care and diligence 13. That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity untill the pit be digged for the wicked 13. Which will quiet his mind under all his troubles and at last procure the removal of them when absolute destruction and ruin mean time is preparing for the ungodly 14. For the LORD will not cast off his people neither will he forsake his inheritance 14. For the Lord will never abandon the care of his people nor leave those whom He owns for his peculiar possession to be utterly undone by the oppressions which for a time they may endure 15. But judgment shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall follow it 15. But how much soever his judgments may seem to depart from the rules of righteousness while the wicked flourish and the godly are afflicted they shall at last return to such a perfect conformity with them that all honest hearted men shall be incouraged thereby still to follow the Lord and by no means to depart from their integrity though all things look as if they were unequally carried 16. Who will rise up for me against the evil doers or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity 16. Let them learn by my example not to despond for who is it but He alone from whom I have expected and still do expect to receive protection and help against these malicious men who make no conscience of what they doe and design my utter ruin 17. Vnless the LORD had been my help my soul had almost dwelt in silence 17. Whose power also is so great that if the Lord had not seasonably interposed for my assistance and deliverance I had not now been praying to Him but laid in a silent grave 18. When I said My foot slippeth thy mercy O LORD held me up 18. This was my constant support if at any time my heart even failed me and I was ready to conclude I cannot subsist any longer then thy mercy O Lord sent me relief and preserved me from the danger wherein I was afraid I should have unavoidably perished 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul 19. I have had innumerable perplexed thoughts and anxious cares which have extreamly disquieted me But as soon as ever I reflected on thy goodness justice and truth they all vanished and I felt such consolation from thence as revived my dejected soul 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a law 20. And made me say I will never imagin it possible that Thou shouldest favour the tyrannical proceedings of these unrighteous Judges who not onely oppress thy people but doe it in
a form of justice and under the colour and pretext of law make them miserable 21. They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent bloud 21. They assemble themselves together and in full council combine to destroy the righteous upon whom they pass a solemn sentence though he be perfectly guiltless to lose his life 22. But the LORD is my defence and my God is the rock of my refuge 22. But this doth not discourage me whose case this is let them decree what they please and be too hard for all laws the Lord who hates unrighteousness will be my defence He who hath been long very gracious to me I am confident will secure me from their violence 23. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity and shall cut them off in their own wickedness yea the LORD our God shall cut them off 23. And more then that retort it upon themselves for the mischief they intended against me shall fall upon their own head He shall cut them off in their own wicked contrivances though it be not in our power yet the Lord our God who hath undertaken the patronage of those that confide in Him shall cut them off PSALM XCV ARGUMENT This Psalm likewise is without any Title in the Hebrew but the Greeks call it A Psalm of David because the Apostle to the Hebrews cites a passage out of it under his Name IV. 7. Though that it must be confessed is no concluding Argument of its being composed by him because it is usual to call the whole Five Books by the name of the Psalms of David when it is certain he did not make them all but onely the greater part Whoever was the Authour it looks as if it were intended to be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or solemn invitation of the people when they were all assembled together on the Sabbath or some publick occasion to praise the Lord their God and hear instructions out of his Law And is justly imployed still by the Church in the entrance of our Morning Service for the very same purpose For it plainly relates to the days of Christ as the Jews confess and the Apostle proves III. IV. to the Hebrews where he demonstrates to them of that Nation that the Rest here spoken of could not be merely that in the Land of Canaan which their Forefathers fell short of by their disobedience to God in the Wilderness but another far better into which they in that day were to be brought by the Messiah a far greater Captain of Salvation then Joshua And therefore it concerned them then he shews above all other times to take care they did not harden their hearts against Him when He came to invite them to a participation of the greatest blessedness but entertain his holy Gospel with a chearfull and joyfull obedience to it Theodoret is of opinion that it was particularly designed for the times of Josiah when he made that notable reformation which we reade of 2 Chron. XXXIV XXXV and called them from the worship of Idols to the service of the true God But it could never be more properly used by that Nation then when the Lord Christ came to call them to repentance 1. O Come let us sing unto the LORD let us make a joyfull noise to the rock of our salvation 1. OStir up your selves all ye that are come hither to worship the Lord and with united affections let us chearfully sing his praises Let us lift up our voices and triumphantly laud the Authour of all the good we enjoy and in whom we may safely confide for ever 2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyfull noise unto him with psalms 2. Let us approach into his presence with thankfull hearts to acknowledge the benefits we have received from Him and devoutly proclaim with triumphant hymns what a joy it is to us that we may address our selves unto Him 3. For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods 3. For the Lord is infinitely powerfull and hath a sovereign authority not onely over all the Princes on the earth but all the Angels and principalities in heaven 4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth the strength of the hills is his also 4. All those Treasures are in his possession which lie in the deepest and most secret parts of the earth whither none of our Monarchs can extend their power and the loftiest hills which none but the clouds can touch are part of his dominion 5. The sea is his and he made it and his hands formed the dry land 5. The Sea also obeys Him alone who hath an unquestionable title to it and to all the rest of his wide Empire for He made both it and the dry Land with all the things contained therein 6. O come let us worship and bow down let us kneel before the LORD our maker 6. O be not backward then to comply with this renewed invitation but let us all with the lowest prostrations devoutly adore his Majesty Let it not suffice us to doe it once but again let us with humble reverence bow both our bodies and souls in token of our subjection to Him Let us fall on our knees and submissively acknowledge the duty we owe to the great Lord who gave us our Being 7. For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand to day if ye will hear his voice 7. Which we above all people have reason to doe because He hath a peculiar relation to us and kindness for us providing for all our wants most liberally and continually defending us from all dangers O that you would therefore without delay listen to Him and be obedient to the voice of your Creatour Conserver and Benefactour who calls upon you most graciously by his own Son III. Heb. 6 7. IV. 7 saying 8. Harden not your heart as in the provocation and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness 8. Lay to heart what I have done for you and be not so stupidly insensible as your Fathers were at that place whose Name Meribah and Massah preserves the memory of their provoking strife with Moses and temptation of God in the Wilderness XVII Exod. 2 7. 9. When your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my work 9. When they doubted of my power and demanded new proofs of my presence among them XVII Exod. 7. though they had seen my wonderfull works in their late deliverance at the red Sea and in making the bitter waters sweet and sending them bread from heaven Exod. XIV XV. XVI 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do erre in their heart and they have not known my ways 10. Nor did they then cease their discontented murmurings and distrust of me but continued their stubborn infidelity vexing nay tiring my patience for the space of
forty years long before the end of which I concluded that they were a people whose heart would never be stedfastly resolved to adhere unto me for they did not mind what wonderfull things I did for them nor what I commanded them to doe for me 11. Vnto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest 11. Which so highly displeased me that I sware they should wander all their days and die at last in the Wilderness XIV Numb 28 c. and never enter into that good Land where I intended to give them rest after all their travels XII PSALM XCVI ARGUMENT This Psalm also wants a Title in the Hebrew but the Greeks are justified in the former part of their Inscription which calls it An Ode of David's by the 1 Chron. XVI where we find that at the bringing up the Ark from the house of Obed Edom to the place he had prepared for it on Mount Sion David delivered this Psalm together with the CV into the hand of Asaph to express the joy he had in God's special presence among them which all their neighbours round about he foretells should be made sensible of as well as themselves This Psalm indeed is not exactly the very same with that but there is a difference in some expressions ex gr it is called here A new Song but not there which shews it was afterward altered by some divine person who accommodated it to other uses And very probably by Ezra when they came out of Babylon which occasioned the Greeks to add in the latter part of the Inscription of this Psalm these words when the house was built after the Captivity Ezra that is made use of it to express their joy at the re-edification of the Temple But it never had a compleat fulfilling answerable to the height of it till the Messiah who was indeed the Temple of God came to dwell among us to give eternal Salvation to us Several of the Jewish Writers acknowledge that it belongs to His times and accordingly we not onely may but ought to have Him in our minds when we say Sing unto the Lord a new Song for his new Grace that is in sending Him to give Salvation to all Nations and the Lord reigneth Ver. 10. and hath all things put under his feet See Euseb in his Demonstrat Evangelica L. 1. c. 4. 1. O Sing unto the LORD a new song sing unto the LORD all the earth 1. O Sing praises unto the Lord for his new and extraordinary benefits which He hath bestowed upon us Let all the earth join together with us to sing his praises 2. Sing unto the LORD bless his name shew forth his salvation from day to day 2. We can never praise Him enough and therefore cease not to bless his Name and to spread the fame of his Almighty Goodness towards us but publish every day with joyfull hearts the great deliverances He hath wrought for us 3. Declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people 3. Tell the Nations round about how He hath glorified Himself let none of them be ignorant of the wonderfull things He hath done among us 4. For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised he is to be feared above all gods 4. For all our praises fall infinitely short of the greatness of the Lord who is worthy of the highest praise of the whole world and hath shewn both to us 1 Chron. XIII 10 12. 1 Sam. VI. 20. and to others 1 Sam. V. 3 4 c. how dreadfull He is above all that are called Gods 5. For all the gods of the nations are idols but the LORD made the heavens 5. For all the Gods of the Nations are nothing worth being able to doe neither good nor harm But the Lord not onely made the earth but the heavens too which abundantly declare the greatness and the splendour of his Majesty 6. Honour and majesty are before him strength and beauty are in his sanctuary 6. Whose heavenly Court infinitely out-shines all the state and pomp wherein the greatest earthly Monarchs live 1. Esther 4. For all the words we have are not able to express the brightness and magnificence the power and comely order of so much as his Ministers an image of which we have in his holy place wherein He manifests Himself among us 7. Give unto the LORD O ye kindreds of the people give unto the LORD glory and strength 7. Ascribe therefore unto the Lord O ye people from whatsoever Family ye come ascribe unto Him that incomparable Majesty and supreme Dominion and Authority which you give to imaginary gods 8. Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name bring an offering and come into his courts 8. And renounce them all and acknowledging the Lord alone to be the omnipotent King of all the world doe Him honour sutable to the excellency of his Majesty bring Him an oblation in token of your subjection to Him and humbly worship Him in his Temple 9. O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness fear before him all the earth 9. O come and cast down your selves before the Lord in his Sanctuary where He hath fixed his glorious residence among us Adore his transcendent perfections and let all the people approach into his presence with a pious trembling and dread to offend their Sovereign 10. Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved he shall judge the people righteously 10. Go ye that are already become Proselytes unto Him and publish every where in all Countries that the Lord CHRIST is the Sovereign of the World who alone can make it happy For He shall settle those in peace that submit unto his Government and they shall not be so disturbed as they were wont with wars and tumults He shall administer equal justice unto all and neither suffer the good to be unrewarded nor the evil to escape unpunished 11. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulness thereof 11. Let the whole Universe therefore be filled with joy at this blessed news which the Angels themselves shall gladly receive I. Luk. 30 32. much more ought all mankind wheresoever they are dispersed on the Earth or on the Sea and the Islands thereof exceedingly rejoice and fill all places with the loud sound of their joyfull praises 12. Let the field be joyfull and all that is therein then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice 12. Let the husbandmen and the shepherds and all that dwell in the fields leap for joy and the woodmen and foresters shout for joy to see the happy day approaching when all the Idols that are worshipped there shall be thrown down together with their groves 13. Before the LORD for he cometh for he cometh to judge the earth he shall judge the world with righteousness and the people with his truth 13. Let them
welcome that day and meet the Lord with forward affection who is coming to them For he comes to reform the earth and will govern mankind by righteous and mercifull Laws and faithfully keep his word with all those that truly observe them PSALM XCVII ARGUMENT Some of the Hebrews conceive as I observed upon Psalm XC that Moses was the Authour of this as well as the rest of these Psalms which want an Inscription And indeed he excelled in this faculty of composing Hymns as we learn from Exod. XV. and Deut. XXXII and might upon some other occasion as well as the overthrow of Pharaoh in the red Sea make a Song of triumph after some of those great victories which God gave them over their enemies Which was a thing in use before his time as it appears by the fragments of ancient Songs recorded in his Books particularly that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made by some Poet among the Amorites after Sihon had taken Heshbon from the Moabites to whom it formerly belonged wherein they triumph over their God Chemosh as unable to deliver his worshippers XXI Numb 27 c. And if we could be sure this Psalm was made by Moses I should think it to have been composed after the Israelites had conquered Sihon and his Land over whom they triumphed as he had done over the former possessours of that Country But the Psalm seems so plainly to have been composed in pursuance of what was said in the foregoing Psalm that the Lord reigneth and is King not onely over Israel but all the earth that one cannot but think they had the same Authour who shews the truth of that by the illustrious Victories which God as their King had given them over all those that opposed them For the eighth verse makes it manifest that this Psalm hath respect to some Conquests they had lately made over the heathen which I suppose were no other then those which David won over divers Nations not long after 1 Chron. XVIII 1. he had brought the Ark to Sion and delivered the foregoing Hymn to be sung to put the Israelites in hope and their enemies in fear of the great things which would insue upon this special presence of God among them Which moved the Greeks to call this A Psalm of David after his Land was restored unto him that is after he was made Master of all those Countries which God anciently designed to be the inheritance of Israel For that it should relate to the restoring his Kingdom to him after Absaloms rebellion is not probable because the mention of Idolaters and of their gods Ver. 7. seem to determine it to other Countries In the subduing of which God it is likely fought for them by some such tempest as we reade of 2 Sam. V. 20 21 24. whereby their enemies Armies were shatâ—ered and so terrified that they not onely fled but left their images behind them such was their haste and gave the Israelites an easie Victory over them But whatever was the carnal sense it belongs in the diviner meaning to Christ's triumph over the grave and all the powers of darkness at his Resurrection and Ascension to his throne in heaven as appears by those words which the Apostle to the Hebrews alledges out of the seventh verse and applies to Christ's royal power and authority over Angels Which the Hebrew Doctours themselves as Kimchi confesses take to be there intended and may be further justified from that exposition which we meet withall in Midrasch Tanchuma of the words of the Prophet Isaiah LII 13. Behold my servant shall prosper He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high This is the King Messiah says that gloss who shall be exalted above Abraham and extolled above Moses and be very high above the Angels of the Ministry 1. THe LORD reigneth let the earth rejoice let the multitude of Isles be glad thereof 1. THE Lord it is manifest is the Sovereign of the world under whose happy Government not onely we and they who are already become subject to Him in other places ought to rejoice but the most distant Countries have the greatest reason to be glad thereof 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne 2. His Majesty is most dreadfull and hath appeared in great terrour against those that oppose Him whom as he will not wrong so He will certainly punish for He maintains his Authority and supports his Government by doing exact and equal justice 3. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about 3. Let none therefore resist Him for flames of fire proceedâ— from his presence which make the battel too hot for his enemies who can turn no way but they feel them flashing in their faces 4. His lightnings enlightned the world the earth saw and trembled 4. It was his thunder and lightning the brightness of which the world lately saw and were so amazed that shivering pains took hold upon them as upon a woman in her travail 5. The hills melted like wax at the presence of the LORD at the presence of the LORD of the whole earth 5. The hearts of the stoutest Kings and Captains failed them and melted like wax before the fire at this terrible appearance of the Lord at the appearance of Him whose dominion extends over all the earth 6. The heavens declare his righteousness and all the people see his glory 6. For He is the Lord of the heavens which have declared by this dreadfull tempest excited by his Angelical Ministers his severity against his enemies and made all the people sensible of the incomparable splendour of his Majesty 7. Confounded be all they that serve graven images that boast themselves of idols worship him all ye gods 7. Which may well make them all ashamed and they shall be confounded by Him if they will not renounce their errours who worship graven Images though of gold and silver 2 Sam. V. 21. and boast themselves in vain gods who can doe nothing for them Let all that are called gods whether Princes on earth or Angels in heaven bow down to Him as the onely Saviour 1. Heb. 6. and acknowledge his supreme authority over them all 8. Sion heard and was glad and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments O LORD 8. Jerusalem the mother City hath received the news of thy Victories with a joyfull heart after whose example all the other Cities of Judah are exceeding glad O Lord because Thou hast judged righteously in destroying our idolatrous enemies and defending thy faithfull servants 9. For thou LORD art high above all the earth thou art exalted far above all gods 9. Whose hearts are filled with the greater joy because Thou O Lord hast manifested thy self hereby to be the supreme and onely Potentate who rulest over all the earth and art infinitely superiour to all that have the name of gods 10. Ye that love the LORD hate evil he preserveth the
means dost restore my strength and makest my youth and freshness return like the Eagles O that I may with fresh delight and joy be still praising Thee and be lifted up to heaven as they are when they have renewed their plumes in more vigorous love and affectionate desires and indeavours to imploy all my renewed strength in thy faithfull service 6. The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed 6. Nor am I alone obliged to my gracious Lord for his singular favour to me but blessed be his name He relieves all those who suffer wrong and doth justice upon their oppressours who are too mighty for them 7. He made known his ways unto Moses his acts unto the children of Israel 7. Moses and the rest of our Forefathers are witnesses of this whom the Lord delivered in a stupendious manner out of the house of bondage 8. The LORD is mercifull and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy 8. And by other methods of his Providence towards them and dealings with them declared how bountifull his blessed nature is and how ready to forgive forbearing long when men deserve to be punished and soon releasing them from their pain when they heartily repent of their folly 9. He will not always chide neither will he keep his anger for ever 9. He doth not love blessed be his Name to be always chastising us for our faults And when He doth chastise us He neither loves to prolong our miseries nor to inflict them proportionable to our deserts 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities 10. No Blessed be his holy Name there is mercy even in our punishments our sufferings are never so great as our sins but we might justly suffer a great deal more then we do for our faults 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him 11. And were we never so obedient there is not a greater disproportion between the vast circumference of the heavens and this little spot of earth then there is between his mercies towards us and our small services 12. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us 12. To those mercies alone it is to be ascribed that we are not bemoaning our selves under innumerable miseries but He hath quite taken away his wrath from us and adored be his goodness perfectly remitted the punishment due to our manifold offences 13. Like as a father pitieth his children so the LORD pitieth them that fear him 13. O what bowels of mercy are these No father can be more indulgent and tender-hearted to his returning children then the Lord blessed be his Name is to those who so reform by his chastisements as to fear hereafter to offend Him 14. For he knoweth our frame he remembreth that we are dust 14. He easily relents and takes compassion on them considering how frail he hath made them and how soon of themselves they will moulder into the dust out of which He took them 15. As for man his days are as grass as a flower of the field so he flourisheth 15. For what is man that the Almighty should contend with him He looks fresh and fair but alas is as feeble as the grass and as a flower in the field whose beauty is far greater then its strength 16. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more 16. Many accidents snatch him away even in his prime Just as the biting wind to which the field flowers are exposed blasts them on a sudden and they spring up no more in the place that was adorned with them 17. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children 17. O how much doth this magnifie the wonderfull mercy of our God! who designs to be everlastingly kind blessed be his Goodness to such short-liv'd creatures as we are rewarding the faithfull services of a few years with eternal life to our selves and with many blessings to our posterity in future generations 18. To such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to doe them 18. There is no doubt of this which hath been verified in those who have sincerely kept their faith with Him and not onely promised but constantly performed the obedience they owed Him 19. The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all 19. For none can hinder Thee O most mighty Lord from being as kind as Thou pleasest who art the universal Monarch the blessed and onely Potentate to whom not onely the greatest men on earth but the highest powers in heaven are subject 20. Bless the LORD ye his angels that excell in strength that doe his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word 20. Let the Angels therefore who know his greatness power and gracious Providence better then I bless his holy Name Let those mighty ones whose strength surpasses all the powers on earth and yet never dispute his sacred commands give praise unto Him with all their might and with the same chearfulness wherewith they obey his word 21. Bless ye the LORD all ye his hosts ye ministers of his that doe his pleasure 21. Let the whole company of heaven all the several hosts of those glorious creatures who have been imployed by His Majesty so many ways for our good and understand how much we are beholden to his love speak good of his Name and bless his Mercy both to themselves and unto us 22. Bless the LORD all his works in all places of his dominion bless the LORD O my soul 22. Yea let every creature throughout the wide world proclaim as well as it is able the loving kindness of the Lord let none of them be silent but all with one consent bless his holy Name And thou O my soul be sure thou never forget to make one O fail not to bear thy part in this joyfull quire that daily sing his praise PSALM CIV ARGUMENT The foregoing and the following Psalm being certainly composed by David the Greeks and from them several other ancient interpreters have ascribed this also to the same Authour For which they had this further reason that it begins as Aben Ezra observes just as the foregoing Psalm ends and celebrates the mighty power and goodness of God in the fabrick of the world as the CIII doth his benefits to himself and to the rest of the children of men As for the occasion of it we may look upon it as a probable opinion that when David thought of building a House for the Divine Service and God sent Nathan to forbid him 2 Sam. VII 5. he fell not long after into the contemplation of the Majesty of God who having built this great world as his Temple needed none of his erecting though He
would be pleased to accept one for the burning Sacrifice before Him as Solomon afterward speaks 2 Chron. II. 6. To strengthen this conjecture of mine it may be observed that he begins this Psalm with such an Admiration of God's most excellent perfection as we meet withall in David's prayer immediately after God had certified him of his love towards him though he would not let him build Him an House 2 Sam. VII 22. Thou art great O Lord for there is none like unto Thee In the same manner he saith here O Lord my God Thou art very great as he proceeds to demonstrate from his wonderfull works And first he begins with the Heavens the Clouds and the Angels and then comes down to the Earth the Sea the Mountains Valleys Fountains and other inferiour things Which depend so much upon the Sun the Moon and heavenly Bodies that all of them together declare the most admirable wisedom of Him by whom they were composed and should excite all mankind to his perpetual praises 1. BLess the LORD O my soul O LORD my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with honour and majesty 1. STir up thy self O my Soul with all thy might to meditate the praises of the Lord. For the highest of all our thoughts are infinitely below thy Greatness O Lord my most gracious God who hast shewn in thy most admirable works the surpassing excellence of thy Majesty which we can never worthily celebrate with all our praises 2. Who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain 2. The light which dazles our eyes with its splendour is the royal robe wherein thy invisible and incomprehensible brightness appears unto us and the spacious heavens are the royal Pavilion which thy Sovereign power hath extended like a Canopy for thy Majesty in this great Palace of the world 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 3. The floor of whose Chambers which the Lord hath laid in the upper region of the Air O how highly is it advanced above the top of the stateliest piles that are raised by earthly Monarchs whose pompous Chariots whereof they boast fall infinitely short of those glorious Clouds wherein He makes Himself present to us as their swiftest Horses are slow-paced in comparison with the quick motion more speedy then the wind wherewith He visits every part of his Dominion 4. Who maketh his angels spirits his ministers a flaming fire 4. Into which He sends his Angels and what King is there that hath such noble Ministers sometimes in vehement winds and sometime in lightning and thunder whereby they execute his royal pleasure 5. Who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever 5. Who hath settled the massy globe of earth even in the liquid air upon such firm foundations that none of those storms and tempests which beat upon it from without nor any commotions from within can ever stir it out of the place He hath fixed for it 6. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment the waters stood above the mountains 6. It was all covered over at the first with waters I. Gen. 2. which were so deep that there was no appearance of the highest Mountains 7. At thy rebuke they fled at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away 7. Till thy omnipotent word charged them to retire I. Gen. 9. at which they started back and suddenly shrunk away as an affrighted Slave doth when he hears the thunder of his Masters threatnings if his commands be not obeyed 8. They go up by the mountains they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them 8. Immediately the dry land was seen part of which by thy wonderfull contrivance O Lord rose up in lofty hills and the rest sunk down in lowly valleys where Thou hast cut channels for the waters to run into the main Ocean the place Thou hast appointed for them 9. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over that they turn not again to cover the earth 9. And there though they restlesly toss and swell yet they cannot get over the shores wherein Thou hast inclosed them nor shall they ever recover their former liberty to overflow the earth again 10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys which run among the hills 10. But still such is the admirable Providence of the Lord they climb through the hollow places of the earth up the steepest parts of it and there break out in springs which fall down into the valleys to make brooks and rivers that run between the hills which on either side send into them fresh supplies to inlarge their streams 11. They give drink to every beast of the field the wild asses quench their thirst 11. Which afford not onely to us but to all the beasts of the earth such abundant refreshment when they are dry that even the dull Asses who live in parched desarts find them out to quench their thirst 12. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation which sing among the branches 12. The birds of the air also delight to resort thither where having wet their throats they sit and chaunt their various notes among the thick boughs of the trees which grow upon the banks 13. He watereth the hills from his chambers the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works 13. As for the hills which constantly thus inrich the lower grounds He waters them from the regions above whence dews distill and showres of rain come pouring down by thy marvellous contrivance O Lord unto the satisfaction of them and of all the rest of the earth 14. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattel and herb for the service of man that he may bring forth food out of the earth 14. O bless the Lord my Soul who by this means provideth the beasts with grass and hay and us with all variety of herbs and roots and fruit and pulse which He causes to sprout out of the earth that we may never want what is necessary for our food or for our physick 15. And wine that maketh glad the heart of man and oil to make his face to shine an bread which strengtheneth mans heart 15. But rather take our pleasure and delight in the rich wines which He produces to chear the drooping spirits of miserable men together with oil to anoint their heads and bread to recruit their strength when it is spent with toil and labour 16. The trees of the LORD are full of sap the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted 16. Blessed be the Lord who by this means also supplies with abundant nourishment the largest trees which are not planted by the art nor watered by the care of men but by his almighty Providence who makes whole Forests of them grow as the Cedars in Libanus do
even upon the most barren and stony Mountains 17. Where the birds make their nests as for the stork the fir-trees are her house 17. In these trees the birds both small and great build themselves convenient habitations and some of them as the Stork for instance who seats her nest on the top of lofty Pines and Fir-trees with admirable artifice 18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats and the rocks for the conies 18. And with no less safety the wild Goats deposite their young in the top of those craggy Mountains whither they can climb as easily as the birds fly to the tops of trees and other feeble creatures creep into the rocks and there lie secure from the violence that stronger beasts would offer to them 19. He appointeth the moon for seasons the sun knoweth his going down 19. By his most wise contrivance the Moon hath her full and her wane and the Sun doth not always shine but observes a constant time for its going down 20. Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth 20. And then darkness covering the face of the earth and inviting us to rest gives the wolves and other wild beasts of the Forest such is thy care O Lord of all creatures who were afraid to venture abroad before security and confidence to come out of their lurking places and seek their food 21. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God 21. Which the ravening young Lions then meet withall falling upon their prey with a horrible noise whereby they express the eagerness of their hunger which is not so sharp and devouring but by the Divine Providence it finds full satisfaction before the morning 22. The sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens 22. When the Sun again appearing and rouzing us out of our sleep they all return with one consent and lay themselves down in their several dens 23. Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour untill the evening 23. And so man refreshed by the nights repose goes forth without any danger about his business in the fields and continues his labours till the night call him to rest again 24. O LORD how manifold are thy works in wisedom hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches 24. O eternal Lord how many and how great are thy works and with what admirable wisedom hast Thou contrived them all If we look no further then this Earth what astonishing variety of good things do we behold wherewith Thy bounty hath inriched it 25. So is this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts 25. And this great and spacious Sea also which seems to embrace the Earth in its arms is no less full of thy wonderfull works For there swim Fish without number some of which astonish us as much with the art Thou hast shewn in their small bodies as others do with the prodigious greatness of their bulk 26. There go the ships there is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein 26. There the Ships sail as swiftly as the Fishes swim fetching us the riches both of Sea and Land and there that great Leviathan in forming whom Thou hast shewn thy mighty power finds room enough to tumble up and down and sport himself in his absolute dominion over all that the Sea contains 27. These wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season 27. O how liberal is thy Goodness which provides convenient sustenance for such a vast world of creatures Every one of which though they know not their Benefactour is duly and seasonably supplied with the food they seek by the care Thou takest of them 28. That thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good 28. For they onely gather what Thou without any care of theirs dispensest to them And Thou art not sparing of thy blessings but hast made a most plentifull provision which Thou scatterest every where for them 29. Thou hidest thy face they are troubled thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust 29. If it fail at any time by the suspense of thy heavenly influences all things look most ruefully they grow weak nay die and are dissolved into the elements out of which they were made 30. Thou sendest forth thy spirit they are created and thou renewest the face of the earth 30. But then Thou sendest forth again thy quickning power whereby new ones are produced in the room of those that are dead just as the earth after a sharp winter hath made it bare looks fresh and green again at the return of the spring 31. The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever the LORD shall rejoice in his works 31. Thus the world is still as full as ever it was and all future ages shall praise as well as we the same power and wisedom and goodness of the Lord which appears so gloriously in all his works that He himself is still pleased and delighted in the continuance of them as He was at first in their contrivance 1. Gen. 31. 32. He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoke 32. Else they would all soon vanish and come to nothing for at his presence the very earth trembles and the mountains as our Fathers saw at mount Sinai are full of fire and smoke 33. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise unto my God while I have my being 33. I will never cease therefore to sing the praises of the Lord who as He created so supports and maintains the whole fabrick of heaven and earth and all the creatures contained in them And I will never forget his particular kindness to me among the rest but acknowledge to my very last breath the innumerable benefits I have received from his bounty 34. My meditation of him shall be sweet I will be glad in the LORD 34. With such affection will I praise Him that all my thankfull meditations and discourses shall be I hope no less pleasing to Him then they shall be to my self who will take the highest satisfaction in thinking and speaking of the Goodness of the Lord from whom I shall still receive more abundant cause to rejoice in Him 35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth and let the wicked be no more bless thou the LORD O my soul Praise ye the LORD 35. But as for them whose onely pleasure it is to satisfie their brutish lusts and abuse the many good things they enjoy either denying or never acknowledging Him who is the donor of them they shall utterly perish and be no longer the care of that Providence to which they are so ungratefull O my Soul never imitate their impiety or negligence but be excited thereby to the greater diligence in
praising thy great Creatour and Benefactour And let all those who have any sense of Him stir up themselves and join with me in his praises PSALM CV ARGUMENT Though this Psalm have no Title yet we are assured by what we reade in the 1 Chron. XVI 8 c. that the first part of it at least to the end of Ver. 15. was made by David and delivered by Him to Asaph and his Brethren for the constant service of God in the Tabernacle when after several Victories over the Philistins 1 Chr. XIV he had settled the Ark of God in Sion And it is most probable that he afterward inlarged this Psalm for who else would adventure to doe it that it might be a more compleat commemoration of all the mercies of God towards their Nation from the days of Abraham to their taking possession of the Land of Canaan Into which he shews their gracious Lord conducted them by so many miraculous providences in several ages according to his faithfull promise made to Abraham his faithfull Servant that it deserved their most hearty acknowledgments to which he excites them by ten several expressions in the five first verses of the Psalm To which the Greeks praefix an Hallelujah for they take the last word of the foregoing Psalm and set it on the head of this as a note how much they were obliged to praise the Lord according to that exhortation when they remembred in this Psalm the benefits that He had bestowed upon their Forefathers which were sufficient to excite and whet their minds to the imitation of their vertue And it may serve to admonish the new people of God as Theodoret speaks that is us Christians how much we ought to rejoice in God's goodness to us and how dangerous it is to be ungratefull to Him which provoked Him to deprive the Jews of that fatherly care which He had taken of their Ancestours 1. O Give thanks unto the LORD call upon his name make known his deeds among the people 1. STir up your selves all ye that are here assembled to make your most gratefull acknowledgments unto the great Lord who is pleased to come and dwell among you never approach his presence to make your petitions to Him but join his praises together with them and proclaim to all the people round about what great things He hath done for you and for your Forefathers 2. Sing unto him sing psalms unto him talk ye of all his wondrous works 2. Sing his praise with a chearfull voice and with all the Instruments of Musick and let the subject of your hymns and of your ordinary discourse be his many marvellous acts of which let not one be forgotten 3. Glory ye in his holy name let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD 3. For nothing can be so great an honour to you as that you are the servants of such a mighty Lord who infinitely transcends all other Beings triumph therefore and make your boast of this as a greater happiness then all worldly goods let it fill the hearts of all his faithfull worshippers with the highest joy and gladness 4. Seek the LORD and his strength seek his face evermore 4. Let it incourage them to address themselves unto Him upon all occasions and prostrating themselves before the Ark of his presence 2 Chron. VI. 41. commend themselves to his powerfull protection let them unweariedly seek his favour and implore his gracious assistance 5. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done his wonders and the judgments of his mouth 5. Which you may with the greater confidence expect if you call to mind and thankfully commemorate the marvellous things He hath done for your deliverance and his terrible executions III. Exod. 20. according to his just sentence passed VII Exod. 4. upon your enemies 6. O ye seed of Abraham his servant ye children of Jacob his chosen 6. The benefit of which you still enjoy O ye who are the posterity of his servant Abraham whose faith and obedience you ought to imitate the children of Jacob whom He chose rejecting Esau to inherit the promised blessing 7. He is the LORD our God his judgments are in all the earth 7. He is still the same mighty Lord and our most gracious God who continues to execute his judgments every where upon our enemies 2 Sam. V. 7 10 17 c. and therefore let us never cease to praise Him and chearfully serve Him and faithfully depend upon Him 8. He hath remembred his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations 8. For He is never unmindfull of his ingagements to us but punctually performs in all ages what He hath promised in his Covenant 9. Which covenant he made with Abraham and his oath unto Isaac 9. Which He first solemnly made XV. Gen. 17 18. and then sware XXII 16. unto Abraham and renewed with his Son Isaac to whom He promised to perform that Oath which He sware unto Abraham XXVI Gen. 3. 10. And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant 10. And again confirmed it to Jacob both when he went to Haran XXVIII Gen. 13 c. and at his return when He changed his name into Israel XXXV Gen. 10 c. and at last passed it into a Law in that Covenant which He made with their posterity XXIII Exod. 22 23 31 32. never to be altered if they keep their Covenant with Him 11. Saying Vnto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance 11. The sum of which was this I bestow upon thee and will bring thee into that good Land the Land of Canaan which according to this faithfull Covenant you now possess as by lot it was distributed to your several Tribes for their inheritance XIV Josh 1 2. 12. When they were but a few men in number yea very few and strangers in it 12. This Covenant He began to make with your Forefathers and shew'd his intention to perform it by his singular care over them when their Family was very small XII Gen. 1 5. and consequently so weak that they might easily have been destroyed in the Land where they were strangers XXIII Gen. 4. and had no friends nor allies to support them 13. When they went from one nation to another from one kingdom to another people 13. Nor any settled habitation but were forced to wander to and fro from one part of Canaan into another XII Gen. 6 8 9. and then to sojourn in other Kingdoms sometimes in Egypt XII Gen. 10. sometimes in Gerar XX. Gen. 1. XXVI and sometimes in the Eastern Country from whence they came XXIX Gen. 1. 14. He suffered no man to doe them wrong yea he reproved kings for their sakes 14. And wheresoever they sojourned He took them into his protection and suffered no man to doe them any injury XXXI Gen. 24 42. but gave severe checks even to the King of Egypt XII Gen. 16.
and the King of Gerar XX. 3 c. to prevent the mischief which they were designing to them 15. Saying Touch not mine anointed and doe my prophets no harm 15. For He told them these were sacred persons whom He designed to make greater men then themselves and therefore charged them not to burt them but to honour them not merely as Princes XXIII Gen. 6. but as Prophets XX. 7. by whose prayers they should receive great blessings if they were kind to them 16. Moreover he called for a famine upon the land he brake the whole staff of bread 16. And when in the days of Jacob He punished the Land of Canaan as well as other Countries with such a dearth XLI Gen. 54 c. that the earth brought forth no kind of grain for the support of humane life 17. He sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a servant 17. He took a special care in a most wonderfull way to provide both for him and for his family for Joseph whom his Brethren first conspired to destroy but afterward were diverted from their purpose and onely sold for a slave was brought into Egypt by the secret Counsel of God XLV Gen. 5 7 c. to be the instrument of their preservation 18. Whose feet they hurt with fetters he was laid in iron 18. He was oppressed indeed for a long time by a most grievous calumny which was a sorer affliction to him then the chains and fetters that were at first laid upon him in prison 19. Vntill the time that his word came the word of the LORD tried him 19. Till mention at last was made of him to Pharaoh by one of his Officers who related how exactly Joseph predicted what had befaln him and another of his Fellow-servants as if he were a man inspired XL. Gen. 21 22. XLI 12 13. 20. The king sent and loosed him even the ruler of the people and let him go free 20. Whereupon the King presently sent for him XLI Gen. 14. that great Prince whose Dominion extended over many Provinces commanded him to be set at liberty 21. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance 21. And received such satisfaction from him about his dream which none of his Wise men could interpret that he not onely wholly discharged him from his imprisonment but made him the chief Officer in the Court and under himself the supreme Governour of his whole Kingdom XLI Gen. 40 41. 22. To bind his princes at his pleasure and teach his senatours wisedom 22. Yea intrusted him with an absolute power to command all the Rulers of his several Provinces what he pleased and to punish their disobedience according to his discretion The most ancient and wisest Counsellours in the Realm were ordered to repair to him and to doe nothing without his Instructions XLI Gen. 44. 23. Israel also came into Egypt and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 23. By which great Authority he procured not onely the leave but the invitation of Pharaoh XLV Gen. 16 17 c. to his Father to come and bring all his Family with him into Egypt and accordingly he came and dwelt in the best part of all the Country XLVI Gen. 26 28. 24. And he increased his people greatly and made them stronger then their enemies 24. Where according to his promise when He bad Jacob accept that invitation XLVI Gen. 3 4. the Lord multiplied them exceedingly I. Exod. 7. and made them mightier then the Egyptians I. Exod. 9. who of Friends were now become their Enemies 25. He turned their heart to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants 25. For the kinder God was to the Israelites and the more He increased their Numbers the greater jealousie it begat in the heart of the Egyptians which turned at last into an absolute hatred of them and provoked their malice to invent the cruellest ways first to diminish I. Exod. 10 11 c. and then to destroy them Ver. 15 16. 26. He sent Moses his servant and Aaron whom he had chosen 26. This moved the Divine compassion when He saw their oppression grew intolerable to give commission to Moses whom He had in an extraordinary manner preserved from perishing III. Exod. 10. and to Aaron whom He chose to be his Assistant IV. Exod. 15. to go and demand their liberty of Pharaoh IV. Exod. 23. V. 1. 27. They shewed his signs among them and wonders in the land of Ham. 27. And he disputing their Commission and refusing to let Israel go they proved it and perswaded him to obey it by many miraculous works which God commanded them to doe as tokens that He had sent them 28. He sent darkness and made it dark and they rebelled not against his word 28. Among which the pitchy darkness which overspread the whole Land three days except onely where the Israelites dwelt was a very remarkable punishment of Pharaoh's blindness who would not see the hand of God in all those other plagues which Moses and Aaron not fearing his displeasure but pursuing their orders had inflicted on him 29. He turned their waters into bloud and slew their fish 29. As first of all the Lord commanded them to stretch their hand upon all the waters of Egypt which He turned into bloud and made them so putrid that the fish which was in the river died VII Exod. 20 21. 30. Their land brought forth frogs in abundance in the chambers of their kings 30. And at the next stroke produced such a vast number of frogs out of the stinking waters and mudd that not onely the whole earth was covered with them but no house no room in their houses no not the Cabinets of their King and his Princes were free from their annoyance VIII Exod. 3 6. 31. He spake and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts 31. And then followed an infinite swarm of the most pestilent sort of flies see Psal LXXVIII 45. after a troublesome and filthy plague of lice which had infested all the Country VIII Exod. 17 24. 32. He gave them hail for rain and flaming fire in their land 32. Which was succeeded after a murrain upon their Cattel and a fiery ulcer on their own bodies by a dreadfull storm of hail when fruitfull showrs of rain were most desirable together with such lightning as was never seen for it ran upon the ground and burnt up all that was not destroyed by the hail IX Exod. 23 24 c. 33. He smote their vines also and their fig-trees and brake the trees of their coasts 33. Which not onely struck down the grapes and the figgs but shattered the vines and fig-trees themselves together with many other fruit-trees in the Land 34. He spake and the locusts came and caterpillers and that without number 34. And whatsoever escaped this tempestuous storm for some things were not then grown up IX Exod. 31. was not long after devoured by an innumerable army
of various sorts of locusts X. Exod. 5 12 c. 35. And did eat up all the herbs in their land and devoured the fruit of their ground 35. Which by his command came and covered the whole face of the Country eating up the very leaves of the trees as well as all the grass and herbs upon the ground X. Exod. 15. 36. He smote also all the first-born in their land the chief of all their strength 36. And at last He finished these plagues in the slaughter of all the first-born both of man and beast the Angel of the Lord killing in one and the same night XII Exod. 29. the principal prop of every Family and the best of all their flocks and their herds 37. He brought them forth also with silver and gold and there was not one feeble person among their tribes 37. Which terrible destruction so affrighted them that they not onely let Israel go but were forward to thrust them out of Egypt and that loaded with silver and gold XII Exod. 31 35. And which is very wonderfull among so many thousand persons Ver. 37. there was not one at that time so feeble as to be unable to travel 38. Egypt was glad when they departed for the fear of them fell upon them 38. And great was the joy at their departure not onely among the Israelites but among the Egyptians who thought themselves not safe till the Israelites had their liberty but were in dread of another plague which they thought might kill them as the former had done their children XII Exod. 33. 39. He spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light in the night 39. Nor did the Divine providence desert our Fathers after it had brought them out of Egypt but lest they should suffer any prejudice by the exceeding great heats or mistake their way in a desolate wilderness He defended them in the day from the scorching rays of the Sun by a cloud which it self gave them light to comfort and if need were to guide them in the night XIII Exod. 21 22. 40. The people asked and he brought quails and satisfied them with the bread of heaven 40. He provided also a delicate food for that vast multitude even when they were so ungratefull as to murmur against Him XVI Exod. 12 c. sending them in the evening such flights of quails and in the morning such showrs of corn out of the clouds as abundantly satisfied every one of them 41. He opened the rock and the waters gushed out they ran in the dry places like a river 41. And when they murmured again for want of drink XVII Exod. 2 6. He was so kind as to stop their complaints by making water to spring out of a rock from whence it gusht so constantly and in such abundance that it made a stream which followed them in all the parched grounds through which they marched 42. For he remembred his holy promise and Abraham his servant 42. For the Lord was resolved punctually to perform his promise passed in former ages XV. Gen. 18. II. Exod. 24. which made Him reward the fidelity of his servant Abraham even upon his incredulous posterity at that very time which He had prefixed for it XV. Gen. 13. XII Exod. 41. 43. And he brought forth his people with joy and his chosen with gladness 43. When with much mirth and joy He brought his people out of the Egyptian bondage and made them shout to see the difference He made between them and the Egyptians who were drowned in the red Sea while they were conducted safe through it on dry Land XV. Exod. 1 13 19. 44. And gave them the lands of the heathen and they inherited the labour of the people 44. And in conclusion He cast out seven Nations to make room for them in the Land of Canaan where their posterity took possession of Cities and Towns Fields and Vineyards which the labour of others had built and planted for them VI. Deut. 10 11. XXIV Josh 13. 45. That they might observe his statutes and keep his laws Praise ye the LORD 45. That they might have the more leisure to purge the Country of all its ancient superstition and filthiness and set themselves heartily to worship God after that manner that He prescribed in a strict observance of all the rest of his holy Laws For which and all other his benefits excite your selves to praise the Lord. PSALM CVI. Hallelujah i. e. Praise the Lord. ARGUMENT There is little doubt to be made but this is the Title of the Psalm as it is of many other CXI c. whereby the Authour excites them to acknowledge God's bounty to their ungratefull Forefathers For as in the foregoing Psalm they are the words of Theodoret the Divine Benefits are commemorated so in this the Psalmist both commemorates them and also upbraids the ingratitude of those that received them Which magnified the mercies of God the more in being so very kind to those wicked people that when He punished them He did not utterly destroy them The opinion of that Father is that the Psalm was composed in the person of the more pious sort of people who bewail the common calamities and implore the Divine indulgence And most Interpreters that I have met withall imagin it to have been made in the time of the Captivity of Babylon but the proof of it is very weak For the last verse but one upon which they ground that conjecture may have another construction and mean no more but this that God would be pleased when the Nation or any part of it should be carried captive to take pity upon them and restore them again to their Country Or rather in my opinion it refers to those who in the days of Saul or before were taken prisoners by the Philistines and other Nations whom David prays God to gather to their own Land again that they might worship Him in that place which He had prepared for the Ark of his presence For it seems plain enough that this was one of the Psalms which he delivered then to Asaph the first verse and the two last being set down in the 1 Chron. XVI 36 37 as the beginning and ending of another Psalm which can be none but this which he then gave in with the other two there mentioned XCVI and CV to praise the Lord withall 1. PRaise ye the LORD O give thanks unto the LORD for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 1. O Make your thankfull acknowledgments to the great Lord of all the World who was exceeding gracious to your Forefathers and will continue his kindness you may hope unto all succeeding ages 2. Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD who can shew forth all his praise 2. Praise Him with all your might for when you have done your best you must acknowledge that it is impossible to express your obligations to his omnipotent Goodness For who is able to tell how miraculous that
Laws which He had begun in a most dreadfull manner to deliver to them they stupidly made a golden Calf and prostrated themselves before the work of their own hands 20. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that cateth grass 20. Slighting that Glorious presence of the Majesty of God XXIV Exod. 16 17. which appearing in the Cloud had done many wonders for them and chusing rathe to commend themselves to the protection of an Image in which they saw no glory the Image of a dull Ox a creature without reason a servant of man that is supported it self by so weak a thing as hay XXXII Exodus 14. 21. They forgat God their saviour which had done great things in Egypt 21. The root of which sottish Apostasie was that they did not keep in mind what deliverances God had granted them under the conduct of Moses whom they now despised XXXII Exod. 1. But forgat his great works in the Land of Egypt where they never saw any similitude of Him 22. Wondrous works in the land of Ham and terrible things by the Red sea 22. Miraculous works which filled the whole Country with wonder and astonishment and concluded at last in the fearfull overthrow of Pharaoh and all his host in the red Sea through which they passed safely 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 lest he should destroy them 23. Which provoked the Divine displeasure so highly that He resolved to destroy them XXXII Exod. 9 10. and had done it if Moses for whom He had a great respect had not by his earnest intercession made up this breach and reconciled Him so far to them that He did not proceed then to take such vengeance on them XXXII Exod. 11 12 14 35. 24. Yea they despised the pleasant land they believed not his word 24. But when after this they despised XIII Numb 32. that goodly Country to the borders of which He had brought them I. Deut. 19 20. which the Spies themselves confessed was rich and desirable XIII Numb 27. XIV 32. and would not believe that God intended or was able to perform his promise to them XIII Numb 37 25. But murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD 25. But murmured against Moses and Aaron in their Tents as if they had deluded them XIV Numb 1 2 c. refusing to march when the Lord commanded them to go up and take possession of it I. Deut. 21 26 32 26. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them to overthrow them in the wilderness 26. Then he solemnly sware that not one of that wicked generation who had so often rebelled against Him should ever come there but all perish in the wilderness XIV Numb 21 22 35. I. Deut. 34 27. To overthrow their seed also among the nations and to scatter them in the lands 27. And some of them be overthrown by the heathen whom the Lord would have delivered up into their hand XIV Numb 45. and others dispersed in several parts of that Country which they despised XXI Numb 1. 28. They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor and ate the sacrifices of the dead 28. Nor did they grow much better by these dreadfull threatnings and executions but not onely most shamefully committed whoredom with the daughters of Moah but embraced their Religion devoting themselves to the vile service of Baal whose Temple stood upon Mount Peor and partaking with them in the Sacrifices which they offered to dead men XXV Numb 1 2 3. 29. Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions and the plague brake in upon them 29. Which abominable wickedness incensed the Divine displeasure to such a degree that He commanded the Offenders to be kill'd and hang'd up in the face of the Sun and also sent a grievous plague among the people XXV Numb 4 5 9. 30. Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment and so the plague was stayed 30. Which raged in the Camp till Phinehas in a holy zeal went as boldly to punish as others did to commit their crimes and thrust through the body one of the Princes of the people whom the Judges feared to meddle withall and then the plague ceased XXV Numb 5 6 7 8. 31. And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore 31. Which seasonable piece of Justice the Lord not onely approved as a praise-worthy Act but rewarded also with the promise of the Priesthood which He intailed upon his posterity throughout all generations XXV Numb 12 13. 32. They angred him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes 32. And before this they had been so unbelieving and rebellious as having had long experience of God's power and goodness in providing for them to murmur for want of water at that place which took its name from their quarrel with Moses XX. Numb 3 13. who sadly suffered upon their account XX. Numb 12. 33. Because they provoked his spirit so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips 33. For being exasperated by their frequent mutinies he let fall some passionate words which expressed such distrust and impatience as did not become so great a Minister of God XX. Numb 12. who thereupon resolved he should not have the honour to accomplish his promise of bringing them to their rest XXVII Numb 24. I. Deut. 37. 34. They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the LORD commanded them 34. In which being settled they did not destroy those seven Nations I. Judg. 21 27 29 c. whose abominations were so foul that the Lord gave them a strict charge not to suffer them to live there any longer XXIII Exod. 30 33. VII Deut. 2. 35. But were mingled among the heathen and learned their works 35. But quite contrary they not onely let them live but against Gods express commandment XXIII Josh 7 12. entred into familiarity and made a Covenant and League with them II. Judg. 1 2. and so at last learnt to doe as they did and imitated their evil manners 36. And they served their idols which were a snare unto them 36. For they forsook the Lord who had brought them thither and worshipped the Gods of those people whom they had conquered II. Judg. 11 12. III. 5 6. which proved their utter ruin and destruction VII Deut. 16 26. II. Judg. 3. 37. Yea they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils 37. For they were so besotted with their Idolatry as to imitate their most barbarous Rites sacrificing to infernal spirits not onely their beasts but as the custom of that Country was XII Deut. 30 31. their sons and their daughters 38. And shed innocent bloud even the bloud of their sons and of their daughters whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan and the land was polluted with bloud 38. Whom they did not merely consecrate to
the service of Devils but offered their bloud the bloud of innocent babes even of their own sons and daughters as I said upon the Altars of the Idols of Canaan prophaning thereby the holy Land with the most impious and unnatural Murthers 39. Thus were they defiled with their own works and went a whoring with their own inventions 39. Besides other abominable works wherewith they defiled themselves such as Whoredom and all manner of beastly lusts which were the filthy vices of those Nations whom God cast out before them XVIII Lev. 24 25 27 28 c. 40. Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance 40. And so contrary to nature as well as his Law that the Lord was exceeding angry with them II. Judg. 14 20. and the more because He had made them his people whom He now abominated as impure and unclean though once they had been very dear unto Him 41. And he gave them into the hand of the heathen and they that hated them ruled over them 41. And thereupon delivered them up to the power of those impious Nations with whom they contracted friendship when they should have destroyed them III. Judg. 3 5. IV. 2. XIII 1. who retaining still their ancient hatred exercised a rigorous tyranny over them IV. Judg. 3. 42. Their enemies also oppressed them and they were brought into subjection under their hand 42. And so did many other of their neighbouring enemies the Mesopotamians and Moabites III. Judg. 8 12. the Midianites and Amalekites VI. 2 3 c. and such like X. 7 8. who not onely grievously afflicted them but deservedly made those their subjects nay slaves who would not serve their gracious God 43. Many times did he deliver them but they provoked him with their counsel and were brought low for their iniquity 43. Who still continued so kind to them that upon the first sign of their repentance He constantly raised up the spirit of some great Man or other to rescue them from every one of these Oppressours though they as constantly provoked Him again by relapsing to their former Idolatry which in the issue brought them exceeding low X. Judg. 8 9. 44. Nevertheless he regarded their affliction when he heard their cry 44. And yet such was his tender compassion towards them He did not absolutely refuse to help even these base revolters X. Judg. 14 15 16. when in their distress they made a lamentable moan and promised amendment 45. And he remembred for them his covenant and repented according to the multitude of his mercies 45. For He was not unmindfull of the Covenant He had made with their Forefathers XXVI Levit. 42 44 45. XXX Deut. 1 2 3. but let them reap the benefit of it in ceasing to punish them and when they deserved to be utterly destroyed bestowing many and exceeding great blessings on them 46. He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives 46. For He inclined the hearts even of those who had subdued and implacably hated them unto some compassion towards them so that they did not indeavour their total extirpation XIII Judg. 1. XIV 2. XV. 9 10 c. 47. Save us O LORD our God and gather us from among the heathen to give thanks unto thy holy name and to triumph in thy praise 47. And therefore we humbly hope still in the same great mercies and beseech Thee O most mighty Lord who hast been wont to doe our Nation good to deliver us how unworthy soever from all our present enemies and to restore such of us as are faln into their hands unto their own Country that they may join with us in giving thanks to thy incomparable goodness and setting forth thy praises with the greatest joy and triumph saying 48. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen Praise ye the LORD 48. Let the great Lord of all the world who hath been so gracious unto Israel as to chuse them for his own peculiar people be most heartily blessed and praised Let all generations bless Him as long as the world shall last and unto all eternity and let all his people concur in these desires and wish it may be so let them all praise the Lord and desire He may be ever praised The End of the FOVRTH Book of Psalms The Fifth BOOK OF PSALMS PSALM CVII ARGUMENT The Fifth Book of Psalms which consists most of Praises and Thanksgivings begins here with an exhortation to those whom God according to the Prayer foregoing CVI. 47. had delivered from Pagan servitude to acknowledge that singular benefit with their hearty Thanksgivings and thence to take occasion to magnifie his mercifull Providence over all other men not onely of that but of all Nations when they addressed themselves unto Him in their distresses For instance Travellers in the desart who have lost their way Prisoners Sick people Mariners Husbandmen even whole Countries the Psalmist shews are made strangely prosperous if they have a regard to God and on the other side fall into great misery if they neglect Him It had been endless to enumerate all other cases but by these any man may understand if he please as he observes in the conclusion how good the Lord is and ready to help those who fly unto Him for succour whatsoever their condition be The Authour of the Psalm is unknown but if I have guessed aright at the connexion of this with the foregoing Psalm it is most probable it was composed by David who having in the CV put them in mind as Theodoret observes of the promises made to the Patriarchs and of the blessings bestowed on their posterity and in the CVI. of their horrid ingratitude for such benefits and the punishments for that cause inflicted upon them declares in this Psalm the inexplicable kindness of God in their freedom from slavery and in his carefull Providence as I said over all mankind which might give them the greater incouragement to hope in Him if they served Him faithfully who had taken them for his peculiar people 1. O Give thanks unto the LORD for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 1. O Make your gratefull acknowledgments to the great Lord of the world of whose Goodness you and your Forefathers have had such long experience that you may conclude his loving kindness will extend it self to all succeeding ages 2. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy 2. Let them especially call upon one another to give thanks unto his Goodness whom the Lord hath graciously redeemed from a sad Captivity into which they were reduced by their prevailing enemies 3. And gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south 3. And hath brought them back to their own Country again from all the Lands on every side into
which they were dispersed 4. They wandred in the wilderness in a solitary way they found no city to dwell in 4. And they also who travelling through vast wildernesses and sandy desarts lost their way and could find no tract to lead them to a City inhabited 5. Hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them 5. But in this perplexity wandred up and down so long that all their Provision was spent and they were ready to dye with hunger and thirst 6. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses 6. Yet then recommending themselves to the Lord and earnestly imploring his help in this miserable strait He mercifully delivered them out of it and freed them from all their anxieties 7. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation 7. Directing them when they were in a Maze into the right path again which brought them to a place inhabited where they found relief for their necessities 8. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 8. O that such men would never forget to make their thankfull acknowledgments to the Lord for this singular kindness but every where proclaim his wonderfull works 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness 9. Who thus seasonably preserved them from starving by providing in this languishing condition drink to quench their thirst and plenty of good things to satisfie their hungry appetite 10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron 10. They also who have no other dwelling but a dark prison nay a horrible dungeon where to add to their affliction they are loaded with iron manacles or fetters 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the most High 11. As a just punishment for the crimes they had rebelliously committed against the express commands of God and the plain dictates and frequent checks of their own consciences which were the voice of the most High giving them wholsome counsel though they contemned and despised it 12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labour they fell down and there was none to help 12. And thereby provoked Him to throw them into that miserable condition to humble their proud hearts by the hardship of a tedious and painfull imprisonment in which they lay so dejected and helpless that they saw no humane means whereby they should be delivered 13. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses 13. Yet they then making their addresses to the Lord and earnestly beseeching Him to take pity upon their wretched estate He was pleased mercifully to hear their prayers and free them from those miserable straits 14. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of deaâ—h and brake their bands in sunder 14. Bringing them out of their sad confinement in that dismall dungeon and setting their hands and feet at liberty from the chains wherewith they were bound 15. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 15. O that such men would never forget to make their thankfull acknowledgments to the Lord for his singular kindness but every where proclaim his wonderfull works 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder 16. Who when their case was desperate removed the greatest obstacles and made even brasen gates and iron bars give way to their escape 17. Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted 17. In like manner we see others who forgetting God and sottishly giving themselves up to all kind of debauchery in an irregular way of living fall into grievous diseases 18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death 18. Which not onely quite take away their appetite but make them nauseate all manner of food which they formerly abused and thereby lay them so low that they are at the very brink of the grave 19. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble he saveth them out of their distresses 19. Yet even these men when they make their addresses unto the Lord and in the weak estate into which they have brought themselves pray earnestly to Him are wont to find relief from Him when no Medicines whatsoever will avail them 20. He sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction 20. He orders their recovery when all the prescriptions of Physicians prove ineffectual nay when they are left for dead raises them up to life and health again 21. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 21. O that these men would be so gratefull to the Lord as never to forget his singular kindness to them but every where proclaim such wonderfull works as these 22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing 22. And not content themselves with the Sacrifices of beasts which in their sickness they were apt to vow unto Him but offer those far more acceptable sacrifices of a gratefull heart acknowledging his Goodness and telling every body they meet withall in such a manner as may express how much they are affected with it what great things the Lord hath done for them 23. They that go down to the sea in ships that doe business in great waters 23. Who shews no less kindness to those that have occasion to be much upon the Sea to fish or to traffique upon the main Ocean 24. These see the works of the LORD and his wonders in the deep 24. Where they behold remarkable acts of Divine Providence in the wonderfull alterations which He makes in that vast collection of waters 25. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof 25. For when they are smooth and still a sudden tempest arises by his command which puts them into such a rage that they are turned into swelling waves and billows 26. They mount up to the heaven they go down again to the depths their soul is melted because of trouble 26. On which the ships are sometimes mounted up as high as if they would touch the clouds and then sink down as low as if they would be buried in the bottom of the Sea to the great astonishment of the passengers who are ready to die with fear 27. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end 27. For they are so tossed and whirled about that as they are not able to stand upon the decks so the most skilfull Mariners do not know which way to steer or what course to take to save themselves from perishing 28. Then they cry unto the LORD in
their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distresses 28. And yet when in the midst of this great strait they make their addresses to the Lord with earnest prayers for his protection He is graciously pleased to hear their cry and to free them from that anguish of mind which sorely oppresses them 29. He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still 29. For He silences the blustring wind and makes so great a calm that the swelling waves lie quiet and still 30. Then are they glad because they be quiet so he bringeth them unto their desired haven 30. Which happy change turns their fear into joy when they see not onely the storm appeased but gentle gales arising to carry them directly to the port for which they are bound 31. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderfull works to the children of men 31. O that they who are thus unexpectedly preserved would never forget to make their thankfull acknowledgments to the Lord for this singular kindness But every where proclaim what wonders He hath done for them 32. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders 32. Let them magnifie his power and goodness in the greatest assemblies of the people especially in his Temple Let them praise Him in the supreme Court of the Kingdom that the Judges and Governours may be excited to make Him their trust and confidence 33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into dry ground 33. Who turns well watered Countries into a mere wilderness and makes moist and fertil soils become dry and barren ground 34. A fruitfull land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein 34. Where none of those fruits will grow which before it plentifully yielded because of the ill disposition of the inhabitants who produce nothing but all manner of vice and wickedness 35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water-springs 35. And on the other side He turns a barren desart for none of these things come by chance into rich and fruitfull pastures and sends such plenty of water into dry and sandy grounds 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell that they may prepare a city for habitation 36. That there they who lived wretchedly before find a comfortable habitation and are invited to build Towns and Cities in those formerly desolate places 37. And sow the fields and plant vineyards which may yield fruits of increase 37. Where they sow all manner of grain and plant vineyards which recompense their pains with a plentifull harvest and a joyfull vintage 38. He blesseth them also so that they are multiplied greatly and suffereth not their cattel to decrease 38. His blessing also makes the inhabitants fruitfull as well as their ground they grow exceeding populous together with their flocks and their herds which by the increase of people are not diminished 39. Again they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow 39. But when they prove ungratefull to Him He quite alters the course of his Providence and on a sudden sends some grievous pestilence which lessens their numbers or lays them low by tyrannical oppressours into whose hands He delivers them by dearth and other calamities which make them pine away in grief and sorrow 40. He poureth contempt upon princes and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way 40. Their Princes and the most eminent persons in their Country are not able to preserve themselves from contempt and scorn To which they are so openly exposed that they who had troops of followers and attendants are utterly deserted and forced to walk in solitary places to hide their shame without any means that they can see to recover their thrones out of which they are disgracefully thrown 41. Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction and maketh him families like a flock 41. Which he bestows upon some poor despicable person whom from a low condition He raises to the highest dignity and gives him a very numerous istue to maintain and continue the honour He hath conferred on him 42. The righteous shall see it and rejoice and all iniquity shall stop her mouth 42. Which is a great incouragement to the righteous who herein behold with joy the wise and just providence of Almighty God But gives the wicked who under those bad Princes were insolent and full of proud boasts such a rebuke that they hang down their heads and are confour dedly put to silence 43. Whoso is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the LORD 43. And therefore whosoever will be truly wise ought to mark and ponder such passages as these in the Divine Government that they may make others who are less considerate understand how very kind and gracious the Lord is to those who study to please Him and to obtain his favour by dutifull obedience and humble submission to Him PSALM CVIII A Song or Psalm of David ARGUMENT The Title tells us this Song-Psalm see the reason of this name upon Psal LXVII was made by David and was placed here as I conjecture because now he was in a hopefull way to perfect some Victories which he had begun to win whereby some of those Captives in strange Lands mentioned Ver. 2. and 3. of the foregoing Psalm were rescued and set at liberty What those Nations were over whom he was about to triumph see in the Title of Psalm LX For the latter part of this Psalm from Ver. 6. to the end is the very same with some light variations with the eight last Verses of that As the former part of it is very little different from the five last Verses of Psalm LVII Which the Psalmist I suppose here placed instead of those wherewith the LX. begins though he retains all the latter end of it because now as I said he had made some progress in those Wars which he was but entring upon when he made that LX. Psalm And therefore here he begins with thanks to God for his mercy as there he laments the ill condition wherein he found the affairs of the Kingdom when he came to the Crown 1. O God my heart is fixed I will sing and give praise even with my glory 1. MY heart is ready O most gracious God it is firmly resolved to give Thee most solemn thanks My tongue also wherewith I ought to glorifie Thee shall sing of thy Goodness and with all the expressions of joy set forth thy praise 2. Awake psaltery and harp I my self will awake early 2. Nor shall any of the instruments of Musick be silent but accompany my Hymns which I will sing unto Thee so early that I will prevent the rising of the Sun 3. I will praise thee O LORD among the people and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations
Locust which flies or is driven with the wind uncertainly from place to place 24. My knees are weak through fasting and my flesh faileth of fatness 24. And for want of food in those desart places I am sometimes scarce able to remove for my body which heretofore was plump and fat 1 Sam. XVI 12. is now grown lank and thin like one of those miserable lean Creatures 25. I became also a reproach unto them when they looked upon me they shaked their heads 25. Which instead of moving their pity hath exposed me to such contempt and scorn that when I am seen by any of them they deride and scoff at me as an undone wretch that vainly hopes to escape their hands 26. Help me O LORD my God O save me according to thy mercy 26. But my hope is that Thou O Lord who hast hitherto been my most gracious God wilt seasonably interpose for my relief and deliver me out of that tender mercy which is wont to extend it self to those who have nothing else to depend upon 27. That they may know that this is thy hand that thou LORD hast done it 27. Whereby they themselves may be convinced and forced to acknowledge that not by chance no more then by my small forces but by thy Almighty power alone and thy care of me O Lord I am delivered 28. Let them curse but bless thou when they arise let them be ashamed but let thy servant rejoice 28. Thy blessing and protection I implore which if Thou wilt vouchsafe me let them go on to curse and slander me as long as they please it shall not hurt me nay let them assault me with armed force they shall onely be confounded at their vain attempt and give thy servant the greater cause to rejoice at their disappointment 29. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle 29. Which shall so increase the confusion of my malicious adversaries that they shall not be able to bear the disgrace but wish they could hide themselves from the sight of their shame which their own wickedness hath brought upon them 30. I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth yea I will praise him among the multitude 30. In hope of which defeat I now beforehand to the Lord the best expressions of my gratitude that I am able to make not onely in private but in the greatest Assemblies where I will not cease to praise his Almighty love 31. For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save him from those that condemn his soul 31. And bid them trust in God who hath pleaded my cause and rescued me from death and will ever be the Advocate of him that hath no helper but depends on his goodness to deliver him from the hands of those Judges who prosecute the unjust sentence they have passed upon him to lose his life PSALM CX A Psalm of David ARGUMENT There is the same reason to think this Psalm was composed by David not by some other concerning David that there is to conclude all the rest to be so which have the same Title And then as it is very plain he speaks of some person much greater then himself whom he calls his Lord so it can be no other but the Lord Christ of whom he here prophesies Not as he is wont to doe elsewhere with respect to himself in the first place as His type and figure but in plain words which can belong to none but Christ alone For no other King but He can be said in any sense to sit at God's right hand nor was there any Priest of the order of Melchisedek that could be a shadow of him David indeed seems once to have exercised the Office of a Priest when he blessed the people at the bringing of the Ark to Sion 2 Sam. VI. 18. and so to have been then both King and Priest in one person as Melchifedek was but not a Priest for ever on whom the Office was perpetually established and that by an Oath as it was on the Priest here mentioned And therefore it is in vain to endeavour to accommodate any part of this Psalm to David who conquered many of the neighbouring Countries smote their Kings made them bring him tributes and at last smote the head of the Country of Rabbah as some render the last words of the sixth verse of this Psalm that is the King of the Children of Ammon But still we are to seek how the rest can be applied to him who never had any pretence to such an authority as is here described nor can in any sense call himself my Lord but as our Lord Christ hath demonstrated spake concerning Him XXII Matt. 43 c. and his Exaltation after his Resurrection from the dead as Saint Peter and Saint Paul also shew II. Act. 34 35. 1 Cor XV. 25. IV. Hebr. 1 13. V. 6. when He set up another Priesthood and abolished that of Moses which change is here predicted And though the Jews have taken a great deal of pains to wrest this Psalm to another sense yet they are so divided in their opinions about it speaking inconsistent things like drunken men as Saint Chrysostom's words are or rather says he like men in the dark running against one another that from thence alone we may be satisfied they are in the wrong and have their eyes blinded else they would not have embraced such interpretations as those which may be seen in them that have written upon this Psalm Which some of the Jews themselves such as R. Moses Hadarsan Saadias Gaon and divers others whom I might mention have been forced to acknowledge belongs to Christ and is a very plain prediction of his Divinity his royal Dignity his Priesthood and his victories and triumphs which the Psalmist sets forth as follows 1. THe LORD said unto my Lord Sit thou at my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstool 1. THis is the decree of the eternal LORD that the great person whom we expect and whom I honour as my Lord and Master shall be advanced after his sufferings to the highest dignity 1 King II. 19. in the heavens and reign with Him as the King of all the world till He have perfectly subdued X. Josh 24. the most powerfull opposers of his Kingdom and overcome death it self by whom all mankind are conquered 1 Cor. XV. 25 26. 2. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Sion rule thou in the mids of thine enemies 2. The eternal Lord wâ—… hath thus decreed to honour Thee O most mighty Prince will make Sion first of all to feel how powerfull thy Scepter is I. Act. 8. II. 34 37. and thence extend thy Empire over all the Earth where I wish Thou mayest and foretell Thou wilt prevail over all Infidelity Idolatry Superstition and Impiety which will set themselves against thy Authority 3. Thy people shall be willing in
ye servants of the LORD praise the name of the LORD 1. O Ye Ministers of the Lord and whosoever you are that love his Service praise his eternal Majesty be not remiss in this heavenly imployment but with your best affections praise the power wisedom and goodness of his eternal Providence 2. Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore 2. Praise him now in this present Age and wish that those incomparable perfections of his may be celebrated with the praises of those that live in future times as long as the world shall last 3. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised 3. And not onely here in this little spot of earth but wheresoever the Sun shines and lets men see how splendid and glorious his Majesty is 4. The LORD is high above all nations and his glory above the heavens 4. For all the Nations of the earth are his and but a little parcel of his supreme Dominion which extends far beyond the Sun and Moon and Stars whose light is but a dim resemblance of the brightness of his glory 5. Who is like unto the LORD our God who dwelleth on high 5. Do not think that any of them though worshipped by other Nations as gods is comparable to that great Lord and our most gracious God whom we adore for the very place where his glorious Majesty resides is far higher then they 6. Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth 6. And it is a great condescension in him that He will have any respect to the most illustrious of those celestial bodies though He be so gracious also as to extend his kind and carefull Providence even to us who dwell upon this earth 7. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill 7. Where among other manifest tokens of his stupendious goodness He is pleased to take special notice of those whom the world despises and to raise them out of a mean nay sordid condition to such a pitch of honour and dignity 8. That he may set him with princes even with the princes of his people 8. That at last they are advanced to sit upon a Throne and made the Governours of his own people 1 Sam. II. 8. 2 Sam. VII 8 9. compared with 1. XXIV 14. 9. He maketh the barren woman to keep house and to be a joyfull mother of children Praise ye the LORD 9. And which is still more strange He opens the barren womb which according to the course of nature would have brought forth nothing and makes a numerous Family spring from thence to the great joy of her that bears them 1 Sam. I. 20. II. 21. Praise the Lord in these and such like wonderfull works of his PSALM CXIV ARGUMENT As the foregoing Psalm puts them in mind of several works of the Divine Providence about particular persons so this makes a brief narration of some miraculous works wherein the Lord declared his power when He brought the whole Jewish Nation out of the Egyptian bondage 1. WHen Israel went out of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of strange language 1. WHen our Forefathers with their whole Family were brought out of Egypt and not one of them left behind among that barbarous people who had long oppressed them 2. Judah was his sanctuary and Israel his dominion 2. There was a most glorious appearance of God among them by that bright cloud the token of his presence which then had no other peculiar place for its sanctuary but stood over the whole Camp of Israel XIII Exod. 21. XIV Numb 14. whom He then took for his peculiar Kingdom XIX Exod. 6. 3. The sea saw it and fled Fordan was driven back 3. At which appearance the red Sea forsook its channel and left a dry path for them to march through XIV Exod. 21 24. and so did Jordan also afterwards to make way for their easie entrance into Canaan III. Josh 15 16. 4. The mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs 4. All the Mountains great and small which adjoined unto Sinai trembled and leaped like so many affrighted rams or little lambs before the same most dreadfull Majesty XIX Exod. 18. 5. What ailed thee O thou sea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wast driven back 5. To what else shall we ascribe that sudden ebb of the Sea and that no less strange retreat of Jordan when it overflowed all its banks 6. Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams and ye little hills like lambs 6. What made the mountains and hills leap up like affrighted rams or lambs as if they would run away from the place where they were so firmly fixed 7. Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob 7. But onely the glorious presence of the Divine Majesty who was then bringing his people to the rest He had promised to give them And let the whole earth be afraid and tremble before that great Lord who hath honoured us so far as peculiarly to be our God 8. Which turned the tock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters 8. And was so kind as to supply the necessities of our Forefathers even when they murmured against Him by a new Miracle bringing out of hard rocks as hard as flint such plenty of water as if they had been dissolved into lakes or rivers XVII Exod. 8. XX. Numb 11. PSALM CXV ARGUMENT There is great reason to think that this Psalm was made in some time of sore distress when their Pagan Enemies began to boast and brag as if their gods were too hard for the God of Israel But by whom it was made or on what particular occasion there are so many conjectures that it will be no presumption to interpose mine which is this That when Jehoshaphat saw that vast Army which we reade of 2 Chron. XX. 2. composed of several Nations coming against him and after his prayer to God for deliverance was incouraged by a Prophet to hope for it Ver. 14 15. and had by the Levites given Him thanks for this hope he or that Prophet composed this Hymn to quicken and confirm their faith in God unto which you reade he exhorted them Ver. 20. And it is likely that this was the Hymn which by common consent the Singers were appointed to use when they went out to encounter those Enemies saying not onely those words which we reade there Ver. 21. Praise the Lord for his mercy endureth for ever but these Not unto us O Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake c. 1. NOT unto us O LORD not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truths sake 1. PRosper our arms O Lord and give us the victory over these
words sufficiently declare the sense but I have added more to explain the phrase which is borrowed from the custom of those days about which the Reader may consult Mr. Mede p. 483. last Edit In this resolution he was so serious that he repeats it again in the conclusion and saith he will pay his vows in the midst of Jerusalem from whence the History tells us he was forced to fly in great haste to save his life 2 Sam. XV. 14 c. This seems to be the occasion of the Psalm which may very well befit any other persons that receive any great deliverance from God and accordingly I will order the Paraphrase and fit it for the expressing of their devout affections 1. I Love the LORD because he hath heard my veice and my supplications 1. O How I love the Lord He knows that I love Him exceedingly and there is the greatest reason for it because He hath so graciously heard my prayer when in my distress I cried unto Him 2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live 2. I cannot chuse but mention again this love of his in granting so readily my desires which incourages and ingages me on all such occasions to address my self with thankfull acknowledgments unto Him and to the last breath of my life to expect deliverance from Him 3. The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow 3. Great was my misery exceeding great Death it self and the grave were ready to seize on me and I saw no way to escape nay I my self in the anguish of my Soul inconsiderately cast my self into danger 4. Then called I upon the name of the LORD O LORD I beseech thee deliver my soul 4. Yet I did not despond in these straits but made the mighty wise and good Providence of God my refuge to whom I cryed saying O Lord who wast before all things and commandest them as Thou pleasest rescue me I most humbly beseech Thee from those dangers which threaten my destruction 5. Gracious is the LORD and righteous yea our God is mercifull 5. And it was not in vain that I cryed unto Him for the Lord hath shewn me how ready He is to doe good and how faithfull in his promises and withall how gentle in his punishments and inclinable to pardon our faults which demonstrates that no people serve such a gracious Master as our mercifull God 6. The LORD preserveth the simple I was brought low and he helped me 6. I had perished I am sure if I had relied onely on my own Wisedom or the skill and policy of others But the Lord was my hope who preserves the most simple and incautious Souls when they commit themselves to Him and wholly depend on his Providence I ought to say so who was reduced to a most forlorn estate and then by his assistance in a wonderfull manner delivered 7. Return unto thy rest O my soul for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee 7. What hast Thou then to doe O my Soul who hast been so tempestuously tossed but to settle thy self again in peace and tranquillity loving and praising the Lord who hath very many ways expressed his bounty most liberally to thee 8. For thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling 8. For when the dangers of death surrounded me Thou O my God didst deliver me when ever any sadness seized on me Thou hast been my Comforter and when I have been in danger of hurts maims or bruises or of falling into the hands of my enemies Thou still hast been my Protectour 9. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living 9. I ought therefore and I am resolved to imploy all that health and chearfulness that soundness of body and mind that peace and safety which Thou hast thus graciously bestowed on me in doing Thee to whom as my Sovereign Lord I owe all faithfull service as long as I stay in this world 10. I believed therefore have I spoken I was greatly afflicted 10. I had nothing I will thankfully remember to depend upon but onely thy kind Providence In this I placed my trust in this I placed my trust in this I gloried to others when I was in my greatest straits for the truth is I was extreamly miserable 11. I said in my haste All men are liars 11. Pressed on all sides with dangers from which when I fled as fast as I was able 2 Sam. XV. 14. XVII 16. 22. I concluded it was vain to rely on the friendship and help of men For they in whom I trusted proved so false and treacherous 2 Sam. XV. 31. that I had reason to think the rest would deceive and fail my expectation when I was in the greatest need of them 12. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits towards me 12. O the greatness of thy love who even then didst interpose and deliver me by the assistance of some faithfull Friends who still stuck to me 2 Sam. XVII 13 c. What shall I render unto the Lord who heard my prayer 2 Sam. XV. 31. How shall I shew my self gratefull to Him for this and for all other his benefits which He hath heaped upon me 13. I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD 13. All that I can doe cannot make Him more happy But as my duty binds me I will praise the Lord and speak good of his Name and give Him thanks in the best and most solemn manner I am able I will call all my Friends together to rejoice with me and taking the Cup which we call the Cup of Deliverance because when blessed and set apart we are wont to commemorate the blessings we have received I will magnifie the Power Goodness and Faithfulness of God my Saviour before all the company and will drink my self and then give it to them that they may praise his Name together with me 14. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people 14. And whatsoever I have promised Thee O Lord in the time of my distress I will faithfully ingage my self to perform before them all They shall see I am not forgetfull of Thee who wast so mindfull of me in my trouble 15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints 15. As indeed Thou art of all good men whose lives Thou preservest as a precious Jewel and wilt not give them up to the pleasure of their enemies nor suffer them to be lost but by thy special Providence 16. Oh LORD truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds 16. Accept good Lord of these my resolutions for I am sensible that I am thy servant every way thy servant and intirely obliged to be faithfull to Thee
never so powerfull give me 7. The LORD taketh my part with them that help me therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me 7. It is sufficient that the Lord who hath done great things for me by weak instruments is still aiding to me therefore I dare look the most malicious enemies in the face and doubt not to see them turn their backs upon me 2 Sam. VIII 8. It is better to trust in the LORD then to put confidence in man 8. This is my hope and long experience hath taught me that it is much safer to relie upon Him then upon the most numerous Armies 9. It is better to trust in the LORD then to put confidence in princes 9. Far more safe to depend upon his help and protection who as He can doe what He pleases and is constant to his word so never dies then to confide in the aid of the greatest Princes whose mind may change or their forces fail or they themselves on a sudden leave the world 10. All nations compassed me about but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them 10. All the neighbouring Nations round about 2 Sam. V. 17 c. VII 1. combined with the Philistines to inviron me but by the Almighty power of the Lord I was consident that I should hew them in pieces 11. They compassed me about yea they compassed me about but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them 11. Again they made a new invasion and beset me with stronger forces 2 Sam. V. 22 c. but still by the Almighty power of the Lord I doubted not that I should cut them off and utterly defeat 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 12. Though they were exceeding numerous swarming about me like angry bees and flaming with such rage and fury as if they would presently consume me yet it was but like the blaze of fire among thorns for by the Almighty power of the Lord I was confident I should destroy them 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall but the LORD helped me 13. They pressed me exceeding hard and as one man conspired with all their might to throw me down from the Throne to which I was advanced But though they shaked it and it was ready to fall yet by the help of the Lord it was supported 14. The LORD is my strength and song and is become my salvation 14. To Him alone I ascribe my present happiness saying with our Forefathers in their triumphant Song XV. Exod. 2. the Lord hath armed me with invincible strength He and He alone is to be praised who hath given me a most glorious deliverance 15. The voice of rejoycing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly 15. Which comforts the hearts of all righteous men whose houses sound with such joyfull shouts of praise for my deliverance as these The mighty power of the Lord hath done most stupendious things 16. The right hand of the LORD is exalted the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly 16. He hath made his mighty power appear to be superiour to all other for not by man but by that power we have again and again obtained illustrious victories over our enemies 2 Sam. XIX 9. 17. I shall not die but live and declare the works of the LORD 17. From whence I conclude that I shall not fall into the hands of those that would take away my life but still prolong it to declare what wonderfull works the Lord hath done for me 18. The LORD hath chastened me sore but he hath not given me over unto death 18. Who hath let my enemies have power to afflict me very sorely but not to proceed so far as to destroy me 19. Open to me the gates of righteousness I will go in to them and I will praise the LORD 19. No instead of that He hath brought me to his own House again from which I was banished 1 Sam. XXVI 19. where I will return thanks unto Him And therefore O ye that minister in the Tabernacle open the Gates at which the righteous enter into the Courts of the Lord that I may go in and make Him my acknowledgments for bringing me from a most forlorn condition to a 〈…〉 20. This gate of the LORD into which the righteous shall enter 20. This is the Gate which I behold and approach with joy that leads to the Courts of the Lord at which the righteous shall enter together with me and hear me say 21. I will praise thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation 21. I will never cease to praise and acknowledge Thy goodness O Lord who hast graciously heard my prayer when I implored thy help and delivered me out of all my distresses 22. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner 22. And let them bear a part with me in this my Psalm of praise saying He whom the great men and Rulers of the people rejected 1 Sam. XXVI 19. as the builders of a house do a stone unfit to be employed in it is now become our King to whom we must all join our selves if we hope for safety in whom we see a figure of that glorious King who shall hereafter be in like manner refused XIX Luke 14. XX. 17. and then by God exalted to be the Lord of all the world and the foundation of all mens happiness IV. Act. 11 12. 23. This is the LORD 's doing it is marvellous in our eyes 23. This is the sole work of the Lord not the effect of humane counsels who opposed and obstructed it which surprises us with the greatest admiration to see a despised person become on a sudden so renowned 24. This is the day which the LORD hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it 24. This is the happy day which the Lord himself hath made illustrious by this marvellous work and which it becomes us to celebrate with joyfull hearts and with all outward expressions of gladness for so great a benefit 25. Save now I beseech thee O LORD O LORD I beseech thee send now prosperity 25. Most humbly beseeching Thee O Lord to preserve our King and to advance and perpetuate his Kingdom especially the Kingdom of Christ which shall be welcom'd into the world with these words XXI Matt. 9 c. It begins most gloriously be pleased now O Lord to give it answerable success and prosperity 26. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD 26. Which acclamations of the people let the Priests of the Lord meet with their approbation saying Blessed be the King which is set over us by the Divine appointment and Blessed be all the people who live under his happy Government we whose Office
it is to minister to the Lord give you his Blessing from the holy place into which you are come to worship Him 27. God is the LORD which hath shewed us light bind the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar 27. Who is the omnipotent Lord most faithfull to his promise who hath put an end to our troubles and made peace among us O be not ungratefull to Him but solemnize this day with festival joys bind your sacrifices with cords and bring them to the corners of the Altar to be offered as testimonies of your love and thankfulness unto Him 28. Thou art my God and I wiâ—…â—…ise thee thâ—… 〈◊〉 my God I will exalt thee 28. And so for my part I am resolved who must own Thee to be my most gracious God and almighty Deliverer to whom therefore I will make continually my most thankfull acknowledgments to thy almighty Goodness alone I owe this greatness to which I am promoted and therefore I will never cease to speak the highest things I am able in thy praise 29. O give thanks unto the LORD for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever 29. And let all good men join together with me and make their thankfull acknowledgments to the great Lord of the world who as He is the Authour of all good and hath been exceeding bountifull unto us so will continue his kindness unto all succeeding generations PSALM CXIX ARGUMENT This Psalm is contrived so artificially that one would think at first sight it was made after the foregoing when God had subdued the rest of David's enemies 2 Sam. VIII X. and given him leisure for such curious composures For it is divided into as many Parts as there are Letters in the Hebrew Alphabet each Part containing eight Verses and every one of those verses beginning with that Letter wherewith that Part begins The Verses for instance of the First Part all begin with Aleph or A and all of the Second with Beth or B c. And thence this Psalm is called in the Masora the great Alphabet which is an indication that David was now in a very sedate condition under no extraordinary motions when he penned this Psalm but quietly considered things as they were represented to his remembrance But when we observe how frequently he mentions his affliction as lying actually upon him now wâ—… he wrote these Meditations it forces u◠〈◊〉 â—onclude that it was penned during Saâ—…s persecution In which there were I suppose some quiet intervals see Verse 54. either between the time that Saul having his life given him by David resolved to persecute him no more 1 Sam. XXIV and his renewed attempts to destroy him upon the information the Ziphites again gave him 1 Sam. XXVI or after David's fresh demonstration of his loyalty to him before he went to Gath or while he was in that City where he had liberty to meditate on the excellence of God's Laws and the happiness of those that kept them and the comfort they were to him in his affliction which he found to be so sweet and so great that he begs of God little else but that he might be more and more in love with them which were already so much his delight that he mentions them under one name or other in every Verse of this Psalm none excepted but one Ver. 122 or two at the most Ver. 90 where he celebrating God's Faithfulness which relates to the stedfastness of his promise called in this Psalm his word it may well be thought to be no exception to that observation I shall not be so curious as to examine the nice difference which is made by some between Laws Statutes Testimonies Judgments Precepts c. because they seem here to be used promiscuously or if there be any peculiar meaning in some Verses I shall endeavour to express it plainly in the Paraphrase Theodoret hath a conjecture concerning David's design in this Psalm both in his preface to it and upon Ver. 157. which I shall mention that the Reader may take his choice David it is well known had great varieties in his condition for he both fled from enemies and chased them lived sometimes very melancholy and again most pleasantly ran in God's ways and stumbled and rose again to run that good course Now all these things says he and it is not improbable David afterward collected into this one Psalm connecting all the Prayers which He had made to God at several times and on several occasions and putting them together in this admirable Meditation divided into XXII Parts which propound one and the same most profitable lesson to all men and teaches them how it is possible to live vertuously in the worst condition Nor doth he neglect dogmatical instruction as he speaks but adds it to the other so that this Psalm is sufficient to perfect those that study exquisite vertue and to stir up the diligence of those that are lazy to comfort those that are sad to correct the negligent and in one word to afford all manner of medicines for the cure of the various diseases of mankind And if it would not have made this Book too big I should have taken the pains to shew the design of every Part in an Argument before it ALEPH. PART I. 1. BLessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the LORD 1. HAppy more happy then can be expressed are those men who do not take the liberty to live as they list but making the Law of the Lord their Rule order their life in an exact conformity therewith 2. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart 2. The stricter they keep unto that Rule wherein He hath testified his will unto us most heartily studying to please Him intirely devoting themselves to seek his favour in this way alone the Happier still they are 3. They also doe no iniquity they walk in his ways 3. Especially when they will not be tempted to doe an evil action though it were to gain the greatest good in this world but constantly adhere to Him in the way which He hath prescribed them 4. Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently 4. We are infinitely beholden to Thee therefore O Lord that Thou hast obliged us to be so happy by requiring us to use our utmost diligence to observe thy Precepts which we our selves know to be good for us with all care and exactness 5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes 5. O that I may ever be one of those happy men I have no greater wish then this that all the actions of my life may be ordered and governed according to thy Will 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments 6. Then shall I never be disappointed of my hopes nor blush at the crimes which are laid to my charge when my own conscience tells me that there is not one of
to life again 51. The proud have had me greatly in derision yet have I not declined from thy law 51. Though my insulting enemies mocked exceedingly at my hope and in the pride of their hearts attempted by the most unjust means to destroy me it never moved me to imitate them by taking any unlawfull method for my preservation 52. I remembred thy judgments of old O LORD and have comforted my self 52. But I called to mind O Lord how in all foregoing ages Thou hast suffered good men to fall into great calamities thereby to render them at last the more illustrious and with this consideration also I comforted my self 53. Horrour hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law 53. I have been seised indeed sometime with an horrible fear when I thought what sort of men were my persecutours who stuck at nothing which would serve their ends having no regard to right or wrong 54. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage 54. Yet in all my wandrings up and down 1 Sam. XXII 1 2 5. XXIII 13. I never tarried long in any place but I passed the time delightfully in composing some such Song as this in praise of thy Statutes 55. I have remembred thy name O LORD in the night and have kept thy law 55. When others were asleep I was calling to mind how good how powerfull and how faithfull Thou art and resolving with my self still to observe thy Laws 56. This I had because I kept thy precepts 56. Which make those so happy that obey them that I ascribe this sweet composure of mind and chearfulness of spirit under all my grievous afflictions to my strict observance of them CHETH VIII 57. Thou art my portion O LORD I have said that I would keep thy words 57. I have no possessions in this world I Sam. XXVI 19. which I see others greedily sharing among them But I do not think my self poor as long as I have an interest in thy love and in thy promises O Lord whose words I have resolved to keep as the greatest treasure 58. I intreated thy favour with my whole heart be mercifull unto me according to thy word 58. For there is nothing comparable to thy favour which I have besought with the heartiest affection and the most importunate prayers and do again beseech Thee to deal mercifully with me according to thy repeated promises unto me 59. I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies 59. For upon serious deliberation what course of life it was best to take I rejected all other which with specious shews of worldly advantages would have seduced me and determined to be guided wholly by thy Testimonies 60. I made haste and delayed not to keep thy commandments 60. And being thus resolved I admitted no further debate about it but instantly without any delay set my self to the strict observance of thy Commandments 61. The bands of the wicked have robbed me but I have not forgotten thy law 61. Nor hath any thing been able to remove me from this resolution but though I have been beset with troops of wicked men who stript me of all I had 1 Sam. XXIII 26. it did not make me forget my duty nor put me upon any unlawfull means of being revenged of them 1 Sam. XXIV 6 7. 62. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments 62. But have blessed Thee both night and day and arose at midnight to give Thee thanks for those just and good Laws which Thou hast taught me to observe 63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that keep thy precepts 63. Associating my self willingly with none but such as fear to offend Thee and do religiously observe thy Precepts who are all truly dear unto me 64. The earth O LORD is full of thy mercy teach me thy statutes 64. And no other thing do I desire of Thee O Lord whose kindness is so great that it dispenses its blessings plentifully throughout all the earth but that Thou wilt instruct me still to serve Thee as I ought TETH IX 65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant O LORD according unto thy word 65. Many other benefits I will thankfull acknowledge O Lord Thou hast bestowed upon thy servant with whom Thou hast faithfully kept thy Word 66. Teach me good judgment and knowledge for I have believed thy commandments 66. And I am not ignorant of thy Commandments which by thy grace I have believed to be the onely way to happiness but still I need thy further assistance to give me a delightfull taste and thorough sense of what I know which I beseech Thee add to the rest of the benefits I have received from Thee 67. Before I was afflicted I went astray but now have I kept thy word 67. And if it be necessary for this end to deprive me still of all other delights I submit unto it for I must confess I committed many errours before I was thus afflicted which since I have corrected and grown more strictly observant of thy Word 68. Thou art good and doest good teach me thy statutes 68. Thou art in thy own nature kind and good and nothing else can proceed from Thee who designest our good even when Thou afflictest us Take what methods Thou pleasest with me onely teach me effectually to doe as Thou wouldst have me 69. The proud have forged a lie against me but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart 69. They that disdain to be tied to the common and plain rules of honesty have taken a great deal of pains to invent a lie against me 1 Sam. XXIV 9. but as I am hitherto conscious of no such guilt so I will always confute them by an impartial and most hearty observance of thy Precepts 70. Their heart is as far as grease but I delight in thy law 70. Which give me infinitely greater satisfaction in a poor starved condition then all the dull delights of sense which they enjoy in the fullest plenty of worldly prosperity 71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes 71. This they stupidly imagin is the onely happiness but I can truly say it was more happy for me that I was afflicted for thereby I learnt to apply my self more seriously to thy Statutes 72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me then thousands of gold and silver 72. Whereby thy will is declared unto us by a voice from heaven XX. Exod. 1. which I prefer before all the gold and silver in the Kingdom JOD X. 73. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments 73. Desert me not then who am thine own workmanship that neither hath nor hopeth for any thing but thy almighty Power and desires above all things to comprehend fully what thy will is that he may obey it 74. They
degree that I am tormented to see my enemies so forgetfull of their own interest as not to regard thy words 140. Thy word is very pure therefore thy servant loveth it 140. Which I know to be infallibly true and perfectly free from all falshood and deceit which is the reason of that ardent affection thy servant hath unto them 141. I am small and despised yet do not I forget thy precepts 141. Which will not suffer me though I am mean and contemptible in the eyes of my enemies who are honourable and mighty to be guilty of neglecting any of thy Precepts 142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and thy law is the truth 142. For still I think with my self that thy justice goodness and fidelity are unchangeable and whatsoever Thou hast said in thy Law is the very truth upon which we may certainly depend and never be deceived 143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me yet thy commandments are my delights 143. And therefore though I am unexpectedly 1 Sam. XX. 3. involved in very sore straits and difficulties yet I do not forsake but find great consolation in the study of thy Commandments 144. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting give me understanding and I shall live 144. Especially in this consideration which comes often into my mind Verse 140 142. that all the declarations Thou hast made of thy will to us are so just and true that they will never fail our expectation O give me wisedom to order my life according to them and then it shall not be in the power of my enemies to make me miserable KOPH XIX 145. I cried with my whole heart hear me O LORD I will keep thy statutes 145. I have besought thy favour in this sorrowfull and distressed condition with most vehement cries and hearty affection Be pleased to rescue me out of it O Lord and I promise with the greater care to observe thy Statutes 146. I cried unto thee save me and I shall keep thy testimonies 146. I have made it my constant business to cry unto Thee for help from whom alone I seek it deliver me I again beseech Thee and I will not fail to make good my promise of observing thy Testimonies 147. I prevented the dawning of the morning and cried I hoped in thy word 147. I have sent up early cries unto Thee before the morning light appeared constantly expecting the performance of thy promise to me 148. Mine eyes prevent the night watches that I might meditate in thy word 148. Nor have I been less forward in the study of my duty then in the imploring of thy mercy but have awaked before all the watches were set to meditate in thy word 149. Hear my voice according unto thy loving kindness O LORD quicken me according to thy judgment 149. Let my prayer prevail with Thee O Lord for that favour and kindness which I have oft experienced and preserve my life as Thou hast done hitherto by such means as Thou judgest best for me 150. They draw nigh that follow after mischief they are far from thy law 150. I am closely beset Thou seest and in danger to be seized 1 Sam. XXIII 26. by those who as they persecute me and seek my ruin so care not by what wicked arts they compass their design for they have no regard at all to thy Law 151. Thou art near O LORD and all thy commandments are truth 151. My onely comfort is that they cannot approach so near to hurt me as Thou O Lord art to defend and preserve me and that all thy promises annexed to thy Commandments still I think of that Ver. 142. shall faithfully be fulfilled 152. Concerning thy testimonies I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever 152. This hath ever been my support long before I fell into these troubles that whatsoever Thou hast testified to be thy will and pleasure is firm and stedfast and shall never fail those that depend upon it Verse 144. RESH XX. 153. Consider mine affliction and deliver me for I do not forget thy law 153. Shew then that Thou dost not neglect me but art as mindfull of me as I am of thy Law in this afflicted condition out of which I beseech Thee to deliver me for none of the evils that have befaln me have made me forget my duty to Thee 153. Consider mine affliction and deliver me for I do not forget thy law 154. I appeal to Thee whether I have not a righteous cause beseeching Thee to doe me justice upon my enemies 1 Sam. XXIV 15. and rescue me from their persecutions for I am in great danger of perishing but depend upon thy promise for my safety 155. Salvation is far from the wicked for they seek not thy statutes 155. Far be it from Thee to afford any help to the wicked for they have no regard to thy Statutes but seek onely how they may satisfie their own lewd and cruel desires 156. Great are thy tender mercies O LORD quicken me according to thy judgments 156. To which I oppose the bowels of thy compassion O Lord whose tender mercies are many and great and will preserve my life I hope according to thy wonted care over me and kindness to me Ver. 149. 157. Many are my persecutours and mine enemies yet do I not decline from thy testimonies 157. I am not discouraged either by the number or the strength which are both very great of those that persecute me with a deadly enmity which doth not move me in the least to depart from thy Testimonies XIX Lev. 18. by seeking their destruction as they do mine 1 Sam. XXIV XXVI 158. I beheld the transgressours and was grieved because they kept not thy word 158. It onely provokes my sorrow to see that there is no faith nor truth nor gratitude in them 1 Sam. XXIV 17 c. XXVI 2. and troubles me beyond measure that they have no regard to what Thou commandest or forbiddest 159. Consider how I love thy precepts quicken me O LORD according to thy loving kindness 159. Such is the love I have to thy Precepts which I beseech Thee let the world see Thou dost observe and both preserve my life O Lord and according to the exceeding greatness of thy goodness deliver me out of this sad condition 160. Thy word is true from the beginning and every one of thy righteous judgements endureth for ever 160. As I doubt not Thou wilt for none of thy promises have ever failed but the very first of them which Thou madest to our Forefather Abraham XII Gen. 2. hath been faithfully fulfilled and so shall every thing else which Thou hast resolved and declared to be thy will be punctually performed to the end of the world SCHIN XXI 161. Princes have persecuted me without a cause but my heart standeth in awe of thy word 161. The Rulers and prime Counsellours of the Kingdom persecute me for pretended crimes of which as I am not
guilty so I do not fear so much what they can doe against me as lest I should doe any thing in my own vindication against thy word 1 Sam. XXIV 6. XXVI 9. 162. I rejoice at thy word as one that findeth great spoil 162. I would not purchase my liberty my peace or the honour they enjoy by any unlawfull actions for I take far more joy in doing thy will and in what Thou hast promised to doe for me then in the compleatest Victory over all my enemies 163. I hate and abhor lying but thy law do I love 163. I hate all fraud and deceit even to the degree of abhorrence and abomination but most heartily love those honest courses to which thy Law directs me 164. Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments 164. It is the subject of my perpetual thanks and praise that I have the happiness to be acquainted with the justice and goodness of those Laws whereby Thou governest us 165. Great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them 165. The observance of which gives such inward satisfaction and brings so many and great blessings to those who truly love them that they take all things which befall them in good part and nothing will tempt them to turn aside and leave those vertuous paths wherein they lead them 166. LORD I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments 166. I have met with the most grievous discouragements But Lord in the midst of the greatest straits I have expected deliverance onely from Thee and never done any thing for my preservation contrary to thy Commandments 167. My soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly 167. All my care hath been still most heartily to observe thy Testimonies which I prefer infinitely before all earthly injoyments 168. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my ways are before thee 168. There is not one of thy Laws of any sort but I have carefully observed even then when I might have privily broken them and been a gainer by it 1 Sam. XXIV 4 c. for I knew that nothing can be done so secretly but Thou art perfectly acquainted with it TAV. XXII 169. Let my cry come near before thee O LORD give me understanding according to thy word 169. As Thou art also with my most earnest petitions to which I beseech Thee O Lord vouchsafe a gracious answer and in the first place teach me according as Thou hast promised to walk not onely innocently but prudently in the midst of all the snares that are laid for me 170. Let my supplication come before thee deliver me according to thy word 170. Do not deny admittance to this humble suit but in due time grant this further request that I may according to the same promise be perfectly delivered from this long persecution 171. My lips shall utter praise when thou hast taught me thy statutes 171. Then will I praise Thee without ceasing first for instructing me how to please Thee in all things 172. My tongue shall speak of thy word for all thy commandments are righteousness 172. And next for fulfilling thy promise to me which I will loudly proclaim with my thankfull acknowledgments that whatsoever Thou hast said is truly and faithfully performed 173. Let thine hand help me for I have chosen thy precepts 173. Let thy Divine power therefore succour me in this weak and distressed condition wherein I am for I relie on that alone having resolved to be guided wholly by thy Precepts 174. I have longed for thy salvation O LORD and thy law is my delight 174. And I have long expected with most ardent desires thy help O Lord for my deliverance delighting my self in the mean time in thy Laws while Thou art pleased to delay it 175. Let my soul live and it shall praise thee and let thy judgments help me 175. O let me not perish in these straits wherein I am involved but spare my life according to thy wonted kindness and I will spend it in thy praises Send me relief by executing the judgments Thou hast decreed against my enemies 176. I have gone astray like a lost sheep seek thy servant for I do not forget thy commandments 176. Who have so chased me from place to place during this tedious banishment that like a wandring sheep which hath lost its way I know not whither to betake my self for safety But be Thou pleased like a carefull shepherd to look after me and to put thy servant into the right way of escaping all the dangers to which I am exposed and of recovering my liberty rest and peace again For how hard soever my condition hath been I can still seriously profess it I have not been careless in the observance of thy Commandments PSALM CXX A Song of degrees ARGUMENT There can no certain account be given why this and XIV other Psalms which follow are called Songs of degrees or ascents Their conjecture seems to me most probable who think this Title denotes either the elevation of the voice in the singing these Songs or the excellence of the composure or of the Musick to which they were set or the high esteem they had of them upon some account or other particularly because they were so fit for their use though most of them composed in former times at and after their return from the Captivity of Babylon Then some think this Title was given to them because they sung them as they went up to their own Country again But this present Psalm seems to have been made by David when the calumnies of Doeg and others forced him to flee his Country and to go as far as the Kedarens or Arabians Ver. 6. whose company was very irksome to him We do not reade indeed in his History that he was there but we may well think he sought for safety in more places then are particularly mentioned and might as well be there as among the Moabites and in the wilderness of Paran 1 Sam. XXV 1. which was not far from them As for Mesech I take that to signifie not a place but the length of time which he staid there before he durst stir from thence or which he was forced to spend in exile as all the ancient Interpreters except one understand it See Bochart in his Phaleg L. III. Cap. 12. 1. IN my distress I cried unto the LORD and he heard me 1. I Have had frequent experience of the goodness of the Lord who when I have earnestly implored his help in my straits and difficulties hath constantly relieved me 2. Deliver my soul O LORD from lying lips and from a deceitfull tongue 2. May it please Thee O Lord still to continue thy mercy toward me and now that men strike at my life by calumnies and cunningly devised lies 1 Sam. XXII 9. XXIV 9. to preserve me from the danger into which they have thrown me 3. What shall be given unto
Address thy self unto Him in his holy place and the Lord shall bestow on thee whatsoever blessings thou askest of Him yea maist thou be so happy as to see Jerusalem the Seat of Justice and Religion in a flourishing condition all thy life long 6. Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and peace upon Israel 6. And long maist thou live to such a good old age as to see thy Childrens Children and the whole Nation all the time in a prosperous tranquillity PSALM CXXIX A Song of degrees See CXX ARGUMENT This Psalm was made when some new Calamity threatned them either by Senacherib or as Theodoret thinks by those Nations which combined to destroy the Jews as soon as they returned from the Captivity of Babylon When they were taught by Ezra or some such holy man to recount what God had done for them ever since they were a people and to denounce the divine Vengeance against those that now sought their ruine The former conjecture seems the truer because as yet he saith vers 2. their Enemies had not prevailed against them unless we expound that phrase as I have done in the Paraphrase according to the received interpretation of the Psalm that they had not quite destroyed them and made them cease to be a Nation 1. MAny a time have they afflicted me from my youth may Israel now say 1. OUR Adversaries may Israel now upon this occasion say have very often and very sorely distressed us ever since we began to be a People 2. Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth yet they have not prevailed against me 2. It is hard to number how oft or to tell into how great straits they have reduced us ever since we began to be a Nation and yet by the special favour of God they have not been able to compass their desire of our utter extirpation 3. The plowers plowed upon my back they made long their furrows 3. They have laid us sometimes exceeding low and not onely scourged us so severely that the marks of it might be seen as plainly as the furrows are which the Plough makes in the ground but long continued also our vexation and torment 4. The LORD is righteous he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked 4. But the Lord at last in much mercy hath made good his faithfull Promises and broken in pieces the power of wicked Oppressours that they might not always hold us under their yoke and thus miserably tyrannize over us 5. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion 5. And may all those that still hate us and our Religion never have better success but be shamefully defeated and forced to desist in all their attempts upon us 6. Let them be as the grass upon the house tops which withereth afore it groweth up 6. Let none of their designs ever come to maturity but be blasted like the grass upon the house-top which having no root withers of it self and needs no bodies hand to pluck it up 7. Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosome 7. And as it lies unregarded by those that reap or that carry in the fruits of the Earth so let these men and all their enterprises become contemptible and be looked upon as good for nothing 8. Neither do they which goe by say The blessing of the LORD be upon you we bless you in the Name of the LORD 8. Let all their hopes so speedily vanish that there be none to favour them nor so much as to wish prosperity to them No more then there are gathethers of such withered grass appear to whom the Passingers after the usual form II. Ruth 4. should say The Lord give you a good harvest We pray God you may reape the fruit of your labours PSALM CXXX A Song of degrees See CXX ARGUMENT Some think David made this Prayer after he had plunged himself into a very deep guilt by his sin with Bathsheba I rather think when he was persecuted by Saul and reduced to so low a condition that his heart began to sink within him For the flouds of ungodly men as he speaks XVIII Psal 4. made him afraid that he should one day perish in them 1 Sam. XXIX 1. and he complains elsewhere that he sunk in the mire where there was no standing c. LXIX Psal 2 14 15. In this condition he implores the divine Mercy with great earnestness and beseeches him to pardon his sins and the sins of all the people which made them deserve that ill government under Saul and his Flatterers It is the last but one of the VII penitential Psalms 1. OVT of the depths have I cried unto thee O LORD 1. IN the greatest straits when I can see no bottom no end of my troubles but I still sink lower and lower into them I never despair of thy mercy O Lord but cry unto Thee most earnestly to deliver me 2. LORD here my voice let thiâ—… ears be attâ—… to the voice of my supplications 2. Vouchsafe good Lord the Governour of all things to grant my Petition Do not reject it I humbly beseech Thee but give me a favourable answer when I deprecate thy displeasure 3. If thou LORD shouldest mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand 3. I do not plead any merits of mine but rather accuse my self before Thee knowing that if I were the most innocent person in the world yet if Thou Lord shouldest strictly examine my life and proceed against me according to my deserts Lord what would become of me I should certainly be condemned 4. But there is forgiveness with thee that thou maist be feared 4. But Thou most graciously invitest us unto thy service by thy readiness to pardon all those that are truly penitent without the hope of which we could not so much as think of becoming religious 5. I wait for the LORD my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope 5. This incourages me to wait and expect when the Lord will deliver me my Soul is earnestly bent to expect this happy time which I believe will come because I have his Promise for it on which I depend 6. My soul waiteth for the Lord more then they that watch for the morning I say more then they that watch for the morning 6. I direct my thoughts to the Lord alone for safety and relief which I implore incessantly with my early Prayers For they that watch in the Temple for the break of day I say the Priests that watch in the Temple for the break of day are not more forward then I to offer up their morning Sacrifice to the Lord. 7. Let Israel hope in the LORD for with the LORD there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption 7. In whom let all his People place their trust and confidence for the Lord is very ready to doe good and hath more ways then we can imagine to rescue those that hope in Him out of the
sorest distresses 8. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities 8. And He will at last free them from all those troubles which He hath inflicted on them as a punishment for their iniquities PSALM CXXXI A Song of degrees of David See CXX ARGUMENT Though David could not purge himself from all manner of guilt as he confesses in the foregoing Psalm vers 3. yet in that matter which he was charged withall by his Enemies of affecting the Kingdome he could safely protest he was as innocent as a little Child Which he doth in this Psalm particularly and in several parts of other Psalms 1. LORD my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty neither do I exercise my self in great matters or in things too high for me 1. O Lord I am accused of traiterous designs against my Sovereign and of aspiring to the Throne wherein Thou hast placed him But Thou who searchest the hearts knowest that I harbour no such ambitious thoughts nor hath my behaviour betrayed any such intentions For I never looked upon any man superciliously nor medled with affairs of State or any thing else that is above my place and calling 2. Surely I have behaved and quieted my self as a child that is weaned of his mother my soul is even as a weaned child 2. But have levelled my mind else let me perish to an equality with my condition and resolved to acquiesce in the present state of things committing my self unto thy care and depending on thy Providence as a Child that is newly weaned doth upon its Mother just so do I silence my natural desires and am content to be disposed of as Thou pleasest 3. Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever 3. And let all good men in like manner modestly place their confidence and hope in the Lord as long as they live and choose rather to be depressed then by any undue means raise themselves to greatness and honour PSALM CXXXII A Song of degrees See CXX ARGUMENT This Psalm seems to have been composed by some holy man after God had given commandment to David by Gad the Seer to build an Altar in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite where the destroying Angel stood and the Lord had answered him by fire upon that Altar 1 Chron. XXI 18 26. whereby David knew what he had till now been ignorant of that this was the place where God would be worshipped and have his Temple built XXII 1. Accordingly we reade expresly that Solomon therefore built the Temple in this place because God here appeared to David his father and David designed and prepared this place for it 2 Chron. III. 1. that there God's habitation might be fixed and not removed from place to place uncertainly as it had been in former times For the Tabernacle which the Hebrews call Mischkan had been in an unsettled condition except one period of time ever since they came into the Land of Canaan It was first pitched in Gilgal and staid there 24. years Then it was removed to Shiloh where it remained to the death of Eli 369. years After his death Shiloh being laid waste it was translated to Nob where it remained they say 13. years but was now no better then a Cabinet without its Jewel the Ark being in another place and never restored to it after that desolation of Shiloh see Psal LXVIII And then it was carried to Gibeon where Solomon found it and from thence fetcht it when he had finished the Temple Which the Hebrews therefore call Beth Olamim the eternal House because it was fixed to a place and out of it the Ark never departed as it had done out of the Tabernacle but there as the Psalmist here speaks Verse 14. the Lord took up his rest for ever Never to depart that is to any other place till the Messiah came who was the Temple of God in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily There are those that think Solomon penned this Psalm because in the 2 Chron. VI. the two last Verses he concludes his prayer at the consecration of the Temple with some part of it viz. Ver. 8 9 10. And truly since he speaks as if the Priests were just taking up the Ark to carry it into this resting place and there begs that God would not for David's sake turn away the face of his Anointed i.e. refuse to hear his prayer it is not an improbable conjecture which I shall follow in my Paraphrase And connect also this Psalm with the former to which it seems to have respect if we render the last word of the first Verse as the ancient Interpreters doe not affliction but humility meekness or modesty Yet I have not forgot to take notice of the other signification and in like manner have expounded that phrase the mighty God of Jacob two several ways Ver. 2. and 5. 1. LORD remember David and all his afflictions 1. LET it appear O Lord that Thou art not unmindfull of the pious humility of my Father David CXXXI 1. who chose to endure many afflictions rather then by unlawfull means to prefer himself to a Kingdom 2. How he sware unto the LORD and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob. 2. Which when he enjoyed his principal care was to provide a settled place for the worship of God for he bound himself with a solemn Oath unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty One who had preserved him as He did Jacob in all his troubles 3. Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house nor go up into my bed 3. Saying I am resolved as I hope to prosper that I will not come into the new Palace which I have built for my self 1 Chron. XIV 1. much less go to dwell and take up my lodging there 4. I will not give sleep to mine eyes or slumber to mine eye-lids 4. Nay I will not lay my self down to rest nor take a wink of sleep 5. Vntill I find out a place for the LORD an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. 5. Untill I have found out a convenient place for the Ark of the Lord 1 Chr. XV. 1. XVI 1 43. an habitation for that mighty One who there makes Himself present to his people the posterity of Jacob. 6. Lo we heard of it at Ephratah we found it in the fields of the wood 6. And now behold the Lord Himself to our great joy hath told us the very place where He will fix his habitation 1 Chron. XXI 18 26. in the territory of Bethlem Ephrata XXXV Gen. 16 19. in the fields of that Forest where the Angel stood and directed David to build an Altar unto the Lord 1 Chron. XXI 18. XXII 7. We will go into his tabernacles we will worship at his footstool 7. Let us go therefore into his Tabernacles and prostrating our selves before his Majesty let us take up the Ark on which his Glory stands 1 Chron. XXVIII 2. with humble reverence and bring it
see such variety of humours and inclinations all conspiring with one accord to promote the common good of the whole Society 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 3. The dew of heaven is not more necessary for the parched mountains which though never so distant one from another as far as from Hermon to Sion are refreshed with it then this is for men of all ranks and conditions who every where perceive the comfortable fruits of it for to this the Divine favour is immutably annexed which will pour upon such Societies innumerable blessings giving them an happy and long life an earnest of endless felicity in a constant enjoyment of all manner of good things PSALM CXXXIV A Song of degrees ARGUMENT It is uncertain by whom this Psalm was composed but it seems to have been made to be sung by some one or more of the Levites at the shutting up of the Gates of the Temple to excite the rest whose turn it was to watch that night to be diligent in their office of singing Psalms and making devout prayers for the people It is the last of those that have the Title of A Song of degrees concerning which see CXX 1. BEHOLD bess ye the LORD all ye servants of the LORD which by night stand in the house of the LORD 1. ATtend to your duty O ye Ministers of the Lord who not onely by day but by night also reverently wait upon Him in his House 1 Chron. IX 33. cease not to declare how great and how good the Lord is 2. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the LORD 2. Be fervent in your devotion and disclaiming all dependance on any thing else praise the Lord in his Sanctuary with pure hearts and clean hands and give thanks for all his benefits 3. The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Sion 3. Pray also for his people Israel and say The great Lord who though He cannot be confined being the Creatour of all things yet hath his special residence in this place dispense his blessings both heavenly and earthly from hence unto every one of you PSALM CXXXV ARGUMENT This perhaps was the morning Hymn which the Praecentor Ver. 4 5. called upon the Levites to sing at the opening of the Gates of the Temple as the former was sung at the shutting up of the Gates in the evening It recounts several of the great works of the Lord especially towards that Nation whom it excites to stedfastness in their Religion and to contempt of Idols and Idolaters It both begins and concludes with an Exhortation to give praise to God and so was intituled as several other Psalms are CVI. CXI c. Hallelujah or Praise the Lord. That is by this Hymn set forth the most excellent perfections and works of the Lord. There are those who conjecture from what we reade Ver. 14. of this Psalm that when it was composed they were or rather had been lately infested by some of their idolatrous neighbours Whose gods the Psalmist derides in the very same manner as he doth Psalm CXV For the four following Verses of this Psalm 15 16 17 18. differ very little from the 4 5 6 8. of that which it is certain was composed in a time of great distress as this was when it was over 1. PRaise ye the LORD praise ye the name of the LORD praise him O ye servants of the LORD 1. LET all here present praise the most wise and omnipotent goodness of the Lord Let Him especially be praised by you his Priests who minister unto his Majesty 2. Ye that stand in the house of the LORD in the courts of the house of our God 2. And by the Levites who attend upon Him in his House together with all the rest of his people that frequent the Courts of God's House who is our constant and most liberal benefactour 3. Praise ye the LORD for the LORD is good sing praises unto his name for it is pleasant 3. Let this excite you all to praise the Lord For as his Nature is most excellent so He is the fountain of all the good we enjoy and no imployment is so delightfull as to acknowledge his perfections and commemorate the benefits we have received from Him by singing Psalms and Hymns of praise and thanks unto Him 4. For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure 4. I invite you above all other people to this heavenly duty both because the Lord had a peculiar kindness for Jacob your Forefather and doth still exercise a special providence over you his Children as far more dear and precious to Him then the rest of mankind who are under his care 5. For I know that the LORD is great and that our Lord is above all gods 5. And because I am sensible that the Lord under whose government we are is so great and powerfull above all other Beings though called by the name of gods that you can never praise his Majesty enough 6. Whatsoever the LORD pleased that did he in heaven and in earth in the seas and all deep places 6. His own will alone gives bounds to his power for as none can act without his leave so none can hinder Him from doing what pleases Himself in the heavens as well as in the earth and the seas and other deep waters 7. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth he maketh lightnings for the rain he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries 7. He raises vapours for instance from any quarter of the earth and makes them go up into the air where some of them break forth in flashes of lightning and that which is strange is followed with great showres of rain and from unknown places and causes strong and violent winds blow with such continuance as if they came out of some Treasury where He had gathered and long lockt them up till He had occasion to bring them forth 8. Who smote the first-born of Egypt both of man and beast 8. He made the Egyptians feel how much superiour He was to all their gods XII Exod. 12. who could not defend them from his stroke but He sent his Angel and in one night slew all the first-born in the Country both of man and beast XII Exod. 29. 9. Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee O Egypt upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants 9. Before which terrible blow He had given many other wonderfull demonstrations of his power in several miraculous plagues which He openly inflicted on thee O Egypt not onely on the meaner sort but upon the King and all his Court Exod. VII VIII IX c. 10. Who smote great nations and slew mighty kings 10. And after He had by these means brought you out of their bondage He overthrew several great Nations and slew
ARGUMENT This is a mournfull Song composed by some of the captive Levites in Babylon when he reflected upon their sad parting with their dear Country and the scorn wherewith their insulting Enemies treated them in that strange land Which he foresaw God would severely punish by the hand of some other cruel People who should shew them as little mercy as they had shewed the Israelites The vulgar Latine ascribes this Psalm to Jeremiah upon which Inscription Theodoret who found it also in some Greek Copies in his time passes this censure that the bold Authour of it wanted wit as the Inscription it self openly proclaims for Jeremiah was not carried captive into Babylon but when he had staid some time in Judea was compelled by the disobedient Jews to go down with them into Egypt Yet there are those who to excuse this would have us think that Jeremiah sent this Psalm to the Captives in Babylon and that it is called a Psalm of David for so it is in the vulgar Latine also because made after the example of his Psalms As Virgil said he sung Ascroeum carmen among the Romans when he made his Georgicks in imitation of Hesiod In the Paraphrase of the first Verse I have followed a conjecture of Saint Chrysostom's that the Captives were not suffered at their first coming thither to dwell within any of their Towns or Cities but were dispersed all along several Rivers of the Country where they built Tabernacles or Cottages for themselves and perhaps were forced to drain those moist places to make them wholesome 1. BY the rivers of Babylon there we sat down yea we wept when we remembred Sion 1. WHen we were transported from our own Country into the Land of Babylon and had the sides of Euphrates and several of its Rivers I. Ezek. 1. assigned for our habitation there we sate down in a sorrowfull posture and could not refrain from tears when we called to mind the happy days which we enjoyed in the holy Hill of Sion 2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof 2. We brought our harps along with us wherewith we were wont to praise the Lord 1 Chron. XV. 16. But as our fruitfull vines and figtrees under which we formerly sate were turned into barren willows and osiers so all our mirth and joy was turned into such heaviness and sorrow of heart that we let all our Instruments of Musick hang neglected upon the boughs of those dolefull trees 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song and they that wasted us required of us mirth saying Sing us one of the songs of Sion 3. For when our new Masters who had carried us away captive they that had laid Jerusalem on heaps and had power to doe what they pleased with us required us between jest and earnest to entertain them with our Musick and to let them hear one of those Songs which were wont to be sung in the Temple 4. How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land 4. Neither fear nor favour could extort this service from our Levites but they resolutely answered As those Songs were not made for pastime and sport but in honour of the great Lord of the world So how can you imagin that miserable slaves are disposed to sing and to sing those Songs in the Land where we are exiles which recount the mercies of God unto us in our once most flourishing Countrey 5. If I forget thee O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning 5. No said I then within my self if I forget thy desolations O Jerusalem though never so far removed from thee so as to gratifie their desires by prophaning thy Musick and thy Songs then let my right hand be benummed or quite lose its skill of touching the harp any more 6. If I do not remember thee let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy 6. Let me be struck dumb and never be able to move my tongue if I be not so mindfull of thee as never to sing again till I see Jerusalem and her holy Solemnities restored 7. Remember O LORD the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said Rase it rase it even to the foundation thereof 7. Which joyfull day I hope will come when Thou O Lord wilt call our enemies to an account And first of all reckon with the Edomites XLIX Jer. 10. XXV Ezek. 12. who instead of pitying Jerusalem as became kind neighbours and relations were glad to see the day of its desolations and incouraged our destroyers with their acclamations saying Lay it flat lay it even with the ground upon which it stands 8. O daughter of Babylon who art to be destroyed happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us 8. And then shall your turns come O ye Babylonians who have laid waste so many Nations but shall one day be made desolate your selves XIII Isa 19 c. And may that Prince and people prosper and be happy L. Jer. 9 41. who shall pay you in your kind and use you as barbarously as you used us LI. Jer. 24 35 49. 9. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones 9. He shall be praised and thought to have done a worthy work who shall snatch your sucking children from their mothers breasts and have no more mercy on them then upon the whelps of wolves or such like creatures but shall dash out their brains against the walls of your houses or stones in the street XIII Isa 16. that there may be no remains of such a cruel generation LI. Jer. 62. PSALM CXXXVIII A Psalm of David ARGUMENT This is one of David's Psalms as the Title assures us wherein he thankfully acknowledges God's Goodness to him in advancing him from a low and afflicted condition to the royal dignity which remarkable change would invite he thought other Kings and Princes to have a very great regard to his Divine Majesty who he hoped therefore would support and defend him in his new-gotten Kingdom by the same Almighty power which raised him unto it 1. I Will praise thee with my whole heart before the gods will I sing praise unto thee 1. I Will make Thee my thankfull acknowledgments O Lord with the devoutest affections of my heart thy holy Angels shall be witnesses of my gratitude which I will express in Psalms and Hymns in the presence of the great Assembly of the Judges XXII Exod. 9. LXXXII Psal 1 6. that they may remember to whom they owe their power and authority 2. I will worship towards thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name 2. I will prostrate my self in the humblest adorations of Thee toward the place where the Monument of thy Divine Presence is and acknowledge how much I am indebted to thy almighty
Goodness first for promising me out of thy mere grace and favour the royal Dignity and then for performing thy promise most faithfully For Thou hast manifested thy most excellent power and goodness to me in nothing so much as in punctually fulfilling thy promise 1 Sam. XVI 13. nowithstanding all the opposition which was made to it nay in raising me higher then I expected 3. In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul 3. I had long ago faln short of this honour to which I am advanced hadst not Thou during all the time of Saul's persecution as readily relieved me as I cried to Thee and mightily supported my spirit by a couragious faith and hope in Thee 4. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee O LORD when they hear the words of thy mouth 4. Which will move sure all our neighbouring Kings who have any knowledge of my affairs 2 Sam. V. 11 12. VIII 10. to join with me in praising Thee O Lord when they shall hear by how many strange providences Thou hast brought to pass that which Thou promisedst to me by thy Prophet 5. Yea they shall sing in the ways of the LORD for great is the glory of the LORD 5. The wonderfull ways whereby the Lord brings things about shall be the subject of their Songs and they shall think it their greatest happiness to be guided and governed by Him for they shall confess that none can doe such glorious things as the Lord hath wrought 6. Though the LORD be high yet hath he respect unto the lowly but the proud he knoweth afar off 6. Whose sublime greatness doth not make Him neglect as they see in me the meanest persons especially when their minds are as humble as their conditions but will not let Him stoop to the loftiest Princes as they may see in Saul whom He despises when they are forgetfull of Him and ungratefull to Him for his benefits 7. Though I walk in the mids of trouble thou wilt revive me thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right hand shall save me 7. Which have been so great to me that should I fall again into the same straits wherein I was before and be incompassed with them I should hope that Thou wouldst preserve me and bring me safe out of them all Thy power I am confident will repress the violent assaults of my enemies and by thy almighty Goodness I shall be delivered from their wrath and fury 2 Sam. V. 17 c. VIII 1 c. 8. The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me thy mercy O LORD endureth for ever forsake not the works of thine own hands 8. The Lord who hath begun will go on to finish his gracious intentions towards me not for my merits I know they are none at all but for thy own mercy sake O Lord which as it was the sole motive to what Thou hast done for me so will I hope for it is still the same and ever will be incline Thee to preserve and settle me in that dignity to which not my ambition but thy own good will and pleasure hath promoted me PSALM CXXXIX To the chief Musician A Psalm of David ARGUMENT The two last Verses of this Psalm seem to me a sufficient indication that David to whom the Title ascribes it composed it when he lay under the imputation of having evil designs upon Saul 1. Sam. XXIV 9. which as he protests against in several parts of other Psalms and calls God often to witness his integrity so here he appeals unto Him in a set and solemn meditation composed on purposed to represent before Him the clearness of his intentions which never suffered such designs to enter into his thoughts And who could believe that a man who seriously acknowledged it was impossible to conceal any thing from God's all-seeing eye who formes us in the womb should be so impudent as to make this appeal unto Him if he were conscious to himself of any such guilt And which is more how could he be confident as he declares he was Ver. 19. that God would make his innocence evidently appear by destroying his opposers if he did not know they were calumniatours whose vile aspersions when God had effectually confuted he delivered this Psalm to the Master of the Musick as a lasting testimony of his sincerity all along before he came to the Kingdom and a constant admonishment to himself and others never to promote any designs for the future by sinister arts though managed so secretly that they lay hid from the eyes of all the world since God cannot but be privy to them who loves righteousness and hates all iniquity 1. O LORD thou hast searched me and known me 1. I Am accused O Lord of grievous crimes but my comfort is Thou seest I am not guilty of them For the exactest survey cannot make any thing so well known to us as I am to Thee who art thoroughly acquainted with me 2. Thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising thou understandest my thought afar off 2. Thou knowest what designs I have when I sit musing at home and what I go about when I stir abroad nay my inclinations are so perfectly understood by Thee that before I have conceived any design it is visible unto Thee 3. Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways 3. Nothing can be so narrowly sifted as all the motions of my body and mind both by day and by night are scanned by thy all-penetrating eye which comprehends and is intimately privy to all the ends which I pursue 4. For there is not a word in my tongue but lo O LORD thou knowest it altogether 4. When I am about to speak Thou O Lord such is thy most admirable wisedom needest not to be informed what it is but knowest before I open my mouth every thing I intend to utter 5. Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me 5. Whatsoever I have done long ago is as well known to Thee as that which is lately past or which I am about to doe For I am so invironed by Thee and so absolutely in thy power that I cannot possibly escape thy notice nor so much as stir without thy leave 6. Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me it is high I cannot attain unto it 6. O amazing height of understanding It is in vain to think I can hide any thing from it which so far surpasses all I can say or conceive that it excells even my admiration 7. Whither shall I go from thy spirit or whither shall I flee from thy presence 7. Into what world shall I go where Thou art not as present as Thou art in this It is impossible for me should I make never so much haste to get out of thy sight 8. If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold
thou art there 8. If I could get up into the highest part of heaven I should not be out of thy reach or go down and lie in the lowest depth of the earth I should find Thee still as near unto me 9. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea 9. If I could move as swiftly as the light of the rising Sun and in an instant flie from hence and take up my dwelling in the remotest parts of the world 10. Even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me 10. I should not be a jot the further from Thee without whom as I could not get thither so I should be still subject to thy Government and beholden to thy Providence to support me there 11. If I say Surely the darkness shall cover me even the night shall be light about me 11. If I should have such a thought as this in my mind that though Thou art present every where yet in the dark I may lie undiscovered by Thee it would be very foolish For when the Sun is gone down all that is in me is as apparent unto Thee as if it were noon day 12. Yea the darkness hideth not from thee but the night shineth as the day the darkness and the light are both alike to thee 12. The darkness cannot conceal any thing from Thee who being the Fountain of light feest as well in the blackest night as in the brightest day the night and the day the most open and the most covert practices are equally clear unto thy view 13. For thou hast possessed my reins thou hast covered me in my mothers womb 13. For my very thoughts and what is there more abstruse then they my most retired thoughts and contrivances and my most secret desires are apparent to Thee whose I am and by whom I was wrapt up in those skins which inclosed me in my mothers womb then which there is nothing more hidden and dark 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well 14. Yet there such is thy stupendious wisedom which I will never cease to praise and thankfully acknowledge I was I know not how in such a wonderfull manner formed that the thoughts of it strike me with astonishment thy operations in that work are most admirable and of that I am exceeding sensible but I can say no more for they are incomprehensible 15. My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth 15. Though I was made in so secret a place yet not the least joint in my body was concealed from thy eyes but I received from Thee there where no more light can come then there doth into the lowest depths of the earth such a comely distinction of parts and variety of powers that no embroidery can be so curiously wrought 16. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them 16. For when the matter out of which I was made was without any form it was visible to Thee how every muscle vein and artery with all the rest of my body should be wrought out of the pattern of them which was in thy mind and accordingly in time when there was not so much as one of them they were all fashioned for the several uses to which they are designed and not the smallest of them omitted or left imperfect 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me O God! how great is the sum of them 17. How invaluable also and incomprehensible O God I am not able to express the high and gratefull sense I have of it is thy tender care and providence which Thou hast exercised over me ever since I was born All the secret passages of it amount to such a summe that I am not able to give an account of them 18. If I should count them they are mo in number then the sand when I wake I am still with thee 18. When I attempt to reckon how many they are I find that I may as well undertake to number the sand For though I continue the whole day in this employment and after a nights rest begin again the next morning to think how numerous thy mercies are I am still as far as ever from seeing any end of them 19. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked O God depart from me therefore ye bloudy men 19. Which makes me consident O God Thou wilt not now desert me but rather destroy that wicked man CXL 1. who forgetting thy allseeing eye regards not by what means he plots my ruin And therefore it will be best for you all O ye men of bloud who have slain the Priests of the Lord 1 Sam. XXII 18. and now thirst after my life to make your retreat and desist from persecuting me any further 20. For they speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies take thy name in vain 20. For it is not so much me that they persecute as Vertue and Piety to which though they are not open yet they are the most dangerous enemies because they make it serve their wicked ends having godly pretences for their doing mischief and not sticking so little belief have they of thy Omniscience to call Thee to witness the truth of their lies and calumnies 21. Do not I hate them O LORD that hate thee and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee 21. And have I not reason then O Lord to hate those who have such an inveterate hatred unto Thee and to take the greatest distaste to them that oppose themselves so industriously to thy holy Laws 22. I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies 22. I detest them with all my heart and as their impiety is the onely cause of it so I cannot loathe them more then I do but declare my self upon that account to be their utter enemy 23. Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts 23. If I have any other ground of my enmity or am guilty of so much as designing any evil to them merely because they have done so much evil to me I desire to find it out and submit my self to the severest trials which may discover to me any such thought that lurketh in my heart 24. And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting 24. For I would not continue in such a pernicious course But if in any thing I doe I intend them any hurt or so much as to be grievous to them my humble request is either that I may not live or live more exactly by the unchangeable rules of righteousness sincerity and truth PSALM CXL To the chief Musician A Psalm of David ARGUMENT There is no
patiently that it may not exasperate his spirit to speak irreverently of Saul much less to doe him any mischief but leave it unto God to take his enemies in the snare they had laid for him No body need wonder that there are so many prayers found upon the same Subject for that persecution endured long and they were made upon different occasions or to different purposes and if they had been all to the same purpose it would not have been strange to him that considers the pious disposition of David who loved to spend his time in such devout Meditations And this seems to have been composed about the time of the offering of the evening Sacrifice Ver. 2 when his afflictions also pressed him sorely that they tempted him to speak some thing which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theodoret's phrase is unbecoming God's Anointed Saul and the profession he made of duty to him 1. LORD I cry unto thee make haste unto me give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee 1. THE danger wherein I am O Lord is exceeding great 1 Sam. XXIII 25. or XXIV 1 2. which makes me double my cries and beseech Thee the more importunately speedily to succour me when my distresses call for it with seasonable relief 2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice 2. Though I am now in a Wilderness and thereby disabled from offering Thee any other Sacrifice but my Prayers yet they shall be as acceptable to Thee as if they were accompanied with the sweetest Odours and my fervent devotion in them with intire dependance on Thee alone for help be as prevalent as if I could now present Thee at the Tabernacle with an evening Oblation 3. Set a watch O LORD before my mouth keep the door of my lips 3. And in the first place I humbly desire Thee O Lord to lay such restraints upon my tongue and to enable me so vigilantly to observe all the motions of it that none of the troubles I endure though never so grievous may make me burst out into any intemperate speeches which may give a just offence unto them that persecute me 4. Incline not my heart to any evil thing to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity and let me not eat of their dainties 4. Yea govern all the motions of my will so steadily that I may not listen to evil counsels 1 Sam. XXIV 4 6 7. much less ingage with men who have no regard to right and justice in any evil practices but alway refuse to partake in their designs though invited with the specious promises of the greatest felicity 5. Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my head for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities 5. I had rather much that a righteous man should give me a severe rebuke then be inticed by evil doers to accompany them in their sins For it will do me a real kindness and be so far from giving me any vexation that it will be as acceptable to me as the most excellent ointments are unto the head and onely make me continue my prayers with the greater earnestness that I may not run into those mischievous courses from which I am deterred by their pious reproofs and admonitions 6. When their judges are overthrown in stony places they shall hear my words for they are sweet 6. The effect of which their greatest Rulers have seen when being left by their Master on the sides of the Rock 1 Sam. XXIV 2 3. while he went into a hole of it to uncover his feet they heard that I spake not a reviling word much less did I stretch out my hand against him but in the mildest and most dutifull language addressed my self unto him 1 Sam. XXIV 8 9 c. 7. Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth 7. And yet this gentleness hath been so far from mollifying their hearts that they still persecute me and the small body of men that follow me 1 Sam. XXVI 2. XXVII 1. whom they have reduced to such extremities that like the earth when it is ploughed up we break in pieces and are ready to disperse and flee for our lives with little hope of safety 8. But mine eyes are unto thee O GOD the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute 8. But in this sore distress I fix my thoughts on Thee O mighty Lord the Governour of all things in whom I repose an assured confidence that Thou wilt not abandon me to the malice of those that seek to take away my life from me 9. Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me and the grins of the workers of iniquities 9. Preserve me I beseech Thee from all the subtle plots which they have laid to destroy me and though they stick at nothing though never so unjust and have various arts to blind the world and hide their perfidious designs suffer me not to be insnared by them 10. Let the wicked fall into their own nets whilst that I withall escape 10. But let all the contrivances of such wicked men prove pernicious to themselves and bring upon them the evils which they intended me whilst I and they that are with me by thy care of us escape untouched by any of them PSALM CXLII Maschil of David A Prayer when he was in the Cave ARGUMENT When David hid himself for fear of Saul in the Cave of Adullam 1 Sam. XXII 1. or as others think more probably in the Cave of Engaddi 1 Sam. XXIV 1 2 3. this was the meditation he had in that disconsolate place before Saul came thither to uncover his feet in it Which was set afterward to the tune of Maschil See Psal XXXII or called by that name because it admirably instructs Posterity in the most forlorn nay desperate condition to recommend themselves to God and to depend on Him with a resolved Faith Who by an unexpected means granted the desire of David which he makes in the conclusion of this Psalm vers 7. and brought him out of those straits wherein he was imprisoned I say resolved Faith because in the Hebrew the words of the first and second verses run thus I will cry unto the Lord I will make my supplication I will pour out my complaint before Him c. 1. I Cried unto the LORD with my voice with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication 1. THough I am destitute of humane help I will not despair of safety but with the more fervent cryes implore the divine Succour and with vehement sighs and groans deprecate the Lords displeasure 2. I poured out my complaint before him I shewed before him my trouble 2. I will lay before Him at large all the sad thoughts which perplex my
a refreshing showre 7. Hear me speedily O LORD my spirit faileth hide not thy face from me lest I be like unto them that goe down into the pit 7. Do not delay it O Lord I most earnestly beseech Thee for I am not able to hold out much longer in this great extremity deny not my humble request lest I be utterly lost as I am in danger without all hope of recovery 2 Sam. XVII 16. 8. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning for in thee do I trust cause me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto thee 8. Though this night be very sad yet let me hear according to the confidence I repose in thy mercy better news and see my Affairs in a more comfortable posture in the morning 2 Sam. XVII 22 23. shew me which way I shall direct my course and provide for my safety v. 24 27. for I depend intirely upon Thee 9. Deliver me O LORD from mine enemies I flee unto thee to hide me 9. Let me not fall into the hand of my Enemies from whom I am now flying but know not whither to go but onely to Thee for shelter and protection 10. Teach me to doe thy will for thou art my God thy Spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness 10. Whose guidance I beseech as well as defence that I may doe nothing no not for my preservation but what is perfectly agreeable to thy Laws for thy favour is my security which I know is not otherways to be obtained and therefore I desire the conduct of thy good Spirit which is ready to assist those that seek it as well to lead me in the plain path of justice and piety as to suggest to me the way and means of escaping the snares of my Enemies and of coming into an honest Country where I may be free from the fear of being betrayed to them 11. Quicken me O LORD for thy Names sake for thy righteousness sake bring my soul out of trouble 11. I have nothing to move Thee to it but onely the honour it will be unto thy Majesty in respect to which I hope O Lord Thou wilt preserve me from perishing and restore me again to my Kingdome For though my straits are so great that my life is in extream danger yet nothing can hinder the performance of thy just and faithfull promise to me 12. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul for I am thy servant 12. Thy mercy also surpasses all the malice of my Enemies whom I trust Thou wilt cut off and destroy rather then let me continue in these hazzards for I am thy Minister and though never so unworthy am appointed by Thee to govern thy people in which office I will doe Thee all faithfull service PSALM CXLIV A Psalm of David ARGUMENT The Inscription will not let us doubt that David was the Authour of this Psalm but that it was a Triumph after his victory over Goliath as the vulgar Latine hath it is asserted without ground For though some Greek Copies have such an addition to the Inscription yet Theodoret says that as he could find it in the Hebrew so it was not to be met withall in any other Interpreters no not in the LXX in the Hexaplus And it plainly appears by the second Verse that it was composed after he came to the Kingdome and not then till he had got some victories over those that opposed him Nay there are so many expressions here like to those we meet withall in the XVIII Psalm that it hath inclined some to think it was made at the same time and for the same purpose with that of which it looks like a compendium and might be intended for a short form of thanksgiving for his deliverance from all his Enemies But if the expressions be carefully examined their opinion will appear to be truer who think it was composed not after God had given him rest from all his Enemies but after those two victories over the Philistines mentioned 2 Sam. V. if not before them For as he still mentions more opposers who were unsubdued v. 7 11 so he doth not say as in the XVIII Psalm that God had cast forth lightnings and shot his arrows against them c. but desires Him here v. 5 6. that He would appear in that manner for him acknowledging that not onely his Kingdome but his Courage his Victories and Successes were all to be ascribed unto God 1. BLessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight 1. PRaised be the Lord by me and by all men else by whom I have been kept in safety as in an impregnable fortress and who hath given me both strength and skill to handle my Arms whensoever I ingaged either in single combate or in battles 2. My goodness and my fortress my high tower and my deliverer my shield and he in whom I trust who subdueth my under me 2. I ever found Him very mercifull unto me when I was in any danger for He still preserved me as in a strong hold nay set me out of the reach of the most potent Enemies either making a way for my escape when they surrounded me or protecting me in their most furious assaults upon me and as I reposed a constant trust in Him so He hath never failed my expectation but after long contests made all Israel submit themselves unto my Empire 2 Sam. V. 1 c. 3. LORD what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him 3. I am astonished O Lord at this thy wonderfull Goodness and know not what to say but onely admire that Thou shouldst take such care of so poor a thing as man is at the best especially of me a miserable wretch whom Thou hast honoured with most glorious Successes 4. Man is like to vanity his days are as a shadow that passeth away 4. Man alas is but a breath which presently vanishes what a marvel is it then that I should have strength to atchieve such things his life is exceeding short and uncertain and yet such is thy stupendious Goodness I am not onely alive notwithstanding all the hazzards through which I have run but in a little time have performed such memorable acts that the same of them will last for ever 5. Bow they heavens O LORD and come down touch the mountains and they shall smoke 5. Proceed O Lord to perfect my conquest and now that new Enemies are combined against me 2 Sam. VIII let thy Majesty appear as it hath done formerly see Psal XVIII 9. for my assistance and defence and as soon as the proudest opposers feel that Thou art present they will vanish away like smoak 6. Cast forth lightning and scatter them shoot out thine arrows and destroy them 6. Let them be dispersed by flashes of Lightning in their
faces and so terrified with Thunder and Hail that they may not be able to recollect their Forces 7. Send thine hand from above rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hand of strange children 7. Send powerfull aid unto me from Heaven XVIII Psal 16. for I rely upon nothing on Earth relieve me in all my straits and deliver me out of these great and manifold dangers wherewith I am threatned by a forreign power of Idolatrous people which now invade me 8. Whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falshood 8. Who as they have been wont to brag of more then they doe so promise more then they will ever perform For whatsoever treaties of peace and leagues of friendship I make with them they break them all and falsify so shamefully both their words and their oaths that there is no trust to be given to them v. 11. 9. I will sing a new song unto thee O God upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee 9. I will never prove ungratefull to Thee for so great a benefit but here solemnly vow to compose with my best skill new Hymns of thanks unto Thee O God and with the usual instruments of Musick sing thy Praises saying 10. It is he that giveth salvation to kings who delivereth David his servant from the hurtfull sword 10. It is not merely by the conduct and valour of our Captains and Souldiers that we have overcome but the most powerfull Kings owe their safety and their victories unto the Lord To whom I am more particularly bound first for the high honour He hath done me in making me his Minister and now for this deliverance form these mighty Armies which threaten my destruction 2 Sam. VIII 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 11. Grant my renewed requests therefore I beseech Thee v. 7 8. and send me seasonable relief and deliverance from this forreign invasion of an Idolatrous people who have no faith nor honesty but shamefully falsify both their words and their oaths and when they shake hands with others as if they were their Friends intend thereby to deceive them 12. That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth that our daughters may be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace 12. Let not our Country be overrun by such barbarians but be so preserved by Thee in peace and tranquillity that our hopefull Sons may grow up like young flourishing Trees till they attain their full strength and stature and our Daughters be tall and beautifull like those polished Pillars which are the ornaments of a royal 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 13. Our Granaries also and Store-houses being as full as they can hold may afford us all sorts of Provision from year to year and our flocks of Sheep bring forth thousands which may multiply into ten thousands in their walks 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 14. Our Cows also being great with young may neither be driven away by the irruption of our Enemies nor cast their Calves at home but we may be free from this and all other causes of crying or complaining in our streets 15. Happy is that that is in such a case yea happy is that people whose God is the LORD 15. Happy is that Nation which is setled in such a prosperous condition That is happy is that Nation which truly worships the great Lord of the World who hath promised Deut. XXVIII to bless his faithfull servants with these and all other fruits of his love PSALM CXLV David's Psalm of Praise ARGUMENT After David had obtained these favours of God for himself and for the Nation which he begs in the foregoing Psalm he composed according to his promise there Ver. 9. this admirable Hymn which is contrived with such Art that it is manifest from thence he made it when he was much at leasure and God had given him rest from all his enemies 2 Sam. VII 1. For every Verse begins with a new Letter of the Alphabet in order which are all here except the Letter Nun which is wanting Verse 13. I suppose it was lost when this Psalm came to the hands of the Collectour of this Book and he would not adventure to supply it with one of his own inventing The Greek indeed that is the present Greek Copies for Theodotion and Aquila and the ancient LXX had it not and Latin and Arabick which in effect are but one and the same have another Verse which we may well think if it ever were in the Hebrew began with that Letter Nun But it differs so little from the seventeenth Verse when there is no repetition in any other part of the Psalm that it doth not in my opinion look like the true original Verse And it may be doubted whether there ever was any such Verse in that place where we suppose one wanting for the Psalmist might be carried see Psalm XXV by the strength of the inspiration which was upon him out of the method he had at first proposed to himself Certain it is this Psalm was always esteemed so excellent that the Title of the whole Book of Psalms is taken from this which is wholly spent in praising God with such admirable devotion that the ancient Hebrews were wont to say as Valentine Schindler hath long ago observed He could not fail to be a child of the world to come who would say this Psalm three times every day And for that reason perhaps it was composed Alphabetically that so usefull a Psalm might be the more easily learnt and remembred by every body 1. I Will extoll thee my God O King and I will bless thy name for ever and ever 1. I Will proclaime to all the world O my God the supreme Governour of heaven and earth how excellent thy Majesty is infinitely surpassing the highest of our thoughts and will never cease to express the delightfull sense I have of all thy glorious Attributes whereby Thou art made known unto us 2. Every day will I bless thee and I will praise thy name for ever and ever 2. This shall be my daily imployment and I will sing joyfull Hymns in praise of thy glorious perfections without any end 3. Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable 3. For the Lord is immensely great in power and dominion and all other ways and therefore to be honoured with our highest and with our endless praises But when we have said all we can our best praise of Him will be to confess that his transcendent excellencies cannot be comprehended 4.
Him the proper object of our confidence in all conditions The vulgar Latin and the present Greek intitle it to Haggai and Zachariah but there is no such thing in the Hebrew nor in other ancient Interpreters nor in the LXX in the Hexaplus as Theodoret tells us And we might rather think it not unlikely to have been composed by David when Saul who at first had a great kindness for him afterward turned his most bitter enemy were it not for one word viz. the mention of Sion which was not then in David's possession This it is possible inclined those that made the foregoing Title to think it was not composed till after-times and they could find none so likely as that after the Captivity when they soon found it was in vain to rely upon the favour of Princes some of which hindred the building of the Temple as much as Cyrus at the first had furthered it I shall not trouble the Reader with any other conjectures but onely note that the eighth Verse was most exactly and literally fulfilled in our Lord Christ when he came to give Salvation to us 1. PRaise ye the LORD Praise the LORD O my soul 1. STir up thy self O my Soul to give the Lord who gave Being to all things those affectionate praises which are due unto Him 2. While I live will I praise the LORD I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being 2. The best resolution Thou canst make is this I will praise the Lord all my life long and never cease to give thanks unto my God who never ceases to bestow his benefits on me 3. Put not your trust in princes nor in the son of man in whom there is no help 3. And let all mankind if they would be happy preserve his favour by being gratefull to Him and not with the neglect of his service court the favour of Princes and settle upon them their dependance For the greatest King on earth though never so just never so bountifull as well as rich and powerfull is still but a man who cannot be present every where when we are in danger nor be able always to help us in our greatest needs 4. His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish 4. For there is a time when he cannot help himself nor by the whole power of his Empire keep his soul from leaving his body nay a small accident may carry him away suddenly and then a clod of earth can do as much as he and whatsoever designs and projects he had laid for any mans preferment suppose they all die together with him 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the LORD his God 5. He and he alone is the truly happy man who expects help from the mighty God by whom Jacob was fed all his life long XLVIII Gen. 15. who trusts to Him that is Lord of the World and hath made Him his Friend so much that he can call Him his God 6. Which made heaven and earth the sea and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever 6. For as He never dies so there can be no defect in his power nor want of his presence in every place the heavens the earth and the sea and all that is in them being his own works and as nothing can hinder Him from doing what He pleases so He will never alter his mind nor go back with his word but faithfully keep his promises for ever with those that rely upon them 7. Which executeth judgment for the oppressed which giveth food to the hungry the LORD looseth the prisoners 7. There are innumerable instances of the carefull Providence of this great King who doth not slight or forget the cries of his grieved Subjects but in due time asserts the right of those who are oppressed and can find no relief in other Courts of Judgment He supplies also the needs of poor hungry wretches who are ready to famish and is so gracious a Lord that He sets them at liberty who by unjust or pitiless men have been held in miserable Captivity 8. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down the LORD loveth the righteous 8. The Lord sends help when there are no hopes of humane cure for He restores sight to the blind as we shall see most remarkably when the Lord Christ appears and lifts up those who are bowed together by tedious weaknesses XIII Luke 11. or crusht under other insupportable burthens and above all the Lord delights to doe good to them who have done good to others 9. The LORD preserveth the strangers he relieveth the fatherless and widow but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down 9. The friendless strangers are preserved by the Lord from those injuries which men are apt to doe them when they commit themselves to his protection And so do the disconsolate Widows and Fatherless Children find support and relief from Him against the injustice and violence of their wicked oppressours whose designs and practices He utterly confoundeth 10. The LORD shall reign for ever even thy God O Sion unto all generations Praise ye the LORD 10. Be of good comfort then O ye inhabitants of Sion who sincerely worship this great Lord that doeth all these wondrous things For his power and authority never fails but from age to age will ever succour those pious souls who are destitute of humane help therefore praise perpetually this everlasting King PSALM CXLVII Hallelujah See CXLVI ARGUMENT Saint Chrysostome and Theodoret think this Psalm hath respect to the return of the Jewish Nation from the Captivity of Babylon and the instauration of Jerusalem which followed upon it And the second and thirteenth Verses may well incline us to be of the opinion that it was made by some holy man at that time Haggai or Zachariah some ancient Interpreters imagin or rather Nehemiah who built the Walls and set up the Gates especially if we observe that there are some phrases in it which savour of the Chaldaean language And though this can be no more then a conjecture yet it is very certain and evident that in that deliverance God gave such illustrious proofs of his power wisedom mercy and justice as the Psalmist here exhorts the people to celebrate with their thankfull praises I shall follow it therefore in my Paraphrase it being reasonable to suppose that devout persons would be as forward to acknowledge the wonderfull Providence of God in their restauration as they were to bewail which they do Ps CXXXVII the ruin of their Country and that posterity would be no less carefull to preserve what was composed in memory of the one then they had been to continue the memory of the other And there is no Hymn we can find so sutable to that occasion as this 1. PRaise ye the LORD for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is
pleasant and praise is comely 1. LET all the Nations praise the Lord who will send us new benefits when we are truly thankfull to Him our great Benefactour for the old For it is a thing highly acceptable to Him as well as delightfull to those who are imployed therein and best becomes us of all other things there being nothing so decent as to see men gratefull to Him that hath obliged them 2. The LORD doth build up Jerusalem he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel 2. To which we stand bound above all other men for the Lord hath not onely delivered us out of a sad Captivity but in spite of all the opposition our enemies have made to it IV. Ezra 12. hath raised Jerusalem out of its ruines whereby He invites the rest of our Brethren who remain behind to return to their own Country from whence they are expelled 3. He healeth the broken in heart and bindeth up their wounds 3. He comforts us after our long sorrows which had in a manner broken our heart with grief and sadness and hath in some measure repaired our breaches which like a festering wound indangered the life of our Nation 4. He telleth the number of the stars he calleth them all by their names 4. Whom He knows how to gather out of all their dispersions and to find every one of them wheresoever they are though as numerous as the stars of heaven XV. Gen. 5. which He as distinctly and exactly understands how confusedly soever they seem to us to be scattered in the skie as we do those things which we call by their proper names 5. Great is our Lord and of great power his understanding is infinite 5. Let us not despair of it for nothing is impossible with our Lord and Governour who is not like earthly Kings that rule over a few petty Provinces but the great Sovereign of the whole world whose power and wisedom are so unlimited that He is able to doe whatsoever He pleases and knows how to compass whatsoever He designs 6. The LORD lifteth up the meek he casteth the wicked down to the ground 6. And doth not because He is so great despise the afflicted but if they meekly commit themselves to his care will raise them up to a better condition and throw down the mightiest Princes that proudly oppress them as low as the very ground 7. Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving sing praise upon the harp unto our God 7. Celebrate therefore with your thankfull Songs you cannot make a less return unto Him this infinite Power and Wisedom and Goodness Begin now with the usual Instruments of Musick to sing Hymns of praise unto our God for all his benefits 8. Who covereth the heaven with clouds who prepareth rain for the earth who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains 8. Particularly for the great plenty He hath given us by his almighty Goodness II. Haggai 1. which shews it self first in raising vapours from the earth and then turning them into clouds wherewith He covers the face of heaven and then bringing forth rain out of those clouds which He sends back to the earth again and makes not onely the green pastures but the parched mountains and desart places become fruitfull 9. He giveth to the beast his food and to the young ravens which cry 9. By which wonderfull Providence He provides food even for the wild goats and suck like beasts that live upon the top of craggy rocks For He neglects not the vilest creatures but satisfies the hunger of the young ravens though it be so ravenous that they are continually crying for new supplies 10. He delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man 10. Let us not doubt then but He that takes care of crows will much more take care of us and not be afraid though we are of little force IV. Nehem. 3 4. VII 4. and have no armies of horse and foot to defend us For the Lord who fights for us IV. Nehem. 20. hath no need of these and will not take part with our enemies because they are superiour to us in the strength of their horses and the nimbleness of their souldiers 11. The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy 11. But delights to give those his assistance and protection who worshipping Him devoutly fear to offend Him and having no help in themselves nor any earthly refuge to fly unto depend notwithstanding with a stedfast faith on his infinite mercy 12. Praise the LORD O Jerusalem praise thy God O Sion 12. Praise the Lord O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem sing joyfull Hymns unto your God O ye people of Sion XII Nehem. 27 31 40 43. who have seen this truth abundantly demonstrated in your days 13. For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates he hath blessed thy children within thee 13. For He hath made this City which was lately without Walls and Gates so strong a place that no enemy dare assualt it VI. Nehem. 15 16. and hath increased the number of thy Citizens which were but few VII Nehem. 4. XI 1 2. by the manifold blessings He hath poured on them 14. He maketh peace in thy borders and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat 14. Which are not confined within the Walls of that City but He hath settled all the Country in peace no enemy appearing to infest thy borders and to disturb the husbandmen in their labours which have produced so rich a crop that plentifull provision is made for all our satisfaction 15. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth his word runneth very swiftly 15. This we ought to ascribe to his mercifull Providence who shews by the fruitfull seasons He sends after all things seem to be killed by a hard winter that He doth not intend by our affliction to destroy us and that He can easily bring all our Brethren hither who remain still in Captivity For when He would have any alteration made in the earth it is done as speedily as we can speak 16. He giveth snow like wooll he scattereth the hoar frost like ashes 16. He sends for instance a sudden cold which sometimes turns the moist vapours in the air into flakes of snow to cover the earth as with a fleece of wool and defend the corn from the biting winds and sometimes into hoary frost which He gently scatters and straws like ashes upon the earth 17. He casteth forth his ice like morsels who can stand before his cold 17. And sometimes congeals them into ice which He breaks into bits and throws down in violent hail accompanied with such extremity of cold that neither man nor beast nor the fishes in the ponds and rivers are able long to endure it 18. He sendeth out his word and melteth them he causeth his wind to blow and the waters flow 18. But then to prevent the hurt that might insue by its continuance He issues forth
like the Moon and the Stars give a good example unto all the Subjects and stir them up to meditate his praise 12. Both young men and maidens old men and children 12. Let no Sex no Age think themselves exempted from this heavenly imployment But let the Young men praise Him for their strength and the Virgins for their beauty they that are going out of the world for all that they have seen and heard of Him and they that are newly come into it for all the goodly spectacles that are before them 13. Let them praise the Name of the LORD for his Name alone is excellent and his glory is above the earth and heaven 13. Let them praise the incomparable Wisedom Goodness and Power of the Lord For how great soever any other Beings are there is no other God but He whose most excellent Majesty infinitely surpasses all that the Earth or the Heavens can tell us of Him 14. He also exalteth the horn of his people the praise of all his Saints even of the children of Israel a people near who him Praise ye the LORD 14. And yet so great is his condescention unto us who are bound therefore more particularly to praise Him He takes a peculiar care of us and hath set over us a powerfull Prince for the defence and safety of his People LXXXIX Psal 19. Whose fame He hath thereby raised to the highest pitch of honour having obliged the Children of Israel by many peculiar benefits especially this that they are a people more nearly related to Him then any other whatsoever for He dwells among them in his holy place where they approach to Him O praise Him there for this singular favour PSALM CXLIX Hallelujah See CXLVI ARGUMENT Theodoret thinks this Psalm was made for them that after their return from Captivity had many opposers but by the Divine Assistance overcame them And that it is a praediction of those great things which were done by the Maccabees Certain it is that some signal Victory was the occasion of it and thence Saint Chrysostome hath here given us a full account I think of the meaning of A new Song which according to the use of the word new in other places when they would express a thing very wonderfull such as hath not been seen or heard of before XVI Numb 30. XXXI Jer. 22. he takes to denote An illustrious and famous Hymn made for Victories for great Atchievements and Trophies Which were never more remarkable in this Nation then in the days of David and therefore this Psalm may very well relate to his reign who subdued several Kingdoms which had stood out and would not submit to Israel till his time though God had promised to give their Countries to them XV. Gen. 18. XXIII Exod. 31. 2. Sam. VIII 1 2 c. X. 19. The interpretation which I have given of the sixth Verse need not seem strange to any one who considers that it hath been and is the custom of all Nations to stir up themselves to fight by the sound of some musical Instrument or other The ancient inhabitants of Etruria saith Clemens Alexandrinus in the second Book of his Paedagogus chap. 4. used the Trumpet for this purpose the Arcadians the Whistle the Sicilians an Instrument called Pectids the Cretians the Harp the Lacedaemonians the Pipe the Thracians the Cornet the Egyptians the Drum the Arabians the Cymball But it was proper to the Israelites to go forth against their Enemies singing Psalms of Praise to God as we reade 2 Chron. XX. 21 22. who had given great Victories to their Ancestours and had promised never to forsake their Posterity while they served Him onely and piously confided in Him 1. PRaise ye the LORD Sing unto the LORD a new song and his praise in the congregation of saintâ— 1. SIng a new Hymn unto the Lord for the fresh and singular benefits He hath bestowed upon us Let Him be praised not onely in private but in the publick assemblies of those who have received special marks of his favour to them 2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him let the children of Sion be joyfull in their king 2. Let all the Israelites rejoice in Him that made them his peculiar people and hath now raised them to great splendour among the Nations of the world let the inhabitants of Sion more particularly be exceeding glad that the Lord who is our King hath there settled his royal Throne 2 Sam. V. 9. VI. 12. 3. Let them praise his name in the dance let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp 3. Let them leap for joy and unanimously praise his most excellent Majesty in their Dances to the Flute 2 Sam. VI. 16. let them testifie their gratitude to Him by singing Psalms with the Timbrel and the Harp 4. For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people he will beautifie the meek with salvation 4. For the Lord taketh pleasure in doing good unto his people and will not onely deliver them after they have been oppressed many years but if they meekly depend upon Him make them as great and illustrious as they have been contemptible and mean 1 Chron. XIV 2. 5. Let the saints be joyfull in glory let them sing aloud upon their beds 5. Which shall fill the hearts of good men who are dear to Him with the highest triumph in the honour that He hath done them and make them shout for joy in the security and peace He shall bestow upon them 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand 6. Which they shall not doubt to maintain against all opposers for in assured hope of Victory they shall go to War with Psalms and Hymns in their mouths concerning the great acts of the Lord which they shall couragiously sing with a loud voice when they fall upon their enemies and prefer to the two edged sword wich they carry in their hand 7. To execute vengeance upon the heathen and punishments upon the people 7. Wherewith they shall take a just revenge upon the heathen for all the injuries they have done us and so chastise the insolence of the people that they shall fear again to molest us 1 Chron. XIV 17. 8. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron 8. For their Victories shall be so compleat that they shall not onely rout their enemies and put them to flight but lead away their Kings captive in chains and take their great Captains and Commanders prisoners and keep them fast in fetters of iron 9. To execute upon them the judgment written this honour have all his saints Praise ye the LORD 9. In order to the executing upon them the judgment which God hath long ago decreed and is recorded in his Law VII Deut. 24. XXXII 41 42 43. This is the honour which all Israel shall have when they are in favour with God and such shall be their glorious Victories and
such Hymns and melodious Songs shall they sing saying Hallelujah praise the Lord by whose power and might we have done all this PSALM CL. Hallelujah See CXLVI ARGUMENT Theodoret takes this also to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Song of Triumph after some Victory and the mention of the mighty acts of the Lord Ver. 2. seems to countenance this conjecture which consists well enough with what others conceive that it was at first particularly directed to the Levites by David I suppose whose office it was to praise the Lord with musical Instruments 1 Chron. XVI 4 5. and excite others to his praises not onely for Victory but for all other his benefits For if the Tradition of the Jews be true which we reade at large in Maimonides in a Treatise on that subject when the people of any place brought up their first fruits to present them to the Lord at Jerusalem according to the Law XXVI Deut. with a pipe going before them as soon as they came to the mountain of the Temple every one took his basket into his hand and sung this whole Psalm till they came to the courts of the Lord's house where the Levites met them singing the XXX Psalm And indeed it might well be used upon occasion of any exceeding great joy for it seems to be intended by the repetition of these words praise the Lord or praise Him thirteen times and by the calling for no less then ten Instruments of Musick to express the height and fulness of their joy and thankfulness to God for his benefits nor can Musick be so well imployed to any other use as this Divine and heavenly exercise of praising God by Hymns and Psalms and spiritual Songs to which the Psalmist seems to me to excite all Creatures in heaven and in earth from the highest to the lowest And with this the Collectour of these five Books of Psalms thought good to conclude the whole and not unfitly For in whatsoever condition we be as there are Psalms adapted to several purposes we should never forget to praise the Lord but after we have prayed or complained c. still end with thankfull acknowledgments to God for his goodness to us Here are several sorts of musical Instruments mentioned which I have not adventured to explain because the Hebrews themselves acknowledge they do not understand them We have no way saith Aben Ezra upon those words Ver. 5. which we translate loud Cymbals to know what these musical Instruments were there being many found in the Country of the Ismaelites i. e. Mahometans which are not among the men of Edom i. e. Christians and others among them which the wise men of Ishmael never heard of 1. PRaise ye the LORD Praise God in his sanctuary praise him in the firmament of his power 1. PRaise the mighty God ye Angelical Ministers that attend upon Him in his celestial Sanctuary Praise Him all ye inhabitants of heaven where you see the brightest demonstrations and most lasting monuments of his power 2. Praise him for his mighty acts praise him according to his excellent greatness 2. Praise Him all ye Ministers of his upon earth for the miraculous things which He hath done for our deliverance and exaltation let your praises bear some proportion to the excellence of his Majesty and the multitude of those great and magnificent acts of mercy towards us 3. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet praise him with the psaltery and harp 3. Let the Priests of the Lord X. Numb 8. praise Him with the sound of the Trumpet and let the Levites 1 Chron. XXV 6. praise Him with Psalteries and Harps 4. Praise him with the timbrel and dance praise him with stringed instruments and organs 4. Let some praise Him with the Timbrel and the Flute and others praise Him with the stringed Instruments and Organs 5. Praise him upon the loud cymbals praise him upon the high-sounding cymbals 5. Let all sort of Cymbals accompany their Psalms and Hymns in his praise both those of daily use and those that are wont to be imployed in times of the highest joy and triumph 6. Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD Praise ye the LORD 6. Finally Let every man living join himself to this sacred Quire and at every breath praise the Lord the giver of life and of all good things To Him let all the world with one consent give perpetual praise THE END
3. Nor will I merely make Thee my private acknowledgments but publish thy praise in the greatest assemblies of thy people among whom this Song shall be sung yea other Nations shall reade therein how thankfull I am for what Thou hast begun to doe for us 4. For thy mercy is great above the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds 4. For it is fit my thankfulness should be as boundless as thy mercy which infinitely transcends all my expressions and hath nothing equal to it but thy faithfulness and truth 5. Be thou exalted O God above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth 5. Be Thou more and more exalted in these O God and raise to thy self thereby the highest praises spread the fame of them every where that Thou mayest be glorified throughout the world 6. That thy beloved may be delivered save with thy right hand and answer me 6. Especially now I beseech Thee to grant my humble petitions that by thy mighty power accompanying my Arms I may be an instrument of delivering thy beloved people from their Oppressours 7. God hath spoken in his holiness I will rejoice I will divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth 7. Why should I doubt of it and not rather rejoice in assured hope of a perfect Victory since God who is most holy and cannot lie hath said He will deliver them by my hand 2 Sam. III. 18. and hath already put me in possession as He also promised Ver. 2. of all the Country about Samaria which I will distribute under such Officers as I think fit to set over them 8. Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Ephraim also is the strength of mine head Judah is my lawgiver 8. Gilead also and Manasseh who were lately under another King 2 Sam. II. 9. have submitted themselves to me and so hath the of Ephraim which is a main support of my Authority These and all the rest of the Tribes of Israel are united to the royal Tribe of Judah which according to the prophecy of our Forefather XLIX Gen. 10. supplies me with wise and able men to administer the Laws and order the affairs of my Kingdom 9. Moab is my washpot over Edom will I cast out my shoe over Philistia will I triumph 9. Which shall now extend it self beyond the bounds of this Country for I will tread the Moabites under my feet and reduce them to the vilest servitude 2 Sam. VIII 2. I will trample also upon the Edomites and make them my slaves Ib. Verse 14. the Philistines also whom I have begun to smite 2 Sam. V. 17 c. 22. shall add to my Triumphs and be forced to submit unto me as their conquering Lord 2 Sam. VIII 1. 10. Who will bring me into the strong city who will lead me into Edom 10. These are difficult things indeed and I may well ask when I consider how potent these Nations are by what power or force I shall be able to enter that strongly fenced City in the frontiers of their Country Who is it that will conduct me into Idumaea and make me Master of it 11. Wilt not thou O God who hast cast us off and wilt not thou O God go forth with our hosts 11. But I can soon answer my self For why should I despair of thy presence with us O God of all power and might who formerly indeed didst reject us and forsake the conduct of our Armies 1 Sam. XXXI 1 7. but now I hope wilt graciously aid us and make us victorious 12. Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man 12. Do not frustrate these hopes but afford us thy help against the Syrians also 2 Sam. VIII 5. now that they distress us for no humane force is able to deliver us nor have we any confidence in it but in Thee alone 13. Through God we shall doe valiantly for he it is that shall tread down our enemies 13. By whose assistance we will behave our selves couragiously and doe valiant Acts For God will utterly rout our Enemies and tread them down like the mire in the streets PSALM CIX To the chief Musician A Psalm of David ARGUMENT Most Interpreters consent to the opinion of Aben Ezra and D. Kimchi that David to whom the Title ascribes this Psalm hath respect here in the first place to the grievous persecution which he suffered by Saul and some of his Court who would let him enjoy no rest but having driven him from his own house pursued him so close wheresoever they heard he was that he could have no certain dwelling but became like a Locust as he speaks Verse 23. which having no nest as Bochartus observes P. II. L. IV. de Animal sac cap. 2. leaps or flies from hedge to hedge as he did from place to place To provoke Saul to this rage against him as they all loaded him with many calumnies which made David curse them to Saul's face 1 Sam. XXVI 10. so one especially among the rest who is generally thought to be Doeg the Edomite was notoriously guilty of this wickedness whom by a prophetical Spirit he here most solemnly curses in a direfull manner and pronounces the heaviest judgment upon him and his Family his inhumane villany being so great that it made him an exact picture of the Traitour Judas to whom the Apostle Saint Peter I. Act. 20. applies the eighth Verse of this Psalm The rest of which is spent in Prayer to God against such false accusers and in vows of the Praises he would give Him when he was delivered from the mischief which thereby they designed to him Accordingly when he was settled in his Throne he sent this Psalm among others unto the Master of Musick in the Tabernacle to perpetuate the memory of God's mercy to him Concerning such Imprecations as we here meet withall see the Argument of Psalm XXXV which is of the same nature with this 1. HOld not thy peace O God of my praise 1. O God the supreme Judge of the world who as Thou hast given me hitherto continual cause to praise Thee so I hope wilt still vindicate my honour I appeal unto thy Majesty beseeching Thee to declare thy self on my side and make it appear that I am innocent 2. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitfull are opened against me they have spoken against me with a lying tongue 2. For men of no conscience have taken the liberty to invent the most mischievous lies of me whereby though they always spake me fair to my face they have wickedly traduced me to Saul behind my back 3. They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause 3. And spread those false reports so diligently that I find they have made me odious every where and thereupon without any provocation from me have levied war against me to take away my life 1 Sam. XXIII 8 25. 4. For my love they are my adversaries but I